Goats (Rationalizing Themselves Into Revelation, Three.)

When the Son of man shall come in his glory, and all the holy angels with him, then shall he sit upon the throne of his glory:

And before him shall be gathered all nations: and he shall separate them one from another, as a shepherd divides his sheep from the goats:
And he shall set the sheep on his right hand, but the goats on the left.
Then shall the King say unto them on his right hand, Come, ye blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world:
For I hungered, and ye gave me meat: I was thirsty, and ye gave me drink: I was a stranger, and ye took me in:
Naked, and ye clothed me: I was sick, and ye visited me: I was in prison, and ye came unto me.
Then shall the righteous answer him, saying, Lord, when saw we thee an hungered, and fed thee? or thirsty, and gave thee drink?
When saw we thee a stranger, and took thee in? or naked, and clothed thee? Or when saw we thee sick, or in prison, and came unto thee?
And the King shall answer and say unto them, Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me.
Then shall he say also unto them on the left hand, Depart from me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels:
For I hungered, and ye gave me no meat: I was thirsty, and ye gave me no drink:
I was a stranger, and ye took me not in: naked, and ye clothed me not: sick, and in prison, and ye visited me not.
Then shall they also answer him, saying, Lord, when saw we thee an hungered, or athirst, or a stranger, or naked, or sick, or in prison, and did not minister unto thee?
Then shall he answer them, saying, Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye did it not to one of the least of these, ye did it not to me. 

~Matthew 25:31-45

...

Valin Hess: So what shall we toast to, boys? I can blather on about “To health” or “To success,” but I’d like to do somethin’ a little less rote. Where you from, Brown Eyes?

Migs Mayfield: How ’bout a toast to Operation Cinder?

Hess: Now there’s a man who knows his history.

Mayfield: No, I don’t just know it. I lived it. I was in Burnin Konn.

Hess: Burnin Konn?

Mayfield: Mmm.

Hess: That was a hard day. I had to make many unpleasant decisions.

Mayfield: Yes, you did. Entire city gone in moments, along with everybody in it. We lost our whole division that day. Man, that was like 5-10,000 people.

Hess: Yep. All heroes of the Empire.

Mayfield: Yeah. And all dead.

Hess: Well, it’s a small sacrifice for the greater good, son.

Mayfield: Depends on who you ask, don’t you think?

Hess: [irritated] What you gettin’ at, trooper?

Mayfield: All those people, the ones who died, was it good for them? Hmm? Their families? The guys I served with? Civilians, those poor mud scuffers, died defending their homes, fighting for freedom. Was it good for them? 

Hess: But we’ve outlasted them, son. They’re eating themselves alive. The New Republic is in complete disarray, and we grow stronger. You see, with the rhydonium you’ve delivered, we can create havoc that’s gonna make Burnin Konn pale by comparison. And then they’re gonna turn to us once again. You see, boys, everybody thinks they want freedom, but what they really want is order. And when they realize that, they’re gonna welcome us back with open arms. Ah. To the Empire.

[Mayfield chuckles, then fires a blaster at Hess' chest, killing him instantly. He and Mando then shoot their way out of the mess hall] ~From The Mandalorian, Season 2, Ep. 7 "The Believer"

I saw this earlier.

Keg-Breath pretty much praying for "God" to "Pour out His Wrath" and solve the Iranian problem that we wouldn't have without this drunken fool starting this war.

I mean, if this motherfucker had got his theology off anything other than an old liquor label, he might know God doesn't work that way.

God is not your personal stick with which to beat the rest of the universe, dude. The Lord of the Worlds is not your personal enforcer. This should be obvious.

Seriously, my ex-wife used to say shit like this and I'm really starting to wonder just when the fuck the rest of Christianity is gonna wake up and have had enough of all these goddamned False Prophets.

The absolute Truth is that people like Keg-Breath and all these Calvinist Theo-Bros (although if we're being honest this bullshit is starting to sound suspiciously like my ex's Pentecostal horseshit) basically all believe that they are God. 

As in all of them, each individually, believes that they are personally God. I mean, psychologically it's straight up narcissism. But in Christian terms...especially the old "Four Spiritual Laws" paradigm that I came up in, in the dynamic of Self on the Throne vs. God on the Throne...yes, These Fucking People have their Self on the Throne and they think they can order God around.

