Resurrection (Easter 2024, Five.)

In the end of the sabbath, as it began to dawn toward the first day of the week, came Mary Magdalene and the other Mary to see the sepulcher. And, behold, there was a great earthquake: for the angel of the Lord descended from heaven, and came and rolled back the stone from the door and sat upon it. His countenance was like lightning, and his raiment white as snow: And for fear of him the keepers did shake, and became as dead men. And the angel answered and said unto the women, Fear not ye: for I know that ye seek Jesus, which was crucified.

He is not here: for he is risen, as he said. Come, see the place where the Lord lay. And go quickly, and tell his disciples that he is risen from the dead; and, behold, he goes before you into Galilee; there shall ye see him: lo, I have told you.

~Matthew 28:1-7

It's Easter.

And the very first thing I saw when I got up for work last night was *Checks Notes* Donald Trump, making every-damn-thing about himself, again.

With a large side-dish of hate for Transgender people, because Republicans always have to have somebody to beat up on who lacks the numbers or political power to fight back all that much.

It's like the sun don't rise if they can't call somebody a slur. It doesn't matter who. A day without bigotry is a day without sunshine as far as these motherfuckers are concerned.

And it just happened that Easter (moveable holiday) is on the same day as the Transgender Day Of Visibility (Fixed non-holiday, simply for voluntary observation.) 

So Republicans (and Trump) be mad about it.

On this day, Easter, Resurrection Sunday...a day that is by definition not supposed to be about him.

Fuck them, I'm tired of this bullshit.

Trump isn't running for President, not really.

He's a narcissist who wants to be God, and he wants people murdered and wars fought in his name.

Since 2015 he's pretty much redesigned conservatism and the Republican Party in his own image and those fucking people just let him.

And he's willing to fuck around with the enemies of America because he thinks that'll get him there.

Stop blowing the Narcissist, America.

Fucking around with people that have Personality Disorders never ends well.

Unending hate tends to end up worse, and I say that as a veteran who served during Operation Deliberate Force and the early part of Peacekeeping operations in Bosnia.

Today is supposed to be about stuff like celebrating the Resurrection of Jesus, the triumph of Eternal Life over Death, and instead of doing that, Republicans willingly have turned themselves into a bitter, nasty little Death Cult for whom every little thing has to be about hate or politics.

We've had almost nine years of this shit, and I'm tired of it.

Like I've said before, I very strongly believe and the evidence also suggests that Donald Trump is going to lose.

But he's promised a bloodbath and threatened wars either way.

I can remember when conservatives revered life, not death.

In its own way, the ending of every day is a Death, and the Sun rising the next morning is a Resurrection...but especially this day...which, like it or not, also has roots in Pagan and Traditional-faith celebrations of the coming of Spring.

Americans in general...and Republicans, in particular...you can choose to not be this.

You can give up your obsession with Death and the Grave, and choose to Resurrect yourself.

Support your country, even (maybe especially) when you think it's wrong, and fight to make it better.

Be a better citizen, of both America and the World, defend our allies both at home and abroad, because all any of us really have is each other...and isn't it better if there's more of us, not less??

Love Thy Neighbor...even if maybe they're a person you don't like very much and wouldn't hang out with on your own time.

It costs exactly $0 to not be an asshole.

It's Easter.

You can choose, and start again.

So get after it.

Because you either believe in Freedom, or you Don't.

Слава Україна!

When men stop believing in God, it isn't that they then believe in nothing: they believe in everything. ~Umberto Eco

Four

Judge not, that ye not be judged. For with what judgment ye judge ye will be judged. And what measure ye mete, it will be measured to you again. ~Matthew 7:1-2

Believe, And Tremble (Good Friday In Babylon, Four.)

And when they were come to the place, which is called Calvary, there they crucified him, and the malefactors, one on the right hand, and the other on the left.

Then said Jesus, Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do. And they parted his raiment, and cast lots.

And the people stood beholding. And the rulers also with them derided him, saying, He saved others; let him save himself, if he be Christ, the chosen of God.

And the soldiers also mocked him, coming to him, and offering him vinegar, And saying, If thou be the king of the Jews, save thyself. And a superscription also was written over him in letters of Greek, and Latin, and Hebrew, This Is The King Of The Jews. ~Luke 23:33-38

It's Good Friday.

In the small hours of this morning, while on break at work, I saw this.

And I keep seeing it.

