White Horse (Trailer Park Rome, Revisited II.)

 [ISB director Col Wullf Yularen addresses Major Partagaz and all ISB officers in the wake of the Aldhani raid]

Col. Wullf Yularen: The criminals responsible for last night's atrocity on Aldhani think they've taken the Empire by surprise. We know better. We know the real shock will be when they discover how ready and eager we are to respond, to be prepared, to be here this morning and know that the only question we need to answer is how tight to close our fist. This is why we plan. This is why we work so hard when we're at peace. This is why we recruit so carefully and demand so much. The following measures will be adopted Empire-wide as of today. A tribute tax equal to five times the amount stolen from Aldhani will be levied on any sector harboring partisan activity. We will make it clear that no one steals from the Empire. The use of any local custom, festival, or tradition as cover for rebel activity will trigger permanent revocation of Imperial tolerance. I spoke with Emperor Palpatine last night, and he's assured me that the ISB will be taking the lead going forward. No one in this room should have trouble accessing Army or Naval resources in future. The Emperor will be convening an emergency session of the Senate to propose a legislation package of bills and amendments that will free our hands in all matters of surveillance, search, and seizure. We will be invoking the Public Order Resentencing Directive later today. P-O-R-D. Any criminal act, with even indirect effect on the Empire, will henceforth be branded a Class One Offense. All prison sentences are immediately re-evaluated. All outstanding fines and levies are to be paid in full.

~From the Star Wars series Andor, S1.E7 "Announcement."

...

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.

I saw this AI slop shit last night.

Trump, riding horses with George Washington.

The people who beat their meat to the idea of Trump as their Man On The White Horse (from Revelation) told on themselves, because they put Trump on the Black Horse.

And if you don't think that's exactly what the fuck is going on here, read the above public statements by the CEO of that Electroshock glove company that's in the news lately.

He thinks Trump was sent by God.

These Fucking People, fundamentally, think they can beat (or shock) the rest of the world into compliance with their horseshit (And I say that as a Christian, it's utter horseshit.) It's not a fucking accident that one of the other big items in the news lately is 1980's/1990's Focus On The Family type "Moral Majority" people who are now old and starting to die off, have the fucking BALLS to wonder why their kids have cut them off and won't talk to them. This after they bought James Dobson's abusive BS whole-hog and abused the shit out of their kids.

Now, neither my partner nor I was ever subjected to that crap, our parents weren't that kind of religious people. I'm ADHD, she's Autistic but wasn't diagnosed until much later in life. 

Her issues got listed as behavioral problems. We both had counseling and whatever psychological support was available in the 1980's and 1990's respectively. 

Guess what?? Growing up with those issues at those times still sucked gigantic ass.

And yes, I'm absolutely going to put a face on this mess, because people that could be or could have been affected by this kind of crap are important to me. And if you don't like it or want to think about it, fuck you.

[Cassian Andor and a number of men are sent to the Narkina Five prison complex]

Prison officer: Welcome to Narkina Five. This is an Imperial factory facility. You've all been assessed as labor-worthy. Now, following this introduction, you'll be transferred to your level assignment and workroom, where your floor manager will explain the details of our schedule and expectations. Your length of stay has been predetermined. The quality of that time will be up to you. Now, those who've been incarcerated before will be surprised by the calm, sanitary conditions, and our minimally invasive enforcement techniques. Well, I'm sure some, if not all of you, are wondering, how we risk standing before you without weapons? It's a potent question. And hopefully, one you won't need to have answered very often, but... [activates electric floor and the new prisoners are shocked to floor before he turns it off] You may stand. That was level one of three. Our floors are Tunqstoid steel. Do your time productively, keep to your lane, and this needn't be more than a memory. Good luck to you.

~From the Star Wars series Andor S1.E8 "Narkina 5."

Now America and its educational and medical professions (and allegedly even Law Enforcement) all supposedly know better and until very recently this was fairly bipartisan. However, that was before Republicans, no, not MAGA...Republicans, as in the institutional kind...think they wanna be the Empire from Star Wars but all started competing to be that guy from Season One of Andor that went around shouting "On Program!" at all the other prisoners in the Imperial factory gulag building Death Star parts. 

Now? Along with Trump 2.0 there's still a small movement of people that basically just want to beat (or shock) your kids (and their fellow citizens) into compliance with whatever Unga Bunga bullshit. 

It won't work.

I'm waiting for the first time this happens and some ignorant-ass gym teacher, School Resource officer or security rent-a-cop who did this bullshit gets their face blown off by an irate parent (whose kid got shocked for *Checks Notes* basically just being a kid) with a shotgun at point-blank range.

