Reading Amos In Satan's House (Sick, One.)

 If we lose freedom here, there is no place to escape to. This is the last stand on Earth. And this idea that government is beholden to the people, that it has no other source of power except to sovereign people, is still the newest and most unique idea in all the long history of man's relation to man. This is the issue of this election. Whether we believe in our capacity for self-government or whether we abandon the American revolution and confess that a little intellectual elite in a far-distant capital can plan our lives for us better than we can plan them ourselves. ~Ronald Reagan

...

Hear ye this word which I take up against you, even a lamentation, O house of Israel.
The virgin of Israel is fallen; she shall no more rise: she is forsaken upon her land; there is none to raise her up.
For thus saith the Lord God; The city that went out by a thousand shall leave an hundred, and that which went forth by an hundred shall leave ten, to the house of Israel.
For thus saith the Lord unto the house of Israel, Seek ye me, and ye shall live:
But seek not Bethel, nor enter into Gilgal, and pass not to Beersheba: for Gilgal shall surely go into captivity, and Bethel shall come to naught. Seek the Lord, and ye shall live; lest he break out like fire in the house of Joseph, and devour it, and there be none to quench it in Bethel. ~Amos 5:1-6

I had to work this morning, and I'm not working either of my usual night shifts at work this weekend, of course I'm also going to be working nights all week now, but I'll trade that for getting to sleep at night on a weekend...which I haven't got to do in like a year. That's been alright, it just feels good to have a bit of a change.

Here's the thing, the other night shift guy is in the process of getting fired. When the dude first started, he made a real big deal about being conservative and religious and not being able to work on Sundays, yet strangely (for one of those fucking people these days) he usually didn't want to talk to anybody about any of that kind of stuff...which in a way is odd, because in spite of where I work I've got one or two co-workers who speak of Trump as if he is Jesus. But given my experience of the sullen MAGA's at my last job who got real quiet by about the spring of 2017 I'd say it tracks.

Saw this dude and his...girlfriend, I think...out and about in town a couple weeks ago. He was wearing a worn Trump 2020 hoodie and a crucifix necklace, paying for groceries with an EBT card. I didn't say anything, It's not my right to judge. The last few days, hearing people talk about that guy, though, I've been shocked at how little respect anybody has for him, and by the weirdness of his behavior at work as it's been described to me (I mean, I don't disagree, but I don't know the dude as well as they do, either.) Also where I work is a union shop and per training, even more "Woke" than my last job...I've seen management tolerate far more in the way of shenanigans and do it for a lot longer than would have been the case at the casino. It's...hard...to just fire people, in a way, that's Okay.

He's getting fired for calling in too much...among other things, I sort of gather, but no one will say and I don't want to know. Again, that's...sort of how it's supposed to work.

But...observing some of this stuff the last few days (and nights) made me reflect a bit on how I was taught to conduct myself, I was originally a Baptist and thus I was taught that a certain standard of personal conduct is just expected of anybody claiming to be a Believer. As I was taught it "Avoid even the appearance of Evil" among a bunch of other straight-up bullshit that goes with that. (All too often, actual Evil is fine, so long as it does not appear to be so to those people's sensibilities.)

But, among other things, I was taught one should show up for work and do one's job...and that living off of the State (Welfare, etc.) was shameful.

I served in the Air Force, and rose to the rank of Sergeant. Integrity Above All, Service Before Self, Excellence In All That We Do. These aren't just words to me.

Respect is earned, by every action, every day.

And yeah my examples and experience are anecdotal, blah blah blah. I get that, but it's been my experience that actual hard core MAGA's are a lot more Mike's Hard Lemonade than they are Mike Johnson. (And no, traditional Republicans are never going to win back the narrative. It's just not going to happen. I'm a traditional Republican and I vote Democratic!) There's a lot more "Welfare Check" to these assholes than there is any concern for the health and welfare of the Nation. That's been my experience since the whole mess with my ex-wife. 

In my experience, everything from these fucking people's political conservatism to their disingenuous religiosity is about either getting Man's approval for their shitty beliefs, about fucking over somebody else for no good reason, or about conflict-oriented people having a ready argument to get into. Shit, I've personally seen poor White Trash Pentecostals "testify" that "God blessed them" because they got their child-tax-credit/Earned Income Credit tax refund from XYZ low income job, or this-that-and the other thing via social services. I get it, we need to have that kind of thing...but the way things too often get done in America, those people working the system often means somebody who's legitimately trying to do the right thing didn't get help. (Too often, they didn't even ask.)

It's all a scam, and it's not even a good one. Increasingly all this bullshit seems to be more about hurting people...and trying to find ways to make money off of that...than anything else.

It's a scam that bad actors exploit the fuck out of, especially considering that lots of immigrants and migrants...often/usually People of Color...who may not even be eligible for welfare benefits at all if they're not citizens or haven't been so or been in the country for X amount of time...end up doing those "There will be no call-offs accepted" kind of jobs that the White people just won't do.

(Or, for that matter, it's also the Brown people and the immigrants that are getting the educations that the White People don't want to get...because then the White People would have a harder time believing in Creationism or Q-Anon...and doing the professional jobs, too. All too often, somebody in their family has to bust their ass and they have to get the grades or the kid has to serve in the military and get GI Bill benefits to even make that possible, also.)

It starts to fall apart if you even demand a plausible lie.

Trust me, if there were "Massive caravans" of migrants...the "NO CALL OFFS ACCEPTED" employers cannot wait for them to get here, or to exploit their labor.

And the tweaked-out poor White schmuck with the food card and the mix of conspiracy theories and faux-populist "Conservative" beliefs who's sitting on their couch watching FOX News can't wait for them to get here either, so they have someone to hate.