Apparently, Lee Greenwood says Trump is "A Christian" and thinks it's great that he "Says he Believes in God."

Thou believest that there is one God? Thou doest well: the devils also believe, and tremble. ~James 2:19

I've been aware of the bullshit-ass antics of Donald Trump since I was a kid. Devoutness or Religiosity is not a trait I, knowing all that, would ascribe to him.

I'm not saying that as a moral judgment, I'm simply observing it as a fact. Hell, I'm not a Born-Again anything and haven't been since 2007.

Joe Biden, on the other hand, is literally an active, lifelong-practicing Catholic...you can agree or disagree with that denomination and its beliefs, history and theology all you want, but that Joe lives that life is simply a known fact. He might not be as overtly Christian in a way that I'd identify with as Jimmy Carter (for example) is, but it simply is what it is.

Judge not, that ye not be judged. For with what judgment ye judge ye will be judged. And what measure ye mete, it will be measured to you again. ~Matthew 7:1-2

That is not how Donald Trump lives his life. (Either in terms of religious practice or of not judging.)

One of these things is simply not like the other one.

I'd have said the same thing when I was a Republican, because guess what?? I didn't like or trust Trump when I was a Republican and he was a Democrat either, but my reasons for switching parties had more to do with Sarah Palin than any of this Trump stuff. I was already out by then.

These motherfuckers have reduced Christianity to a political marketing scam, basically aimed at paying the barest minimum of a candidate's bond and legal fees.

AND THEY'RE PITCHING THIS SHIT ON GOOD FRIDAY?!?!

What the fuck??

And it gets worse, the "Pro-Life" people are busy actively plotting to use State Power to kill any woman who has an abortion or uses IVF. I believe I've mentioned that the only people I knew who'd used IVF, for years, were a Baptist assistant pastor and his wife. 

I mean, as a 50-year-old man who practiced safe sex during his entire adult life I'm a bit hazy here...but don't people who use IVF actively want to become parents?? I mean, especially in the context of that couple that I knew...you'd think a Fundamentalist Christian housewife with four kids would be a good thing to these fucking people, IVF or no IVF.

But of course, such people usually are in one of two categories; Either they're LGBT or somebody has a medical issue that makes things too difficult in the "Normal" way of things.

And I saw what the fanatics did there.

So, I'm serious when I ask this; With these "Pro-Life" nut-bags, can actual Eugenics and attempting to use the Power of the Church and/or the State to literally kill the "Wrong" children (or adults, for that matter) be far behind?? 

Shit, you think these fucking people wouldn't be goat-eager to discriminate against IVF kids or their parents if they could find a way to identify them??

(And don't think they won't just start making shit up and doing it anyway.)

These fucking people have already made it abundantly clear that they basically want to turn any healthy White female who's old enough to get pregnant into a goddamned baby factory for the "Right" White Men, whoever the fuck that is. 

What they intend for the rest of the ladies, I hesitate to ask.

Christianity as Political Grift and Excuse For Eugenics. Can Violent Imperialism and Genocide(s) be far behind??

And they want this whether Trump wins or loses an election.

More to the point, they'll shovel this shit on Good Friday, the same day that Christian Tradition says their Lord and Savior...Jesus, who preached compassion and love and mercy and said that a rich man like Donald Trump or Lee Greenwood could no sooner enter Heaven than one could fit a Camel through the eye of a needle...was Crucified. 

Jesus Christ was murdered by the Power of the Roman Empire, by Soldiers under arms, who believed in Pagan gods and made offerings to deified Emperors...and yes, Abortion was very much a thing in First Century Rome and the rest of the Classical Era as well. 

Funny how the Bible doesn't say shit about it.

These fucking people's "Religion" is not only very modern, with nothing Classical or Sacred about it, I'd argue that they'd call Trump their Lord and Savior if they thought they could get away with it...and assholes like Lee Greenwood are perfectly well willing to be a sort of Anti-John The Baptist for the Orange Antichrist.

For money. 

No better reason, just money.

And there's nothing these fucking people like better than wasting money to "prove" that they're more "Righteous" than the next guy.

Show me in the Bible where there's such a thing as Conspicuous Consumption For Christ. I'll wait.

And people don't believe me when I say that the rest of us...and by "The rest of us" I mean a majority of the world's Christians, too...are going to eventually have to fight a war against these fucking people if we ever want this shit to stop.

It's going to come to that.

