So this is Christmas...

So this is Christmas
And what have you done
Another year over
And a new one just begun
And so this is Christmas
I hope you have fun
The near and the dear one
The old and the young

A very Merry Christmas
And a happy new year
Let's hope it's a good one
Without any fear

And so this is Christmas
For weak and for strong
For rich and the poor ones
The world is so wrong
And so happy Christmas
For black and for white
For yellow and red one
Let's stop all the fight

A very Merry Christmas
And a happy new year
Let's hope it's a good one
Without any fear

And so this is Christmas
And what have we done
Another year over
A new one just begun
And so happy Christmas
~John Lennon

Today, when I got up and first logged into Facebook there was this stupid little "Happy Holidays" video that played at the top of my queue and I'm fine with that. It's Christmas, and I suppose Facebook has to do something to mark the occasion...and that's fine. I've already done all my Christmas stuff for the year, and I'm just enjoying a nice quiet day and giving the ferrets some extra playtime. I "liked" it and I would have moved on immediately except that I noticed something, one of the top three emoji symbols that show was the "Angry" one. I looked at the numbers, as of that time (about six this morning) there were over 36,000+ "Likes" 4,000+ "Love" hearts and 979 "Angry" emoji symbols.

Interesting, there were 979 people out there who thought Christmas was something to get angry about.

(For the record, I went and checked, the numbers currently stand at almost 154,000 "Likes" almost 15,500 "Loves" and almost 3,800 "Angry" responses.)

I guess for some people a holiday just isn't a holiday if everybody gets to be included, but then a friend of mine who is Native American (and doesn't celebrate Christmas) posted twice yesterday about going to Wal-Mart and seeing people literally fighting and screaming at each other over toys in the back of the store.

Not to mention, Trump keeps posting various messages with "MERRY CHRISTMAS" in all caps as if it must be shouted to make some kind of a point...

...And Friday morning at work, while I was pushing a couple of hundred pounds worth of dirty kitchen rags and mops over to the hotel laundry, I paused in my exertions to wish an old man that I know who works as a kitchen custodian over there a merry Christmas. I rarely ever see him, and I usually try to wish him a merry Christmas every year because he's kind of a miserable old man and I guess it just seems like the right thing to try and do...

Now this dude, known at work as "Hawk-eye" (who is naturally, 72 years old and blind as a bat, he's always been nearsighted, hence the nickname) is one of our few Trump Supporters (as opposed to generic Republicans, of which there are more) comes mooching over to me and, with an air about him as if he is going to impart great wisdom, says "Just between you and me, let's keep America great." To which my response is, naturally, "No, I don't think so, you know I don't like that guy." So then he tries to start an argument and I'm like "No, man, I got laundry to sort. These republicans have passed one law all year, and it don't benefit either of us. Ya'll have a good one."

I'm not gonna tell this old dude what he wants to hear, nor am I gonna have an argument when I've got half an hour and only one guy to help me sort a gigantic cart full of laundry. So I just kept going.

I've gotten Christmas greetings from Muslim friends of mine, I see Facebook and all other sorts of groups or various other things making some effort to be inclusive, and I myself sit here typing this essay, surrounded by ferrets either still playing, sleeping in the dog bed under my desk, or enjoying their own Christmas dinner of treats mixed in with their food. Even the usual social media mess on Facebook and Twitter seems muted, and it's nice and quiet outside. I'm not kidding...I sneezed while taking the dog out this morning...and it was so quiet that it echoed.

Literally everybody but a certain percentage of conservative white Christians (and Trump) seems to get the point. Christmas is not about YOU, it's not about your politics and it's not even about your religion. A LOT of religions have various celebrations this time of the year, and they always have. If the recognition of that offends you, then I don't know what else to tell you except that you're a terrible person. Like I've said before, some people have just had it too good, for too long, and can't appreciate anything. A lot of these fools seem to think that life is a zero-sum game. Christmas isn't Christmas unless somebody doesn't get to enjoy it. Heaven isn't heaven unless they're the only ones who get to go...

No. That's not how any of this works.

I have a proposal for the Trump administration, supposedly "Trump digs coal" right? I say we as a nation pay some of these miners (many of whom are sitting on their butts waiting for Trump to give them their coal jobs back anyway) at fair market rates...hell, I'll do ya one better and say we'll pay the best market rates from the last 20 years for the coal...to go out and mine up as much coal (while enjoying full Union-level benefits and as much overtime as they can work) as they can until Black Friday of next year. Then, you know how all these Trump Supporters seem to think Trump is going to be some kind of a right-wing Santa Claus, giving them everything they want while giving all the people they've been conditioned to hate nothing but a boot in the face? Okay, I'll bite. After Black Friday next year, then the government should take all this coal, and fill Christmas stockings with it and give one to  every last one of these angry, ignorant people that spends so much of their time dreaming of some kind of social revenge on the rest of the world or who fights over toys at the store or turns Christmas into some kind of a political thing, so that they can have exactly the kind of Christmas gift they deserve.

Maybe then, they'd stop and think about their behavior, and how it reflects poorly on both Christ and Christmas and the holiday season in general.

Look here, I quite often speak via Facebook to a guy named Joseph from Uganda. His United Methodist church runs a center for orphans, many of whom have lost their parents to HIV/AIDS. We talked at length about the impacts of HIV/AIDS on Africa and on how the impact on the United States has been forgotten with time by most outside of the gay community, where in Africa AIDS is primarily transmitted through heterosexual sex (and both sex education and simple measures of protection like condoms are often lacking.) I mentioned that I had read that there are many towns and villages where there is no one left at all except for children and the elderly. He told me that he lives in such a place (he works as a teacher) and about the Christmas program they're running this year, in which there will be prayers, a poem reading, speeches by community leaders, games including Football (soccer) and Netball for the kids, and each child will get a pair of shoes for Christmas.

Shoes, and I'm quite sure Joseph wasn't talking about no $200 Air Jordans neither.

I'd bet you money that if those kids had the kind of stuff that those people were fighting over at Wal-Mart there wouldn't be any fights, but then I see stuff on sale in the toy aisle at Wal-Mart that costs more than a lot of people in Uganda make in a month.

I think if a Ugandan person, whether an adult or a child, had access to 10% of what the average angry American Christmas shopper this year has...they would at least appreciate it.

The poem to be read, is not about Christmas, it's not about Jesus, it's not about any of the things Americans wax poetic about at this time of year. It's about AIDS, and it was written by a Ugandan seventh-grader named Jane:

HIV/AIDS Poem 2017

AIDS, AIDS, AIDS!