White Americans, and some others of us lately, demand that others do the work of life, maintain the engines of Capitalism and keep America going and then we have the balls to resent both Capitalism and those people for it? Worse, then demand to be able to discriminate against and persecute those people?

How the hell does that make any sense??

One of these things is not like the other one, but you can't make people see that.

Lots of Americans are bored and debased, and when they were faced with exactly the kind of existential crisis...in the form of COVID-19...that their alleged boredom basically asked for...too many people threw tantrums and refused to give a shit about anybody else at all. 

If you think civil war or half of America falling to fascism or any other goddamn thing is going to work out any differently, you have another thing coming.

We are, fundamentally, a Sick society.

Look at the economy, even by the simple metrics the "Conservatives" claim to go by like gas prices, we're doing really good right now...I'm certainly doing better than I was during the Trump years and I don't have quite as good of a job right now, Union or no Union. I absolutely have a feeling that a majority of us will...sullenly, perhaps, but we'll do it...vote for Joe Biden next November.

The thing is, at least a quarter of the population simply does not want to be a part of that economy or this society...no matter how well it's doing. So that's very likely when it's gonna go down.

We're headed for some kind of a crackup, for our own bloody "Two state solution" and it's not going to go how MAGA thinks it will. Despite their own beliefs in a kind of American Israelism and Manifest Destiny, etc. They're going to be the ones with the banana republic equivalents to the Gaza Strip and West Bank...but they'll build their own wall, and think they're coming out ahead. I have a feeling that, ideologically at least, fascism won't even begin to describe it. Imagine a Social Credit system designed by Christopher Rufo and Stephen Miller.

More to the point, and I know a lot of people probably won't like me saying this but a hell of a lot of liberals and moderate/remaining conservatives and "Nones" will be like "Bye, Hoe, see you later!"

And as for the part that does fall into fascism...don't expect these fucking people will show up for work for that shit, either. 

And when the ever-hungry ghouls like Stephen Miller make not showing up for your new-and-downgraded Fascist-approved No Call Offs Accepted job into some level of offense that the bullies and the bastards can eventually throw people into death camps for...the people who want to sit on the couch in their MAGA hat and smoke weed all day will get feasted on by the ghouls, too...and they will die in numbers too terrible to contemplate, and those who don't get eaten by the ghouls will laugh about it. It'll be the level of soup sandwich that'll make Russia look like Iceland.

Will they care? 

The evidence (again mostly from the COVID-19 pandemic) suggests not. It suggests that these fucking people believe so strongly in their shitty ideologies that if nobody else volunteers and they can't legally find somebody else to throw into the volcano to appease their shitty vengeful little gods and are denied the nonjudicial means to do it to somebody else...they'll sacrifice themselves.

And will they even think about it??

I honestly don't think so, No. That's what their ideology is. In fact, the fascist politicians and "No Call Offs" corporate types will likely find a way to profit off of mass homicide of their "Anal Glaucoma" (Can't see their ass coming to work) base. And that kind of scares me, because sooner or later the world isn't going to be able to ignore it and somebody's kids are going to have to pick up rifles and go to war to stop the "Killing Fields with a Mall" bullshit. And yes, somebody's gonna have to.

I don't even want to consider the level of PTSD and soul-scarring pain (plus the "normal"-as if it's not a travesty to use such a word here-horrors of war) that will result from that.

That's where we're headed, unless we start addressing this sickness within ourselves and getting a grip, because the bad guys here are just plain Evil and they don't even care whether they appear to be so or not. Their mob is hooting and hollering and baying for blood all the same, probably even more now that it's all out in the open.

They don't care about making the world better, even for themselves.

You want a better nation? You have to be a better citizen.

And this? This is Unsat, period.

Me? I'm just tired of reading Amos in Satan's House. Either you believe in right and wrong or you don't.

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

~Volodymyr Zelenskyy, allegedly 25 February 2022, Associated Press

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Ye who turn judgment to wormwood, and leave off righteousness in the earth,

Seek him that maketh the seven stars and Orion, and turneth the shadow of death into the morning, and maketh the day dark with night: that calleth for the waters of the sea, and poureth them out upon the face of the earth: The Lord is his name: ~Amos 5:7-8

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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

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Series based on the theme, too.

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Choke (American Revelation IV, Revisited.)

"It is not enough for me to stand before you tonight and condemn riots. It would be morally irresponsible for me to do that without, at the same time, condemning the contingent, intolerable conditions that exist in our society. These conditions are the things that cause individuals to feel that they have no other alternative than to engage in violent rebellions to get attention. And I must say tonight that a riot is the language of the unheard. And what is it America has failed to hear? It has failed to hear that the plight of the negro poor has worsened over the last twelve or fifteen years. It has failed to hear that the promises of freedom and justice have not been met. And it has failed to hear that large segments of white society are more concerned about tranquility and the status quo than about justice and humanity". ~Martin Luther King Jr.

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"The fight is here; I need ammunition, not a ride." ~Volodymyr Zelenskyy, allegedly 25 February 2022, Associated Press

While I was getting ready for work last night, after I'd already written my previous post, I saw that Derek Chauvin got stabbed in Federal Prison yesterday.

I have no sympathy.

In fact, I have less than no sympathy.

The motherfucker knelt on the neck of a helpless man for almost nine minutes, while three other cops just stood there and watched. In so doing, he committed a crime that basically lit half the country on fire. I spent a good amount of time in May and June of 2020 writing about this shit.

I was a United States Air Force security policeman, if a United States Army soldier, or a United States Marine treated a captured insurgent in a battlespace like Derek Chauvin treated George Floyd, it'd be a war crime. 

The offender would certainly go to prison, very likely for life. And the military would see to it that a life sentence meant just that. Had I done what Chauvin did when I was a young, tough Security Police troop I'd still be in prison...and I'd deserve it!