None of this works like that!

Same fucking people are like, one Biotech breakthrough away from trying to implement the Biblical (666) Mark Of The Beast and try to claim "It's not the Mark Of The Beast when they do it."

Guess what?? Yes it is.

All the more so when they don't even want to pay people to run the goddamned Data Centers.

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, King James Version.

Like, who the fuck do they think is gonna be able to live in the world they're trying to make if they don't wanna pay nobody and think they're gonna replace Humans with Technology??

Nobody, that's who. They think they're gonna have wealth without work, be able to party it up all the time and still be all religious and shit, and the rest of us will just be dead. Same as they think they can serve Baal and Mammon and still claim Christ and be forgiven for it all.

None of this works like that, and people tend to be wonderfully inconvenient and refuse to do things like just roll over and die.

In any case these assholes, if they got what they thought they wanted, would just keep intriguing against each other and murdering each other in the name of stealing each other's wealth but that's just an excuse.

It's not religion, it's narcissism and religiosity with a side of literal hatred for anybody who isn't "their" kind of "conservative" or their willing slave.

Their only actual principles or values of any kind are cruelty, narcissism and slavery, I've seen this up close.

To paraphrase a line a friend of mine often uses: The way a fair number of these mega-CHUDs want to live makes 1990's Taliban Afghanistan look like gilded apartments at the Burj Khalifa in Dubai.

Because like Stonekettle who I snipped above says; These fucking people would rather squat in their bunkers peering suspiciously out at what's left of the world through a rifle scope and shit on their own shoes than see anybody else get any kind of light.

While extreme wealth and the indolence that goes with it can breed narcissism, so can misery. Yes, some people want to be like that, it's like a bottle that never runs dry.

This is about Narcissism and Self-Worship.

Any claims of Christianity or anything else exist solely to fool the feeble-minded.

In fact the last thing they want to see is anybody having a genuine curiosity about or interest in Serving God.

And I stood upon the sand of the sea, and saw a beast rise up out of the sea, having seven heads and ten horns, and upon his horns ten crowns, and upon his heads the name of blasphemy.

And the beast which I saw was like unto a leopard, and his feet were as the feet of a bear, and his mouth as the mouth of a lion: and the dragon gave him his power, and his seat, and great authority.
And I saw one of his heads as it were wounded to death; and his deadly wound was healed: and all the world wondered after the beast.

And they worshipped the dragon which gave power unto the beast: and they worshipped the beast, saying, Who is like unto the beast? who is able to make war with him?

And there was given unto him a mouth speaking great things and blasphemies; and power was given unto him to continue forty and two months.

And he opened his mouth in blasphemy against God, to blaspheme his name, and his tabernacle, and them that dwell in heaven.

And it was given unto him to make war with the saints, and to overcome them: and power was given him over all kindreds, and tongues, and nations.

And all that dwell upon the earth shall worship him, whose names are not written in the book of life of the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world.

If any man have an ear, let him hear.

He that leads into captivity shall go into captivity: he that kills with the sword must be killed with the sword. Here is the patience and the faith of the saints.

And I beheld another beast coming up out of the earth; and he had two horns like a lamb, and he speaks as a dragon.

And he exercises all the power of the first beast before him, and causes the earth and them which dwell therein to worship the first beast, whose deadly wound was healed.

And he doeth great wonders, so that he makes fire come down from heaven on the earth in the sight of men,

And deceive them that dwell on the earth by the means of those miracles which he had power to do in the sight of the beast; saying to them that dwell on the earth, that they should make an image to the beast, which had the wound by a sword, and did live.

And he had power to give life unto the image of the beast, that the image of the beast should both speak, and cause that as many as would not worship the image of the beast should be killed.

And he caused all, both small and great, rich and poor, free and bond, to receive a mark in their right hand, or in their foreheads:

And that no man might buy or sell, save he that had the mark, or the name of the beast, or the number of his name.

Here is wisdom. Let him that hath understanding count the number of the beast: for it is the number of a man; and his number is Six hundred threescore and six. ~Revelation 13, King James Bible.

More to the point I guarantee you a fuck-ton of these Ass-Clown CHUDs will have no fucking problem with taking that gold-plated computer chip in their forehead or their hand so long as there's a little money on it just for them to buy their alcohol or their cigarettes or their drugs.