(And, considering the national backlash and these fucking things are just now being deployed, gets off because a jury that would normally convict a ham sandwich for about anything won't.)

And/or some shit-ass school district in a place like Dry Hump, Alabama becomes national news and gets their shit sued into oblivion by more liberal, louder activist-attractant or wealthier parents. Yeah, I'd imagine Ben Crump among others are waiting for this to happen.

Not what I'd do, I more likely fall in the first category and damn the consequences, but either way it's human nature to resist, one way or the other. It never fails to amaze me that there's a large faction of so-called "Conservatives" that seems to be very confused by this fact and/or maintain a "Tread on me harder, Daddy!" attitude in the face of it.

Because oh, yes, if you don't resist this fucking garbage, that is exactly what's going to happen to you.

Too many people don't fucking get that.

The Empire doesn't give a fuck about you, homie.

It's the White People these motherfuckers wanna enslave and colonize now, because that's who they couldn't get at before.

Like I fucking said, there's a lot of these people lately coming off like they think they're gonna be some kind of Roman Plebeians or some shit. The thing is, even in Ancient Rome, the State feared the power of the Mob and at least sought to keep the people distracted. Very few emperors let alone other officials were dumb enough to be like "Look at me! Look at me! I'm oppressing the People! Aren't I wonderful?"

There's a fair number of Roman Emperors and other famous people of that time that were probably clinically insane and likely today would be called narcissists...but, unlike Trump and a lot of today's cops and/or Republicans, they weren't stupid.

And, among other things, Rome as a society recognized that courage was and is the highest virtue.

America no longer does that, which is why we're Biblical-grade LOST.

And we WILL provoke the Wrath of God, if we are not doing so already.

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)

As much as some people like to pretend otherwise, America is not Rome.

In Rome, a certain level of physical courage or at least decorum was expected, demanded and socially enforced. A person who transgressed that would almost certainly suffer physical consequences for their actions. I mean, fuck, one such way is literally the root of where the term "Fascism" even comes from.

These Fucking People are such soft-handed bitches.

We're becoming a mutant love-child of Babylon and Sodom, because of the Republicans, not the gay people.

This bullshit only persists if we allow it.

Resist.

Because honestly, they wouldn't be trying so goddamned hard nor obviously and Epically Furiously failing at it if they had this whole thing in the bag.

This is going to end badly, but it will be worse for them.

Слава Україна!

[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."

One

[At ISB headquarters, Major Partagaz plays a clip of Karis Nemik's audio diary as Supervisor Lagret enters the conference room]

Major Leo Partagaz: I'm assuming you've heard it before.

Supervisor Lagret: Bits and pieces.

Partagaz: Just keeps spreading, doesn't it?

Lagret: It's been hard to contain.

Partagaz: Who do you think it is?

Lagret: I'm afraid they're waiting for you, sir. I told them I'd bring you down.

Partagaz: [breathes heavily and inhales sharply] May I have a moment to collect my thoughts?

[Lagret leaves. Outside the room, he hears a blaster sound, indicating Major Partagaz has shot himself.] 

~From the Star Wars series Andor, S2 E12 "Jedha, Kyber, Erso."

The martyrs of history were not fools, and our honored dead who gave their lives to stop the advance of the Nazis didn't die in vain. Where, then, is the road to peace? Well, it's a simple answer after all. You and I have the courage to say to our enemies, "There is a price we will not pay." There is a point beyond which they must not advance. This is the meaning in the phrase of Barry Goldwater's "peace through strength." Winston Churchill said that "the destiny of man is not measured by material computation. When great forces are on the move in the world, we learn we are spirits — not animals." And he said, "There is something going on in time and space, and beyond time and space, which, whether we like it or not, spells duty. ~Ronald Reagan

Plebeians, not Americans (Trailer Park Rome, Revisited I.)

The very deep did rot: O Christ!
That ever this should be!

Yea, slimy things did crawl with legs
Upon the slimy sea. 

~Samuel Taylor Coleridge, from The Rime Of The Ancient Mariner.

...

Yes makin' mock of uniforms that guard you while you sleep, Is cheaper than them uniforms, an' they're starvation cheap; An' hustling drunken soldiers when they're goin' large a bit Is five times better business than parading in full kit. Then it's Tommy this, an' Tommy that, an' "Tommy, how's your soul?" But it's "Thin red line of 'heroes" when the drums begin to roll, The drums begin to roll, my boys, the drums begin to roll, O it's "Thin red line of 'heroes" when the drums begin to roll. 

~Tommy, Rudyard Kipling

...

Maximus: You sent for me, Caesar?

Marcus Aurelius: Tell me again, Maximus, why are we here?

