Hero (Death Star, Four.)

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.

...

[Luke is in Yoda's hut. Yoda is pacing back and forth. Luke is looking at him with a mixture of sadness and pity]

Yoda: That face, you make. Look I so old to young eyes?

Luke Skywalker: [hurriedly] No. Of course not.

Yoda: [chuckles good-naturedly] I do. Yes, I do. Hmm, sick, have I become. Old and weak. [points at Luke] When 900 years old, you reach, look as good, you will not, hmm? [laughs again, coughs, walks over to his bed]. Soon, will I rest, yes. Forever sleep. Earned it, I have. [climbs into his bed and Luke covers him up with his blanket]

Luke: Master Yoda, you can't die.

Yoda: Strong, am I, with The Force... but not that strong. Twilight is upon me, and soon, night must fall. That is the way of things... the way of The Force.

Luke: But I need your help. I've come back to complete the training.

Yoda: No more training, do you require. Already know you that which you need.

Luke: Then I am a Jedi.

Yoda: [coughs trying to speak] Not yet. One thing remains: Vader. You must...confront...Vader. Then, only then, a Jedi, will you be. And confront him, you will.

Luke: [visibly in agony] Master Yoda... is Darth Vader my father?

Yoda: [turns away from Luke] Rest, I need. Yes, rest.

Luke: [pleading] Yoda, I must know.

Yoda: Your father, he is. [Luke looks away] Told you, did he?

Luke: Yes.

Yoda: Unexpected, this is, and unfortunate.

Luke: [surprised] Unfortunate that I know the truth?

Yoda: No. [turns to face Luke] Unfortunate that you rushed to face him. That incomplete, was your training. That not ready for the burden, were you.

Luke: I'm sorry.

Yoda: [strains to speak as voice gradually grows softer] Remember, a Jedi's strength flows from The Force. But beware: anger, fear, aggression - the dark side, are they. Once you start down the dark path, forever will it dominate your destiny. [whispering now] Luke... Luke... do not... [struggles to speak] Do not underestimate the powers of the Emperor... or suffer your father's fate, you will. Luke... [Luke leans in close] when gone, am I, the last of the Jedi, will you be. Luke... the Force runs strong in your family. Pass on what you have learned. Luke... [with great effort] ...There... is... another... Sk... Sky... walker. [Yoda dies, then disappears into thin air]

~From Star Wars Episode VI, Return Of The Jedi.

...

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

I saw this a couple days ago.

The Trump administration wants to rename the USS Doris Miller (named for the first Black war hero of WWII) for Donald Trump.

Mind you, the ship hasn't even started construction, the keel hasn't been laid yet. It's like ten years out from launching, a couple more out from being commissioned, because repairs to the Gerald Ford have the supply line all fucked up it could be longer. If These Fucking People follow through with reversion to steam catapults it'll be more because that will entail a complete redesign of the ship from the keel up. It's a hell of a bet that subsequent administrations don't just change the name back, or change it to something else altogether.

It's a motherfucker of a bet that the ship gets built at all, which is a goddamned shame because it'd be a hell of a way to honor the contributions of African Americans to the US Navy.

And what the fuck has Donald Trump ever done for anybody that wasn't Donald Trump??

Of course, none of that matters to These Fucking People because current Republicans are nothing the fuck more than a claque of miserable bastards who want to shit all over other people for no better reason than they're miserable bastards.

No, people that are even a little happy about life do not go around with a look like that on their face.

And then they have the balls to wonder why the rest of us are getting sick of this crap, and I say that as a former Republican.

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.

My best friend in the Air Force was an African American convert (or "revert" in proper terminology) to Islam.

And, I mean, honestly he fit handily within the mainstream of 1990's African-American culture, with the possible exception (mostly given where he was from) that he didn't like rap music that had a lot of profanity or was about drugs or sexual excesses, so if he was around I'd have to put on MC Hammer or Snap! instead of Snoop Dog or Tupac. 

That wasn't that hard.

Needless to say, I've been to Dearborn many times (Not because of my buddy, who lived in Detroit, but for other reasons) and everybody I've ever met there spoke English just fine and seemed pretty well, er, "Assimilated" to American or Arab-American culture. I mean, if we're being serious Dearborn has a large Arab population and Arab American culture has been around long enough to be distinct because of *Checks Notes* Henry Ford.