You are hurting me

You are hurting my family

You are hurting my school

You are hurting my community

You are hurting my country

You are hurting the world

AIDS, AIDS, AIDS!

We have lost parents

We have no food, no books and no money

Families are looked after by children and elderly

Schools are struggling with orphans

Health centres are full of patients

AIDS, AIDS, AIDS!

Communities are busy with burials

Crying over the loss of their beloved ones

The community is losing youth and useful people

The world is losing the old, the young, wealth, time and happiness

But there is hope;

Lasting hope

That hope is:

“Positive living”

~Written by Jane Auma (Primary Seven)

Ya'll go ahead and let that sink in. A lot of the rest of the world simply doesn't have the option to get all worked up about the made-up things that we Americans put so much energy into fighting about.

We can, and we should, do better than this. For the sake of the world, ourselves, and future generations we're going to have to.

Just give this some thought, no, really. Stop, read, breathe in and out, and actually reflect on the words and their meaning.

(...And if you think this message of peace and goodwill applies only to Christians, or to your specific kind of people, you're part of the problem...)

Luke 2 King James Version (KJV)

2 And it came to pass in those days, that there went out a decree from Caesar Augustus that all the world should be taxed.

2 (And this taxing was first made when Cyrenius was governor of Syria.)

3 And all went to be taxed, every one into his own city.

4 And Joseph also went up from Galilee, out of the city of Nazareth, into Judea, unto the city of David, which is called Bethlehem; (because he was of the house and lineage of David:)

5 To be taxed with Mary his espoused wife, being great with child.

6 And so it was, that, while they were there, the days were accomplished that she should be delivered.

7 And she brought forth her firstborn son, and wrapped him in swaddling clothes, and laid him in a manger; because there was no room for them in the inn.

8 And there were in the same country shepherds abiding in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night.

9 And, lo, the angel of the Lord came upon them, and the glory of the Lord shone round about them: and they were sore afraid.

10 And the angel said unto them, Fear not: for, behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people.

11 For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord.

12 And this shall be a sign unto you; Ye shall find the babe wrapped in swaddling clothes, lying in a manger.

13 And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God, and saying,

14 Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men.

If we want a better nation, we have to be better citizens. If we want to live in a better world, we have to be better people.

Merry Christmas, everybody. Let's try and remember what it's really about next year.

Ghosts and Goblins...

Professing themselves to be wise, they became fools, And changed the glory of the uncorruptible God into an image made like to corruptible man, and to birds, and four-footed beasts, and creeping things.Wherefore God also gave them up to uncleanness through the lusts of their own hearts, to dishonor their own bodies  between themselves: Who changed the truth of God into a lie, and worshiped and served the creature more than the Creator, who is blessed for ever. Amen.~Romans 1:22-25

So, I saw this earlier this afternoon (the pictured Tweet, not the Bible verse) and I felt the need to write something about it, though first I had to clean the ferret cages and put the weasels up for the day. That being, let's get one thing straight, people. GOD is not stupid. You cannot bullshit God, God cannot be manipulated or coerced in any way whatsoever. God does not care about earthly politics, and God is not, ever, going to act according to Man's timeline...let alone time-frame...because God is eternal, omnipotent, knows all, sees all, and you'd do yourself a favor if you at least assume for the sake of argument that God is smarter than you are. I mean, come on, we're only talking about the Creator of the Universe here, He who created all those physical laws (up to and including evolution, I'd assume) and who, until Man screwed it up a couple thousand years ago...was content to let things be once He sent His Son to set them right...and so far as I know, God has left things pretty much alone since then as well... 

Granted, while there are multiple potential Apocalyptic scenarios staring us right in the face, they're all Man-made. God created the laws of Physics, and all the things that led to the ideas and technology that drive our modern world...what we've done with all that, that's on us.

Yes, that's hard, that's supposed to be the point. People are supposed to take responsibility.

That said, God is not going to use Trump to bring about the End of Days. Let's get that out of the way right now. God is not going to use an Unbeliever for His purposes, at least not that way. This is especially considering (and I say this as a former member of the End Times Prophecy movement) that the "popular" End Times narrative is popular because it's bullshit. The Anti-Christ is not a Biblical personage. The Rapture is not a Biblical concept or event. Instead. these ideas came from two different guys, each from different eras, early 19th Century English preacher John Nelson Darby and a bit later, preacher (and former Confederate Soldier) Cyrus Ingersoll Schofield in the later half of that century. Their various theologies were knitted together by others in the first couple of decades of the 20th Century to form the basis of modern End Times dogma...also around this same time the basis of modern Fundamentalism and Pentecostalism were both started. This hot mess got a big assist later from Hal Lindsey in 1973 with his book "The Late, Great Planet Earth" which became popular because it got picked up by a bunch of drugged out ex-hippies *Cough* a good-sized chunk of the Baby Boom generation *Cough* who all made the switch from getting high on drugs to getting high on Jesus in the early 1970's.

None of this is true, or based on the Bible, and according to what I learned later on, from debating this stuff with a pastor (and custodian at my work) the popular idea of a seven-year Apocalypse narrative is basically deception, intended to lull people into thinking they'll have that long to get it right.

No, really, it'll be like this:

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

And there will be no warning. That's what all that "Thief in the night" stuff back in the day was about. Also, That's the point. Do you really think the Omnipotent Creator of the Universe is going to catch you at your best, by design? Oh HELL NO. He's gonna show up at some random time and what you're doing in that moment is what you're doing, whether you're praying the Rosary or smoking a blunt. Think of God as that supervisor at the job that likes to show up at inconvenient times, just as a start. If you think famous, infamous bullshitter, preacher grifting sack of shit Jim Bakker's Prosperity Gospel woo woo, secret gay hookups, Tammy Faye, tubs of survivalist taco meat are gonna save you, ya'll might as well ask for your money back, I'm just sayin.' Also, If it happens tomorrow and you think Trump (or for that matter Putin) is gonna be all like "Praise Jesus" you have another thing coming. Either one of those guys is (at best) going to try to cut a deal like the one smarmy salesman in Die Hard did with Hans Gruber...probably with similar results, except literally "You go to hell" instead of bullets. At worst? The armies of the world will try to stop what is defined to them as a threat...you know...exactly like Revelation says will happen and exactly like the End Times Prophecy movement interprets such things.