Maximus: For the glory of the empire, sire.

Marcus Aurelius: Ah, yes. Ah, yes, I remember. Do you see that map, Maximus? That is the world which I created. For 25 years, I have conquered, spilt blood, expanded the empire. Since I became Caesar, I have known four years without war, four years of peace in twenty. And for what? I brought the sword. Nothing more.

Maximus: Caesar, your life...

Marcus Aurelius: Please. Please, don't call me that. Please, come sit. Let us talk together now, very simply, as men. Maximus, talk.

Maximus: Five thousand of my men are out there in the freezing mud. Three thousand of them are bloodied and cleaved. Two thousand will never leave this place. I will not believe that they fought and died for nothing.

Marcus Aurelius: And what would you believe?

Maximus: They fought for you and for Rome.

Marcus Aurelius: And what is Rome, Maximus?

Maximus: I've seen much of the rest of the world. It is brutal and cruel and dark, Rome is the light.

Marcus Aurelius: Yet you have never been there. You have not seen what it has become. I am dying, Maximus. When a man sees his end... he wants to know there was some purpose to his life. How will the world speak my name in years to come? Will I be known as the philosopher? The warrior? The tyrant...? Or will I be the emperor who gave Rome back her true self? There was once a dream that was Rome. You could only whisper it. Anything more than a whisper and it would vanish... it was so fragile. And I fear that it will not survive the winter. Maximus, let us whisper now, together, you and I. You have a son. Tell me about your home.

Maximus: My house is in the hills above Trujillo. A very simple place. Pink-stones that warm in the sun. A kitchen garden that smells of herbs in the day, jasmine in the evening. Through the gate is a giant poplar. Figs, apples, pears. The soil, Marcus- black. Black like my wife's hair. Grapes on the south slopes, olives on the north. Wild ponies play near my house. They tease my son. He wants to be one of them.

Marcus Aurelius: Remember the last time you were home?

Maximus: Two years, 264 days, and this morning.

Marcus Aurelius: I envy you, Maximus. It's a good home. Worth fighting for. There is one more duty that I ask of you before you go home.

Maximus: What would you have me do, Caesar?

Marcus Aurelius: I want you to become the protector of Rome after I die. I will empower you to one end alone: To give power back to the people of Rome, and end the corruption that has crippled it. Will you accept this great honor I have offered you?

Maximus: With all my heart, no.

Marcus Aurelius: Maximus, that is why it must be you.

Maximus: But surely a prefect, a senator, somebody who knows the city, who understands her politics?

Marcus Aurelius: But you have not been corrupted by her politics.

Maximus: And Commodus?

Marcus Aurelius: Commodus is not a moral man. You have known that since you were young. Commodus cannot rule. He must not rule. You are the son that I should have had. Commodus will accept my decision. He knows that you command the loyalty of the army.

Maximus: I need some time, sire.

Marcus Aurelius: Yes. By sunset, I hope you will have agreed. Now embrace me as my son, and bring an old man another blanket.

~From the film Gladiator.

I saw this last night.

The United States Navy continues to fall apart around its sailors, with reports of abject miserable conditions, bad or no food, terribly low morale and suicide attempts aboard the overextended USS Abraham Lincoln, even with the USS George Washington on the way to relieve her, that merely prompts the question in my mind of how do they propose to get the one Carrier Battlegroup out of the Strait of Hormuz which is utterly controlled by the Iranians and then get the other one in? 

And remember, they just did this same shit with the USS Gerald Ford, running shit into the ground to the point where parts are now having to be diverted from the currently under-construction USS Enterprise to repair the Ford. By the way, that pushes relieving the situation back by decades.

This is not sustainable. Eventually, we're going to run out of carriers at this rate with the whole fleet in drydock and don't think somebody hasn't thought that out that if they start another crisis, requiring another ship to be deployed, they can crank up the heat and pain on America globally, and all they really have to do is dig in enough to survive.

Here's Trump with all this bellicose rhetoric and we're already proving we can't back that shit up.

And these goddamn Republicans don't seem to be planning for us to.

As we said when I was in the Air Force, if you fail to plan...you plan to fail.

And all these fucking online Republicans act like if they just believe this shit hard enough, they're gonna be the ones buying new real-estate on the ashes of the next trouble-spot be it Gaza or Taiwan or Whatever The Fuck like these Russian ghouls in Mariupol.

But then we already know These Motherfuckers think the Vulture Capitalists are the real heroes, here.

The thing is, our allies, Canada, Europe, etc. are standing up where we should be while we wreck ourselves for Trump's vainglory and Republican cowardice, greed and selfishness.

