The Killing Fields (American Revelation XXII, One.)

Proclaim ye this among the Gentiles; Prepare war, wake up the mighty men, let all the men of war draw near; let them come up: Beat your plowshares into swords and your pruning-hooks into spears: let the weak say, I am strong. Assemble yourselves, and come, all ye heathen, and gather yourselves together round about: thither cause thy mighty ones to come down, O Lord. Let the heathen be wakened, and come up to the valley of Jehoshaphat: for there will I sit to judge all the heathen round about. Put ye in the sickle, for the harvest is ripe: come, get you down; for the press is full, the fats overflow; for their wickedness is great. Multitudes, multitudes in the valley of decision: for the day of the Lord is near in the valley of decision. ~Joel 3:9-14

...

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.)

I saw this earlier this morning.

So apparently the WHCD shooter was a conservative Calvinist from a group that thinks the CREC (Which Doug Wilson founded and Pete Keg-Breath belongs to) is too "Liberal."

I Googled the church off of what Kathryn Brightbill posted and looked at the website.

It's all bog-standard murderous Calvinist theology AKA the Prosperity Gospel without the gold-plated bullshit and Paula White's acting-out. Or, if you prefer, it's Apartheid South Africa without the Nation-State.

And Imma say it again, and you can like it or lump it: 

There is a deep vein of accelerationist brain-fried Crazy in American religion that Republicans and Trump keep thinking they can play totally insincere fuck-fuck games with forever and then these people will just go off and be weird on their own or go the fuck home and beat their wives after voting Republican.

If you haven't learned from, oh, call it the last 60+ years of Republican history, learn that it never works out that way, ever.

And it's not just these Calvinists, there's Black Hebrew Israelites and weird Mormons and Pentecostal end times cults that are basically a dime a dozen in this country's religious landscape and they all, at least at first, thought Trump was gonna turn things their way.

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

People like Mike Davis that think they're goat-eager to go after the "Left" (which in real terms isn't even much of a thing in this country relative to the rest of the world) are gonna be really, and I mean really fuckin' surprised when they get tarred-and-feathered as "Leftists" themselves by people who think the only "real" form of leadership is some kind of bullshit Theocracy led explicitly by their Pastor or some insane "Prophet."

Your basic vapid non-denominational Evangelicals, Pentecostals or Southern Baptists get bushwhacked by these nuts all the time and all too often, fail to learn anything and simply retreat to more familiar surroundings. But a lot of people that I've seen this happen to end up losing their religion eventually, if not as a direct result of this type of shit.

It's getting worse and far more deadly than that nowadays. Funny how every time somebody goes after Trump it's some weird conservative or religious extremist.

The thing that worries me, though, is that a hell of a lot of the straight-up MAGA-as-a-religion types will eventually become disenchanted with Trump and all that and grab onto this type of shit as a replacement. This is what my partner's cousins were like and why she had to stop staying with them for work. Why? They're mean, meanness is a hell of a drug. They will eventually want bigger hits of it. Trump plays at sadism, he "merely" enjoys being mean and petty to people. Not to downplay that, but for him, cruelty is a function of his narcissism, of a disordered personality. It's not actually his religion.

And I don't think it's Keg-Breath's either, as much as he plays at it.

Yeah I saw those photos of him at the correspondent's dinner, looking like he was drunk and/or had no idea what the fuck was going on, either.

People like him are religious because it feeds their narcissism and because they want their sins forgiven or justified, Sin being the point.

For a lot of these idiots it's all just macho bullshit. The trouble is there's genuine dangerous fanatics out there. A lot of the time it's just one or two hiding in regular churches, but groups like Doug Wilson's CREC take that a step further, seeking to make That Guy the entire congregation. 

(The trouble with that is a lot of the people drawn to this stuff, and especially the loud and performative ones are in fact, just plain old losers.)

No Western nation is as religion-soaked as ours, where nine out of ten of us love God and are loved by Him in return. That mutual passion centers our society and demands some understanding, if our doom-eager society is to be understood at all. ~Harold Bloom, The American Religion. (Quoted from Under The Banner Of Heaven by Jon Krakauer.)