Ford brought a bunch of Arabs from places like Lebanon and Syria over here...Christian and Muslim alike...because he felt they would counter the influence of the Jews.

They didn't, really, but that was his rationale.

Let's clear a few things up: 

#1 Current Republicans hate America. Get this through your head. It's not the Reagan/Bush GOP anymore.

#2 Republicans hate Regular People. I'm pretty sure if the Doris Miller hadn't been named after Dorie Miller, regular Sailor...but was instead named after Colin Powell, Republican Sellout, we wouldn't be having this discussion at all. It's not just Blackness that's the issue, it's social class, too.

#3 Republicans think Rich People in general...and Billionaires in particular...are the real heroes here. 

The only reason they don't call Elon Musk "god" is because that would offend Trump who thinks that's his bit.

They've been this way since Texas oil millionaires became a thing and Ayn Rand pretty much came right out and said it in Atlas Shrugged, written in *Checks Notes* 1957.

#4 Republicans think you're stupid...and they'd like you or especially your kids to get worse.

#5 And this is a big one. Republicans hate the future, that's why they're kicking it into overdrive trying to trash America before they lose the midterms.

And connected to that is #6 Republicans hate kids. Why? Because Bro podcasts aside, there are damned few kids out there that are good little Nazi Youth like Republicans want.

And they mad about it.

I don't think that's gonna work out the way they think it will, but then my kid just put a sticker on her laptop that said "Keep the Immigrants, Deport the Fascists."

And she posted it on Facebook.

I think the kids are gonna be alright, or at least the ones who don't buy into all this current "Conservative" horseshit will be.

What Paul doesn't realize is, it'll be his kids that have to ask AI how to spell things, 'cause people like him only value education (or anything else) if they're the only ones who get to have any of it.

Now this was the sin of your sister Sodom: She and her daughters were arrogant, overfed and unconcerned; they did not help the poor and needy. They were haughty and did detestable things before me. Therefore I did away with them as you have seen. ~Ezekiel 16:49-50 (NIV)

And since that's not the case and most people who aren't CHUDs HATE AI, it's almost certain that These Fucking People will not mysteriously start valuing education.

In fact they're the ones who seem to want AI to do increasing amounts of their thinking for them.

Freedom is the freedom to say that two plus two make four. If that is granted, all else follows. ~George Orwell, 1984.

My kid already reads actual books. 

My partner wouldn't allow anything less. 

Fuck you, bro.

Like I said, I think a hell of a lot of the kids are gonna be alright.

You have to be an adult to sell out every damn thing you are for this current "Republican" crap.

And I don't feel sorry for anybody who does that, because if ya'll that fuckin' stupid you deserve what you're gonna get.

I've been saying it since November of 2024: FAFO is the only medication that will cure a lot of These Fucking People.

But of course, I think a lot of these sons of bitches, even having brought the wrath of GOD on this country, would try to deny even that. Yes, just like they were in denial about COVID-19.

Politics is a hell of a drug, or something.

And some of these people, I don't give a damn, they're like motherfucking crackheads from back in the day. I mean, it seems like absolutely everything I hear about this whole Natalie Harp thing gets even weirder and more disgusting.

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

There's something going on there, and it must be pretty damn far outside the realm of "Normal" or even tolerably abnormal relationships or sexuality or these assholes wouldn't be freaking out that it's in the news.

It's starting to show just how deviant this whole mess is, and honestly always has been. I've been trying to tell people how fucked up this bullshit was for what, eleven years now? 

And people are just catching on?

That's willful stupidity, in my opinion.

Like I said last night, I think that as the consequences of Trump's and These Fucking People's own actions continue to pile up and both events and the narrative spiral further and further out of their control...especially if the midterms turn out as bad as they look like they will for Republicans and if Trump thinks he's gonna be Impeached and go to prison? Yeah, you bet; The motherfucker's gonna "Find The Lord."

Especially with Bunny Boiler nut Nastily Harp whispering poison into his ear the whole time. My ex-wife is a Pentecostal religious nut with a personality disorder. I'm too damn familiar with the type.

She will try to convert Trump to *Whatever* simply as a matter of course.

I'm almost afraid of how insufferable the Evangelicals are gonna be if it goes that way. Those fucking people will absolutely anoint Nastily Harp as their "Hero" just the same as they call Trump their "god."