There's one reason...and one reason only...why American cops are not held to the same standards as America's Airmen, Marines, Sailors and Soldiers.

Racism.

Well, that and the creeping fascism infiltrated into America's police departments by Republicans since 9/11 and the open militarism and militarization supported by agencies like the Department of Homeland Security. It was never about terrorism.

And this was done because the military is by law and tradition apolitical, with strict statutory limits on how armed force can be used domestically. Like I wrote back during the George Floyd protests, in this post, Republicans knew a time would come when they'd be losing.

We're just damned lucky they never recaptured the narrative.

So Republicans like Karl Rove got the cops in their pocket so they'd have at least some armed force they could use. But if you look at how these so-called "Conservatives" treat Federal law enforcement...and any state law or agencies that might indict, restrain or punish men like Donald Trump...well "Use" is exactly the word. 

They don't actually give a fuck about the law...much less the people who enforce it...past their immediate political expediency to the same rich white men who use racism as a cover for stealing on a mind-boggling scale.

And, fun fact, a lot of those limits on the troops...who Republicans also "supported" until they didn't...were themselves imposed because of the defeat of the Confederacy in the Civil War and because later, during Reconstruction, the US Army's Seventh Cavalry under Major Lewis Merrill was too effective in running down members of the first Ku Klux Klan. America's soldiers are not "Race Soldiers." If you wonder why "Conservatives" suddenly hate the United States Armed Forces so much, that's basically why.

There used to be conservatives who weren't like that. I was there. Those fucking people chased all the rest of us out.

Bigotry and hate are...by choice, apparently...the glues that hold the "Conservative" movement together. The ability to make war based on that type of shit...well that's what some of these fucking people think government is even for. 

In point of fact, they think that should be the only valid Power of the State, to enforce their bullshit and hate.

And as these fucking people lose the legal and political mechanisms and, more importantly, the cultural and social narratives to enshrine their hate and shitty beliefs into culture, law and society...the more likely they become to simply lash out with violence. 

Why the fuck do you think these motherfuckers like Russia so much as of the last couple years?? (And I'm here to tell you, the recently-announced Russian ban on abortion and the open explanation that it's so they have more people available for military service in about 20 years will be like catnip to these motherfuckers.)

The newfound "Conservative" love of the Hammer and Sickle, KGB agent Vladimir Putin and more recently the Dictatorship of the Proletariat (in a faux-populist sort of way) came about only because Putin has spent the last decade or so making a calculated effort to appeal to the Western far-right in general, and to American "Christian" "Conservatives" in particular. 

It's transparently blatant and obvious...but it works like magic on a certain type of personality. One of my old Sergeants went down that rabbit hole...dude was very much Anti-Bush like a lot of us in 2008 (but also discovering "Traditional" Catholicism at the same time) he went from voting for Obama to voting for Romney to voting for Trump to full-on support for Vladimir Putin in the space of a dozen years and I lost track of the progression of things because the guys who were still "Friends" with him on Facebook aren't so active on there anymore and all our Facebook groups kind of fell by the wayside. 

It's not just conservatives that fall for this shit, either, though. Far-left people like film director (and US Army veteran) Oliver Stone and pacifist Noam Chomsky have also bought into this crap.

The idea is to play the far edges against the middle to cause division, and in the wake of the Hamas-Israel war...it's at least somewhat worked.

And the thing is, in a country like Russia, somebody like Derek Chauvin would...even if they had to be prosecuted and jailed...very likely not in spite of but because of his potential for committing war crimes, a dude like that would almost certainly be released and sent to the front...especially if, like Chauvin himself...they had prior military service of some kind. Atrocity really is the kind of world these fucking people think they want to live in.

And goddamn, did they think they were gonna get that in the summer of 2020.

You can't reason with bigotry and hate, you can't (usually) reach these fucking people by being nice to them. You want people to not be Nazis? You punch Nazis. You want less racism? You don't tolerate racism at all in the first place! You want this shit to stop, you stand firm that it's wrong and you make it as painful, socially undesirable and unprofitable as fucking possible.

Some people will still do it, even then.

And perhaps more to the point, and I know this is going to be hard for some people to understand; Any empathy or sympathy given to dudes like Derek Chauvin or any of this fellow cops who stood by while he spent almost nine minutes murdering a helpless man will simply never be reciprocated.

These motherfuckers don't want to live in a society that doesn't involve them grinding somebody else down under their jackboot, and it really is that simple. These motherfuckers would gladly choke out even the very idea of freedom. MLK Jr. said that a riot was the language of the unheard.

I wrote then, that too many people wanted to go right on unhearing...and they're still doing that!

So no, I have no sympathy for a racist asshole like Derek Chauvin...and I never will.

And you shouldn't either.

We're either all Americans, or none of us really are.

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Blood that has soaked into the sands of a beach is all of one color. America stands unique in the world: the only country not founded on a race but on a way, an ideal. Not in spite of but because of our polyglot background, we have had all the strength of the world. That is the American way. ~Ronald Reagan

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In Natal, apartheid is a deadly cancer in our midst, setting house against house, and eating away at the precious ties that bound us together. This strife among ourselves wastes our energy and destroys our unity. My message to those of you involved in this battle of brother against brother is this: take your guns, your knives, and your pangas, and throw them into the sea! Close down the death factories. End this war now! ~Nelson Mandela, speech at a peace rally, February 25th, 1990

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Power Gamer (Who Mourns For The Scarlet Harlot? Three.)