I've met people that wanted that kind of blood-soaked Fundamentalist crap to be their entire religion. I served with a couple of people who were like that, or who turned out to be later.

A lot of the time, those people, the really dangerous ones? They're quiet as fuck about it, or at least keep their views out of the public eye...until they're not and then they don't.

Sometimes they pop off and just train-wreck a Facebook group or some other community, other times they kill people. I've written about this.

Sometimes these nuts are as crazy and dangerous as any Radical Islamist, basically like members of Al Qaeda or the Taliban...but "Christian."

And it will get worse.

Yuri Orlov: [At Andrei's presidential compound showing the Liberian president a silver revolver pistol] The Glock is interesting. It is made of a polymer composite. Many of my clients feel that they can go through airport security without seeing a lot of bells and whistles. Personally, I do not recommend that. [Andrei chuckles glancing over at a guard flirting with a female staffer] On the other hand, if you are looking for traditional wheel gun, there is no substitute for six inches of muzzle energy of 357 mag I mean, of course, it will never jam. [Andrei shoots the guard flirting with the female staffer] WHY DID YOU DO THAT?!

Andrei Baptiste Sr.: [Aims gun at Yuri] WHAT DID YOU SAY?!

Yuri Orlov: Now, you gonna have to buy it! IT IS A USED GUN! How can I sell a used gun? [Takes pistol from Andrei with his son and bodyguards all aiming rifles at an entirely still business-focused Yuri]

Andrei Baptiste Sr.: A "used gun"? A "used gun"?! [Chuckles] That's a good one. You know? There is no discipline with the youth today. I tried to set an example, but it is difficult huh? Personally, I blame MTV. [Smiles and Yuri nods in acknowledgment] A "used gun"? [Chuckles heartily, gets up and extends hand for handshake] I think you and I, we can do business. ~From the film Lord Of War.

I've been warning people about this for awhile.

And the thing is, a combination of a massive lack of discernment among American Evangelicals and Trump's basic ideal of "No Enemies To The Right" makes it all but inevitable that this shit is gonna get jacked by far worse people than we have now.

And Republicans? They'd rather play games with this bullshit than anything else, some of them anyway.

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

Some of these fucking people's ideal world is the Killing Fields of Khmer Rouge Cambodia, but with a mall, and maybe a church. I first had this realization and wrote about it at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic.

And a lot of the people like that? They're these religious nuts.

Think about that.

You either believe in freedom or you don't.

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

Слава Україна!

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

Prequel

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. ~Revelation 6:3-4

Left Behind (American Revelation XXII, Prequel.)

Theo: Those guys in the suits, I don't know who they are.

Hans Gruber: That's the FBI. They're ordering the others to cut the building's power. Regular as clockwork.

Theo: [grins in realization] Or a time lock.

Hans Gruber: Precisely. The circuits that can't be cut are cut automatically in response to a terrorist incident. You asked for miracles, Theo. I give you the F...B...I...

~From the film Die Hard.

...

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.

So apparently, there was another assassination attempt on Trump last night at the White House correspondents dinner. Which, it seems weird to me that Trump even wanted to go to it, given that one of the regular activities at such things is making fun of the President. I guess they had some bullshit psychic instead and they never even got to perform.

I'm not gonna say one way or another on here whether I think it was staged or not, but to me it looks a little suspicious.

I feel like America is being run by some combination of the Soviets from the earlier Tom Clancy novels and the FBI and the media as portrayed in Die Hard and a bunch of other 1980's movies, a combination of sub-literate goons and vapid media consultants seem to be making our national decisions.

Now, If I had to cast the Iranians?

They're Hans Gruber, or some other villain of the era played by Alan Rickman...except that his plan is working because there's no John McClain to monkey-wrench it all up.