But, it's also important to remember that a majority of people in the world, hell, even a majority of Christians don't believe in all that or have differing interpretations. Revelation and the rest of the Bible describe plenty of events (in a Prophetic sense) that have already happened. One could make the argument that Revelation has been ongoing since the First Century, I think, and in looking at the Bible and history as much as I have, I'd have a hard time disagreeing.

In any case, the point of the Apocalypse as an idea was to give hope to an oppressed people, not to serve as revenge-porn for a privileged one...and don't you dare forget that.

It's not only that, though; Right above it in my Twitter feed there was also this:

"Feminist witches are placing hexes on Trump?"

(Sounds like a Monty Python skit if you ask me. Maybe somebody will turn Trump into an orange Newt?)

Hold on. Let me freshen my drink, this one is gonna take a minute.
Now, according to what I was taught (based on Scripture, not superstition) such things as magic, witches, wizards etc. may exist but are unproven at best, fanciful ideas at worst...and such are perfectly alright on an entertainment level, so long as you understand that this stuff is fantasy and myth and leave it at that. I personally think there had to be some basis to all these legends...but clearly in our own world that time has passed...if it ever was real. However, even if there's ghosts, goblins, monsters under the bed, warlocks, witches, wizards...what have you...the whole damned point is that the name of Jesus is supposed to be more powerful than all that, and if a person truly has faith in Christ then they would be protected from such things in the unlikely event that it ever came up.

I have in fact, as I've detailed elsewhere, used this superstitious tendency of some religious nuts to believe in magical woo woo to my advantage. There's nothing magical about it. Not only that, but I'm a gamer, I do varying degrees of unreality for fun, which makes it not so appealing in real life. Murlocs are enough of a pain in the ass to deal with in World of Warcraft, I don't want to live in a world where monsters like that are real and neither do you. Our own real world has enough problems and enough monsters who are just as human as the rest of us...and that, in any case, should be more scary than dragons or giant robots or zombies.

The real world is hard enough, and an often-harsh test of the faith of the Believer or the logic of the Atheist all by itself. I do not understand or care for the clamor on the part of some to end it, nor the desire to dream up ghosts and goblins or witches and werewolves where none exist...and to attempt to do so to cover the real-world faults of shitty leaders strikes me as both dangerous and irresponsible.

And then of course, there's a lot of gullible fools and out and out liars out there.

I've been paying attention for a long time, and so far as I know, Barack Obama and his family participated in plenty of religious observances including Christian ones, Christmas was never "banned" at the white house, and the Obamas apparently celebrate it themselves and are from what they've said and by their actions I would accept at face value the statement that they are Christians. Now, granted, conduct-wise...like many mainstream Christians of every tribe and nation...they conduct themselves as normal, regular, secular people...and I was always perfectly damned well fine with that. So far as I know, every President we've ever had in my lifetime has been the same way.

Try telling that to the FOX News comment sections, though...

Seriously, where do these people come up with this crap?

One doesn't have to be a fire-breathing Fundamentalist...or a white person...to be a Christian.

I started out as a non-Fundamentalist Baptist, I was taught to check what people said against what the Bible said, and to check what they said against basic facts as well.

Knowledge is power, why else do you think all these fools are trying to make knowledge so hard to get? Truth is important, too. Without a baseline of Truth (both literal and spiritual) he who has the brightest lights and the biggest wallet gets his way, and what can anyone say about it? That's exactly why all these liars don't like the truth.

If you want a better country, you have to be a better citizen, if you want a better world then you have to be a better person. If you want to get people to do things your way...then you have to go out there and be a leader and show them that you're right...if you are.

Yes, that's hard, none of this was supposed to be easy and people stewing in hate and resentment and superstition and being told what they want to hear won't make it any easier.

...And that, gentle readers, is the truth.

The Rime of the Ancient Republican.

The ship was cheered, the harbour cleared
Merrily did we drop.
Below the Kirk, below the hill
Below the lighthouse top.

So, on Tuesday, Doug Jones was elected in Alabama. Roy Moore got his ass handed to him on a plate, not least because Black turnout was absolutely sky high...as one might expect considering that Jones prosecuted the perpetrators of the 1960s 16th Street Baptist church bombing in 2000.

Despite having had my laptop stolen just over a week ago  followed along and I posted as much as I was able to on Facebook and Twitter using my phone. I have a replacement on the way but with some Christmas money I got a tablet to serve as a backup.

Then yesterday while I was getting ready to go to bed I caught part of Trump's speech on this tax cut they want to pass, also known as adding a trillion and a half dollars to the national debt in order to give corporations and the wealthy a tax cut, claiming that the middle class will get some too. OK, say you pay a couple thousand less in taxes but they gut the individual mandate in the Affordable Care Act? You're going to lose much more than you're saving as soon as somebody gets sick...and your grandkids will get to pay it all off IF they have jobs.

Not to mention Republicans have already said they want to cut Medicare and Social Security next, not to mention gutting the Internet, National Parks, people's rights, various environmental protections and Veterans benefits next. Now, I used to be a Conservative but such an agenda is offensive to me now and would have been so 20 years ago as well.

If you don't think they'll eventually come for your guns and the vote you're wrong. People like Trump are never satisfied, they want total surrender.

...But it is a human tendency to resist, and Americans expect a certain standard of living, which is above the Third World designs these Republicans have for us...

Not to mention, Trump giving a speech when he's not screaming at a rally-crowd of cousin fuckers sounds like Chloroform, enunciated, but I digress.

I can't imagine how anybody finds that fool inspiring.

At length did cross an Albatross,
And through the fog it came.
As if it had been a Christian soul
We hailed it in God's name.
It ate the food it never had eat
And round and round it flew
The ice did split with a thunder fit
The helmsman steered us through!

So, Now that Doug Jones won the Republicans are hurriedly trying to pass this tax shit before he's seated...in addition to gutting Net Neutrality today, all to try and get their rich backers a tax cut for a while and steal more money before they get booted out of office by an angry public... And they know it's coming.

Chances are they're going to trip over their own dicks and screw up.

Understand one thing. Taxes are how the government makes its money, that it uses to do things like enforce laws, fuel Navy ships, provide health care for the aged and disabled and regulate markets to keep the rich from robbing us blind more than they already do.

In case there was any doubt, it's that last one that's the real problem. Never mind that government protects rich people too. They don't care, and if this has sparked any thought you've already thought about it more than they have... As my friend Aaron is always pointing out to me...

You know, I don't really have a lot but when I figured out some years ago that people who have more money than I could ever spend wanted my stuff too? It pissed me off.