We have become a Nazi monster in the eyes of the whole world, a nation of bullies and bastards who would rather kill than live peacefully. We are not just Whores for power and oil, but killer whores with hate and fear in our hearts. We are human scum, and that is how history will judge us. No redeeming social value. Just whores. Get out of our way, or we'll kill you. Who does vote for these dishonest shitheads? Who among us can be happy and proud of having all this innocent blood on our hands? Who are these swine? These flag-sucking half-wits who get fleeced and fooled by stupid little rich kids like George Bush? They are the same ones who wanted to have Muhammad Ali locked up for refusing to kill gooks. They speak for all that is cruel and stupid and vicious in the American character. They are the racists and hate mongers among us; they are the Ku Klux Klan. I piss down the throats of these Nazis. And I am too old to worry about whether they like it or not. Fuck them. 

~Hunter S. Thompson.

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

~Volodymyr Zelenskyy, allegedly 25 February 2022, Associated Press...

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

Last night, I saw this.

Trump's alleged pick for a second-term A.G. threatening to throw American citizens (who are also, mind you, citizens of allied nations that traditionally respond rather violently to their own upper-class citizens being abused) into Gulags and then abuse and deport them.

Essentially...because somebody like Mehdi Hasan basically pointed out that he exists??

(Dude's not exactly a household name, and trust me, that's his problem because he's a shitty little narcissist.)

By the way, Mehdi Hasan, while being a Shia Muslim himself, is English-Upper-Class-style Christian educated in the kind of schools you have to come from money to even get into in the United Kingdom, including ultimately Christ Church, Oxford. He's also worked for Sky News and is pro-life. In other words, he's the kind of dude that...if these people were what and who they say they are...might be considered a possible ally. But of course, they're not, and it all starts there.

(Likewise, Tim Miller is a gay Republican. But he's not and never was a Trump cultist.)

Not for the first time, I'm just going to say it; Keeping these fucking people permanently out of power is existential not only for the American Experiment and our standing in the world as political and social constructs, but for the existence of the United States of America itself...because more than half the country wouldn't stand for it.

[I think we're already more perilously close to this country flying apart than most people realize, if that happens I'm not sure most people or the world are one bit prepared for the house of horrors the American Right would cheerfully create.]

And more to the point, these fucking people...themselves roughly a quarter of our population, won't stand for it and will react violently when they lose, too. They don't give a shit about America. They want to build Trump Cult Nation. 

And they don't care where it is, if all they get is a big chunk of South Florida...they can still be a gateway to the Western lifestyle for Russian oligarchs and live off Russian money and be the Cuba of the 21st Century. These fuckers don't care if 90% or more of the people who follow them are reduced to shocking poverty or even die. Their ideal "society" is basically the Killing Fields of Khmer Rouge Cambodia, but with an Applebee's, a gilded palace for themselves, and a mall.

These people are bored, debased little sociopaths looking to justify themselves in the blood and pain of others.

And that's literally the fucking point, these people want to destroy America...and notice the "laughing" emoji. These motherfuckers want to break America and kill and torture people...simply because they think it would be funny.

(Also, by way of complete bullshit polling, among other things, the media is actively trying to bring this shit about...because they figure they'll make a shit-ton of money off of damage to or the disintegration of America.)

Assume these motherfuckers have any sense of conventional morality or even understandable beliefs at your own goddamned peril, because anywhere they can take, they will commit atrocities and mass murder.

More to the point they'll do it with about as much thought (and a similar thought process as to why) as the "Power Gamer" in your D&D group playing the Chaotic Evil Barbarian randomly deciding to slaughter a small village full of peasants and basically daring anybody to stop them.

Because it's all a big game to them, because they think it's funny, and because they think they'll still get to be whatever they think they are when it's over...and all too many of them won't care if they turn into even-more inhuman monsters along the way...because they figure doing fucked up shit will make them feel better about life, or something.

And to them, nobody else really exists. That's what they're saying when they post memes like this shit.

None of the rest of us are even real to them, and they'll be absolutely enraged when we resist, whether at the ballot box or on the battlefield.

And at the treason or war-crimes trials when it's over, like all those polite Nazis at Nuremburg, they'll basically talk as if they did nothing wrong, as if doing whatever atrocities they got to do and killing whoever they got to kill was basically the most natural thing in the world.

Because to them it is. They've already been saying for years that they view the rest of us as little more than pen-and-paper Dungeons And Dragons peasants, but somehow given a life we do not deserve to have...as if they and their shitty power fantasies and the right-wing eschaton they wish to try and immanentize are the only real ideas or rightfully-recognized human beings.

If you don't think stopping these motherfuckers is going to come down to a fight, you're just wrong. Until they get a real punch in the face or worse for acting like this, the rest of us aren't even real.

But then they'll spend all of the rest of their lives resenting and plotting revenge for that, too, and teach whatever spawn they have to do the same.

It won't stop unless we make it stop.

It's not that these fucking people dream of some future of being Nazi Babylon The Great and controlling everybody else via the computer chips they used the Power of their Unlimited-Government right-wing State to implant in our brains...it's that this is already their theology...and they don't really believe there is such a thing as a God to cause their fall.

They don't think anybody will mourn for the scarlet-robed Whore Of Babylon simply because they don't even imagine far more petty and venal beings than that will ever fall, or even die.

So we have to say "No." (And then back that "No" up with force.)

If we have to remind them that they're human just like the rest of us, and do it the hard way, then that's what we do, otherwise we condemn ourselves to an eternity of slavery. Vote and act otherwise as if these fucking people are a threat to everybody you love and everything you care about, because they are.

Got that?

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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 saith 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 judgeth 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

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And whatever this is, it isn't Christianity. When real Christians led our government, these motherfuckers hated them, too.

Remember that.

Original post.

Thankless (Thanksgiving, 2023.)

This know also, that in the last days perilous times shall come.