Like, okay, I could be wrong but I can't recall any attempted or successful violence against government officials in my lifetime where "Somebody tried to kill OUR President" (I'm gonna use the MAGA Emphasis here) was followed up immediately with "We need a new ballroom!"

One of these things is not like the other one, it's as simple as that.

I am Andrew Ryan, and I'm here to ask you a question. Is a man not entitled to the sweat of his brow? "No," says the man in Washington, "it belongs to the poor." "No," says the man in the Vatican, "it belongs to God." "No," says the man in Moscow, "it belongs to everyone." I rejected those answers; instead, I chose something different. I chose the impossible. I chose... Rapture. A city where the artist would not fear the censor; where the scientist would not be bound by petty morality; where the great would not be constrained by the small! And with the sweat of your brow, Rapture can become your city as well. ~Andrew Ryan, Bioshock

Seriously, among other things, even if a ballroom were somehow a fortress, or perhaps a Fuhrer-bunker if you will, with the implication being that no President would ever leave such a place again...well, I can't imagine anybody (not even Trump, to be honest) wanting to live like that.

I mean what's even the damn point?

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.

I'm tired of this crap, and at this point it baffles me that even Republicans wanna live like this because I used to be a Republican and this shit isn't what I was taught.

Except of course all the Ballroom bullshit makes sense if you consider it in the context of he wants to turn it into another weird focus for the kind of parties he has at Mar-A-Lago which look for all the world like something stuck between Victorian galas and Baal-cult rituals in their own right at least half the goddamned time, not to mention using the shit as a place to cruise for underage ass and maybe it's just me but the whole idea seems even worse now. I believe I was on record from the jump saying that shit was pretty damned bad to start with. Like, there's something wrong with all this bullshit and you shouldn't need some person like me to tell you that. Do we really, as a culture, as a nation, have such shitty survival instincts as this??

(Don't answer that.)

Like Okay, again, I get it, Empire, White Supremacy blah blah blah. As long as the "Meme" survives, a hell of a lot of these idiots don't care. I've said myself that These Fucking People would go be the slaves if that's what it took to preserve the ideal of Slavery.

My question thus, "Conservatives" is; Okay, if you're dead or enslaved what good does the preservation of some bullshit social meme that most of the world rejects in the first place do you??

Yes also I get it ideas are more important than people Something Something drawing dicks on the walls of Plato's Cave blah blah blah.

It's all the more asinine if you think about it, which I suppose is why a lot of you don't.

And the thing that scares me is you can see America crumbling in the fucking headlines, because this happened and, aside from people like me who write about stuff, half the country barely noticed, and most of the people upset about this (the ones that are real people anyway) are the same people that bark when Trump says bark anyway!

I've said before that I think all this ridiculous shit is going to cause America to go the way of the Soviet Union. Among other things I don't think the psyche of the American Idiot is going to deal well with the loss of American hegemony as the rest of the world has gotten tired of waiting for the American voters to get their heads out of their asses.

Oh sure, America or whatever agglomerations of states have the most capital and industry or have worked to maintain international goodwill will still be important when we get this resolved, in the same way that the King of England is still technically the ruler of a sizeable chunk of the Earth's surface or that Vladimir Putin wields considerable influence in Post-Soviet states...but if I had to guess we'll be even less well-liked.

Because as regards American Revelation...that shit is specific to us. The whole world isn't going to be "Wondering after the beast" in our particular context. Hell, a big-ass chunk of America is done with all this bullshit!

And if Republicans don't get out of the way when that time comes (and keep in mind that's coming soon) they're (rightly) going to get left behind....and yeah, this is why I think America will probably break up Soviet style, because Republicans will just break off a piece and no one else will care. They'll keep tryin to discriminate against somebody or hold back change or progress for anybody that'll put up with that bullshit. They'd rather worship the Image Of The Beast than accept that all people are created equal before the God they claim to so fanatically believe in.

You either believe in freedom or you don't.

Слава Україна!

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

Last Post

Man does not weave this web of life. He is merely a strand of it. Whatever he does to the web, he does to himself. ~Chief Seattle.