They don't give a shit if the price is their fucking soul.

They don't care if the State then knows every move they make, every debased stupid decision, every murderous thought...because the fucking truth is these idiots have no pride and no standards and don't really care.

I mean what's it say about people when they could live decently for a month or two just off of scrapping out all the junk cars and other vehicles in their yard but they refuse to??

Whether it's cruel, narcissistic and outright stupid welfare people like my partner's cousins or any financially better-off versions of that crap...the real truth is the only way these kind of people want to live is by taking advantage of others.

For a certain kind of "Conservatives" it's not about conservative conduct, personal inclinations or social mores let alone belief in limited government, ordered liberty or religion. They're fine with chaos, destruction and unbelief.

No, it's about having a hierarchy so they know who they can fuck over and who to suck up to for protection.

And when Donald Trump doesn't turn out to be That Guy on the White Horse? Well, they'll just move on to the next one!

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.

I'm serious.

And it seems like the smaller and more hateful and nasty the world is, the better they like it, so long as they have at least one person to kick down on.

Then later this evening I saw this; CPAC "Conservative" "Influencers" trying to get parents to encourage their kids to get married and have more kids than they can afford before they think they're ready.

Well there it is, I never thought I'd see any "Conservatives" of whatever kind trying to create more Welfare People, because that's how you get *Checks Notes* even more Welfare People, and whole cycles of generational poverty!

Again, this is just these fucking Epstein assholes trying to create more victims for their joyless depravity, serfs for the fields they don't wanna have safe soil to grow or clean water to irrigate, and perhaps most important, dead bodies to step over in the street and to populate swarms of beggars that they won't want to help at all.

What's the endgame here, more bodies to throw in the fiery braziers dedicated to Baal and Moloch??

'Cause that's what it looks like to me!

I mean, let's get real here: What's even the goddamned point??

Are these motherfuckers just that hell bent on being the Goats at the great Judgment Day??

Don't answer that, because yes, Yes, they are.

"I didn't want to do it,'' he hears himself saying. "I didn't want to leave them behind.''

The void laughs at him. There are miles of empty air beneath his dangling feet. "You had no choice.''

"Yes I did! I didn't have to come here.'' He pauses. "I didn't have to do anything,'' he says quietly, and inhales another lungful of death. "It was all automatic. Maybe it was inevitable.''

"-- Evitable,'' echoes the distant horizon. Something dark and angular skims across the stars, like an echo of extinct pterosaurs. Turbofans whirring within its belly, the F-117A hunts on: patrolling to keep at bay the ancient evil, unaware that the battle is already lost. "Your family could still be alive, you know.''

He looks up. "They could?'' Andrea? Jason? "Alive?''

The void laughs again, unfriendly: "There is life eternal within the eater of souls. Nobody is ever forgotten or allowed to rest in peace. They populate the simulation spaces of its mind, exploring all the possible alternative endings to their life. There is a fate worse than death, you know.'' 

~From A Colder War, a novella by Charles Stross.

I saw and snipped that post about CPAC and like I said I've never been more happy that Shorty is a lesbian who hates almost all Men (a situation from which I'm only provisionally exempt) and has no intention of breeding ever.

You keep picking that Bear, little princess. In fact, can I pick it too??

Note I'm a guy. Hell, I'm an armed veteran and I'd rather choose the fucking bear than these "men."

These idiots have missed the point of basically everything because that's what a belief system that's in effect about ANYTHING but "Love Thy Neighbor" and increasingly ANYTHING but "Love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, all thy soul and all thy mind" gets you in the first damn place!

And when These Fucking People continue to bring God's Wrath on America and it becomes inescapable and undeniable that that's what it is? Yes, these ass-fucks will become Wrath Of God deniers just like they were COVID-19 deniers and all type of shit like that before.

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

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

Слава Україна!