And whatever deviant sexual bullshit (probably not a conventional sexual relationship, though) is going on there will be part and parcel of the whole fucking mess. Weird sexual bullshit is part of MAGA's freaking vibe at this point.

There is something. And no, I really don't want to know what it is.

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

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

America, you need better heroes.

Start with people like Doris Miller.

Or if you have to do the Republican thing there's always guys like USAF General Daniel "Chappie" James.

This ain't that hard.

So get after it.

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

[Luke's X-wing is in the trench, and Darth Vader is having trouble getting a lock]

Darth Vader: [Gets a lock] I have you now. [Suddenly, one of Vader's escorts is destroyed.] What?!

Han Solo: YEAH-HOO!!! [The Millennium Falcon arrives on the scene.]

Vader's Escort: Look out! [Vader's surviving escort panics and crashes into the trench, and Vader's TIE Advanced is flung out into space]

Han: You're all clear, kid! Now let's blow this thing and go home! [Luke shoots at the exhaust port and with the help of the Force scores two direct hits.]

Imperial Officer: Stand by.

[The Rebels and the Millennium Falcon fly back to Yavin 4]

Officer: Stand by.

[Just as the Death Star is about to fire, it explodes]

Han: Great shot, kid! That was one in a million!

Obi-Wan Kenobi: Remember... the Force will be with you, always.

~From Star Wars: Episode IV: A New Hope.

What's Even The Damn Point?? (Death Star, Three.)

[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.

...

When a foreigner resides among you in your land, do not mistreat them. The foreigner residing among you must be treated as your native-born. Love them as yourself, for you were foreigners in Egypt. I am the LORD your God.

~Leviticus 19:33-34, New International Version.

...

Pure religion and undefiled before God and the Father is this, To visit the fatherless and widows in their affliction, and to keep himself unspotted from the world. ~James 1:27

I saw this earlier today.

Seriously, fuck these motherfuckers and their false religion.

If you don't want to welcome the stranger...

If you think elderly women should starve to death...

If you don't value life?

Why are you a Christian??

What's even the fucking point??

What the hell are you doing it for??

Because if you're trying to just get money or political power or impress Man with your bullshit, I can think of a lot of ways to do so that won't automatically land your ass in Hell when you die. But this?? This will.

I don't know what Joel Webbon believes in but it ain't Jesus or the God of the Bible.

These are basic commandments not only of Christianity, but of almost any religion, and owing to the desert origins and Middle Eastern culture from which the Abrahamic faiths originated, this stuff is spelled out with rather more specificity in that particular context.

Because if you didn't offer hospitality to the stranger that showed up at your camp, pretty often, they died.

And at least at some point, that mattered to people.

Now?? 

These fucking people are trying to strip Christianity down to the studs like the Imperials trying to find the Death Star Plans in the Tantive IV, not to go back to some hyper-Christian First Century Ideal...but to get Christ OUT of Christianity so they can replace Him with themselves.

Now this was the sin of your sister Sodom: She and her daughters were arrogant, overfed and unconcerned; they did not help the poor and needy. They were haughty and did detestable things before me. Therefore I did away with them as you have seen. ~Ezekiel 16:49-50 (NIV)

This is NOT the Way.

The Truth matters.

It mattered enough to God, that whole cities were destroyed because of failure to follow these Laws.

There's a reason Evangelicals try to tell you Sodom and Gomorrah was all about Booty Stuff.

And both the fact of it and the reason is; They're lying.

What Jake Lang, Joel Webbon, Josh Hawley and Lorenzo Sewell are preaching isn't Jesus, it's a political movement. It has nothing to do with anything in terms of Christianity and if it did, why do these guys keep getting caught with male prostitutes??

But I remember being very specifically told when I was a kid that politics ain't what gets you into Heaven.

And in any case, These Fucking People are lying.

Question is: Why do people wanna be lied to??

To what end is it for them?? Narcissism?? That's how you go to Hell.

Freedom requires Truth.

It's all going to come out eventually anyway, and everyone will know;

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

Truth is the only floor most people have to stand on to push back against Power.

In terms of faith, that applies to spiritual truth also.

You either believe in freedom or you don't.

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

Make your choice.

Слава Україна!