And if this Greenland thing boils over, we're going to lose. We're getting our ass kicked by the Iranians, and all most of the people in our government can think to do is find ways to embezzle funding off the whole mess. I read an article last night that a new artillery shell factory in Texas has not produced a single shell that the Army could accept, but yet the Defense Department keeps paying out to these shitheads like nothing is happening.

Manufacturing cannot keep up with the expenditure of munitions as it is, and these idiots wanna pick more fights??

The time is gonna come when somebody sees through the bullying talk, walks up, and punches us right in the goddamn mouth, figuring (correctly) that Trump and a third of America right now is full of shit.

These fucking people got our collective ass kicked by a virus in 2020.

Shit like this is how Rome fell, too great of divides between rich and poor, too much intrigue, politics and religion, and the vainglory of evil men.

At least Americans have the option to do something about it, but I have a feeling when they lose the election and public opinion is even more in the toilet, These Fucking People are just gonna declare an emergency, claim Florida and a few other choice spots as emergency "Safe Zones" and essentially break the country so they can keep some kind of a power base.

They won't even bother with "Continuity of Government" because their entire objective is to "free" themselves both from governance in particular and the rest of us in general.

And the thing that gets me about it, is Republicans and what's left of MAGA aren't even bothering to act like free citizens anymore, but rather more like some kind of Imperial subjects.

Think about that for a second.

Plebeians, not Americans, Roman peasants...not free citizens.

These Fucking People act like they're in an Imperial Cult and have to call Trump their god.

Like this shit is some kind of Trailer Park Rome.

That in particular really bothers me.

And yes, I'm here to tell you that with the US population being around 330 million, 30% of that is enough to at least make a hell of an attempt to get their own country. No, that's not really the world people like Elon Musk and Sam Altman want to live in, but making the attempt would get a lot of people killed...mostly their own, but as we saw during COVID-19 they don't really care about that. 

They'd probably lose, but they're losing in Iran and that's not stopping them from trying to win based on macho bullshit when reality and the rest of the world decided that logistics and training were the killer apps *Checks Notes* a couple hundred years ago. 

Hell, WE were the ones who took that obvious conclusion and turned it into an art form.

But These Fucking People think they know better. Of course, they also thought building a wall would do something. It didn't. Truthfully they think as long as they can cash out and catch a plane in the dark the night before enemy tanks crash through the palace gates, they're good.

It worked for Nguyen Van Thieu and Ashraf Ghani, they think.

Never mind what happened to the millions of people in South Vietnam or Afghanistan that got left behind.

Now we can either step up and stop this bullshit or we can start waiting for the unintended consequences of all this horseshit to keep piling up while Republicans lose foreign wars but then start treating their own fellow citizens, and ultimately their own group-members, as the Enemy in a never-ending search for more paranoid narcissist-fuel and the dopamine hits provided by exclusivism.

It's their new three R's; Racism, Religiosity and Republicanism.

Anything but "Love the Lord thy God" or "Love Thy Neighbor."

I've got a family to think about. I can't afford to tolerate this bullshit.

You either believe in freedom or you don't.

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

Слава Україна!

[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."

Last Post

And after these things I saw another angel come down from heaven, having great power; and the earth was lightened with his glory.

And he cried mightily with a strong voice, saying, Babylon the great is fallen, is fallen, and is become the habitation of devils, and the hold of every foul spirit, and a cage of every unclean and hateful bird.

For all nations have drunk of the wine of the wrath of her fornication, and the kings of the earth have committed fornication with her, and the merchants of the earth are waxed rich through the abundance of her delicacies.

And I heard another voice from heaven, saying, Come out of her, my people, that ye be not partakers of her sins, and that ye receive not of her plagues.

For her sins have reached unto heaven, and God hath remembered her iniquities.

Reward her even as she rewarded you, and double unto her double according to her works: in the cup which she hath filled fill to her double.

How much she hath glorified herself, and lived deliciously, so much torment and sorrow give her: for she said in her heart, I sit a queen, and am no widow, and shall see no sorrow.

Therefore shall her plagues come in one day, death, and mourning, and famine; and she shall be utterly burned with fire: for strong is the Lord God who judges her.

And the kings of the earth, who have committed fornication and lived deliciously with her, shall bewail her, and lament for her, when they shall see the smoke of her burning,

Standing afar off for the fear of her torment, saying, Alas, alas that great city Babylon, that mighty city! for in one hour is thy judgment come. ~Revelation 18:1-10

Blood For The Blood God! (One Of Us... Six.)

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

...

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.

I saw this earlier today.

Some Christian Nationalist Ass-Clowns I've never heard of saying that the government should "Ban Islam" because something something Gazpacho "Cultural Jihad."