The clocks stopped at one seventeen. There was a long shear of bright light, then a series of low concussions. By day the dead impaled on spikes along the road. I think it's October but I can't be sure. I haven't kept a calendar for five years. Each day is more gray than the one before. It is cold and growing colder as the world slowly dies. No animals have survived and all the crops are long gone. Soon all the trees in the world will fall. The roads are peopled by refugees towing carts and gangs carrying weapons, looking for fuel and food. Within a year there was fire on the ridges and deranged chanting. There has been cannibalism. Cannibalism is the great fear. Mostly I worry about food. Always food. Food and the cold and our shoes. Sometimes I tell the boy old stories of courage and justice - difficult as they are to remember. All I know is the child is my warrant and if he is not the word of God, then God never spoke. ~The Man, from Cormac McCarthy's "The Road" (Film.)

Two

I put no stock in religion. By the word religion, I've seen the lunacy of fanatics of every denomination be called the "Will of God". I've seen too much religion in the eyes of too many murderers. Holiness is in right action and courage on behalf of those who cannot defend themselves. And goodness - what God desires - [pointing at his head then heart] is here and here. And what you decide to do every day, you will be a good man...or not. ~The Hospitaler, from the film Kingdom Of Heaven.

We'll Cut You In, O Lord! (Rationalizing Themselves Into Revelation, Two.)

Priest: [To Balian, who is working on sharpening swords in the town blacksmith forge] The village does not want you. When the old lord is dead, they will drive you out. When the bishop is dead, it is certain.

Balian: And you take my property.

Priest: The Church.

Balian: You.

Priest: They would have taken you to Jerusalem... away from... all this. I arranged it. I swear to you... you will have no peace so long as you stay here. No man ever needed a new world more. Imagine your sin and pain erased. All. [Balian takes out a sword and starts malleablizing it] If you take the Crusade... you may relieve your wife's position in hell. I put it delicately. She was a suicide. She is in hell. Though what she does there without a head... [Balian notices priest's cross necklace, holds it up and impales him with sword throwing him onto the fire, Balian takes the necklace with the priest leaping out, igniting the forge.] ~From the film Kingdom Of Heaven.

...

And the fifth angel sounded, and I saw a star fall from heaven unto the earth: and to him was given the key of the bottomless pit.

And he opened the bottomless pit; and there arose a smoke out of the pit, as the smoke of a great furnace; and the sun and the air were darkened by reason of the smoke of the pit.

And there came out of the smoke locusts upon the earth: and unto them was given power, as the scorpions of the earth have power.

And it was commanded them that they should not hurt the grass of the earth, neither any green thing, neither any tree; but only those men which have not the seal of God in their foreheads.

And to them it was given that they should not kill them, but that they should be tormented five months: and their torment was as the torment of a scorpion, when he strikes a man.

And in those days shall men seek death, and shall not find it; and shall desire to die, and death shall flee from them.

And the shapes of the locusts were like unto horses prepared unto battle; and on their heads were as it were crowns like gold, and their faces were as the faces of men.

And they had hair as the hair of women, and their teeth were as the teeth of lions.

And they had breastplates, as it were breastplates of iron; and the sound of their wings was as the sound of chariots of many horses running to battle.

And they had tails like unto scorpions, and there were stings in their tails: and their power was to hurt men five months.

And they had a king over them, which is the angel of the bottomless pit, whose name in the Hebrew tongue is Abaddon, but in the Greek tongue hath his name Apollyon.

One woe is past; and, behold, there come two woes more hereafter.

And the sixth angel sounded, and I heard a voice from the four horns of the golden altar which is before God,

Saying to the sixth angel which had the trumpet, Loose the four angels which are bound in the great river Euphrates.

And the four angels were loosed, which were prepared for an hour, and a day, and a month, and a year, for to slay the third part of men.

And the number of the army of the horsemen were two hundred thousand thousand: and I heard the number of them.

And thus I saw the horses in the vision, and them that sat on them, having breastplates of fire, and of jacinth, and brimstone: and the heads of the horses were as the heads of lions; and out of their mouths issued fire and smoke and brimstone.

By these three was the third part of men killed, by the fire, and by the smoke, and by the brimstone, which issued out of their mouths.

For their power is in their mouth, and in their tails: for their tails were like unto serpents, and had heads, and with them they do hurt.

And the rest of the men which were not killed by these plagues yet repented not of the works of their hands, that they should not worship devils, and idols of gold, and silver, and brass, and stone, and of wood: which neither can see, nor hear, nor walk:

Neither repented they of their murders, nor of their sorceries, nor of their fornication, nor of their thefts. ~Revelation 9, King James Version.