I'm not rich but I'm not poor either, as I'll get into later in subsequent posts it's actually pretty damned expensive to be poor. Thus, people like me are a problem...

God save thee ancient mariner
From the fiends that plague thee thus
Why looks thou so? With my crossbow
I shot the albatross.

Now look here, these Republicans and rich people and these idiots who support them are basically cooking the golden goose that made them what they are in the first place because somehow to their minds it didn't shit out enough money, or they're worried that somebody they don't like might get some. If that sounds shitty to you...good.

It is shitty, there is no other way to describe it.

Americans, mostly white Americans, have a history of enabling absolutely reprehensible sociopathic behavior... And now that some of us are waking up and seeing what nonwhite Americans and the rest of the world have been telling us for years, things, they are starting to change.

The Democrats, basically, are like the Monty Python "Argument clinic" sketch right now... And the Republicans are more or less the Smokers from Waterworld, and reality just dropped a flare into the fuel tanks.

Ah well a day what evil looks
I had from old and young.
Instead of the cross the albatross
Around my neck was hung.

If we don't hold the Republicans and the wealthy to account, which means turning out to vote like they did in Alabama every single time for as long as it takes, we cannot expect to remain a free people. We need to hang all this crazy, wrong shit around their necks like the fucking albatross...

...And vote the bastards out, like our life depends on it,

Because it does.

Pride.

Pride goes before destruction,
And a haughty spirit before a fall.
~Proverbs 16:18

"Make America Great Again" the Trump Supporters say.

What does this mean, exactly?

Well, I guess a while back somebody finally got a straight answer!

Yep, somebody (Specifically, an African American person) asked Roy Moore when America was great. Roy then proceeded to tell him that America was last "great" back when we still had slavery because "Families were united."

The obvious add-on here is "...Unless you were Black" because families got split up as their members were sold to new owners all the time. Not to mention "...Unless you were Chinese" and working in America in the hope of being able to send money back home to your family. Unless you were Irish, or Italian, and therefore considered expendable by other white people. Not to mention "...Unless you were poor" and working far away from your family members on some dangerous job...or after the end of the Fabled Antebellum Era of Greatness, Drafted into the Union Army and sent out into the field with a .57 Caliber Enfield rifled musket to help tear that corrupt, evil system down.

Mine eyes have seen the glory of the coming of the Lord...Oh, sorry, I digress.

This child-molesting, fake-Christian son of a bitch actually said what he said to a Black dude. I'm just sayin' in another context it's not hard to imagine these remarks resulting in an ass whuppin.' If you ask me, that would be a perfectly valid outcome here.

Now, let's look at this a little further: Supposedly, America was "Great" when rich people could buy and sell other human beings in order to profit from their free labor.

Certainly, this is of a piece with sentiments expressed by others. The kind of bald-faced, soul-sucking contempt expressed by Senator Grassley for example. Rich people are rich because they're righteous. Poor people are poor because they're immoral. That's basically Calvinism (or the Prosperity Gospel) in a nutshell. I've got mine, fuck you, because Jesus. No, Calvinism is not Biblical, it's a false doctrine, and it's wrong. This is something debased rich people came up with so they could fool the masses into thinking they were Christians and yet, still go on being debased, debauched rich people.

Listen here, Trump Supporters. If you think the Republicans give a wet, limp-dicked crushed-Viagra snorting FUCK about you, you have another thing coming. In terms of government policy and legislation, Congressional Republicans are the ones setting the "Populist" agenda while Trump golfs and Tweets and screws up the Middle East peace process. (This will get both Israeli soldiers and various Palestinians killed needlessly, by the way.) They don't care about your guns, but they're sure as hell coming for your health insurance, you Medicare, your Social Security, your Veteran's Benefits, your younger son's Pell Grant, your older son's benefits, pay, LGBT Battle Buddy and working equipment in the Army, and your older, more liberal daughter's post-graduate degree. Not to mention a free Press (This will negatively effect much more than what you think it will) immigration both legal and otherwise (So there likely goes both your Doctor, at least one of the Republican pundits you like, two troops from your son's squad and the guy who mows your lawn) National Parks and other Federal lands (This will greatly limit options for affordable family vacations) and basically anything else that benefits you and doesn't dump money directly into rich people's pockets. They're also coming for Climate Change research (Sixty degrees the other night, and it's December in Michigan, just sayin') NASA (So, there goes a lot of technological advancement right there) and science in general. None of this is going to do you one damned bit of good.

What are they offering you in return? Rabid Creationism, Racism and shitty pipe dreams, most of which have no basis in reality and almost all of which they have NO intentions of even trying to deliver on. Let me give you an example: There's Coal Miners who are turning down free retraining in literally almost any field that they want. Guess what? The Republican tax plan effectively would put the coal companies out of business, according to the CEO of Murray Energy. Why? Because it (accidentally) kills all Corporate tax deductions including the Alternative Minimum Tax, which is designed to help companies that run on thin margins...like coal companies and gas stations...stay solvent. Let me put it another way: Grown-ass men who are supposedly conservatives are sitting around waiting for the government Trump to "save" them. Sorry, but that's not what I was taught. If the market killed coal, it's dead. If something like that happens and you're given the opportunity to retrain, you take it. You have agency over yourself and responsibility for yourself and those people who depend on you, You're supposed to practice it. It's not the government's or the President's responsibility to give you a job nor to prop up a dying industry for the benefit of its core supporters. That's been done before, it's called Communism.

Then of course, there's the Child Labor caucus. AKA Orrin Hatch. FUCK that guy. He basically said "Why should we spend money on health insurance for kids if they're not working?" Um, Dumb ass, BECAUSE THEY'RE KIDS?!?! Imagine how much less a lot of parents...most especially poor white folks...would have to worry about if they had educational support, food and half-decent health care because they were kids? My (poor white) ex-wife had Borderline Personality Disorder mostly due to a chaotic and miserable childhood thanks to her family's relative poverty at the time. Call me a bleeding heart whatever if you want, but I think people growing up to not have personality disorders is a pretty decently valid societal aim. People with personality disorders let a lot of bills go unpaid, I'm just sayin.' A healthy and well-educated populace also generates more money for everybody, including higher profits for corporations and stuff.

But that's not what these people want, is it?

If everybody's working to make things better...it gets better for them too, right?

Here's the thing. These people...from Republican Congresspersons on down to Wingnut voters, view life as a zero-sum game. Equality makes them miserable, they resent any advances that anybody else makes because these idiots think that anybody else's gains are somehow at the expense of white men. This is why conservatives, Evangelicals, etc. have such a persecution complex. They interpret equality and social change as somehow being an attack against them. This is also why so many of these people have such an obsession with guns. They're trying to protect themselves from cultural and social change.