For men shall be lovers of their own selves, covetous, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy,

Without natural affection, trucebreakers, false accusers, incontinent, fierce, despisers of those that are good,

Traitors, heady, high-minded, lovers of pleasures more than lovers of God; Having a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof: from such turn away.

For of this sort are they which creep into houses, and lead captive silly women laden with sins, led away with diverse lusts,

Ever learning, and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth.

Now as Jannes and Jambres withstood Moses, so do these also resist the truth: men of corrupt minds, reprobate concerning the faith. But they shall proceed no further: for their folly shall be manifest unto all men, as their's also was.

But thou hast fully known my doctrine, manner of life, purpose, faith, longsuffering, charity, patience,

Persecutions, afflictions, which came unto me at Antioch, at Iconium, at Lystra; what persecutions I endured: but out of them all the Lord delivered me.

Yea, and all that will live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution.

But evil men and seducers shall wax worse and worse, deceiving, and being deceived.

But continue thou in the things which thou hast learned and hast been assured of, knowing of whom thou hast learned them;

And that from a child thou hast known the holy scriptures, which are able to make thee wise unto salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus.

All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness:

That the man of God may be perfect, thoroughly furnished unto all good works.

~2nd Timothy 3:1-17

It's Thanksgiving.

I saw this earlier.

Former Republican Representative Jason Chaffetz spent $114.02 on about the Wokest most designer expensive-ass Turkey possible and then...blamed Joe Biden. I've...never spent more than like $50-$60 for ALL of my Thanksgiving food in my life. (And I used to be a line cook, do the math.)

I, on the other hand, spent $6.98 for a Turkey on my Mom's behalf this afternoon when we went to the store, because there was a limit of one per person for that particular special. 

My Mom already has her Thanksgiving meal planned, she got steaks like last week, because they were on sale. The turkeys are for the cats and dogs. I spent like $15 on several days worth of stuff for Turkey sandwiches.

It's not just that most of us can't afford some $114.02 designer Turkey, it's literally that we don't want to. And we're sure as hell not going to blame no Joe Biden for it.

Nor is it somehow Joe's fault if we want one!

One almost has to wonder just what the hell these "Former Things" are, that these fucking people claim to support...because basic decency or honesty sure is not among them.

You can whore it way the fuck up in all the fake-ass "Americanism" (that you don't obey anyway) and Latin-rite "Traditionalist Catholicism," social "Conservatism" and assorted Unga Bunga horseshit that you'd like...and you'd still be a lying sack of shit.

I don't understand how all these alleged conservatives...of all the fucking people...don't understand this.

Unless it was all a Lie and their only "Value" is unrestrained hatred of some "Other."

It's fucking Thanksgiving, have these fucking people no sense of shame??

Oh, wait.

I guess, literally, not.

There was a deadly high-speed accident (resulting in an explosion) at the Rainbow Bridge in Niagara Falls, NY today and FOX News tried like hell to spin it as some kind of terrorist attack, half-ass retracting all their bullshit as the facts came in and it turned out to be nothing more than a deadly accident...and on Thanksgiving, no less...Jesus, how much is that going to fuck up a whole bunch of people's holiday??

The Fox News idiots are just that goat-eager to try and find something...anything...to try and smear Joe Biden.

Because it's all a game to them and subjecting other people to their puerile bullshit is literally the only important thing in the world. "Former things" my ass.

I'm tired of these fucking people and their constant infantile bullshit.

Twitter got itself caught up in yet another Antisemitism scandal...bad enough that a boatload more advertisers and a majority of the major accounts that I follow have left the platform (and now I've functionally done the same.)

And somehow this is the fault of Media Matters For America and other assorted investigative journalists for pointing it out...like I couldn't have told you from what I've observed over the last year or so that Twitter has been being overwhelmed by a grim tide of extremism, Nazi shit, porn (like I've literally seen open porn accounts on Twitter and it did no good to report that shit) and religious fuckery for over a year now??

I did not need Media Matters to tell me that.

And a few Republican state governments...principally Texas...are rushing to Elon's defense.

When these motherfuckers say "Freedom of Speech" they mean "We want to call Black people N*****'s" and that's literally about it. 

They don't give a damn if the world burns, otherwise, or if every damn thing they ever said they believed in before gets burned to the ground. The hate and the racism are the only things that matter to them. If we're being honest, I'd say too much of 50 years of pre-Trump conservatism either failed to take all this into account or was simply cover for it, and willingly so.

And for the record, even plenty of those people...the ones who are still with us, anyway...have been cast into the Outer Darkness by Trumpism and the rising fascism that's increasingly just outright replacing it...and you can literally be, for all intents and purposes, a fascist or religious nut-bag with a pedigree in far-right shit going back decades...and if you've displeased Trump in any way or said anything bad at all about him whatever, you might as well be a far-left Rainbow-flag-waving Democrat to these fucking people!

About the only things dudes like Donald Trump or Elon Musk could even do that would alienate their followers at this point is tell them not to be dicks to LGBT folk or People of Color or profess a belief in democracy, freedom, and inalienable human rights...and actually say so clearly and mean it.

And the rest of us need to start dealing with this bullshit, start punching Nazis at the dinner table, and so on...because force and pain are pretty much the only stimuli a lot of these fucking people understand, aside from maybe being cut off from their sources of narcissistic gratification, facing criminal charges or getting fired from their jobs, but there's such a right-wing sympathy-industrial-complex at this point, that for a lot of these assholes if they can avoid a punch in the mouth...they just spew a bunch of crocodile tears and don't have to learn anything.

And if we don't make this shit stop, it's eventually going to end in blood, because American "Conservatives" have looked at Putin's re-Sovietized Russia...and since it's not them dying on the battlefields of Ukraine, they're Okay with that...they've decided that's what they'd rather be, if only because the cruelty is the point. Same fucking people gladly threw in with Hamas when Israel got attacked, if only because Democrats went full bore on support for the Israelis.