I saw this when I woke up.

A bunch of old white people, ridiculously angry about the fact that a new local burger place uses Halal meat.

For the record Halal is basically the same thing as Kosher, it even says so in Islamic dietary laws. Lots of the beef you find in the average American grocery store is Kosher by default.

It's not for religious reasons, it's Capitalism.

I also immediately thought of both my best friend from when I was in the Air Force...and his eventual wife, both of whom were amazing cooks.

And I remembered my Muslim college friend from Egypt and his wife (Well, girlfriend back in those days) and the fact that she made an amazing veggie Lasagna. Like, seriously when I got on Facebook in 2010 and found they were already there, I made a point of asking if I could have the damn recipe (and I got it!)

Honestly, I can't imagine living life without stuff like that!

I put no stock in religion. By the word religion, I've seen the lunacy of fanatics of every denomination be called the "Will of God". I've seen too much religion in the eyes of too many murderers. Holiness is in right action and courage on behalf of those who cannot defend themselves. And goodness - what God desires - [pointing at his head then heart] is here and here. And what you decide to do every day, you will be a good man...or not. ~The Hospitaler, from the film Kingdom Of Heaven.

I mean, fuck, what joyless lives These Fucking People lead...and seem to want to. But then the next time I logged in, on my Laptop, the first thing I saw was the AIG post snipped above and trust me, you're not going to find very many people that define "Joyless religious fanatic" more than they do.

Well, except maybe for Pete Keg-Breath and all his Calvinist Theo-Bros, who think they're getting everything they ever wanted right now and they're still all getting shit-faced drunk in Pentagon restrooms and then trying to deny it to each other because they're all so "righteous" and shit.

What the fuck is wrong with men? I ask as a man, a former conservative Republican and as a veteran.

But then, I was never one of These Fucking People, these violent drunk fucking religious-bro narcissists and yes, we had them when I served. They ain't all that, especially by their own alleged standards.

Shit, as a Senior Airman and Staff Sergeant I was responsible more than once for guys like that facing disciplinary proceedings because they're stupid. 

Worse, for all their religious talk, if anybody can find a bag of Cocaine, a fifth of Patron, a foreign prostitute and an impressive selection of um, toys, in a place like Marquette, Michigan and then get caught with all that (and reported) by their pregnant wife who then goes from meek Christianized submissive to utterly righteously angry Feministic diva with a job at an LGBT bookstore (this in a time when such places were less common than they are now) in like 12 mind-shattering seconds??

Yeah, it's these idiotic motherfuckers.

Also, you think these knuckle-draggers are regressive? The Uniform Code of Military Justice when properly applied is, shall we say worse.

The funny/sad part here is dude got his ass busted down a grade among other things but somehow managed with counseling and rehab to weasel his way into keeping his career, an utterly Pyrrhic victory when he ended up paying like 3/4's of his check in child support and then spent the next 18 months of his life in Saudi Arabia and a few years later his career came to an utterly predictable bad end with a failed FITREP and loss of professional qualifications anyway. Followed by jail (repeatedly) for nonpayment of said child support.

So much for "Integrity Above All, Service Before Self, Excellence In All That We Do" huh?

I mean, more than once I've wondered aloud how Pete Hegseth had a career and didn't get himself shit-canned for God-Only-Knows-What before he ever made it out of the training pipeline. 

(Just kidding, I know why: In all cases, it's because some other idiotic CHUD-bro higher up in the commands structure who likewise once escaped accountability their own damn self goes to bat for them...but is then magically never themselves present when the bill comes due and everyone else ends up covered in sloppy shit.)

I'm just warning you now, America, some variation of this writ large is exactly what we're all in for.

Although I suspect in the case of Keg-Breath or Trump this ends with fleeing the country, exile, and a gilded palace in Saudi Arabia, probably even in the same neighborhood in Jeddah where Idi Amin stayed during his exile there. I'd have said Dubai or Qatar but I think these fucking people have burned up all their goodwill (and the Iranians have trashed a lot of what would have been their protection) among the Arabian Gulf states. 

If so, I can live with that, a gilded cage is still, in fact, a cage.