Of course, none of that is even remotely accurate. That doesn't stop them from wanting somebody, somewhere, to be miserable. In fact...the more visible the miserable people are, the better. When shitty people base their entire existence on spite...that's what we get.

Here's the thing; More freedom and more opportunity creates more of the same. More people having more money makes the economy better for everyone. Social change is usually a good thing in and of itself, provided there's some degree of direction and leadership from intelligent people. Uncontrolled social change...which is what we have now, created by too many right-wing attempts to "Stand athwart the flow of history shouting 'Stop"' isn't always such a good idea.

But that's what we have, and enough people are acting intelligently and so far enough of the safeguards are holding that the damage, while serious, can probably be repaired.

In other words, typical Republican M.O. of "Crap all over everything and leave the mess for the next black guy to clean up."

Then there was this bit, Roy Moore said that "Maybe Putin is right and America is the hub of modern evil in the world."

As far as I'm concerned, if that's how Roy feels, then he should move to Russia. Steven Seagal can help him fill out his citizenship application. If you think your own country is "Evil" because of increasing LGBT rights, racial equality and social change...then as far as I'm concerned, if you think those things are "evil" then you have a very deviant definition of evil. The American tradition is one of increasing liberty. If you don't like it you can leave. A majority of people decided this was the way we as Americans wanted to be, and we decided it a long time ago. I'll say it again: Americans do not have a shared culture or religion or a thousand years of history. All we have, is what we want to be.

We as a nation and as a people can be great without abusing our own citizens or other peoples. We can be great and still be good people...and I mean goodness in terms of conduct. We can be good without following some fanatic's idea of culture or religion, A Hijabi Muslimah or a bearded and turbaned Sikh or an irreligious Transwoman can be...and is...as much an American as a cowboy-hat wearing, gun-toting conservative Fundamentalist Christian. There will come a day, and I am certain of it, when conservatives will want to get African people from places like Nigeria to come here in order to boost their numbers...and I for one will welcome that day. Those people work HARD, and would be a powerful addition to the strength of this nation. We are ALL better off as a part of diversity, instead of trying to exalt ourselves at the expense of others.

We are stronger together.

• I don’t usually deal with those big words because I don’t usually deal with big people. I deal with small people. I find you can get a whole lot of small people and whip hell out of a whole lot of big people. They haven’t got anything to lose, and they’ve got every thing to gain. And they’ll let you know in a minute: “It takes two to tango; when I go, you go.” ~Malcolm X.

The Rich Man and Lazarus.

Luke 16:19-31New International Version (NIV)

The Rich Man and Lazarus

19 “There was a rich man who was dressed in purple and fine linen and lived in luxury every day. 20 At his gate was laid a beggar named Lazarus, covered with sores 21 and longing to eat what fell from the rich man’s table. Even the dogs came and licked his sores.

22 “The time came when the beggar died and the angels carried him to Abraham’s side. The rich man also died and was buried. 23 In Hades, where he was in torment, he looked up and saw Abraham far away, with Lazarus by his side. 24 So he called to him, ‘Father Abraham, have pity on me and send Lazarus to dip the tip of his finger in water and cool my tongue, because I am in agony in this fire.’

25 “But Abraham replied, ‘Son, remember that in your lifetime you received your good things, while Lazarus received evil things, but now he is comforted here and you are in agony. 26 And besides all this, between us and you a great chasm has been set in place, so that those who want to go from here to you cannot, nor can anyone cross over from there to us.’

27 “He answered, ‘Then I beg you, father, send Lazarus to my family,28 for I have five brothers. Let him warn them, so that they will not also come to this place of torment.’

29 “Abraham replied, ‘They have Moses and the Prophets; let them listen to them.’

30 “‘No, father Abraham,’ he said, ‘but if someone from the dead goes to them, they will repent.’

31 “He said to him, ‘If they do not listen to Moses and the Prophets, they will not be convinced even if someone rises from the dead.’”

I keep seeing this thing about this Trump Supporter saying he'd believe Trump over Jesus. I keep thinking; "Are you fucking kidding me?"

My thinking is that when both Trump and this dude are wandering around hell or the Underworld or whatever, together, then maybe they can both put their two empty heads together and figure out where they both went wrong.

What this dude (who is apparently some kind of small business owner) specifically said was:

“If Jesus Christ gets down off the cross and told me Trump is with Russia, I would tell him, 'Hold on a second. I need to check with the president if it's true.’”

Now hang on, did you see what I just saw? "If Jesus Christ gets down off the cross..."

Hold on. Let me see if I remember how this goes "We believe in one Savior, who died, rose from the dead and is coming again" (For the record, that's a line from the official doctrines of the Baptist church I once belonged to.) In other words, according to pretty much every Christian affirmation or doctrine or whatever that I have ever heard...Jesus, the risen Lord and Savior, is by definition NOT still on the Cross. But then I guess if one doesn't believe Jesus actually rose from the dead...or accepts the man-centered, Christ-less Christianity-for-Man's-approval that is taught in many churches today, or subscribes to the Prosperity Gospel or Young Earth Creationism...belief that Donald Trump is one's real Lord and Savior might somehow follow.

I laid all this out for a co-worker at work last night, and explained the whole situation. His response? "Well, then that guy's going to hell." For the record this dude is a socialist-leaning liberal who (so far as I know) isn't religious in the least. Yet he's capable of figuring out the perfectly obvious (from a Christian perspective) so why are so many Christians so (willfully) deluded?

What happened to Conservatives, that liberals now seem to be the ones who are (in reality) more in tune with the doctrines and teachings of Christianity?

Well...to throw something out there that Roland Martin brought up on his show yesterday (My roommate was watching his show via DVR when I was typing yesterday's blog post) his theory is that White Privilege is now at war with morality. That follows, if you understand that the true genesis of the modern Religious Right was in opposition to Brown vs. Board of Education, resistance to desegregation, and the founding of "Christian" private schools...often called "Segregation Academies" throughout the South.

Also, if somebody is badly taught, misguided or stupid enough to believe that Jesus was white (or that Christianity is somehow the "tribal religion" of white people) in spite of all the obvious evidence to the contrary...and they don't exercise their god-given capability and right to seek the Truth on their own...then they deserve whatever they get, full stop.