Homie, nobody is waging a "Cultural Jihad" except these motherfuckers, and they suck at it.

And they know they suck at it, and they think the fix is somehow getting enough political power that they can compel their bullshit anyway, like they've never heard of the United States Constitution or Human Rights, let alone American culture as it's ever existed.

I mean, the truth is they reject all those things out of hand, they know the vast majority of people would never stand for their bullshit, and they hate that. 

So, their backup plan is to accrue enough violent religious fanatics to kill enough people to get them a bigger share of the population that way, or maybe force compliance in some way.

Except that's not working either because outside of These Fucking People's upper classes, you don't really have enough religious fanatics that are also sociopaths, and most of these soft-handed bitch-ass internet preachers sure ain't got the guts to try it themselves.

So now they want to blame Islam and try to project their own sins onto somebody else.

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 more than that, then we'd know.

And that would probably end badly for them.

We'd know for sure that whatever these fucking people's Blood God is, it ain't Jesus.

My theory for several years now has been that these guys have been worshiping Demons all along.

Blood, blood for the blood god! Skulls, skulls for the skull throne! ~Chaos Space Marine battle cry, Warhammer 40K.

And whatever Lord Of The Pit these idiots serve probably isn't very good at his job either. Sure doesn't seem to be helping them much.

And that's generously assuming they're not serving some Golden Idol that can neither see nor hear nor walk, or of course, trying to serve Trump as if he was some sort of a "god."

[Xerxes has advanced to meet Leonidas, seated on a solid gold throne carried on the backs of many slaves.]

Leonidas: Let me guess... you must be... Xerxes?

Xerxes: Come, Leonidas. Let us reason together. It would be a regrettable waste, it would be nothing short of madness, were you, brave King, and your valiant troops to perish... all because of a simple misunderstanding. There is much our cultures could share.

Leonidas: Oh, haven't you noticed? We've been sharing our culture with you all morning.

Xerxes: Yours is a fascinating tribe. Even now, you are defiant, in the face of annihilation and the presence of a god. It isn't wise to stand against me, Leonidas. Imagine what horrible fate awaits my enemies when I would gladly kill any of my own men for victory.

Leonidas: And I would die for any one of mine.

Xerxes: You Greeks take pride in your logic. I suggest you employ it. Consider the beautiful land you so vigorously defend. Picture it reduced to ash at my whim! Consider the fate of your women!

Leonidas: Clearly you don't know our women. I might as well have marched them up here, judging by what I've seen. You have many slaves, Xerxes, but few warriors. It won't be long before they fear my spears more than your whips.

Xerxes: It is not the lash they fear, it is my divine power. But I am a generous god. I can make you rich beyond all measure. I will make you warlord of all Greece. You will carry my battle standard to the heart of Europa. Your Athenian rivals will kneel at your feet... if you will but kneel at mine.

Leonidas: You are generous as you are divine, O King of Kings. Such an offer only a madman would refuse. But the, uh, the idea of kneeling, it's... You see, slaughtering all those men of yours has, uh, well, it's left a nasty cramp in my leg, so kneeling will be hard for me.

Xerxes: [incensed at what Leonidas just said] There will be no glory in your sacrifice. I will erase even the memory of Sparta from the histories. Every piece of Greek parchment shall be burned, and every Greek historian and every scribe shall have their eyes put out and their tongues cut from their mouths! Why, uttering the very name of Sparta or Leonidas will be punishable by death! The world will never know you existed at all!

Leonidas: The world will know that free men stood against a tyrant, that few stood against many and, before this battle is over, that even a god-king can bleed.

~From the film 300.

The trouble with that kind of "divine" power is that everybody has to agree someone has it. Only one person has to say "No."

And 70% of America is saying NO!

They've figured out they can't make us, and they're panicking and retreating into a virtual world of AI bullshit, which is probably what this picture is, but who knows?? The trouble is I know people who think "Trump is god" in real life. I worked directly with people who thought stupid shit like this. Most of them are "Anti-Liberal" not actually conservative. Most of 'em couldn't tell you what "Things as they are" meant.

Or name a single "Tradition" that wasn't simple-ass bigotry.

And not a damn one of 'em, when called on it, can tell you why they think that. Or maybe they just don't want to.

And Micah Beckwith aside, the vast majority of these folks that I've ever met in the wild aren't all that religious.

And whether it's Alex McFarland, Micah Beckwith or Jim from Custodial, it doesn't matter, fundamentally it's the same motivations they're trying to hide whether it's Trump personally or the Republican Party that they claim as their "god." It's nearly always bigotry, greed and shitty behavior that are their primary motivations in the real world.