[Princess Leia Organa is being brought to Darth Vader by a squad of Imperial stormtroopers. Darth Vader and Daine Jir arrive and stand in front of Leia and the stormtroopers]

Princess Leia Organa: Darth Vader. Only you could be so bold. The Imperial Senate will not sit still for this! When they hear you've attacked a diplomatic–

Vader: Don't act so surprised, Your Highness. You weren't on any mercy mission this time. Several transmissions were beamed to this ship by Rebel spies. I want to know what happened to the plans they sent you.

Leia: I don't know what you're talking about. I am a member of the Imperial Senate on a diplomatic mission to Alderaan.

Vader: You are part of the Rebel Alliance and a traitor! [to the stormtroopers] Take her away!

[The stormtroopers escort Leia off in one direction while Vader and Jir walk down the corridor in another direction]

Daine Jir: Holding her is dangerous. If word of this gets out, it could generate sympathy for the Rebellion and the Senate.

Vader: I have traced the Rebel spies to her. Now she is my only link to finding their secret base.

Daine Jir: She'll die before she'll tell you anything!

Vader: Leave that to me. In the meantime, send a distress signal. And then inform the Senate that all aboard were killed.

[Jir walks away to do his duty while Commander Praji arrives with some bad news for Darth Vader]

Commander Praji: Lord Vader, the battle station plans are not aboard this ship. And no transmissions were made. An escape pod was jettisoned during the fighting, but no life forms were aboard.

Vader: She must've hidden the plans in the escape pod. Send a detachment down to retrieve them and see to it personally, Commander. There will be no one to stop us this time!

Praji: Yes, sir.

~From Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope.

Two

Watch ye therefore: for ye know not when the master of the house comes, at evening, or at midnight, or at the cock-crowing, or in the morning, ~Mark 13:35

"Is" (Death Star, Two.)

 [The Mandalorian and Cara Dune board an Imperial Shuttle carrying Dr. Pershing]

Shuttle Pilot: Easy, pal. Okay? I’m not with him. We can work something out - [co-pilot kills him]

Cara Dune: Drop your weapon.

Shuttle Co-Pilot: [holds Dr Pershing hostage] No. No, you listen to me. This is a top-tier target of the New Republic. This is a clone engineer. And if they find out that he’s dead because of you, you’re gonna wish you never left Alderaan. [notices Dune's face] I saw the tear. You wanna know what else I saw? I saw your planet destroyed. I was on the Death Star.

Dune: Which one?

Shuttle Co-Pilot: You think you’re funny? Do you know how many millions were killed on those bases?

Dune: Drop your blaster.

Shuttle Co-Pilot: As the galaxy cheered?

Dune: [coldly] Last chance.

Shuttle Co-Pilot: Destroying your planet was a small price to pay to rid the galaxy of terrorism. [Dune shoots him in the face. Dr. Pershing reels from the close hit, clutching at his ear]

~The Mandalorian, Episode 2, Chapter Eight, "The Rescue."

...

Now this was the sin of your sister Sodom: She and her daughters were arrogant, overfed and unconcerned; they did not help the poor and needy. They were haughty and did detestable things before me. Therefore I did away with them as you have seen. ~Ezekiel 16:49-50 (NIV)

...

And so tomorrow, as we take the campaign South and West, as we learn that the struggles of the textile workers in Spartanburg are not so different than the plight of the dishwasher in Las Vegas; that the hopes of the little girl who goes to a crumbling school in Dillon are the same as the dreams of the boy who learns on the streets of L.A.; we will remember that there is something happening in America; that we are not as divided as our politics suggests; that we are one people, we are one nation. And, together, we will begin the next great chapter in the American story, with three words that will ring from coast to coast, from sea to shining sea: Yes, we can. ~Barack Obama

I keep seeing this shit.

Republicans losing their shit because somebody *Checks Notes* mentioned Trump diaper-changer Natalie Harp in public.

And then they started calling comments about little miss Nastily Harp "Attacks on women's rights."

Hold on, No. Fuck You.

First off, she has the right to do whatever she wants. As a public figure (She used to be on News Max) she doesn't have the right to do it without public opinion.

I support women's rights all day, my partner wouldn't tolerate anything less.

But I still get to have an opinion.

I mean for fuck's sake I remember when if somebody did a crime or had a scandal or even did something shady or that even a significant plurality of people regarded as immoral or questionable, it could be front page news!

Anybody remember the Monica Lewinsky scandal??

Second, how is anything of the sort "Liberated?" or emblematic of "Freedom?"