Listen here: Cults, false prophets and false teaching destroy people's lives. As far as I'm concerned this right-wing shit turned into a cult years ago. It's not even close to about Jesus, or morality. It's about power, pure and simple.

But always remember, there's always going to be a Power greater than you and greater than any power that Man can come up with, and whatever power and wealth you have in this life may well count against you in the next.

...And if you trust in Donald Trump more than you trust in God? You're a damned fool and I'll gladly tell you so to your face and cite chapter and verse of Scripture to back it up.

The Truth is what it is, whatever one's interpretation of the God of Abraham, whether you're talking any of the myriad kinds of Christianity, or Judaism, or Islam...or even offshoots like Mormonism or Rastafari...the Truth doesn't change that much between them. The truth is that the story of the rich man and Lazarus was a common tale in Middle Eastern mythology in ancient times.

The truth is that most religions teach some variation of the theme that the powerful will be brought low and the powerless will be raised up.

The Truth is, look around, look at how these Trump Supporters are acting.

Do you really think even someone rising from the dead, or whatever, would dissuade these people from their cult-like worship of Donald Trump?

I'm a former member of the End Times Prophecy Movement, I stopped believing in that kind of thing years ago.

As far as at least some of it, in particular the teachings about the AntiChrist and the false religion of the Beast as described in Revelation goes, though, I may have to reevaluate that position if this garbage keeps up.

Fucking Seriously? (Part 2)

And the rest of the men which were not killed by these plagues yet repented not of the works of their hands, that they should not worship devils, and idols of gold, and silver, and brass, and stone, and of wood: which neither can see, nor hear, nor walk: Neither repented they of their murders, nor of their sorceries, nor of their fornication, nor of their thefts. ~Revelation 9:20-21

I haven't said much about the Roy Moore Scandal...in which so far as I've heard at least eight women have accused Roy Moore of various acts from simply creeping on them and stalker-like behavior all the way up to sexual abuse, molestation and attempted rape. The victims were aged 14 to 16 at the time, and Roy Moore was in his 30's. That's called Statutory Rape. Evidently, everyone from a large percentage of Alabama Republican Party staff to some of their voters, all the way up to Evangelical and Fundamentalist Pastors seem to find this acceptable. It's been almost a couple weeks now since this dropped, and the scandal is still going, and not only that but it appears to be getting worse. 

What the fuck? I'm sorry, but I was taught that sex outside of marriage was wrong (though I've never been all that good at abiding by that.) I was also taught that those kind of relationships should be age-appropriate, and I've never had any interest in younger girls because I'm not a creeper, an immature motherfucker or a religious nut.

(As a case in point, why in the FUCK is a grown-ass man signing high-school yearbooks? Much less creeping on teenage girls at the mall to the point where he gets banned from the goddamned mall? If you support this guy, go ahead and answer me that. Show your work about why this dude shouldn't be on a sex offender registry at this point!)

Of course, the logic of people trying to justify this shit...and all this other crazy shit going on, not least Republican tax bills and support for Trump is starting to sound like Atlas Shrugged meets Letters to Penthouse. Some of these damned Trump Supporters apparently worship Trump more than they believe in Jesus.

Yes, if you follow the links you'll see that I've linked to RedState articles not once, but twice. There's a reason for that. I used to be a Conservative, and this kind of crap is NOT what I was taught. 

I have a lot more to say on this, which in the coming days, I'll probably expound on. But just think about this comment here by Russell Moore of the Southern Baptist Convention. 

The Republican Party has become the party of Moral Relativism, Pedophilia, and ridiculous Tax Cuts for the wealthy (but your taxes and mine WILL go up) and don't you forget it.

Vote the sons of bitches out next year, so we'll still have enough left of a country that we can pick up the pieces.

I'm tired of this crap.

Fucking Seriously? (Part 1)

Well, you wonder why I always dress in black,
Why you never see bright colors on my back,
And why does my appearance seem to have a somber tone.

Well, there's a reason for the things that I have on.

I wear the black for the poor and the beaten down,
Livin' in the hopeless, hungry side of town,
I wear it for the prisoner who has long paid for his crime,
But is there because he's a victim of the times.

I wear the black for those who never read,
Or listened to the words that Jesus said,
About the road to happiness through love and charity,

Why, you'd think He's talking straight to you and me. ~Johnny Cash, The Man In Black.

So, I saw last night that Country singer Neal McCoy has released a new song called "Take a knee, my ass" (I won't take a knee.) Per the article that I read, he seems to recognize that there's some reason, or some validity to why African American athletes are taking a knee when the national anthem is played. He just doesn't approve of how they're doing the protest.

So, in other words, something something gazpacho White Privilege! More of the same old "I don't know and I don't care what your issues actually are, but the fact that you're taking a stand where I can see it makes me uncomfortable, please stop it" type of milquetoast half-ass racist (but they'll get offended if you call them racists) bullshit.

No, seriously, this motherfucker should just record a track of himself singing "Doo Dah" and call it the fuck even, at least then he'd be being honest.

This song isn't art, it's politics and dog-whistle racism for profit.

If anybody wonders why I (an old-school Country music fan from Way back, I grew up on Johnny Cash, John Denver and Kenny Rogers, to the point where I still might get a random song by any of the three stuck in my head over 30 years later) have such a rabid, seething hatred of modern Country music...look no further than this fucking guy.

I started to lose interest in about 2002-2003 or so, when Toby Keith's music started to get all political in the post-9/11 era. I'd previously liked him, and I'll admit that even after "Courtesy of the Red, White and Blue" (The Angry American) he did have a couple of good songs. But that's when Country really started to lose me. Of course the fact that my ex-wife was a rabid Country music fan didn't help much.

Now, I think that politics and social issues and spiritual topics are as valid of a subject for art and music as anything else...and music absolutely is a valid way to vent anger and stress. An old roommate of mine, Kellie (who I also worked with) would routinely come home from work extremely enraged about something and blast her music (often, yes, Country) for a couple of hours to calm down.

But see, I've been around for a long time and as somebody who's mucked around with art and writing on occasion and who, as a gamer, makes and acts out characters and writes plots and stories to serve as background for the games I run...I have this thing about "Quality matters" and for that matter, context and the character of the artist can play a big part, too. That's another reason Toby Keith turned me off...because like a lot of conservative artists he hopped on the anti-Obama gravy train and while he did get off it a few times, he always got right back on as soon as an opportunity presented itself.

I'm not a fan of politically partisan art. Any fair-minded person, much less a person whose job description involves creativity and trying to understand the human condition (for a profit or otherwise) ought to damned well be able to criticize their own side when it's needed.