If we've learned anything in the last decade it's that, functionally, the number of people in America that are actually conservative by nature and in terms of their actual morality is pretty small, and most of them aren't or at least didn't stay MAGA or Republican.

(Many of them are Democrats now, which is a whole different problem, but first we've got to get rid of the Christian Nationalists and the Fascists, then we can deal with that.)

And I draw a line there because while MAGA initially ate the Republican Party, all it did was swallow a lot of shitty Republicans without digesting them, who then pretty much ate MAGA from the inside out.

That's right; Republicans are the damn problem here. That's where Project 2025 and shit came from, not from MAGA populism, from institutional Republicans. Or, from what's left of them.

It's like I keep saying, I've got a partner and a kid to think about, I can't afford to put up with this bullshit.

And again, what if God doesn't want this crap either?? These idiots never stop to think about that!

You either believe in freedom or you don't.

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

Слава Україна!

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)

Five

We bow our heads in worship on this day and give thanks to the Almighty for the bounty He has bestowed upon us over the past year. We raise our voices in holy gladness to celebrate the victory of the risen Christ over the terrible forces of death. Easter is a joyful festival! It is a celebration because it is indeed a festival of hope! Easter marks the renewal of life! The triumph of the light of truth over the darkness of falsehood! Easter is a festival of human solidarity, because it celebrates the fulfilment of the Good News! The Good News borne by our risen Messiah who chose not one race, who chose not one country, who chose not one language, who chose not one tribe, who chose all of humankind! Each Easter marks the rebirth of our faith. It marks the victory of our risen Saviour over the torture of the cross and the grave. Our Messiah, who came to us in the form of a mortal man, but who by his suffering and crucifixion attained immortality. Our Messiah, born like an outcast in a stable, and executed like criminal on the cross. Our Messiah, whose life bears testimony to the truth that there is no shame in poverty: Those who should be ashamed are they who impoverish others. Whose life testifies to the truth that there is no shame in being persecuted: Those who should be ashamed are they who persecute others. Whose life proclaims the truth that there is no shame in being conquered: Those who should be ashamed are they who conquer others. Whose life testifies to the truth that there is no shame in being dispossessed: Those who should be ashamed are they who dispossess others. Whose life testifies to the truth that there is no shame in being oppressed: Those who should be ashamed are they who oppress others. ~Nelson Mandela, Speech at the Zion Christian Church Easter conference, Moria, South Africa, 1994.

If God had a name, what would it be?

And would you call it to His face

If you were faced with Him in all His glory?

What would you ask if you had just one question?

And yeah, yeah, God is great

Yeah, yeah, God is good

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah

What if God was one of us

Just a slob like one of us

Just a stranger on the bus

Tryna make His way home?

~Joan Osborne "What If God Was One Of Us?"

Missing The Damn Point (One Of Us... Five.)

Then spoke Jesus to the multitude, and to his disciples,

Saying The scribes and the Pharisees sit in Moses' seat:

All therefore whatsoever they bid you observe, that observe and do; but do not ye after their works: for they say, and do not.

For they bind heavy burdens and grievous to be borne, and lay them on men's shoulders; but they themselves will not move them with one of their fingers.

But all their works they do for to be seen of men: they make broad their phylacteries, and enlarge the borders of their garments,

And love the uppermost rooms at feasts, and the chief seats in the synagogues,

And greetings in the markets, and to be called of men, Rabbi, Rabbi.

But be not ye called Rabbi: for one is your Master, even Christ; and all ye are brethren.

And call no man your father upon the earth: for one is your Father, which is in heaven.

Neither be ye called masters: for one is your Master, even Christ.

But he that is greatest among you shall be your servant.

And whosoever shall exalt himself shall be abased; and he that shall humble himself shall be exalted.

But woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye shut up the kingdom of heaven against men: for ye neither go in yourselves, neither suffer ye them that are entering to go in.

Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye devour widows' houses, and for a pretense make long prayer: therefore ye shall receive the greater damnation.

Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye compass sea and land to make one proselyte, and when he is made, ye make him twofold more the child of hell than yourselves.

Woe unto you, ye blind guides, which say, Whosoever shall swear by the temple, it is nothing; but whosoever shall swear by the gold of the temple, he is a debtor!

Ye fools and blind: for whether is greater, the gold, or the temple that sanctifies the gold?

And, Whosoever shall swear by the altar, it is nothing; but whosoever swears by the gift that is upon it, he is guilty.

Ye fools and blind: for whether is greater, the gift, or the altar that sanctifies the gift?

Whoso therefore shall swear by the altar, swears by it, and by all things thereon.

And whoso shall swear by the temple, swears by it, and by him that dwelleth therein.