Sooner or later this wannabe-Abomination Of Desolation...or someone like him, raised up by the same fucking people or their descendants...will stand in the Holy Place and declare himself God.

Antichrist.

And if you follow that guy, you'll follow him straight to Hell.

Remember that, on this day. 

Freedom ain't free.

And, simplistic Christian dogma on the subject aside, neither was Salvation.

Somebody still had to die for it, it just wasn't you.

That is the meaning of the doctrinal term "Substitutionary Atonement."

There was a Purpose for the Crucifixion of Jesus.

It's the whole damn point of This Day, of Good Friday.

And that's what we're supposed to be commemorating. That's why the Post Office is closed, etc.

But Donald Trump makes it about him, with a big assist from Lee Greenwood.

And people...supposed Christians...let these motherfuckers do that.

They think they'll get something for it.

Think about that, take all the time you need.

It's going to come down to a fight, and the stakes just might be Eternity.

I didn't say it, they did. 

They just don't know they're on the wrong side.

As for me, I think they don't care, and if they did know, they'd change sides.

Anything other than "Love Thy Neighbor."

Слава Україна!

When men stop believing in God, it isn't that they then believe in nothing: they believe in everything. ~Umberto Eco

Three

Living in this country, you're bound to know, every time you're exposed to advertising, you realize once again that America's leading industry, America's most profitable business is still: the manufacture, packaging, distribution and marketing of bullshit. High-quality, grade-A, prime-cut, pure, American bullshit. And the sad part is, is that most people seem to have been indoctrinated to believe that bullshit only comes from certain places, certain sources: advertising, politics, salesmen – not true. Bullshit is everywhere. Bullshit is rampant. Parents are full of shit, teachers are full of shit, clergymen are full of shit, and law enforcement people are full...of...shit – this entire country. This entire country is completely full of shit, and always has been. From the Declaration of Independence to the Constitution to the Star-Spangled Banner, it's still nothing more than one big steaming pile of red, white and blue, all-American bullshit. Because, think of how we started. Think of that. This country was founded by a group of slave-owners who told us all men are created equal. Oh yeah, all men, except for Indians and n*ggers and women, right? I always like to use that authentic American language. This was a small group of unelected, white, male, land-holding, slave-owners who also suggested their class be the only one allowed to vote. Now, that is what's known as being stunningly and embarrassingly full of shit. And I think Americans really show their ignorance when they say they want their politicians to be honest. What are these fuckin' cretins talking about? If honesty were suddenly introduced into American life, the whole system would collapse! No one would know what to do! Honesty would FUCK THIS COUNTRY UP!!

~George Carlin

Bonus Content 1

Bonus Content 2

Bonus Content 3

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

Rug Pull (Easter In Babylon, Three.)

Living in this country, you're bound to know, every time you're exposed to advertising, you realize once again that America's leading industry, America's most profitable business is still: the manufacture, packaging, distribution and marketing of bullshit. High-quality, grade-A, prime-cut, pure, American bullshit. And the sad part is, is that most people seem to have been indoctrinated to believe that bullshit only comes from certain places, certain sources: advertising, politics, salesmen – not true. Bullshit is everywhere. Bullshit is rampant. Parents are full of shit, teachers are full of shit, clergymen are full of shit, and law enforcement people are full...of...shit – this entire country. This entire country is completely full of shit, and always has been. From the Declaration of Independence to the Constitution to the Star-Spangled Banner, it's still nothing more than one big steaming pile of red, white and blue, all-American bullshit. Because, think of how we started. Think of that. This country was founded by a group of slave-owners who told us all men are created equal. Oh yeah, all men, except for Indians and n*ggers and women, right? I always like to use that authentic American language. This was a small group of unelected, white, male, land-holding, slave-owners who also suggested their class be the only one allowed to vote. Now, that is what's known as being stunningly and embarrassingly full of shit. And I think Americans really show their ignorance when they say they want their politicians to be honest. What are these fuckin' cretins talking about? If honesty were suddenly introduced into American life, the whole system would collapse! No one would know what to do! Honesty would FUCK THIS COUNTRY UP!!

~George Carlin

...

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

I still keep seeing all type of bullshit about these $60 Trump Bibles.

Sinclair Lewis famously said that when Fascism arrived in America it would wrap itself in the flag and carry the Cross.

Well, guess what??

I think that was wrong.