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 (Image Of The Beast, Ten.)

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.

...

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.

...

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

I'm starting to think, at this point, that there's a non-zero chance a hell of a lot of These Fucking People might well fall for and bow to the Image Of The Beast because at this point they're too stupid to know what Christ, Christianity, or [Christian] conservatism even fuckin' look like at all let alone when done properly. I mean, fuckin' seriously??

You think people who can't be bothered to put a sign for the "Gulf Of America" in the right place are gonna know or care that Paula White's acting out could be in the service of Baal or the Great Pumpkin for all we know and has inherently not a damn thing at all to do with Christ or Christianity??

Do you really think people who can't be bothered to look where they're going with their Monster Truck, ya know, give a fuck about anyone or anything else??

Was the driver's name by any chance "Beef Supreme??"

Also what the fuck is wrong with Florida in particular??

Now, my Mom, my Partner and I have all at different times said since *Checks Notes* 2006 that it seems like way the fuck too many people have their brains turned off, but this shit is ridiculous.

What, exactly, are people doing with that space between their ears at this point?? Renting it out??

And if so, for what??

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

Believe it or not, there's a catch with stuff like Freedom in the American context, in the way our system is designed. You have to be smart enough to know what the fuck it is!

As I've said before I used to be a conservative Baptist. The whole idea of that denomination as I was taught it was that you have to accept Salvation freely, because you want to, which means you have to know what it is! And cuz there's a doctrine called the Priesthood Of All Believers, anyone can share the Gospel, read, study, and all that and *Checks Notes Again* It helps to actually know what you're talking about if you're going to do this! 

In that kind of a context I fail to see at all how Paula White crawling on the floor does anything but try and call unnecessary attention to herself. It's sure as hell not teaching anybody anything except how to act like a fool.

When is enough going to be enough with all this stupid bullshit?? We gotta stop putting up with stupidity, America, especially demonstrative stupidity! 

I don't give a damn.

You either believe in freedom or you don't, and I say that...like I said before...in the context of somebody who was taught that knowing and believing something in the correct way could well mean the difference between going to Heaven or going to Hell.

Passionate belief in wrong is still, in point of fact, wrong.

Remember that, it's going to be on the test later.

Слава Україна!

Some say finding God is a glorious thing. They're wrong. It's dangerous. You spend your whole life in a world of men. But when you finally see his power, his greatness, other men fall out of view. Because you're so focused on him, you can barely see them from the corners of your eyes. You lose sight of them. 

~Augustus Hill, from the HBO series Oz, S1.E3 "God's Chillin'."

Nine

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.

Feeding The Beast (Image Of The Beast, Nine.)

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.

...

[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."

I want you to stop and think about one verse in particular, Revelation 13:3: "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 consider that level of adulation probably still wouldn't placate Trump's endless narcissism or salve his infinite ego.

A problem, this is.

I can't even talk the way these fucking people talk anymore; Or maybe I just don't want to.

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 it's getting worse.

One of the main reasons it's getting worse is people like this dude, "Pastor" Doug Wilson. He evidently has no religious education, no credentials other than having been a worship director in his Dad's church and he was apparently kicked out from that. Judging from the amount of utterly base misogyny this freak spews, there was likely a woman somewhere in the decision-making chain that got him shit-canned and he blames her rather than his own actions.

Seriously, fuck this guy. He's not a preacher, just a religious narcissist with a bunch of feeble-minded followers, and nothing deserving of even basic respect.

This is the dude that has his followers ritualistically beat their wives after they watch weird porn and shit. I remember telling my partner about this crap back in August and it about made both of us sick. 

I can't even imagine hurting her, nor that she wouldn't immediately swing back, let alone having (or even having the time to have) this damn much of an obsession with male "authority."

Just so we're clear on things I was a conservative Christian Republican in the 1990's. I'm not unfamiliar with the basics of Christian Nationalism although I never signed onto that shit myself, as a conservative, I never wanted to.

