You may be shocked by these words coming from me. But on this pilgrimage, what I have seen, and experienced, has forced me to rearrange much of my thought-patterns previously held, and to toss aside some of my previous conclusions. This was not too difficult for me. Despite my firm convictions, I have always been a man who tries to face facts, and to accept the reality of life as new experience and new knowledge unfolds it. I have always kept an open mind, which necessary to the flexibility that must go hand in hand with every form of intelligent search for truth.
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.
...
And she brought forth her firstborn son, and wrapped him in swaddling clothes, and laid him in a manger; because there was no room for them in the inn. And there were in the same country shepherds abiding in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night. And, lo, the angel of the Lord came upon them, and the glory of the Lord shone round about them: and they were sore afraid. And the angel said unto them, Fear not: for, behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people.
For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, which is Christ the Lord.And this shall be a sign unto you; Ye shall find the babe wrapped in swaddling clothes, lying in a manger. And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God, and saying, Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men. ~Luke 2:1-14
...
[Cassian plays Nemik's audio diary]
Karis Nemik: There will be times when the struggle seems impossible. I know this already. Alone, unsure, dwarfed by the scale of the enemy. Remember this. Freedom is a pure idea. It occurs spontaneously and without instruction. Random acts of insurrection are occurring constantly throughout the galaxy. There are whole armies, battalions that have no idea that they've already enlisted in the cause. Remember that the frontier of the Rebellion is everywhere. And even the smallest act of insurrection pushes our lines forward. And then remember this. The Imperial need for control is so desperate because it is so unnatural. Tyranny requires constant effort. It breaks, it leaks. Authority is brittle. Oppression is the mask of fear. Remember that. And know this, the day will come when all these skirmishes and battles, these moments of defiance will have flooded the banks of the Empire's authority and then there will be one too many. One single thing will break the siege. Remember this. Try. ~From the Star Wars series Andor, S1.E12 "Rix Road."
Not gonna lie, my actual first thought was "People still care about Harry Potter?"
Actually in my experience most Fortnite players weren't even born yet when Harry Potter was real big, and don't know JK Rowling as anything but a Transphobic bitch.
Full confession, I've never cared for either Harry Potter or JKR.
I can't keep up with Leftist purity culture, anymore than I ever could keep up with Christian or Right-wing purity culture...and if we keep canceling stuff because one person involved is an idiot? Okay, eventually WTF is even gonna be left??
It's just more Crab Bucket Bullshit, how many of these Leftists and shit couldn't be bothered to vote for Kamala Harris and so prevent the goddamn mess we're all stuck in??
I get it, I actually do, and I support Trans rights, and both LGBT rights and HUMAN rights more broadly.
But for fuck's sake there's like two people that I know who play Fortnite, they're both LGBT and I'm not even sure if either one is aware of this deal. I'll ask later.
The kid asked me for a Fortnite Gift Card yesterday.
She'll get it tonight. Distance or no. We haz a system, LOL.
#2 Kid's LGBT and I'm not, I'll let her decide what's a threat and what isn't.
#3 It's Christmas, I'm not gonna let somebody she never met and never will steal Shorty's joy.
Not when I can do something about it.
Not gonna lie, I think the fact that I did something for her kid is why my Partner is my Partner.
I don't like JKR, I think we have worse problems right now, though. Fortnite content isn't even in my top 100 things to worry about.
"Conservatives" are trying to use a terrorist attack in Australia that was courageously resisted by all kinds of people including Muslim Australians...as an excuse to kick Muslims out of the United States.
How that tracks with the Republican Party's (and Trump's) historical infatuation with the Arabian Gulf monarchies I'll never know, and I say that as a former Airman who was deployed to Saudi Arabia.
Also how's some fruitcake idea to cancel yet another video game going to help deal with this bullshit??
I'm tired of Christian Nationalist and Republican horseshit and somehow the Leftists who Cancel Everything and couldn't be bothered to vote for Kamala Harris because Joe Biden supported Israel after October 7th (and seriously what the fuck else were we going to do??) and Something Something Gazpacho never manage to work it up to do even one fucking thing about Christian Nationalists, Republicans and all that kind of shit.
If we don't stop the Billionaires, Fascists and Religious Nuts and try to preserve America as it is, for regular people of all walks of life, none of it matters and all the "Leftist" talk is basically just jerking off no matter how hard you believe in it.
And that's the issue, sooner or later one has to do something.
Honestly I think a lot of this crap is just narcissistic posing by privileged people who weren't gonna vote anyway.
And whether I was a conservative or nominal liberal at the time I've never been that guy. I've always voted because there's always something I can't let slide.
I served my country, I have a stake in it.
And I served with several Muslims, too, a couple of whom would later be killed or wounded standing up and doing their duty, fighting against the forces of Jihad.
So Tommy Tuberville can go fuck himself.
What the fuck has he ever done for anybody but himself??
If you don't understand that, maybe you don't understand the point of Democracy or why our Founders wanted an engaged, informed electorate with a stake in things and structured things the way they did.
Let alone why Right-Wingers spent 30 years trying to monkey-wrench that system.
We're probably very damned lucky that Trump and his current party of freaks, incompetents and misfits is the best they could come up with and that the backing for this shit is idiots like Elon Musk.
Let alone that all this bullshit is massively unpopular with about everybody except the same 19% of people that were still all in for George W. Bush in October of 2008.
Note I say that as a former Shrub supporter whose Republicanism was broken by 8 years of that fucking garbage.
By about 2006 or so, it had become morally unsustainable for me to support a lot of what Republicans were doing at the time.