I'm very, very tired of the idea that freedom or rights depend on *Checks Notes Again* Proximity To Donald Trump.

And, I mean, I get it, hypocrisy.

Republicans love all that "Woke" shit, Women's Lib and Women's Rights, but only for themselves.

Yeah, as a former Republican and current non-Republican, fuck all that.

No one's rights or level of societal empathy should depend on Which Political Party They Belong To. Period.

Much less on all the other shit these hypocritical assholes want to attach to all that. No. Fuck You.

Again, you either believe in freedom or you don't.

I'm not a lawyer or a social worker, so I reserve the right to make value judgments. It's a basic component of morality and society. There has to be a baseline.

Sorry, I used to be a conservative Republican myself. Apparently what I was taught is different from what it is now.

And as a self-identified conservative Democrat, yes, I absolutely stand by what I said about this Natalie Harp thing. I don't give a fuck if Trump is having an affair. I think it's disgusting, and I wouldn't approve of that anymore than I approved of Bill Clinton and Monica Lewinsky (and for the same reason.) But it's his business. 

Personally, I don't need or want to know the details. Because Ew.

That said, Either your vows, your Word, is good or it isn't.

Fundamentally that's what shit like this is about, to me.

Period.

I know beliefs like that aren't popular anymore. I don't care.

And yes, I absolutely reserve the right to mock the shit out of Nancy Mace for the apparent start of her OnlyFans phase.

Again, whatever, it's not my thing. 

Personally, Ew.

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.

But I don't think even a newly-former member of Congress should be taking photos like that and I can remember when something like this would have been a scandal by itself.

She can do what she wants.

I have the right to be disgusted.

I have the right to not like you.

I have the right to not wanna see that.

I have the right to stand by what I said just the other day about Nancy Mace being willing to do literally whatever it takes to get herself in front of a camera, standards be damned.

And if you don't like my opinion, you have the right to say so, and I have the right to tell you to fuck off.

Or you have the right to just ignore it.

And I'll note that if AOC or one of the Obama daughters was taking pictures like that, the same people encouraging Nancy Mace or Nastily Harp would be flipping a bitch about it.

Actual morality doesn't give a fuck about your fake outrage and partisanship and doesn't approve of XYZ when you do it either.

As a 1990's Republican, I used up a lot of ink and electrons and time being against moral relativism and situational ethics.

I remember being pissed off for days about Democrats basically constantly trying to redefine the word "Is" so that if she wasn't under Slick Willie's podium like the streetwalker in Police Academy when Commandant Lassarde was giving his speech, nothing happened.

30-35 years later the biggest practitioners of such things are *Looks Around. Yep* Republicans.

Why is it OK when Republicans do it??

And that pisses me off.

You don't get to do the wrong, and then demand sympathy for having done it.

I'm so tired of this bullshit.

The question is, why aren't you??

Слава Україна!

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.

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, KJV.

Dark And Rolling Sea (Death Star, One.)

General Cassio Tagge: And until this battle station is fully operational, we are vulnerable. The Rebel Alliance is too well equipped. They're more dangerous than you realize!

Admiral Conan Antonio Motti: Dangerous to your star fleet, Commander. Not to this battle station.

Tagge: The Rebellion will continue to gain a support in the Imperial Senate–

Grand Moff Wilhuff Tarkin: [walking in with Darth Vader] The Imperial Senate will no longer be of any concern to us. I have just received word that the Emperor has dissolved the council permanently. The last remnants of the Old Republic have been swept away.

Tagge: That's impossible! How will the Emperor maintain control without the bureaucracy?

Tarkin: The regional governors now have direct control over their territories. Fear will keep the local systems in line. Fear of this battle station.

Tagge: And what of the Rebellion? If the Rebels have obtained a complete technical readout of this station, it is possible — however unlikely — that they might find a weakness and exploit it.

Vader: The plans you refer to will soon be back in our hands.

Motti: Any attack made by the Rebels against this station would be a useless gesture, no matter what technical data they've obtained. This station is now the ultimate power in the universe! I suggest we use it.

Vader: Don't be too proud of this technological terror you've constructed. The ability to destroy a planet, or even a whole system, is insignificant next to the power of the Force.

