Spirits, Not Animals (Christmas 2022, Three.)

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.
And this shall be a sign unto you; Ye shall find the babe wrapped in swaddling clothes, lying in a manger. And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God, and saying, Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men. ~Luke 2:1-14

I saw this earlier. Benny Johnson of Toilet Paper USA said that Ukrainian President Zelensky looked like a "Strip club manager."

I'm a tell you what, I'm goddamned tired of these ungrateful little shits. You fuckers want to spend your lives sucking Vladimir Putin's cock?? Why don't you just move to Russia and do it??

I seriously don't understand why these fucking people support Vladimir Putin and his genocidal Orc-Army, but I do know if people like Benny Johnson or Charlie Kirk were the ones who were under attack, they'd cry like little bitches and set a land speed record to set up that white flag and surrender. Like, seriously these fucking people aren't fit to hold Zelensky's hat while he takes a piss.

And let me tell you something else, I saw some other shit this morning, some Lefty journalist that I've followed for a good long time, uncritically repeating some claim that Zelensky's wife spent $40,000 on a shopping spree in Paris. Evidently, the claim was pure bullshit per Newsweek, but so what, if it wasn't??

The implication being that according to the privileged, if you're trying to live any kind of decent life while you're fighting for freedom...it doesn't matter if you and your husband are millionaires in your own right and you can afford to, ya know, treat yourself when you can get out of the battlespace. Doesn't matter if you're, ya know, your country's First Lady and expected to look the part once in awhile. You have to wear some kind of a hair shirt and apologize for not being privileged. Seriously I'm sick of this bullshit.

I mean, I get that some of these older Lefty journos who came up in the era of "Radical Chic" (and who in turn look at Zelensky and his now-iconic military-type sweater and cargo pants) probably think of Che Guevara, the beret, the military fatigues, and the adventuring and revolutions (or attempts thereof) in Cuba, Africa and Latin America...and they think anybody who's fighting for freedom should fix X image and Y ideal.

Fuck that.

Also, these fucking people obviously know fuck-all about Che Guevara. Yeah, financially and lifestyle-wise he was pretty abstemious. In terms of personal conduct, well, not so much. He liked his expensive pipe tobacco and womanizing. Guess what? Not everybody has to be that guy.

I hate these people, Left or Right, who'll bitch and complain if a given leader doesn't fit their personal image of some kind of rigid straight-backed war-mustache...or worse find something to nitpick about because they're too chickenshit to just say "Hey, I 100% support the genocidal bad guys, fuck him."

So the people disingenuously pretending that freedom fighters have to be sorry for being freedom fighters and wear some kind of hair shirt, or that they have to be revolutionaries in the style of FARC or one of those groups, sitting in a shack in ratty fatigues with an AK-47, eating beans out of a can and mouthing insipid revolutionary slogans...well, y'all can just fuck right off. 

This shit is puerile.

Seriously, the Ukrainians are basically fighting against a country with cultural memes right out of the early 19th century...made up by a guy named Alexander Pushkin, who was by the way not some kind of icon of racial purity his damn self...which thinks its president and/or King has some kind of a goddamn right to rule the world.

Tell me something, Republicans.

What the fuck do you think that kind of shit would mean for America??

Shit, I don't know how these sons of bitches can just brush off the re-Sovietization of Russia or the fact that the Russian government and military are openly flying the goddamned Hammer and Sickle again. I used to be a Republican, I can't do it.

Fundamentally, American nationalism and Russian nationalism are violently incompatible. America says "Decide" Russia says "Submit." One of these things is not like the other one and I don't give a damn how you try and spin it. 

And no, I don't give a damn that certain Evangelical Christians have been in bed with these motherfuckers since the 1990's. You're being used, Christians, they don't actually give a fuck about you. Unless you learn to speak Russian, adopt Russian culture and convert to Russian Orthodoxy, you won't get to be in the club.

And...lest you think otherwise...that is exactly the mentality we're dealing with here. They think everything is conspiracies and secret societies and shit.

