Failed State (Left Behind Is A Lie IV, Five.)

Osman Ali Atto: I see not catching Aidid is becoming routine.

General William Garrison: We're not leaving Somalia until we find him. And we will find him.

Atto: (scoffing) You've been here, what, six weeks? Six weeks, you tried to catch the General. You put up reward posters. $25,000. What's this, gunfight at K.O. Corral?

Garrison: It's O.K. Corral.

Atto: Don't make the mistake of thinking because I grew up without running water I am simple, General. I do know something about history. See all this? It's simply shaping tomorrow. A tomorrow without a lot of Arkansas white-boys' ideas in it.

Garrison: Well, I wouldn't know about that. I'm from Texas.

Atto: Mr. Garrison, I think you should not have come here. This is civil war. This is our war, not yours.

Garrison: Three hundred thousand dead and counting. That's not a war, Mr. Atto. That's genocide. ~From The Film Black Hawk Down.

...

The wind whispers of fear and hate. The war has killed love. And those that confess to the Angkar are punished, and no one dare ask where they go. Here, only the silent survive. ~Dith Pran, The Killing Fields

Jim Jordan was nominated for Speaker.

The House GOP Caucus went home without voting on his nomination, because by a wide margin, Jordan simply does not have the votes.

The United States House of Representatives is effectively a failed state. With a war in the Middle East and the ongoing war in Ukraine...think about that for a second.

Please, take all the time you need.

Seriously, when we, the People, keep electing absolute motherfuckers who don't believe in civilization, much less democracy...you get this idiocy. And you get it every goddamn time you run the experiment. Every time they're allowed to flourish, the far-right eventually pulls this kind of crap and self-destructs, usually not 

Republicans did this shit to themselves by spending 30 years pushing extremism and not only electing unreasonable people, but encouraging their base to elect ever more unreasonable people to office...and now they expect Democrats to bail them out?

Excuse me, what the fuck?!?!

How is that our responsibility??

I used to be a Republican. I'm a veteran. I was a Christian for most of my life.

And right now, those things tell me these fucking people are acting like America is a church that's about to split up because some big shot won't compromise on some stupid ideological point or because the Pastor got caught drunk and cheating on his wife again, and it's wrecked the place for everybody else but that motherfucker and his followers. 

These fuckers ain't even acting like this is a country.

Here's the thing though, to keep going with the metaphor...these fucking people don't determine doctrine, dogma, etc. or even own the building.

We do.

That's right, We, The People.

And I get it, some of these assholes represent districts full of yahoos. That doesn't excuse any of the other Republicans at this point. Nothing says you fuckers have to just go along.

And it's funny how Republicans in particular spent generations promoting Christian Fundamentalism and Christian Nationalism...as well as a certain End Times eschatology only to abandon all that shit the first time it ever actually would have mattered. Left Behind Was A Lie, and twenty years later, you don't give a damn who knows it.

It's almost like all this "conservative" and "religious" bullshit was simply aimed at getting the power to fuck shit up when it was important...and for what? That's what I'm asking.

Either you believe in Civilization or you don't.

Either you believe in Freedom, or you don't.

Look, Republicans, maybe you fuckers don't understand this, or maybe you just don't give a damn. But it's you who made a particular point in getting America, and American Christianity balls deep in being involved in Israel in particular and the Middle East in general...and now that shit's blown up again you idiots would rather keep jacking off over your stupid internal politics than step up and help out when people you involved yourselves with in better...or maybe just different...times actually need it.

The Israelis have helped us over the years, they've damn sure helped you. Even when we've aided them in major ways in the past, like during the 1973 Yom Kippur War, it was to our benefit.

Even if it wasn't, even if none of that were the case...the ultimate powers behind all this shit, people like the Iranian Ayatollahs and Vladimir Putin...are looking on with pleasure as you idiots fall to infighting and paralyze an entire branch of our government...which, for a lot of you, seems to be the goddamn point. Sooner or later, if this bullshit continues, they're going to hit us...maybe even you, personally.

Because you didn't even choke when it mattered, you weren't even paying attention aside from trying to find a way to spin what's going on to hurt the other side. You weren't even looking.

You fuckers don't see the Israelis or the Ukrainians or even your own goddamn American followers...let alone Americans like me who don't follow your bullshit...even as people.

And you can't or won't see that it's all the same Threat Pyramid coming for all of us, including you.

It never even occurs to you that you could go into the Valley of Decision...and be judged.

We are a nation of citizens, not subjects, with Citizen-legislators, defended by Citizen Soldiers. You are not Dukes or Barons or petty strongmen with little fiefdoms, you're elected officials. You have a goddamn job to do.

So fucking do it. And learn to understand there's a world outside your comfortable little space, too.

Or quit, so we can get somebody who will.

Because like it or not, the world needs America to get it's head out of its ass and stand and deliver.

That ain't what this is, yo.

Lead, follow, or get the fuck out of the way.

Слава Україна!

[CWO Durant has been taken prisoner.]

Somali Militiaman: You are the Ranger who kills my people?

CWO Durant: I'm not a Ranger. I'm a pilot. [Durant declines a cigarette]

Militiaman: That's right. None of you Americans smoke anymore. You live long, dull, uninteresting lives.

Durant: What do you want with me?

Militiaman: You have taken hostages. We... have you.

Durant: My government will never negotiate for me.

Militiaman: Then perhaps you and I can negotiate, huh? Soldier to soldier.

Durant: I'm not in charge.

Militiaman: Course not. You have the power to kill, but not negotiate. In Somalia, killing is negotiation. Do you really think if you get General Aidid, we will simply put down our weapons and adopt American democracy? That the killing will stop? We know this: without victory, there can be no peace. There will always be killing, you see? This is how things are, in our world. 

~From The Film Black Hawk Down.

Four

"The fight is here; I need ammunition, not a ride."

~Volodymyr Zelenskyy, allegedly 25 February 2022, Associated Press