I mean, Trump just literally did all that and his financial and political world, not to mention his mental and physical health still seem stuck in a slow implosion and the appearance of his political support seems about as real as the Astroturf on an indoor miniature golf course.

So I'm kind of not buying the hype.

Or maybe shit's just gotten a hell of a lot dumber in 90 years??

It's more like Fascism arrived as a Meme Stock, while braying like a jackass on its own personal private Social Media website that it owns.

And it'll very likely sneak out the back door having done a rug-pull on all the chumps that bought into a "Pump And Dump" scheme that's more blatantly obvious than anything I've seen since the (brief) heyday of Cryptocurrency, pocket the money, and still not pay all the bills it racked up due to stupidity, and after sneaking out the door it creeps away and lives out its days in a golden palace in Dubai, or maybe a gold-plated penthouse at the Burj Khalifa.

But still, the well-heeled suckers keep giving this motherfucker money, even though they (perhaps more so than a lot of the rest of us) know they won't get jack shit for it, except fucked and stolen from.

I mean, Trump notoriously doesn't pay back debts, return favors, or give reach-arounds, so I don't know why anybody thinks anything would be any different this fucking time, but they always do.

And that's if he wins. If he doesn't, ain't none of y'all getting shit, so you might as well just have set that money on fire.

And the thing is, at this point there is no Republican Party that's separate from Trump, from his disgusting-ass family or the fake-ass women who hang around his stank ass, or from his greasy-ass entourage of liars nor from the priggish yet also repulsively hypocritical "Christians" who've appointed Trump to be their Jesus.

And I don't just mean the people buying his bullshit $60 MAGA Bibles, I mean there's literally people out there who've called Trump Christ.

I've written about it.

Like a good friend of mine once said, if you wanna take a bet like that...you better be right 'cause if you're wrong, it's Hell.

But when this shit is causing Republicans to lose special elections in Alabama (and it's not the first time, either) I have to say it looks like the Trump Bubble is about to burst.

What then, Republicans??

You fuckers literally sold your souls to this asshole.

And a very small number of (mind you, mostly Catholic) "Culture Warriors" want to make shit even worse, like we're talking about these jabronis reviving utterly pre-modern legislation like the Comstock Act that hasn't even been a goddamned thing for over 100 years and is probably in real terms unenforceable given America's current culture...I mean you can't throw everybody in jail. 

And given that right-wing White men are the biggest porn users out there, oh yes, there would be unintended consequences to that shit.

Not to mention the Beer And Boobs (credit to Russell Moore of all people for that term) ethos of modern MAGA (Protestant) Christianity itself??

If all these MAGA dudes can't get their boner pills and their porn?

(Which was exactly the kind of shit the Comstock Act did.)

Oh yes, there will be blood.

But again we're talking about people who basically think the Magna Carta and the Reformation alike should be effectively done away with.

We're talking about idiots who fancy themselves the modern Borgias, but who in reality wouldn't even have been let in the door by such people back when they effectively ruled Catholic Europe by controlling the Church. 

Trust me, nobody acts more like the Bible is all crap, there is no God, and it's all a lie than Christian and "Conservative" elites do...and I suppose that's true whether we're talking about the 16th Century or right now. I mean, if you really wanna look at it in historical terms, my associating this series of essays with Babylon doesn't even begin to cover it!

If nothing is True, if nothing matters, if there is no God...then there's nothing that must be obeyed, either. Of course, at that point debauchery usually kills motherfuckers.

And yeah, I get these motherfuckers desire to follow the example of Florentine and Spanish nobility privately does include the fleshpot lifestyle of such people, but if they ever get the ignorant little Christian fundamentalist Banana Republic they claim to want to create, I'm not sure that's what they'd actually get to do, at least not for long.

Sooner or later the bullshit tightrope is gonna snap, or somebody's going to fall off.

Or to put it another way, they better have a lot of guards when the mob finds out what Caesare and Lucrezia been doing all this time behind closed doors...because the fanatics that all these right-wingers keep playing fuck-fuck games with and winding up will never stop. 

Nothing will ever be good enough for those fucking people.

I mean, this whole goddamn thing is just not sustainable.

More to the point our Founders knew this, for them, Europe's wars of religion were still on the periphery of living memory, and refugee populations from such conflicts (like French Huguenots) had colonized entire regions of North America.