Almost all of the people I knew who were Christians...even that era's Christian Nationalists...and conservatives and shit at that time, no longer are.
Even my former Pastor no longer identifies himself as a Christian.
He even had a church, down in North Carolina, finally, a lifelong dream for him. It was wrecked by *Checks Notes* Trump Supporters.
You have to buy the whole hog, every time, anymore. It very quickly and easily gets to the point where most people just can't.
Either it's because they became disgusted by the whole mess like I did and changed sides or stopped following, or they were actively cast aside by their fellows for some reason or another like my partner was.
Some of us, like me, switched sides completely (only to become disgusted with that, too) or like her, tried to hang onto what they could of their beliefs.
And now? This era's "Conservatives" are kicking out people like Marjorie Taylor Greene and Thomas Massie.
When is enough, enough??
When men stop believing in God, it isn't that they then believe in nothing: they believe in everything. ~Umberto Eco
It can be ignored.
If those people would vote against Republicans I wouldn't give a fuck.
Right-wing Cancel Culture is actively harmful, becoming exponentially more so, and actively trying to argue that anybody who isn't White, some kind of a Calvinist or Sedevacantist Catholic, and Male while also being willing to buy into any ideological premise no matter how outlandish while worshiping Donald Trump as a god should be *Checks Notes* Canceled.
To the point of effectively stripping away anything of what it even means to be an American.
And the level of Crab Bucket those nuts have going on has legit reached the point of "They don't want to do anything, but they don't want anybody else to do anything either."
Like crabs in a crabber's bucket they're actively trying to pull down anybody that's even trying to get out, now.
So I've amended my previous position to call it "Crab Bucket Politics."
And it's getting worse.
In fact, they've pretty much reached the level of governance by conspiracy theories and unreality.
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 I think it's even hit the point where it's starting to burn out MAGA Republicans.
But at the end of the day that's not going to be enough.
If we want to keep America as it is, burnout is not enough because that's how America goes the way of the old Soviet Union...and Vladimir Putin would love that. In fact, it's his declared goal.
And that'd likely land Donald Trump or one of his sons as the Caudillo of the Banana Republic Of Florida.
Which honestly, seems to be these fucking people's goal.
No, this will not suffice.
You either believe in freedom or you don't.
And you're either willing to fight for it or you're not.
We have to stop this shit, or it'll just go on and on.
And I don't know about you, but I'm tired of it.
Слава Україна!
Now after Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea in the days of Herod the king, behold, wise men from the East came to Jerusalem, saying, “Where is He who has been born King of the Jews? For we have seen His star in the East and have come to worship Him.”
When Herod the king heard this, he was troubled, and all Jerusalem with him. And when he had gathered all the chief priests and scribes of the people together, he inquired of them where the Christ was to be born.
So they said to him, “In Bethlehem of Judea, for thus it is written by the prophet:
‘But you, Bethlehem, in the land of Judah,
Are not the least among the rulers of Judah;
For out of you shall come a Ruler
Who will shepherd My people Israel.’ ”
Then Herod, when he had secretly called the wise men, determined from them what time the star appeared. 8 And he sent them to Bethlehem and said, “Go and search carefully for the young Child, and when you have found Him, bring back word to me, that I may come and worship Him also.”
When they heard the king, they departed; and behold, the star which they had seen in the East went before them, till it came and stood over where the young Child was. When they saw the star, they rejoiced with exceedingly great joy. And when they had come into the house, they saw the young Child with Mary His mother, and fell down and worshiped Him. And when they had opened their treasures, they presented gifts to Him: gold, frankincense, and myrrh.
Then, being divinely warned in a dream that they should not return to Herod, they departed for their own country another way. ~Matthew 2, New King James Version
When Herod the king heard this, he was troubled, and all Jerusalem with him. And when he had gathered all the chief priests and scribes of the people together, he inquired of them where the Christ was to be born.
So they said to him, “In Bethlehem of Judea, for thus it is written by the prophet:
‘But you, Bethlehem, in the land of Judah,
Are not the least among the rulers of Judah;
For out of you shall come a Ruler
Who will shepherd My people Israel.’ ”
Then Herod, when he had secretly called the wise men, determined from them what time the star appeared. 8 And he sent them to Bethlehem and said, “Go and search carefully for the young Child, and when you have found Him, bring back word to me, that I may come and worship Him also.”
When they heard the king, they departed; and behold, the star which they had seen in the East went before them, till it came and stood over where the young Child was. When they saw the star, they rejoiced with exceedingly great joy. And when they had come into the house, they saw the young Child with Mary His mother, and fell down and worshiped Him. And when they had opened their treasures, they presented gifts to Him: gold, frankincense, and myrrh.
Then, being divinely warned in a dream that they should not return to Herod, they departed for their own country another way. ~Matthew 2, New King James Version
The wind whispers of fear and hate. The war has killed love. And those that confess to the Angkar are punished, and no one dare ask where they go. Here, only the silent survive. ~Dith Pran, The Killing Fields
When I was sixteen I won a great victory. I felt in that moment that I should live to be a hundred, now I know I shall not see thirty. None of us know our end really, or what hand will guide us there. A King may move a man, a father may claim a son. That man can also move himself. And only then does that man truly begin his own game. Remember that how so ever you are played, or by whom, your soul is in your keeping alone. Even though those who presume to play you be kings or men of power. When you stand before God, you cannot say "but I was told by others to do thusly" or that "virtue was not convenient at the time." This will not suffice. Remember that. ~The Leper King, from the film Kingdom Of Heaven.