That's not what this is. This is the creepy obsessions of some old misogynistic asshole, sanctified.

For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but after their own lusts shall they heap to themselves teachers, having itching ears. ~2 Timothy 4:3

The thing is, I believed in (still do!) America and the Constitution as written. You don't have to like it, but that's as close to Holy Writ as American culture and society will generally allow.

Likewise I believed in the Bible, at the time in a considerably more literal and far less agnostic or historical or theological way than I do now.

And nowhere in that text does it say anything that backs up the weird, very modern politicized bullshit that comes out of Doug Wilson's mouth.

He doesn't believe in Christ, he believes in hierarchy and slavery, and he'd worship and preach for Demons if he thought that's who'd get it for him.

That's the whole bit with Putin and Trump and all this far-right shit; "Conservatives" act like a bunch of criminals all invested in these assholes for no better reason than they think that's "Who can get it for 'em."

It never works out that way, there's no honor among thieves and by the time these fucking guys realize that they've been scammed their money and the dude that took it are usually gone.

I have a feeling that in the case of Trump in particular all that's going to be particularly egregious, America in general and Republicans in particular are gonna end up spending decades clawing back not only the money but the credibility that this dude stole, if our country as a united entity even survives this fucking bullshit.

And I'm gonna be honest, especially in the case of Republicans like Lindsey Graham, I have not the least goddamned bit of sympathy. 

Fuck these people.

Lindsey Graham in particular could have come out of the closet a decade ago, governed accordingly since, while still being a Republican, and I don't think anybody but a few homophobic religious nuts and gay people who won't vote for him anyway would've even cared.

These fucking people have let Trump eat their political movement, their entire philosophy, and hell, he's eaten up who they were as people! What's worse is Trump is still not done and a whole bunch of these narcissistic idiot Billionaires he's enabled are apparently even worse.

If you can't see the Image Of The Beast in the world people like Alex Karp want to build, you ain't looking.

You either believe in freedom or you don't, and if you wanna stop this bullshit, it's going to come down to a fight.

Слава Україна!

Some say finding God is a glorious thing. They're wrong. It's dangerous. You spend your whole life in a world of men. But when you finally see his power, his greatness, other men fall out of view. Because you're so focused on him, you can barely see them from the corners of your eyes. You lose sight of them. 

~Augustus Hill, from the HBO series Oz, S1.E3 "God's Chillin'."

Eight

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

Seven Days? (Image Of The Beast, Eight.)

Some say finding God is a glorious thing. They're wrong. It's dangerous. You spend your whole life in a world of men. But when you finally see his power, his greatness, other men fall out of view. Because you're so focused on him, you can barely see them from the corners of your eyes. You lose sight of them. 

~Augustus Hill, from the HBO series Oz, S1.E3 "God's Chillin'."

...

Il Duce: You people have been chosen to reveal our existence to the world. You will witness what happens here today, and you will tell of it later. All eyes to the front. [Gently to a woman in front with her eyes turned down] You must watch dear. It'll all be over soon.

Connor: Now you will receive us.

Murphy: We do not ask for your poor, or your hungry.

Connor: We do not want your tired and sick.

Murphy: It is your corrupt we claim.

Connor: It is your evil that will be sought by us.

Murphy: With every breath, we shall hunt them down.

Connor: Each day we will spill their blood, 'til it rains down from the skies.

Murphy: Do not kill. Do not rape. Do not steal. These are principles which every man of every faith can embrace.

Connor: These are not polite suggestions. These are codes of behavior, and those of you that ignore them will pay the dearest cost.

Murphy: There are varying degrees of evil. We urge you lesser forms of filth, not to push the bounds and cross over, into true corruption, into our domain.

Connor: For if you do, one day you will look behind you and you will see we three, and on that day you will reap it!

Murphy: And we will send you to whatever god you wish.

[Murphy and Conner join II Duce behind Yakavetta]

Connor, Murphy and Il Duce: And shepherds we shall be, for Thee, my Lord, for Thee. Power hath descended forth from Thy hand, that our feet may swiftly carry out Thy command. So we shall flow a river forth to Thee, and teeming with souls shall it ever be.