Another thing the article mentioned about Neal McCoy that struck me as odd, was that he has said the Pledge of Allegiance live on social media tor 677 consecutive days. Who does shit like that? McCoy also mentioned that he's performed for US troops in Afghanistan, Pakistan and Iraq.

OK...Whatever, dude. This guy is just trying to make a buck off rednecks and their Christian Nationalist sentiment.

I'm just sayin' if this guy is so patriotic, instead of praying on street corners to be seen by men, he ought to strap up and enlist. Funny how that tends to work with these Patriotic Musical Patriots of American Patriotism. It's funny to me just how many of these Nationalist dick bags, despite or maybe even because of their fake militarism, have never spent a single day in uniform nor ever done much of anything for anybody but themselves.

I'd like to contrast this with Johnny Cash, whose actual military service as a code-breaker in the United States Air Force (stationed at Landsberg Air Base, Germany) was actually a step up to his later career...being that he was part of a band that was composed of Airmen from the base, named the Landsberg Barbarians.

It should also be noted that Johnny Cash performed several free concerts for inmates at various prisons, most famously Folsom and San Quentin in California and Osteraker prison in Sweden. Albums were cut from each, true, but Cash's activism and support for prisoner's rights was very real.

He also supported Native American rights and lent his talents to the recording of an AIDS benefit album.

While we're at it, one of the reasons I always liked John Denver was his support and putting his money and time where his mouth was in service to environmental causes...and it should be noted that I was a conservative at the time.

It's worth noting that both men had issues with substance abuse, both had the sense to get help and took the lumps that resulted.

These guys supported the causes that they did...and believed in the things they did...because it was right and because it was a reflection of who they were, not because it was popular. People listened because good art and good music speaks to the souls of people. People listened because the message resonated...and it has endured because it was true.

As opposed to our political situation, where a year on, Trumpism hasn't endured in any meaningful way and doesn't resonate much anymore except with fools and racists...and Trump's big talk has been replaced by Congressional Republicans clearly calling the shots, except they can't.

Not worth a shit, anyway.

Good artists, like good athletes, leaders, and whatever...make you want to follow them because of their character and their skills. They don't do what the crowd wants, they do what they do and people who support it either turn up or they don't, but people tend to be drawn to them. Respect is earned, by every action, every day.

If anybody wonders why I knew who Colin Kaepernick was and had to look up Neal McCoy, that's your answer: Respect.

As recent events show, it only takes one screw-up for that respect to be lost, right, Senator Franken?

Remember that and remember, too, how people on his own side of the political fence responded. A clear majority of liberals think he should resign, and to his credit he's taking the consequences like a man.

But he shouldn't have sexually harassed that lady in the first place, and he knows it. Maybe he'll get through this, maybe he'll resign, I don't know. For myself I think the important thing is that the way the Democrats and liberals are handling it is almost a polar opposite from the way the Republicans are handling the Roy Moore scandal.

Just like I can't respect what Country music has turned into by going with the crowd too much, I can't respect what the Republican party has turned into, either.

There will be more on this later.

Iniquity.

As the name of my blog implies, I have ferrets. In point of fact, I have thirty of them, of which fourteen are either owner-surrenders, re-homed, or rescue ferrets.

In fact, the ferrets are out, prancing or prowling around my room, or sleeping, as the crew has been out for a good couple of hours now.

Right now my youngest, Aela the Huntress (named after the Skyrim character) is busy attacking my shoe. She's a spunky little ball of energy, a Sable Mitt Sprite with red eyes, a white throat patch and a little white Blaze mark on the top of her head...although she can hear, and is in fact extremely vocal herself. Baby ferrets relate to the world through their mouth, they bite, nip, chew on things, try to eat them. It's what they do, same as a puppy or kitten or most other baby Carnivores for that matter.

Still awake and prowling around is Freya, my Black Roan Mitt Sprite, whose fur has gotten lighter so she's more of a grayish white than the deep silver she once was...though her tail is mostly black and she's retained the silver around her face. She's one of my cage-climbers, and one of the more dominant females.

Joey, one of my Blaze Gibs and an owner-surrender ferret, is digging madly at the blanket that's rolled up under the door to keep ferrets from escaping. It's an olive drab wool blanket, originally of Air Force issue and extremely sturdy. It's still got a hole in it that the ferrets put there so I have to fold it right or they'll dig the hole more. Joey was a bit unsocialized when I first got him just over a year ago, but he's become much more social and made friends...though he still fights with a couple of the other males (Cinnamon Gibs Malik Daoud and Maximus, #AllCinnamonsAreAssholes) regularly, he's become much more social in the last year.

Speaking of, Maximus...who right now is a big fat lump of winter weight, gray starting to mix in with the lighter brown that's the dominant color in his coat (he'll be four next spring) just crawled up in my lap to demand that I rub his ears. He was my first ferret.

There's a pile of ferrets...all older ones who live in the same Ferret Nation Double cage...right by my feet.

All things considered, this is a normal afternoon here.

What I saw trending on Facebook this morning though, was definitely not normal.

Tuesday Night, Ivana Clifford, age 26, of Manchester NH, put one of her roommate's three ferrets in the oven and basically cooked it to death...she said because she was angry and she accused her roommate of stealing from her. Her roommate said that that was not true and that the damn bitch did this because the ferret nipped at her heels. (Spoiler: That's something that ferrets DO. It's Mustelid for "Come on, let's play.") The damn bitch is in jail for lack of a $10,000 CASH bond, and requests to move her to one of the area hospitals for psychological evaluation have been denied, so such will have to be performed at the jail.

Good, as far as I'm concerned she should be under the jail, not in it. As far as I'm concerned, she too should perish screaming in darkness and fire. As I have said many times, I used to be a Christian. This fact instilled in me a belief in justice and a tendency to think that "An eye for an eye" should still apply in certain cases.

This is one of them.

If you wonder why I have 30 ferrets, it's because I want to protect as many of them as I possibly can from assholes like that lady.

If somebody did something like that to one of my ferrets, or indeed to any animal and I caught them and was unable to save it...they'd be the next one going in the oven.

And damn the consequences.

What in the hell is wrong with our country that we have people who basically commit first-degree murder of pets for no goddamned reason?

What is wrong with us that cruelty, extremism, greed, mass murder, racism and all sorts of other things that most people will tell you to your face that they think are wrong...are running so rampant these days?

I'm extremely disgusted with humanity today.

