A Rand Paul Christmas (Fuck You, Asshole.)

And it came to pass in those days, that there went out a decree from Caesar Augustus that all the world should be taxed. (And this taxing was first made when Cyrenius was governor of Syria.) And all went to be taxed, every one into his own city. And Joseph also went up from Galilee, out of the city of Nazareth, into Judaea, unto the city of David, which is called Bethlehem; (because he was of the house and lineage of David:) To be taxed with Mary his espoused wife, being great with child. And so it was, that, while they were there, the days were accomplished that she should be delivered. 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. And there were in the same country shepherds abiding in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night. 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. And the angel said unto them, Fear not: for, behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people. For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, which is Christ the Lord. ~Luke 2:1-11 (KJV)

Fuckin' seriously, Rand?

So, apparently after years of conservative and Republican hectoring about a "War on Christmas" the apparent purpose of Christmas, or "Festivus" or whatever...is to make a not-exactly-clever racist joke about Elizabeth Warren?

Fuck you, dude.

It needs to be said, I think. For the dumb people in the back, and the Evangelicals, and the Trump Supporters, it needs to be said that this shit is wrong.

This motherfucker is somehow managing to make fun of both the neoconservatives and anybody who wants peace, as well as claiming that Trump's bullshit Syria pullout is somehow "Ending a war" when honestly all it's likely going to do is make the war far worse, especially for the Kurds and the Syrian Democratic Forces...who've basically been thrown to the wolves here.

And this idiot thinks this is "Ending a war?" No, bitch, we likely haven't even seen the start of it yet. There's an excellent chance that the conflict that results from this stupidity will spill back over into Iraq, and could for that matter affect Israel (even as Netanyahu's coalition government appears to be falling apart) because of the resulting Iranian and Russian hegemony in Syria.

None of this is about ending wars, just like none of this is (or ever was) about Jesus or promoting Christmas or Christianity. This is about insecure small old white men who are insecure about the size of their dicks, fearful of the aging process and severely afraid of the fact that they are going to die being able to do whatever dumb shit pops into their heads and trying to somehow get out of facing consequences for it.

Listen you Labradoodle-haired bitch-ass motherfucker, Actions Always Have Consequences.

See Also: The stock market right now, but I digress.

Case in point: These two idiots.

Is it just me, or are these people pathologically  incapable of creating a Christmas display that doesn't look like it belongs in a tacky Macy's department store in some fading Midwestern mall?

It never ceases to amaze me being that the Trump family is from New York City, that their taste in decorations falls somewhere between "Saddam Hussein" and "White-Trash Fancy."

Maybe Santa Claus or Comrade Vladimir or lover-boy Kim will leave Trump a gold-plated Kalashnikov under the tree this year?

God, I hope not. I wouldn't trust any of these people with a weapon.

Oh, and speaking of Trump enablers? Ya know, I think part of me finds endless diatribes on the War On Christmas preferable to somebody who lives the life they do because of and everyday is surrounded by technology believing in the mystical powers of tech bro beard hair. I'm just sayin' I have a far better chance of being shot negligently by some dumb ass redneck idiot than I do of being killed by Daesh for any reason whatever.

Look, while rich American idiots fall down an endless rabbit hole of Stupid and are busy running the country into the ground and dumb-ass racists fret about the existential threat posed by the continued existence of Other People, various and assorted bad actors in the dark and dangerous places in the world (and even some that shouldn't be, but have been made so by others) are plotting their next move and doing so with sick, cold-blooded rationality well in hand.

For example after last month's Kerch Strait incident, and the fact that Russian troops remain massed on the Ukrainian border (and in response, Ukrainian forces have fully stood up for defense as well) there's the fact that most of the various Orthodox Christian churches in Ukraine have unified and formed the Ukrainian Orthodox Church anyway, which regardless, is probably the right course of action. In response the Russians have broken off relations with the rest of the Orthodox world, kicked over the table, taken their ball and gone home.

Keep in mind that the Ukrainian president and Metropolitan Epiphanios (the Ukrainian Orthodox Church's leader) are going to Istanbul later in the same week that will see a Democratic House of Representatives sworn in here in the United States...

Honestly, I could see the Russians dropping some information on their conservative collaborators in other countries just to cause chaos (and probably the fall of at least a couple governments) at the same time, but again, I digress.

It's like the 1054 Catholic-Orthodox Split, or the Reformation, only worse because one of the major powers involved (Russia) and another allied to several involved countries that are major players (and obligated to respond if they are attacked-that's America, of course) have nuclear weapons. Greece and Turkey are both NATO members as well as countries likely to get dragged into this religious conflict, and for that matter ALL of the countries in the Balkans and Eastern Europe that border Russia or their boot-licker-state in Belarus have strong Orthodox contingents...some of which have already taken sides while others hope for an amicable resolution to the schism.

I don't think that's likely, because I don't see Russia acting in good faith.

And a shitload of the affected countries are also our allies and/or NATO members.

No, seriously, read the linked article. The Russians are, in effect, saying that they rather than the historical First Among Equals of the Constantinople patriarchate, should be the primary power in the Orthodox faith...or they'll kick over the table and ruin things for everybody.

If you don't see how this could turn into an epic-level disaster ya'll ain't paying attention.

And if you think people who've built their political brand on demonizing people of color (religious or otherwise) LGBT folks, Muslims, etc. won't swoon over Russian soldiers shouting battle cries about "Resisting the Anti-Christ" while they slaughter people simply for resisting their Imperial Cult...you have another thing coming. If this blows up less than half as bad as I think it might, I honestly expect a lot of the Putinist/Trumpist fifth column here in America would very quickly convert to Russian Orthodoxy just to "Own the Libs" or something something gazpacho.

As my friend Aaron has put it, when faced with the choice of choosing anything else over Movement Conservatism...the Movement Conservatives are going to choose their bullshit political beliefs. If you don't think that includes America, Democracy, Protestantism or any other damn thing, you can almost certainly expect to be wrong. There is no bottom. As regards anything that people normally would believe in...these people basically believe in nothing, at this point.

Peace on Earth and good will toward men, indeed.

If we don't pull our collective head out of our ass, and do it soon, things are going to get worse, because this might be the last peaceful Christmas we have in a long time.