Il Duce: Ĭn nōmine Pătris …

Connor: [Showing "veritas" tattooed on left hand] … ĕt Fīliī …

Murphy: [Showing "aequitas" tattooed on right hand] … ĕt Spīritūs Sānctī.

[They execute Yakavetta] 

~From the film The Boondock Saints.

I saw this when I woke up.

Russell Brand admitting to having sex with a teenage girl. (And how fucked up is that? I don't give a damn if it's "legal" under UK Age-Of-Consent laws. Shit's still wrong.)

The sick part is, that's not even what caught my eye; What did was the "Author of 'How to become a Christian in 7 days.'"

#1 If Russell Brand was actually a Believer (especially the kind he's claiming to be) he would have come to understand that what he did was wrong on multiple fronts. 

I mean, you can Start with that he himself said "Forced" and that she had to physically defend herself to make him stop. I think that's sexual assault at a minimum, but more to the point it's not just illegal, it's morally wrong. No means No.

#2 let's look at this from the perspective of the kind of Christian that Brand is trying to tout himself as: The girl in question was not his wife, or even Engaged or having intention to be. Biblically, that's Fornication, which is a Sin. He's all but bragging about it.

#3 He's not sorry, there's no repentance, not even the perfunctory "I'm forgiven, thank you Jesus" kind of garbage that Evangelicals in these kinds of circumstances are known for.

Mr. "How to Become a Christian in 7 days" isn't even mailing it in.

There is only one sin, only one. And that is theft. Every other sin is a variation of theft....When you kill a man, you steal a life. You steal his wife's right to a husband, rob his children of a father. When you tell a lie, you steal someone's right to the truth. When you cheat, you steal the right to fairness. ~Baba, from The Kite Runner.

I don't think These Fucking People are beating the allegations that they serve and worship Baal.

These idiots are all about "Insert Tab A into Slot B" or crossing legal T's and dotting legal I's, the "Jots and Tittles" that Jesus talked about, pretty much...but they ignore the deeper meanings and spiritual purposes and weightier matters of the Law because they don't care about any of that. They're not in this for a relationship with the divine, or even for Salvation from some real or imagined Damnation. No, that's not it! What they want is legalistic cover for their abuse, bullying, cheating and lying and the kind of fuck-fuck games that they play with each other.

In far too many cases, as Doug Wilson tells on himself here, their real "god" is some kind of secular politics or some sort of control or power in a very temporal and worldly fashion.

The religiosity just ends up being one big damned excuse.

I mean, Jesus literally warned about this shit! Multiple times, even! What more do you want!

And more than that, to take on Brand's premise directly, OK, 7 days?

As if it's "Instant Christian, just add water?"

According to what I was taught, one can have studied the Bible and this and that for 50 years and NOT be "Saved."

Or, one can have said the Sinner's Prayer five minutes ago and BE Saved.

Except as with most such things it's not quite that arbitrary or simple.

[Caprica-Cavil and Galactica-Cavil are in an airlock, about to be executed]

Caprica-Cavil: Is there a Resurrection Ship within range?

Galactica-Cavil: Yes, brother. But first we're gonna die in a vacuum.

Caprica-Cavil: There's a 170 foot long launch tube in front of us. We might die of our injuries before we get to the vacuum.

Galactica-Cavil: I don't like you.

Caprica-Cavil: I understand that.

Galactica-Cavil: Do you really believe it was a mistake to attack the humans?

Caprica-Cavil: Rather intensely, yes.

Galactica-Cavil: You know that when we download amongst the others your strange ideas will be shouted down.

Caprica-Cavil: Ideas always seem strange until you try them on, brother. We had a temper-tantrum in the form of a cataclysm because we wanted them to treasure us, the Ones, more than humanity. More than their own history and blood.

Galactica-Cavil: We didn't want to be loved. We wanted to be treated fairly.