Honestly it looks a lot like some of These Fucking People are finding that out already. It's funny how these fucking people never think about stuff like that, then they do a bunch of skeevy shit in the public eye and then they have the nerve to wonder why they're constantly followed around by angry mobs of their former followers.

The thing is at this point there's basically three kinds of conservatives when people find out how much of this stuff is utter bullshit.

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

#1 There's those like myself or the one lady I described up above who get the fuck out and probably end up worse critics of all this horseshit than any liberal you can think of

#2 There's the "Simp Harder, Lie To Me More, Daddy" types that there are so many of online.

And no, I'll never understand that shit. There pretty much is no bottom, I guess.

And then #3 There's the people who do some degree of that shit who, increasingly and almost entirely because of Trump, see the world coming at them, greet it with both middle fingers upraised and a defiant "Fuck You!"

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.

Then they get what people like that get, get figuratively or literally punched in the face, figure out they don't like that very much, and retreat behind a Facebook page that beats everybody over the head with how "Christian" they are. This is the shit my partner's cousins did.

And maybe it's just me but I think a hell of a lot of the problem with Christianity in America is Christianity tolerates this bullshit! Most especially the basic-ass American Christian Nationalist Dispensationalist "Evangelical" type that constantly shouts about how "Jesus Is Coming!" but then somehow acts like He is never really gonna show up and judge them for what they do.

Like I said, awhile back, there's a reason that I think the true prayer these fucking people pray is "We'll cut you in, O Lord!"

Call it 'The Republican's Prayer."

Like they think Jesus is just as much of a scammer as they are!

And somehow these lying idiots get the idea that this is "Religion."

But they have no plan for if Jesus isn't like that.

In fact, they can't imagine He isn't just as dishonest and evil as they are.

The truth is they're wrong and hell-bound and I think deep down they know it. They just hope you don't.

Like I've said they regard their own joyless addicted perversion as the new Religiosity. They approach it with the same stolid dedication that their grandparents did tight-ass Cold War era Calvinism or that their parents did the 1990's and Early Aughts narcissistic Pentecostalism.

It's a joyless religious duty, they literally think they have to be like that or they'll go to hell.

The joke's on them because if they keep it up they're going to Hell anyway.

And like I keep saying, at this point, with These Fucking People laying all this out so obviously, at this point you either believe in freedom or you don't.

When is enough going to be ENOUGH?!

Слава Україна!

The clocks stopped at one seventeen. There was a long shear of bright light, then a series of low concussions. By day the dead impaled on spikes along the road. I think it's October but I can't be sure. I haven't kept a calendar for five years. Each day is more gray than the one before. It is cold and growing colder as the world slowly dies. No animals have survived and all the crops are long gone. Soon all the trees in the world will fall. The roads are peopled by refugees towing carts and gangs carrying weapons, looking for fuel and food. Within a year there was fire on the ridges and deranged chanting. There has been cannibalism. Cannibalism is the great fear. Mostly I worry about food. Always food. Food and the cold and our shoes. Sometimes I tell the boy old stories of courage and justice - difficult as they are to remember. All I know is the child is my warrant and if he is not the word of God, then God never spoke. ~The Man, from Cormac McCarthy's "The Road" (Film.)

One

Valin Hess: So what shall we toast to, boys? I can blather on about “To health” or “To success,” but I’d like to do somethin’ a little less rote. Where you from, Brown Eyes?

Migs Mayfield: How ’bout a toast to Operation Cinder?

Hess: Now there’s a man who knows his history.

Mayfield: No, I don’t just know it. I lived it. I was in Burnin Konn.

Hess: Burnin Konn?

Mayfield: Mmm.

Hess: That was a hard day. I had to make many unpleasant decisions.

Mayfield: Yes, you did. Entire city gone in moments, along with everybody in it. We lost our whole division that day. Man, that was like 5-10,000 people.

Hess: Yep. All heroes of the Empire.

Mayfield: Yeah. And all dead.

Hess: Well, it’s a small sacrifice for the greater good, son.

Mayfield: Depends on who you ask, don’t you think?

Hess: [irritated] What you gettin’ at, trooper?

Mayfield: All those people, the ones who died, was it good for them? Hmm? Their families? The guys I served with? Civilians, those poor mud scuffers, died defending their homes, fighting for freedom. Was it good for them? 