And because iniquity shall abound, the love of many shall wax cold. ~Matthew 24:12

Spoiler: It doesn't seem to be the Black people or the brown people or gay people or the Jews or the Liberals or the Muslims that the iniquity is coming from.

Listen, America, if we keep putting up with liars and murderers and nuts and those who encourage the same...we're going to get insanity, lies and murder, every single fucking time.

We need to do better. As far as I'm concerned, creating a society where it doesn't occur to people to put live ferrets in ovens or to kill or maim any animal in such a horrible fashion should be a pretty damned low bar to set.

What the fuck is even wrong with people?

We Bite Stupid People.

So, the results of last night's off-year election are in, and Republicans got soundly thrashed. No, not really, let me rephrase that. I mean they got beat up like Sam Jackson's character in Coming to America. Not only did Ralph Northam win in Virginia (and the state also has its first Latina and first Transgender legislators) but Chris Christie got eaten alive faster than a fat guy trying to run from a horde of Zombies by Murphy in New Jersey.

Oh, and speaking of New Jersey, Ravi Bhalla became the first Sikh mayor in the state's history having been elected mayor of Hoboken.

Now, I think that's pretty damned impressive. Sikhs are some bad ass motherfuckers. No less of a conservative hero than Winston S. Churchill spoke admiringly of the Sikh soldiers who fought for the British in World War I and World War II. They charged into battle wearing Turbans, rather than helmets, and oh yes, they died by the thousands. In so doing they helped to forge modern South Asia and its place in the world. Now that's courage. The moral code of the Sikhs demands abstinence from sexual immorality and substances that addle the mind, courage, fidelity, good conduct, honesty, truthfulness, and also resistance to tyranny in all its forms. Sikhs are Monotheists, although they believe in reincarnation and some other traditional beliefs of their country and they reject the (often oppressive, historically) caste system of Hinduism. The Sikhs are a defensive warrior culture, living as they often did in an environment where they might need to form up an army real quick. The distinctive trappings of their religion...the bears and uncut hair of the men, the turbans and daggers or swords...and they also wear special shorts and carry a comb...all have particular significance. This is referred to as the "Five K's" and in effect, along with the name "Singh" which means "Tiger" (either as a middle name or a surname) served as a sort of uniform for baptized Sikh men in ages past.

To this day Sikhs, much like Native Americans or Pacific Islanders who serve in the United States Armed Forces in a larger percentage than their share of the population, have an outsize presence in the Indian military.

But they, and their fierce mentality and theologically-driven tendency to stand for justice are present in all walks of life. They're people, the descendants of a proud warrior culture but...like so many others who can make such a claim...Apaches, Afrikaners, Japanese, Lakota, Maori, Zulus, you name it...they're as diverse as any other group and other accomplishments often outshine the ferocity for which they were once primarily known.

I ran into a Sikh dude at work last week, just a normal looking young dude, probably a college student. His beard, turban and what looked to be Indian ethnicity aside, he fit right in with the mix of Americans and international students in the crowd he was with. Just a bunch of young guys (and a few girls) out for a night at the casino. I was on my way to go take my break. I nodded politely at him, he returned the gesture. I smiled once I'd passed by. Social and cultural change, yo. We might as well get used to it.

In the last apartments I lived in I had a lot of Indian neighbors...college students mostly...and they seemed, one and all, to be people. The guys would sometimes play Cricket or Rugby, which I thought was pretty cool. Most of those neighbors...the ones who ever showed any evidence of faith...were Hindu or Muslim. Before last week, the only times I'd met Sikhs were in Canada. I know Sikhs are present in other places that I've been. I'd just never had any interactions with them anywhere else.

Broaden your mind, meet new people, stay engaged in the processes of life.

But some people are stupid, like this lady that I ran into on Twitter this morning. I'm...well, I have to say that this level of stupidity and lack of connection to one's own history is...quite impressive, actually. I'm serious, if there's one thing that I've learned about nuts and racists down through the years it's that they usually are like little kids and can't WAIT to show you how nuts they are. It's like they think they're going to get a prize or something. Well, congratulations, lady. You get to be the star of the show.

See...it's not just that I knew a little about Frank Sinatra, it's that I knew quite a bit. Our music industry literally owes a big part of how it does business to that guy. I knew that. He played to the "Bobby Soxers" as the pop-culture teenage girls of the era were known, as a demographic because they were an untapped market. Nobody had done that before. We wouldn't have people like Justin Timberlake, Mark Wahlberg, or for that matter Michael Jackson or at least, they'd never have made it to the level that they did without Frank Sinatra. Who also, while we're at it, was one of the first big crossovers from singing to acting. It's that I knew who he associated with and what their own histories were. Frank Sinatra came of age when there was still much racism directed against Italians, and his ties to mafia figures were more than once used in an effort to derail his career. Thus he was always passionately against racism and became an advocate for Civil Rights at a time when there weren't very many white people openly supporting the rights of people of color. One of Frank Sinatra's "Rat Pack" running buddies and best friends was Sammy Davis Jr. Now, Sammy Davis Jr. was an African American actor, singer and stage performer in a time when that...and being in the military, which he also was during WWII, serving as part of an integrated entertainment troop...were two of the only ways you could get a fair shot if you were a black person. But oh yes, before and during his career Sammy Davis Jr. faced racism.

In the 1950's and early 1960's Frank Sinatra and Sammy Davis Jr. were largely responsible for integrating the casinos and hotels of Las Vegas, forcing hotels to hire African American staff. Both Davis and Sinatra supported the Civil Rights movement and Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Now, by the standards of today's purity testing movements, neither man would probably be considered either a liberal or a conservative...although both were Democrats, Sinatra would become a Republican later on, and support Ronald Reagan in much the same way as he had John F. Kennedy...though he never gave up his passionate civil rights advocacy. As both a Democrat and a Republican, Sinatra supported and raised money for Israel, a cause near and dear to the heart of most Conservatives. Davis was an avid gun collector and trick shot, and he would perform on a USO tour in Vietnam at the request of Richard Nixon.

...And hey, I didn't have to look any of that up.

I feel like I can confidently say that if he were around, Frank Sinatra wouldn't have been bothered in the least by Hoboken's new Sikh mayor. Hell, I think either he or Sammy would have had much respect for Danica Roem, Virginia's new transgender legislator, once they found out that she could play an electric guitar pretty well. See, common ground and common interests give people a real reason to get along and at least try to work together.

Learn your history, and you too can avoid embarrassing yourself by getting basic facts wrong.