Seriously, what the fuck kind of life do you even get to have when the only thing that's important to you is constantly finding some political "Stick" with which to beat some imagined Other Guy??

Seems like a hell of a way to live, if you ask me. I couldn't do it.

Think about that, this Thanksgiving.

Hate ain't the reason for the season.

Слава Україна!

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

~Volodymyr Zelenskyy, allegedly 25 February 2022, Associated Press
Last Post
Hess: So what shall we toast to, boys? I can blather on about “To health” or “To success,” but I’d like to do somethin’ a little less rote. Where you from, Brown Eyes?

Migs Mayfield: How ’bout a toast to Operation Cinder?

Hess: Now there’s a man who knows his history.

Mayfield: No, I don’t just know it. I lived it. I was in Burnin Konn.

Hess: Burnin Konn?

Mayfield: Mmm.

Hess: That was a hard day. I had to make many unpleasant decisions.

Mayfield: Yes, you did. Entire city gone in moments, along with everybody in it. We lost our whole division that day. Man, that was like 5-10,000 people.

Hess: Yep. All heroes of the Empire.

Mayfield: Yeah. And all dead.

Hess: Well, it’s a small sacrifice for the greater good, son.

Mayfield: Depends on who you ask, don’t you think?

Hess: [irritated] What you gettin’ at, trooper?

Mayfield: All those people, the ones who died, was it good for them? Hmm? Their families? The guys I served with? Civilians, those poor mud scuffers, died defending their homes, fighting for freedom. Was it good for them?

Hess: But we’ve outlasted them, son. They’re eating themselves alive. The New Republic is in complete disarray, and we grow stronger. You see, with the rhydonium you’ve delivered, we can create havoc that’s gonna make Burnin Konn pale by comparison. And then they’re gonna turn to us once again. You see, boys, everybody thinks they want freedom, but what they really want is order. And when they realize that, they’re gonna welcome us back with open arms. Ah. To the Empire.

[Mayfield chuckles, then fires a blaster at Hess' chest, killing him instantly. He and Mando then shoot their way out of the mess hall] ~From The Mandalorian, Season 2, Ep. 7 "The Believer"

Good And Faithful Servant (The Rosalynn Carter Post.)

When the Son of man shall come in his glory, and all the holy angels with him, then shall he sit upon the throne of his glory:

And before him shall be gathered all nations: and he shall separate them one from another, as a shepherd divides his sheep from the goats:

And he shall set the sheep on his right hand, but the goats on the left.

Then shall the King say unto them on his right hand, Come, ye blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world:

For I hungered, and ye gave me meat: I was thirsty, and ye gave me drink: I was a stranger, and ye took me in:

Naked, and ye clothed me: I was sick, and ye visited me: I was in prison, and ye came unto me.

Then shall the righteous answer him, saying, Lord, when saw we thee an hungred, and fed thee? or thirsty, and gave thee drink?

When saw we thee a stranger, and took thee in? or naked, and clothed thee?

Or when saw we thee sick, or in prison, and came unto thee?

And the King shall answer and say unto them, Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me.

Then shall he say also unto them on the left hand, Depart from me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels:

For I hungered, and ye gave me no meat: I was thirsty, and ye gave me no drink:

I was a stranger, and ye took me not in: naked, and ye clothed me not: sick, and in prison, and ye visited me not.

Then shall they also answer him, saying, Lord, when saw we thee an hungred, or athirst, or a stranger, or naked, or sick, or in prison, and did not minister unto thee?

Then shall he answer them, saying, Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye did it not to one of the least of these, ye did it not to me.

And these shall go away into everlasting punishment: but the righteous into life eternal.

~Matthew 25:31-46

...

A leader takes people where they want to go. A great leader takes people where they don't necessarily want to go, but ought to be.

~Rosalynn Carter.

I got woke up just about an hour ago by assorted ferret shenanigans. I was having trouble getting back to sleep, so I pulled up Blue Sky on my tablet. I'd already managed a decent 8 hours sleep so, Okay, what could it hurt.

I should know not to ask that question.

First thing I saw was that Rosalynn Carter had passed away.

Well, shit.

I always liked the Carters, despite having spent much of my adult life as a Republican.

I was a Christian, I've read all of Jimmy Carter's books on that subject.

And I have to admit, I never thought of Carter as a particularly "Great" President until, thanks to his negotiating skills and those of Colin Powell and Sam Nunn...we didn't have to invade Haiti in 1994, but went in as Peacekeepers. I was an active duty Airman at the time and ya know, I kind of liked the idea of our guys not going into harm's way and still getting the job done.

Also because I was a Christian, I've never understood the almost feral hatred some Evangelicals and Fundamentalists had for Jimmy Carter.

Or at least, I didn't until Donald Trump got elected and these fucking people fell into cultish adoration and worship of Donald Trump. In other words, Christ and Christianity...let alone the teachings of either one nor the conduct expected of a believer...never had one damned thing to do with any of it.

At best, actual righteousness is for other people...and that mostly only because in the minds of certain political Evangelicals it makes them easier to take advantage of.

It's all about Power and tribalism to those assholes, that and the kind of hard religiosity that's just as likely to have been held by Carthaginian worshipers of Moloch before the Roman conquest of ancient Carthage or by blood-soaked Aztec priests in 1521...or radical Islamists fighting against Israel right now...as it is by a screaming Calvinist or Prosperity Gospel Pentecostal preacher over here in the modern Deep South...or a Russian Orthodox Bishop in Moscow railing against homosexuality to justify the war in Ukraine. 

In other words, the type of shit that's exactly what Jesus himself railed against.