Hess: But we’ve outlasted them, son. They’re eating themselves alive. The New Republic is in complete disarray, and we grow stronger. You see, with the rhydonium you’ve delivered, we can create havoc that’s gonna make Burnin Konn pale by comparison. And then they’re gonna turn to us once again. You see, boys, everybody thinks they want freedom, but what they really want is order. And when they realize that, they’re gonna welcome us back with open arms. Ah. To the Empire.

[Mayfield chuckles, then fires a blaster at Hess' chest, killing him instantly. He and Mando then shoot their way out of the mess hall] ~From The Mandalorian, Season 2, Ep. 7 "The Believer"

Left Behind Is A Lie (Rationalizing Themselves Into Revelation, 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, King James Version.

...

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

I saw this right before I went to the store.

Massive swarms of Crows in Tel Aviv...traditionally this is considered a sign of impending disaster.

Oops.

Well then, when I got home I also saw that Glenn Beck apparently thinks we're living in the End Times.

As I've said many times (especially lately) I pretty much believe the same thing. But I believe that it won't work out the way he thinks it will, at least not for him and his fellow "Believers" in the Right-Wing false religion. Jesus Christ wishes Republicans believed in Him as much as they did in Ayn Rand...and Ayn Rand got herself tossed off the fantail of the ship for *Checks Notes* Donald Trump.

But the Truth is a lot worse.

The true "god" of Christian Nationalism and Evangelicalism is (apparently) Baal.

And honestly, I believe the people who know that are gonna go public with it soon.

When, as abysmal as Trump's polling is, between 29% and 36% of Americans are just fine with all this garbage, with bullshit wars, the Epstein cult, rising cost of living and all that, why not??

What do they have to lose, really??

I'm not much of one for seeking after Signs And Wonders, but when it's just "What's on the News" that's a whole different matter.

"I didn't want to do it,'' he hears himself saying. "I didn't want to leave them behind.''

The void laughs at him. There are miles of empty air beneath his dangling feet. "You had no choice.''

"Yes I did! I didn't have to come here.'' He pauses. "I didn't have to do anything,'' he says quietly, and inhales another lungful of death. "It was all automatic. Maybe it was inevitable.''

"-- Evitable,'' echoes the distant horizon. Something dark and angular skims across the stars, like an echo of extinct pterosaurs. Turbofans whirring within its belly, the F-117A hunts on: patrolling to keep at bay the ancient evil, unaware that the battle is already lost. "Your family could still be alive, you know.''

He looks up. "They could?'' Andrea? Jason? "Alive?''

The void laughs again, unfriendly: "There is life eternal within the eater of souls. Nobody is ever forgotten or allowed to rest in peace. They populate the simulation spaces of its mind, exploring all the possible alternative endings to their life. There is a fate worse than death, you know.'' 

~From A Colder War, a novella by Charles Stross.

Does anybody actually find it likely that if their churches were suddenly festooned with golden idols to Baal and Mammon that all these Evangelicals...especially rich white Evangelicals...would suddenly have a literal "Come To Jesus" moment and tear that shit down and start over??

It's not just that a third of America openly hates the Lord's Word and anybody who actually preaches it. It's that those fucking people are the ones most loudly claiming to be the "Believers."

I'd ask that ya'll stop and think about that for a second.

A third of America would pretty much worship actual named Biblical-grade Demons to "Own The Libs" (Whatever that even means.)

I mean, if we're being honest there's very little that I've heard from James Talarico that doesn't mesh fairly well with what I was taught as a conservative mainstream Baptist back in the day and I *Was* pretty Evangelical or Fundamentalist-adjacent.

Not that I think either of those words even means the same things now as they did 40 years ago.

And it's not just that I think these fucking people have forgotten that. I think they wanted to.

More than that, I think it was pretty deliberate. I honestly think a lot of this bullshit is deliberate stupidity, people acting dumb so they can manipulate others and think they'll get what they want.

I'm not sure if it's hubris or yes, just plain stupidity but I think these assholes think they're going to try to lie to and manipulate God.

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.

I think at least a lot of them think they've found a new "Savior" in Donald Trump.

I not only don't think any of this works that way, I think Trump is (bare minimum) a test-run for the Antichrist of Revelation. Certainly he is Antichrist...although I doubt he is the Beast of Revelations (AKA The Antichrist) in the flesh.