And he that shall swear by heaven, swears by the throne of God, and by him that sit thereon.

Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye pay tithe of mint and anise and cumin, and have omitted the weightier matters of the law, judgment, mercy, and faith: these ought ye to have done, and not to leave the other undone.

Ye blind guides, which strain at a gnat, and swallow a camel.

Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye make clean the outside of the cup and of the platter, but within they are full of extortion and excess.

Thou blind Pharisee, cleanse first that which is within the cup and platter, that the outside of them may be clean also.

Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye are like unto whited sepulchers, which indeed appear beautiful outward, but are within full of dead men's bones, and of all uncleanness.

Even so ye also outwardly appear righteous unto men, but within ye are full of hypocrisy and iniquity.

Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! because ye build the tombs of the prophets, and garnish the sepulchers of the righteous,

And say, If we had been in the days of our fathers, we would not have been partakers with them in the blood of the prophets.

Wherefore ye be witnesses unto yourselves, that ye are the children of them which killed the prophets.

Fill ye up then the measure of your fathers.

Ye serpents, ye generation of vipers, how can ye escape the damnation of hell?

~Matthew 23:1-33

I saw this the other day.

Joel Webbon literally said "Christian Nationalism Or Bust."

Bust, alright, as in Imma bust you right in the mouth.

I'm a Christian, if a fairly agnostic one at this point. I have a church background, I'm a former Republican, I'm a veteran. I can tell you without looking that my priors as a Christian are better than Joel Webbon's. I'm a Believer and I'm tired of these goddamn Calvinist freaks.

Christian Nationalism is not Christianity, it does not follow Jesus nor want to; This is the same old same old Imperialistic Religiosity that worshiped Ahura Mazda, Baal, Moloch, Jupiter, Zeus, and a host of other "gods" that are now little more than mythological curiosities for most people, and also various "religious" figures like Saint George. The "faith" of Empire is not the Faith of or in Jesus. It's what killed Him.

This is the same bullshit religiosity that Christians spent my whole life telling me wouldn't get me into Heaven. But Joel doesn't care if you go to Hell.

He just gets off on the idea of forcing people to act a certain way in public, he doesn't even really care what the fuck people do behind closed doors so long as it fits within this current ideal of paternalistic, patriarchal cruelty.

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.

For all Joel and people like him care, people could worship demons, so long as the demons tell those people to abuse women, be miserable bastards and maintain a rigid right-wing aesthetic.

I already know for a fact that current "Republicans" (Because let's face it, even though MAGA is also falling by the wayside, the Republican Party as I knew it was already dead-dead) would rather tolerate vicious scumbag welfare people so long as they get in the way enough and screw things up for decent working folks that are trying to do something...than actually make anything better for anybody. The secret sauce of understanding today's Republicans is "They don't want to do anything, but they don't want anybody else to do anything either."

Part of it is they figure they have to make the machinery of modernity jump the tracks to bring back feudalism for their Billionaire masters, part of it is a lot of these idiots are just plain miserable bastards and shitty little narcissists with raging cases of medieval peasant-brain.

Now they're pouring out Diet Coke.

I don't think the Coca-Cola Company gives a shit, considering they had to buy it first.

Seriously, a lot of these idiots (including people like Dale Partridge, Joel Webbon and Nancy Mace) do a lot of the shitty things they do for three reasons; Bigotry, Internet "Clout" and straight-up self-worship.

Seriously if she had to, I bet Nancy Mace would do the worst imaginable porn if it got her the attention that she craved. And if you could convince him it'd boost his woman-abusing, shitty-drunk Calvinist brand it's not hard to imagine Doug Wilson being behind her holding the camera.

As long as no one has any fun and they feel their values of Control and "Manly" "Power" and Slavery are furthered These Fucking People would rather watch gross-ass Porn than something like The Passion Of The Christ or Veggie Tales, don't fool yourself.

Vern Schillinger: Come over here and ask me if you can fuck your wife. Come on, ask me! Now!

Tobias Beecher: Can I be with my wife?

Vern Schillinger: Fuck my wife.

Tobias Beecher: Fuck my wife.

Vern Schillinger: Louder, and say "please" and "sir".

Tobias Beecher: Please, sir, may I fuck my wife?

Vern Schillinger: Louder.

Tobias Beecher: Please, sir, may I fuck my wife!

Vern Schillinger: When you ask me like that, I can't deny you anything. 

~From the HBO Series Oz, S1.E2 "Visits, Conjugal and Otherwise."

I knew that when I read Tia Levings' book and it turned out her abusive husband was just an abusive drunk, and then I did some research and found out a bunch of these Calvinist Theo-bros also do Alcohol-related podcasts and shit. I can remember when something like...well, any of this stuff...would get somebody run out of [public life in] Christian Fundamentalism on a fucking rail.