Motti: Don't try to frighten us with your sorcerer's ways, Lord Vader. [Vader walks toward Motti, then slowly raises his hand] Your sad devotion to that ancient religion has not helped you conjure up the stolen data tapes or given you clairvoyance enough to find the Rebels' hidden fortr–– [grasps his throat as if he is being choked]

Vader: I find your lack of faith disturbing.

Tarkin: Enough of this. Vader, release him!

Vader: As you wish. [drops his hand and Motti's head hits the table as he regains his breath]

Tarkin: This bickering is pointless. Lord Vader will provide us with the location of the Rebel fortress by the time this station is operational. We will then crush the Rebellion with one swift strike.

~From Star Wars: Episode IV: A New Hope.

...

Oh you set your course for the furthest shores

And you never once looked back
And the flag you flew was a pirate cross
On a field of velvet black
And those landsmen who you but lately knew
Were left stranded on the lea
Don't call on them when the storm clouds rise
On the dark and the rolling sea.

Oh I have no need of a chart or creed
You told your waiting crew
For the winds of chance, they will bear us straight
And you spoke as though you knew
So you paid no mind to the warning signs
As you gave your words so free
Don't change your tack when the timbers crack
On the dark and the rolling sea

Now the thunder rails in the great mainsails
And the stars desert the skies
And the rigging strains as the hands of rain
Reach down to wash your eyes
And your oarsmen stands with his knife in hand
And his eyes spell mutiny
Don't call my name when your ship goes down
On the dark and the rolling sea.
~Al Stewart,
On the dark and rolling sea.

For some reason I'm reminded of one Saturday back in January or February of 2007. It was a Saturday, my late best friend Carl was at my house, Saturday like I said...gaming day, and we were binge-watching Seasons 5 and 6 of Oz. We'd all worked the night before and were strung out on Monsters and junk food.

There's this episode in Season 5 of Oz where Robson, the profoundly unlikeable and unsympathetic Aryan sidekick, gets thrown out of the Brotherhood and very quickly ends up the "Prag" (Prison bitch) of Cutler, one of the other Aryans, who then proceeds to sexually assault him.

Right about the that scene, my partner (then ex-girlfriend/roomie) comes by in her pajamas, Ugg clogs and Carhartt jacket, taking a break from World Of Warcraft or writing or whatever she'd been doing, going outside for a cigarette.

Stops. 

Looks at the TV. "What ya watchin'??

Before we could react...

"OH MY GOD WHAT THE FUCK?!?!"

Now mind you, she was also Carl's ex-girlfriend, we all worked Third Shift at the casino together. We routinely joked about horrible shit at work. My partner was the Tough Bitch who at least once per shift joked about keeping my balls in her purse and/or threatened to feed some other dudes testicles to my Schnauzer.

Frozen. Whiter than a ghost. Look of absolute horror on her face like a scared little girl.

She finally recovered her wits and went outside to smoke her cigarette.

We shut the shit off and went outside to talk to her and make sure she was OK. We ended up calming her down and taking it a bit easy in the following gaming session for the sake of her nerves.

I don't feel at liberty to discuss why she reacted the way she did.

This story is not about my Partner.

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

I saw this last night when I got up for work.

According to Marjorie Taylor Greene, Trump & Co. are talking about using Nuclear Weapons in Iran.

If you don't see what the problem is with that, I'm not going to help you. You figure it out.

Regarding MTG, she has often struck me as a lot less insane than her public persona suggests, and since the whole Epstein files debacle she seems to have at least some genuine principles. Like my partner when she was 20, a lot of what MTG used to do was Kayfabe.

Not sure why, possibly political utility as much as anything else. At this point I'm not going to judge. We have bigger problems.

Let me tell you WHY:

I'm a United States Air Force bomb and missile wing veteran. 

I was an Air Force Security Policeman. None of this stuff is anything to fuck around with, use lightly, or honestly of any real tactical use on the battlefield unless things for one's own conventional forces are so fucked that there's nothing else left.

There's a reason there's been 50+ years of cuts to the arsenal.

Once used, the goddamn things create more trouble than they're worth, and that's where we lose even worse.

The thing about the Death Star is the Empire itself read it wrong, it was primarily a deterrent value. Once used? It wasn't that. Once used, too many peoples, planetary governments and so on, too many individual people...figured it was fight back or get blown up anyway.

And too much of their military doctrine was based on (as Rogue One made the comparison directly) the Star Wars version of the nuclear option. Anybody who sat through the Air Force's bullshit classes on Just War Theory can tell you this is actually a terrible idea.