And it's increasingly obvious that these fucking people are not sorry, and that their entire goal is, in point of fact, the creation of a Christ-less Christianity that lets them hurt even more people. I'm warning you: If they have to worship literal devils to do that...they'll do it. 

That's the next step.

It will absolutely come to that.

They're close enough already.

Fucking Trump bragged recently that the leader of the Taliban was nice to him.

Motherfucker, those assholes shot two of my friends.

Both survived, but one ended up with severe PTSD and various other mental issues, and would ultimately commit suicide in 2011.His wedding in 2003 was the last time most of my Air Force bros all got together, the situation ended up being a soup sandwich, made worse by his issues. But the point is that religious extremism and war wreck people.

And all Trump can think about is that these radical Islamists who are the opposite of everything America stands for...including, mind you, things that most American Muslims stand for...called him "Your excellency."

Jimmy and Rosalynn Carter have dedicated their lives to the American experiment and the Cross of Christ and made the world a measurably better place in the process. There's a house a couple blocks down from where I live that was built by Habitat For Humanity...which Jimmy Carter started, and did the literal physical labor of building homes for...for one.

What's Donald Trump ever done for anybody but Donald Trump??

One of these things is not like the other one.

Remember that.

Because there's going to be a test later.

Слава Україна!

Then shall the kingdom of heaven be likened unto ten virgins, which took their lamps, and went forth to meet the bridegroom.

And five of them were wise, and five were foolish.

They that were foolish took their lamps, and took no oil with them:

But the wise took oil in their vessels with their lamps.

While the bridegroom tarried, they all slumbered and slept.

And at midnight there was a cry made, Behold, the bridegroom cometh; go ye out to meet him.

Then all those virgins arose, and trimmed their lamps.

And the foolish said unto the wise, Give us of your oil; for our lamps are gone out.

But the wise answered, saying, Not so; lest there be not enough for us and you: but go ye rather to them that sell, and buy for yourselves.

And while they went to buy, the bridegroom came; and they that were ready went in with him to the marriage: and the door was shut.

Afterward came also the other virgins, saying, Lord, Lord, open to us.

But he answered and said, Verily I say unto you, I know you not.

Watch ye therefore, for ye know neither the day nor the hour wherein the Son of man cometh.

~Matthew 25:1-13

Last Post

There is clearly much left to be done, and whatever else we're going to do, we had better get on with it. ~Rosalynn Carter

Off To The Idiot Races (Who Mourns For The Scarlet Harlot? Two.)

Daniel Plainview: I did what your brother couldn't. I broke you and I beat you. It was Paul who told me about you. He's the prophet. He's the smart one. He knew what was there. He found me to take it out of the ground. You know what the funny thing is? Listen, listen, listen! I paid him $10,000 cash in hand, just like that. He has his own company now — prosperous little business — three wells producing $5000 a week. Stop crying, you sniveling ass! Stop your nonsense! You're just the afterbirth, Eli —

Eli Sunday: No...

Daniel Plainview: — that slithered out in your mother's filth. They should have put you in a glass jar on a mantelpiece. Where were you when Paul was suckling at his mother's teat, eh? Where were you? Who was nursing you, poor Eli? One of Bandy's sows? That land has been had. There’s nothing you can do about it. It’s gone, had.

Eli Sunday: If you would just —

Daniel Plainview: You lose.

Eli Sunday: — take this lease, Daniel!

Daniel Plainview: [yelling] Drainage! Drainage, Eli, you boy! Drained dry. I’m so sorry. Here: if you have a milkshake, and I have a milkshake, and I have a straw — There it is. That's a straw, see? Watch it. Now my straw reaches across the room, and starts to drink your milkshake. I drink your milkshake! [slurping noise] I drink it up!

Eli Sunday: Don't bully me, Daniel!

Daniel Plainview: [throws Eli to the floor] Did you think your song and dance and your superstition would help you, Eli? I am the Third Revelation. I am whom the Lord has chosen. [throws bowling balls at Eli]

Eli Sunday: [dodging the bowling balls] Daniel!

Daniel Plainview: Because I'm smarter than you! I'm older!

Eli Sunday: I'm your old friend, Daniel! Help me! Help me, please!

Daniel Plainview: I'm not a false prophet, you sniveling boy! I am the Third Revelation! I am the Third Revelation! I told you I would eat you!

Eli Sunday: We're family!

Daniel Plainview: I told you I would eat you up!

~From the film There Will Be Blood.

...

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.

I saw this last weekend, and I wrote at length about it at least once already.

Catholic Bishop Joseph Strickland was fired for criticizing the Pope last week.

I freely admit, I could give a fuck, but the thought process of some Bishop from a tiny diocese in Texas thinking he knows more than the Pope...or could tell the Pope what to do...or whatever, just sort of boggles my mind in a "can't stop looking at it" sort of way.

And then there's...this motherfucker. During a Senate hearing, Oklahoma Senator MarkWayne Mullin almost got in a fight with the President of the Teamster's Union.

Let's look at this;

MarkWayne Mullin is allegedly a former MMA fighter. He has less than ten minutes of total ring time in three fights, all of which he won. His main claim to anything is, he owns a plumbing business...and he inherited that. You can have all the flags and shit in your office that you'd like...that's not what makes the man.

(I was in the military, I boxed and lifted weights recreationally before and even a little after that. I never 'clocked' myself in any official capacity...but I have more ring-time than MarkWayne Mullin does. I've been a fan of that kind of shit since I watched a rerun of Ali vs. Foreman in "The Rumble In The Jungle" with my dad as a little kid. I'd hardly have called myself MMA material even as an Airman and sure as hell would not now. I say that knowing people who legitimately can step into that ring. The son of a friend and former co-worker...who's also a friend and former co-worker of mine...placed quite decently in an MMA event at the Soaring Eagle Casino a few years back, and I know a few other people with similar experience.)