Caprica-Cavil: We wanted to be held to a bosom. To be petted and perfumed and told we were the princes of the universe.

Galactica-Cavil: Yes, well if the humans were gone-

Caprica-Cavil: Our parents would mourn them. They'd love them more anyway.

Galactica-Cavil: I'm going to see to it that you get boxed. And then I'm going to prepare to wipe out humanity once and for all.

Caprica-Cavil: The anticipation is very unpleasant.

Galactica-Cavil: Yes.

[Caprica-Cavil offers his hand, Galactica-Cavil looks at it and accepts it. Galactica-Cavil closes his eyes while Caprica-Cavil keeps looking. They are then airlocked.]

~From Battlestar Galactica: The Plan

Jesus Himself talked about stuff like this a lot, the central issues here are belief and faith, of course.

The actual issue here is that Salvation...faith...will, in due course, become evident through action.

That part isn't negotiable. If you really have, or had, faith in God...any interpretation thereof...it's gonna leave a mark. It will affect how you conduct yourself! This is true of both me and my partner, and often doesn't work in our favor...because that's not how believing in stuff even works.

And Russell Brand is still the same fucking guy. He isn't walking the walk, he's not doing anything but talking. Dude is facing trial for rape in the UK and I'm here to tell you (having been there) everybody finds the Lord when they think they might go to jail.

It's performative bullshit, trying to get something, either to beat the charges or have an easier time while locked up.

And it's the same way with this "Trump reads the Bible" bullshit.

These idiots think if they can get somebody with authority or political power to spew their crap they'll magically compel more people to be like them, or "believe" as they do, or whatever.

These people are unconcerned with the whole person, they just want to see people have to act like they do and say the bullshit that they do and dishonestly fawn over them and kiss their ass.

They'd bow down to the Image Of The Beast if doing so got them what they think they want.

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.

Because it's about the brand, marketing, making sure their preachers get the offering plate full and not those "Woke" Catholics down the street. It's all crap, in the service of very worldly goals. They don't care about God or Jesus. These people would be godless Communists or even worship demons if it got them privilege. 

It's not about God or religion or the Law or right and wrong, they're just screwing for advantage, looking for the Death Star Plans to blow up the giant space station that they see as other guy's rationalizations. They don't even understand people really believe stuff.

[Darth Vader is choking a Rebel Officer]
Stormtrooper: [to Vader] The Death Star plans are not in the main computer.
Darth Vader: [to Rebel] Where are those transmissions you intercepted? What have you done with those plans?
Rebel Captain: [Gasping for breath] We intercepted no transmissions. This is a consular ship. We're on a diplomatic mission...
Darth Vader: If this is a consular ship, where is the Ambassador? [crushes the officer's neck, then throws him against the wall] Commander, tear this ship apart until you've found those plans, and bring me the passengers. I want them alive!

~From Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope.

These Fucking People, these MAGA "Nationalist" Idiocracy types think Liberals are Liberals because Barack Obama or Bill and Hillary Clinton or the Southern Poverty Law Center or some shit told them to be. I mean, same goes for their view of conservatives or Republicans but since these people, on the sole basis of numbers, dominate those philosophies and have taken them over...those of us who actually believed in conservatism for any reason besides using it as a cover for bigotry and sexual bullshit and stealing just get lumped in with the "Left" because we're too inconvenient to face and that's all there is to it.

It was quite the shock to my partner back in January or so, to find out that she's a "Liberal" simply by dint of education and having the kind of job where things have to be done a certain way and was thus seen by her relatives a somebody fit only to exploit and use, same as it was for me back in 2008 when conspiracy theories and racism crossed every line I ever imagined having. 

She didn't understand me at the time.

But now she does.

And this shit has only gotten worse since.

"Christian Nationalism" is actually neither Christian nor giving a fuck about the actual nation you already have.

If you want to believe in any of those things for real, or anything else, sooner or later you're going to have to fight for them.

Слава Україна!

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

Seven

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.