You think the public in the Islamic world (where we have a fuck-ton of bases that require the goodwill of locals to exist much less operate) would stand for this??

That's a big hell No.

Not least because if you drop a nuke in Iran, aside from potentially millions of casualties there...unless you're specifically targeting places where features such as mountain ranges or valleys would contain most of the fallout? If the wind is blowing southerly or westward, fallout and radiation is going to affect either much of the rest of the Middle East, starting with Iraq, Kuwait, and Saudi Arabia but eventually reaching places like Jordan, Israel (A nuclear power we'd have thrown into an unstable situation by doing this!) and Egypt. Or, if the wind is blowing east, it hits fellow nuclear powers Pakistan, India and very likely China. Anything going north is going to hit Russia. That's casualties in those countries too.

Think about that, will ya??

Any government...not just in the Middle East but likely globally...that wouldn't condemn this shit in the strongest possible terms and summarily eject not only US forces but US interests very likely at gunpoint, is going to get overthrown. If you think (for example) the public in a place like Saudi Arabia (where Radical Islam really is a nonzero percentage of the population) is going to stand for mass murder of civilians in a fellow Muslim nation or the fact that the next few days might see ash falling like radioactive snow on the Rub-Al-Khali, Riyadh, and the holy places of Makkah and Medina??

Think about that for a second too.

No way it's just the Iranians shouting "Death To America" at that point.

Homie, if you think that's not gonna lead to even MBS picking up the phone with shaking hands as he hears the chants of the mobs in the streets and calling Trump and telling him to go fuck himself and to get our military and every other goddamn thing out of his country?? 

And being filmed and publicly seen doing so?

You're straight-up wrong. 

Same for every Emir and Sheikh and Sultan and Wazir and every other damned thing that has any business with us because just for one example...even if they totally supported anything their government did to the contrary (and militaries, being composed of people, seldom do) the Royal Saudi Armed Forces does not have enough guns and ammunition to prevent that whole country from being overthrown in such a case as the Kingdom siding with the Murderers Of Persia and expect the keys being handed to whatever Radical Islamist cleric promises to cornhole The Great Satan for Allah by next week.

We have never failed to forget that cultural win conditions are different over there. Martyrdom is glorified. People who want to live to lord their Racism and whatever Power they think they have over the [Racial Expletive Deleted] next door and who don't believe much of anything at all, really, are gonna have a hard time understanding a Billion+ people screaming for their blood in genuine rage at mass murder, environmental destruction, etc. And if they die?? So what? They're going to the highest levels of the Heavens for getting killed in the service of a righteous cause.

If America actually followed the Lord's Word instead of Babylon Bullshit and the Prosperity Gospel, we might understand that.

(Some of us who've been over there and actually listened to the people actually already do.)

Hospitaler: One may stare into the light, until one becomes the light. I've done it many times.

Balian of Ibelin: [throws a rock at a bush that catches fire by the spark] There's your religion. One spark, a creosote bush. There's your Moses. I did not hear it speak.

Hospitaler: That does not mean that there is no God. Do you love her?

Balian of Ibelin: Yes.

Hospitaler: The heart will mend. Your duty is to the people of the city. I go to pray.

Balian of Ibelin: For what?

Hospitaler: For the strength to endure what is to come.

Balian of Ibelin: And what is to come?

Hospitaler: The reckoning is to come for what was done one hundred years before. The Muslims will never forget. Nor should they.

[the Hospitaler slowly walks away as a second bush several yards from the burning one catches fire. The Hospitaler is nowhere to be seen in the clear and open desert]

~From the film Kingdom Of Heaven.

In a (maybe) gentler fashion, every other government in the world is likewise going to have to make that choice or get voted out (or worse) and of course some like China and Russia (or for that matter, France, Israel and the UK) will also be doing so under whatever Continuity Of Government options they have going as their nuclear forces will *Have* to be on alert as well.

If you think Israel's government doesn't fall next? You're wrong. Half the country hates Netanyahu.

The rest of the world will very rapidly blackball, blacklist and sanction us just like we're 1990's Serbia and even those who want to help will likely not be able to do anything for fear of the consequences to themselves.

We will very rapidly find ourselves alone in the dark with not much more than itchy trigger fingers and the creeping feeling that the whole rest of the damn world is pointing their guns at us.