Sean O'Brien, the president of the Teamsters Union, well...he comes from a family of truckers and shit, all Teamsters themselves. He was a heavy-equipment operator and Union Local guy and he has decades of experience as a labor organizer. I know a hell of a lot of heavy-equipment operators because of where I currently live...and I've know a decent number of Teamsters and other Union people. A hell of a lot of them know their way around a beer bottle and a bar-fight, and if you're a Union Local guy you have keep up with that kind of shit...right or wrong. Like a junior NCO in the military, you have to keep the respect of the troops. More to the point, as a labor organizer you have to deal with CEO's and lawyers and their ability to bullshit. You have to be able to yell as loud as or louder than cops and city political types...the list goes on.

My money was on Sean O'Brien.

But...and this is another lesson from the military...respect is earned, by every action, every day. Bernie Sanders pretty much defused the situation. Bernie rather loudly reminded Mullin that he was a United States Senator and he should act like one.

So yeah, somebody take the shovel away from that motherfucker, now.

I've already written plenty about Elon Musk trashing Twitter, but it's gotten bad enough now that I've more or less quit the site. Honestly, when the Effinbirds guy left, I think that was the last straw for me and I was like "Fuck you, I'm out."

It's been about a year, but it feels more like several.

Fuck off, Bird.

More to the point, I'm tired of small, angry right-wing men and their endless obsession with dominance, power, and ruining shit for other people. I couldn't do it. If I had to carry that much negative energy around with me, I'd overdose on drugs or I'd shoot myself, or something. 

It costs precisely $0 to not be a dick. Just like it would've cost Elon Musk not even one damn thing more than the money he'd already put into it to leave Twitter as it was, maybe make a few changes, and leave the rest be...and if anything his reputation would probably have kept improving. But, instead, he ran the place like a Meth-addled squirrel and let all type of bad actors, conspiracy theorists and Nazis have a free hand in the name of creating an unending Twitter-dopamine factory for himself.

I mean, if you have to be mean to somebody, being mean to Nazis is always a valid option. Talking to somebody other than a miserable bastard like Catturd was a choice he could've made.

And again, it would have cost Elon, or Bishop numb-nuts or MarkWayne Mullin precisely $0 to not be a dick, to not make massive jackasses of themselves publicly. But of course, to a lot of these Putin-Commies and Trump Supporters...being a dick is precisely the point.

It's the only thing they want to do.

And you give these fucking people billions of dollars, and it's off to the Idiot Races. It's got electrolytes, baby! 

Conservatism has become a goddamned Idiocracy, an Idiocracy with an elite who thinks it's funny to be ostentatiously dickish, for absolutely no reason.

And it's getting real damn old. Note I say this as a former conservative.

And more to the point I'm going to guess that a lot of these sons of bitches have never been punched in the face their own damn selves. It's not like their personal conduct suggests they can take a punch...or that they'd want to fight anybody who could fight back.

Just sayin.' *Cracks Knuckles* (Also, writer remembers he has Arthritis, that'll hurt later.)

Time's coming where these motherfuckers think they want to fight the rest of us.

And theoretically, I suppose they can. The evidence suggests they won't be very good at it, but they might be theoretically capable.

They think they'll win if they get Trump elected again, get the system on their side...but the very first thing they want to do is bleed the system of all the people who have any loyalty to or reason for the system working! Half these Trump supporters and religious nuts can't be bothered to show up for work on a consistent basis! Also, again if you can't put a mask on, how you gonna clean your weapon every time you need to...especially in the field??

So...basically these idiots want to elect Trump because Elon isn't Constitutionally eligible, so that they can Muskrat our government?? (And then they want to go out and fight the rest of America and the world? Come on, now.)

How does the national equivalent of pissing away like 30 BILLION$ for your own ego even work?? What good...even to rich people...is "Rich people having all the money" if the money itself isn't worth anything??

But ya know, just like Elon should have asked himself at some point "I can buy Twitter, but should I?" Sooner or later even a halfway intelligent person is going to have to weigh out the difference between capability and purpose. Yes, I can slam my dick in this car-door, but should I?? Won't that hurt??

Sooner or later we're going to have to start reinstalling a sense of shame and a survival instinct into the entitled classes of humanity.

Sooner or later, it's not going to be enough for it to cost $0 to not be a dick. Sooner or later we're going to have to start imposing a cost for being one. 

We're going to have to start punching Nazis and we're going to have to stop outsourcing having a spine to the Ukrainians.

Because if we don't...these fucking people are going to keep fucking around, until they find out...from somebody far worse than their own most inflated visions of their own toughness. And where do you think the rest of us rate in such a place??

It's really that simple.

You want a better country, you have to be a better citizen.

You. Now.

Because if we don't do what needs to be done now, ain't nobody going to mourn for us later. Might be, there ain't nobody left to mourn for us!

Turn your brain back on and think about that for a second.

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

~Volodymyr Zelenskyy, allegedly 25 February 2022, Associated Press

Слава Україна!

Eli Sunday: Daniel, I'm asking if you'd like to have business with the Church of the Third Revelation in developing this lease on young Bandy's thousand acre tract. I'm offering you to drill on one of the great undeveloped fields of Little Boston!  

Daniel Plainview: I'd be happy to work with you.

Eli Sunday: You would? Yes, yes, of course. That’s wonderful.

Daniel Plainview: But there is one condition for this work.

Eli Sunday: All right.

Daniel Plainview: I'd like you to tell me that you are a false prophet. I'd like you to tell me that you are, and have been, a false prophet, and that God is a superstition.

~From the film There Will Be Blood.

One

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 saith 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 judgeth 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