I have a partner and a kid to think about, I can't afford to tolerate any of this garbage!

And These Fucking People would rather force a fourteen-year-old girl to chop wood for ten hours than see her go to church!

As I've said many times all these creepy theocratic Beard-o's might as well worship Baal for as much as they ever actually show the values even of the God of the Old Testament. It's literally ANYTHING but "Love Thy Neighbor."

How the fuck do people get this involved in religion and somehow not read the source material or otherwise Miss The Goddamn Point??

Cuz this is exactly how you go to hell, bro.

I am the way into the city of woe.

I am the way to a forsaken people.
I am the way into eternal sorrow.
Sacred justice moved my architect.
I was raised here by divine omnipotence, primordial love and ultimate intellect
Only those elements time cannot wear are beyond me,
and beyond time I stand.
Abandon All Hope, Ye Who Enter Here.'
~Sign above the gates of hell (variant translation) Canto III, Dante's Inferno, the Divine Comedy.

Like it's not even a question.

Not that any of the people doing this shit care. They want to have their "reward" now...and have it specifically in the form of whatever petty Earthly Power each of them can get.

And honestly part of why These Fucking People keep trying to wreck everything is they want to screw things up so bad that their nasty little churches are the only recourse people might have.

Not that they would actually help anybody after forcing them to grovel before their shitty, mean little Calvinist idols.

They just want to see other people grovel. They just want to have their boot on somebody else's neck before they die and go to Hell.

They either don't understand or just don't care that when Jesus said "They have their reward now" regarding people with religiosity...it meant that those people were going to Hell later.

And people are fucking getting tired of this bullshit. 

I believe I have been pretty explicit on this exact point.

Hell, people are running for office on a platform of "I'm tired of this shit!" now!

And by the way, even other countries Calvinist assholes that they've tried to import are seeing this mess, turning around and going back home!

That, right there, should tell you something; At least the Afrikaners know if they go back to South Africa they'll have health care and rights.

Even they know the people trying to sell you this pie-in-the-sky-when-you-die crap while they fuck up the Earth in the here and now for ideology and profit are full of shit.

You either believe in freedom or you don't, and you're either willing to fight for it or you're not.

It's really that goddamn simple.

And again, what if God is as tired of this bullshit as we are??

That These Fucking People never stop to consider that suggests to me that either they actively believe in and follow the demons...and we're gonna find this out...or that these motherfuckers are even bigger atheists than Richard Dawkins and just hope the hell we don't figure it out.

Bare minimum, the truth will out that they believe in Donald Trump (or Vladimir Putin) way more than they ever believed in Jesus Christ.

Слава Україна!

[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."

Last Post

We bow our heads in worship on this day and give thanks to the Almighty for the bounty He has bestowed upon us over the past year. We raise our voices in holy gladness to celebrate the victory of the risen Christ over the terrible forces of death. Easter is a joyful festival! It is a celebration because it is indeed a festival of hope! Easter marks the renewal of life! The triumph of the light of truth over the darkness of falsehood! Easter is a festival of human solidarity, because it celebrates the fulfilment of the Good News! The Good News borne by our risen Messiah who chose not one race, who chose not one country, who chose not one language, who chose not one tribe, who chose all of humankind! Each Easter marks the rebirth of our faith. It marks the victory of our risen Saviour over the torture of the cross and the grave. Our Messiah, who came to us in the form of a mortal man, but who by his suffering and crucifixion attained immortality. Our Messiah, born like an outcast in a stable, and executed like criminal on the cross. Our Messiah, whose life bears testimony to the truth that there is no shame in poverty: Those who should be ashamed are they who impoverish others. Whose life testifies to the truth that there is no shame in being persecuted: Those who should be ashamed are they who persecute others. Whose life proclaims the truth that there is no shame in being conquered: Those who should be ashamed are they who conquer others. Whose life testifies to the truth that there is no shame in being dispossessed: Those who should be ashamed are they who dispossess others. Whose life testifies to the truth that there is no shame in being oppressed: Those who should be ashamed are they who oppress others. ~Nelson Mandela, Speech at the Zion Christian Church Easter conference, Moria, South Africa, 1994.

If God had a name, what would it be?

And would you call it to His face

If you were faced with Him in all His glory?

What would you ask if you had just one question?

And yeah, yeah, God is great

Yeah, yeah, God is good

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah

What if God was one of us

Just a slob like one of us

Just a stranger on the bus

Tryna make His way home?

~Joan Osborne "What If God Was One Of Us?"