And honestly? 

They're gonna have to.

Why?

Because we just crossed the line from untrustworthy asshole to homicidal (if not genocidal) maniac.

You think high gas prices suck??

Wait until there isn't any.

For the average person, things quickly escalate from expensive to unlivable.

Because if you think the people who didn't plan the Iran War correctly have planned for what the rest of the world will do about it if we murder innocent people with nuclear weapons?? LOL.

Every billionaire, every enabler, every government official, every member of the military finds themselves Persona Non Grata with the rest of the world, and very likely facing warrants for their arrest or that it's just plain open season on their ass.

If you think America itself doesn't come flying apart under the pressure of all this? Oops.

The United States Armed Forces is already falling apart due to incompetence and mismanagement.

The rest of the world snaps on us because we did something horrible, with all the division and fault lines in this country already?? America shatters, too.

Remember, Trump is a narcissist. He will demand that people choose HIM over their own families.

But he's not in the kind of position where that's a good move.

Now this was the sin of your sister Sodom: She and her daughters were arrogant, overfed and unconcerned; they did not help the poor and needy. They were haughty and did detestable things before me. Therefore I did away with them as you have seen. ~Ezekiel 16:49-50 (NIV)

Remember all the Whiny posts from "Conservatives" during COVID-19?? You think that was bad?? You ain't seen nothing yet.

Think what's happening to Russians in Moscow and St. Petersburg who don't understand why they can't put gas in their cars, just for a start.

Power grids, Comms, Supply lines go first, government next. We do not have enough force for this, either. In fact, whatever bandits pop up probably will be the local cops.

And we very, very rapidly end up with a United Nations stabilization force jammed up our ass that basically nobody with a brain in their head is going to do anything to stop (keeping in mind our forces likely won't be able to, either) and those who take exception to Chinese and Fijian and Ghanaian and Indian and Nigerian and (yes) Qatari and Saudi troops and officials and NGO's showing up and starting to try to un-fuck this mess for us, secure our nuclear (and other) weapons for disposal and all-around making sure this bullshit never happens again will find themselves arrested (and likely, incarcerated in some pretty bad places) shot, or if they're lucky on trial in The Hague right along with Keg-Breath and Trump where at least the food will be edible and some of the things that happen in British or Turkish prisons will be less likely.

If you don't think the rest of the world will ruthlessly stamp out the idiocy and privilege and racism and religious zealotry that caused this shit, you're wrong.

Lots of Kens and Karens will find themselves physically impressed to do physical labor fixing shit. You don't like it? Take it up with Senior Aircraftman Afolabi and his Type 56 assault rifle.

Whiteness?? LMAO. Good luck with that.

2nd Amendment?? Well that was great when we had a government that could enforce anything.

If we do this, America will not be remembered well.

Remember, the rest of the world hasn't been profligately expending all their best munitions in a war nobody asked for.

The rest of the world does not have billionaires shoveling embezzled government funds into their pockets, either.

These fucking people are hell-bent on bringing God's wrath on this country.

His Wrath will be forthcoming. And Man will be glad to be its instrument.

Repent, for the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand.

The Evangelical worship of Force as a means of exacting compliance is no different from that of the Empire in Star Wars and will lead to the same bad end. It's human nature to resist.

You either believe in civilization or you don't.

Might wanna remember that if the shit hits the fan.

Слава Україна!

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.

Last Post

[Luke's X-wing is in the trench, and Darth Vader is having trouble getting a lock]

Darth Vader: [Gets a lock] I have you now. [Suddenly, one of Vader's escorts is destroyed.] What?!

Han Solo: YEAH-HOO!!! [The Millennium Falcon arrives on the scene.]

Vader's Escort: Look out! [Vader's surviving escort panics and crashes into the trench, and Vader's TIE Advanced is flung out into space]

Han: You're all clear, kid! Now let's blow this thing and go home! [Luke shoots at the exhaust port and with the help of the Force scores two direct hits.]

Imperial Officer: Stand by.

[The Rebels and the Millennium Falcon fly back to Yavin 4]

Officer: Stand by.

[Just as the Death Star is about to fire, it explodes]

Han: Great shot, kid! That was one in a million!

Obi-Wan Kenobi: Remember... the Force will be with you, always.

~From Star Wars: Episode IV: A New Hope.