Shit, maybe I just think God deserves a better class of enemies?

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 think a lot of these people have fallen a pretty damned long way since I was being taught this stuff as a young person.

I think when, fundamentally, the basis of these fucking people's beliefs could be summed up as "Anything BUT Love Thy Neighbor" Republicans have a lot of nerve calling anybody else crazy.

I think these fucking people have brought God's judgment on this country.

Not "Are bringing it." No, have already.

Perhaps worse, I think they bumble-fucked their way into doing it. I think they had a plan...it may have been a pretty half-baked plain, but it was a plan...to do this in such a way that it might hit other people harder than it hit them.

But then I think they screwed that up, because they couldn't remember how to talk to other people anymore or stop mainlining Frank Miller's "300" long enough to remember not even everybody on their own side is impressed with that crap.

They fucked it up, saw that they fucked it up, and decided to just roll with it anyway.

And it's a safe bet...has been one for years...that a third of America will look at that and either just shrug or actively end up cheering for whatever happens.

In case you wonder why I think these monsters would gladly worship demons.

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

You either believe in your own right to have a life or you don't.

It's going to come down to a fight if you want to keep one or both.

And keep in mind, as I've been saying for almost six years now, all that "Left Behind" crap is a lie.

We're going to have to face this shit, and fix it, ourselves.

Слава Україна!

I put no stock in religion. By the word religion, I've seen the lunacy of fanatics of every denomination be called the "Will of God". I've seen too much religion in the eyes of too many murderers. Holiness is in right action and courage on behalf of those who cannot defend themselves. And goodness - what God desires - [pointing at his head then heart] is here and here. And what you decide to do every day, you will be a good man...or not. ~The Hospitaler, from the film Kingdom Of Heaven.

Prequel

And the fifth angel sounded, and I saw a star fall from heaven unto the earth: and to him was given the key of the bottomless pit.

And he opened the bottomless pit; and there arose a smoke out of the pit, as the smoke of a great furnace; and the sun and the air were darkened by reason of the smoke of the pit.

And there came out of the smoke locusts upon the earth: and unto them was given power, as the scorpions of the earth have power.

And it was commanded them that they should not hurt the grass of the earth, neither any green thing, neither any tree; but only those men which have not the seal of God in their foreheads.

And to them it was given that they should not kill them, but that they should be tormented five months: and their torment was as the torment of a scorpion, when he strikes a man.

And in those days shall men seek death, and shall not find it; and shall desire to die, and death shall flee from them.

And the shapes of the locusts were like unto horses prepared unto battle; and on their heads were as it were crowns like gold, and their faces were as the faces of men.

And they had hair as the hair of women, and their teeth were as the teeth of lions.

And they had breastplates, as it were breastplates of iron; and the sound of their wings was as the sound of chariots of many horses running to battle.

And they had tails like unto scorpions, and there were stings in their tails: and their power was to hurt men five months.

And they had a king over them, which is the angel of the bottomless pit, whose name in the Hebrew tongue is Abaddon, but in the Greek tongue hath his name Apollyon.

One woe is past; and, behold, there come two woes more hereafter.

And the sixth angel sounded, and I heard a voice from the four horns of the golden altar which is before God,

Saying to the sixth angel which had the trumpet, Loose the four angels which are bound in the great river Euphrates.

And the four angels were loosed, which were prepared for an hour, and a day, and a month, and a year, for to slay the third part of men.

And the number of the army of the horsemen were two hundred thousand thousand: and I heard the number of them.

And thus I saw the horses in the vision, and them that sat on them, having breastplates of fire, and of jacinth, and brimstone: and the heads of the horses were as the heads of lions; and out of their mouths issued fire and smoke and brimstone.

By these three was the third part of men killed, by the fire, and by the smoke, and by the brimstone, which issued out of their mouths.

For their power is in their mouth, and in their tails: for their tails were like unto serpents, and had heads, and with them they do hurt.

And the rest of the men which were not killed by these plagues yet repented not of the works of their hands, that they should not worship devils, and idols of gold, and silver, and brass, and stone, and of wood: which neither can see, nor hear, nor walk:

Neither repented they of their murders, nor of their sorceries, nor of their fornication, nor of their thefts. ~Revelation 9, King James Version.