These idiots still...despite Elon Musk now owning Twitter and offering the "Blue Check" to anybody who can pay him $8 and the obvious fact that all that shit ever meant was that you are who you say you are...think the Twitter Blue Checks are some kind of liberal "Secret Society" that somehow runs everything and oppresses them or something something Gazpacho.

Actually, at this point I think with these fucking people's penchant for conspiracy bullshit, all they'd have to do is learn Russian and they'd fit right in with the goddamned dirty Putinists anyway.

It's goddamned stupid.

And of course I can see why what's left of American "Conservatism" doesn't want to help defend Ukraine or support Volodymyr Zelensky and the Ukrainian fight for freedom and the right to exist.

These motherfuckers literally do not believe in freedom as a concept at this point.

It's like I've been saying for literally years now. These fucking people would be fine with being slaves as long as they got to be a better class of slaves than some of the other slaves.

Conservatism as I was taught it was about equality before the law, individual rights, limited government and personal freedom (but also consequences for one's actions and personal responsibility.) These fucking people look at Putin and see that which they want to emulate, if only because they wish to use the awesome power of the State as a club to beat the people they don't like over the head with, and ultimately to impose their cultural and social mores, their shitty social beliefs and above all their selfish, small god on other people.

Fun fact, I was taught there's not much point in being a Christian if you don't want to. God doesn't work that way. Free Will, yo. If you're just pretending...what? You seriously don't think the almighty Creator of the infinite universe isn't going to be able to see that shit??

And as far as I'm concerned, if what you believe in isn't "Revealed Truth and the wisdom of our ancestors" and limited power of the State with slower social change to avoid unintended consequences, well, what you are isn't conservative to start with.

I guess I see why they like that goddamned flag.

Thing is, it's Christmas. You cannot follow both the Cross of Christ and the Hammer And Sickle. No man can serve two masters. One of these things is not like the other one, something must lose.

I'm a former Christian and conservative, I'm a person who's fucked up a lot of shit in this life. I'm a recovering addict, I'm a veteran. But above all, I'm a goddamned American. 

I don't like to lose, and if I have to explain why to you, you'll never understand it.

I could no more throw in with a Chekist like Vladimir Putin than I, as a United States Air Force veteran, could understand why some so-called Americans still worship the goddamn Confederate flag.

If you want to align yourself with the losing side in a war, and a loser KGB Communist stuck on trying to rebuild the fallen Soviet Union (which conservatives like me believed for a generation fell because it fucking deserved to fall) like Vladimir Putin...over a goddamn hard-ass like Volodymyr Zelensky who's ripped victory right out of the jaws of defeat, and redefined everything from geopolitical thinking to military strategy to motherfucking internet memes...well, you're an idiot and that's your goddamned problem.

As Reagan said, the destiny of Man is not measured by material computation. You either believe in freedom or you don't.

We are spirits, not animals. I was taught this was a basic Western...much less Christian...teaching.

And I don't give a good goddamn if you claim to be far-left or far-right. If you support Vladimir Putin, fuck you.

The rest of us do not have to put up with your shit.

There has to be a price we will not pay. If you want to trade the existence of the Ukrainian people for "Peace" well, what you're getting isn't peace, and it won't last long.

Remember that, because sooner or later it's going to be our turn.

Two

Слава Україна!

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

Also this ... And This

When I am dead, bury me

In my beloved Ukraine,

My tomb upon a grave mound high

Amid the spreading plain,

So that the fields, the boundless steppes,

The Dnieper's plunging shore

My eyes could see, my ears could hear

The mighty river roar.

When from Ukraine the Dnieper bears

Into the deep blue sea

The blood of foes ... then will I leave

These hills and fertile fields --I'll leave them all and fly away

To the abode of God,

And then I'll pray .... 

But until that day I know nothing of God

Oh bury me, then rise ye up

And break your heavy chains

And water with the tyrants' blood

The freedom you have gained.

And in the great new family,

The family of the free,

With softly spoken, kindly word

Remember also me.

~Taras Shevchenko