Such kinds of wars were bad enough in the days of muskets and pikes and sailing ships armed with cannons. Do you even want to consider how such things might play out in a world of automatic weapons, drones, and stealth bombers armed with nuclear weapons??

I sure don't, and I say that as a United States Air Force Bomb Wing veteran!

And that's the amazing thing about America. Our Founding Fathers had the foresight to say "No" to that shit too! They might not have been able to imagine modern technology, but they left us frameworks that should be able to control its uses for the greater good, if intelligently applied.

America was not intended to be a Mobocracy.

That's exactly why things like a Constitution that can be amended, the Bill Of Rights...which provides for both Freedom Of  Religion and Freedom From Religion...and a whole bunch of other stuff Trump blithely appropriated to stick in his fake-ass "Bible" exist in the first goddamn place.

That's exactly why We, The People...are both the front line and the last line of defense.

Our Founders had faith in us, and we owe them a debt.

And sooner or later, Citizen, it's going to be time to pay up.

Unless you want to be ruled by the far-right in some kind of Moronocracy forever.

We either live up to what we're supposed to be, or we don't. There's no half measures here, no middle of the road.

Either you believe in freedom or you don't.

And these motherfuckers don't just want to Rug Pull your goddamn money, they wanna take everything else, too.

Слава Україна!

When men stop believing in God, it isn't that they then believe in nothing: they believe in everything. ~Umberto Eco

Two

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

Land Of Confusion (Easter In Babylon, Two.)

Then Jesus spoke to the multitude, and to his disciples,

Saying The scribes and the Pharisees sit in Moses' seat:

All therefore whatsoever they bid you observe, that observe and do; but do not ye after their works: for they say, and do not.

For they bind heavy burdens and grievous to be borne, and lay them on men's shoulders; but they themselves will not move them with one of their fingers.

But all their works they do for to be seen of men: they make broad their phylacteries, and enlarge the borders of their garments,

And love the uppermost rooms at feasts, and the chief seats in the synagogues,

And greetings in the markets, and to be called of men, Rabbi, Rabbi.

But be not ye called Rabbi: for one is your Master, even Christ; and all ye are brethren. And call no man your father upon the earth: for one is your Father, which is in heaven.

Neither be ye called masters: for one is your Master, even Christ.

But he that is greatest among you shall be your servant.

And whosoever shall exalt himself shall be abased; and he that shall humble himself shall be exalted.

But woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye shut up the kingdom of heaven against men: for ye neither go in yourselves, neither suffer ye them that are entering to go in.

Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye devour widows' houses, and for a pretence make long prayer: therefore ye shall receive the greater damnation.

Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye compass sea and land to make one proselyte, and when he is made, ye make him twofold more the child of hell than yourselves. ~Matthew 23:1-15

...

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

Seriously??

Apparently Donald Trump is hawking a MAGA Bible now.

Like, are you fucking kidding me??

It's like I said all throughout 2015-2016, if you think this dude is a Christian or will make America more "Christian" you're wrong. Trump is, and always has been, nothing more than an atheistic con-artist.

But he said racist shit against Latinos when he started his first (Wait, first? Has it ever really even ended??) campaign in 2015, and has proceeded to do and say bigoted, crass things about pretty much everybody else since, so these fucking people love him.

Even though, as I understand it, he talks shit about them too.

How bad is this mess??

Well, there was a pretty bad accident in Baltimore overnight, a ship lost power and hit the Francis Scott Key Bridge, causing part of the span to collapse and like seven people are missing.

And "Conservatives" have been trying to find some kind of anti-migrant, racist angle on the whole thing since at least 6 AM this morning.

I'd just like to point out that the entire shipping industry, globally, is a convoluted tangle of Flags of Convenience from places like Liberia, management companies in third countries and ownership by parties that have fuck-all to do with the Sea, where extremely multinational crews are the norm and the people making the money off all this stuff like it that way, because it's cheaper or something. 

(And all this stuff has been this way forever. And guess what? A big part of it is white people don't want to do that work.)

So good luck finding a chain of crew, flag, ownership and registration where everybody's White. That shit just ain't gonna happen. Most of the time, it works fine.

And nobody knows more that a person from The Bahamas or India or Mozambique or Russia has an equal chance (regardless of biological sex or "culture" or "race") of either being a desultory, dissolute shithead or a good sailor based primarily on the training they've received and their experience than the people who make their money off the global shipping industry. The color of one's skin or one's gender or sexual orientation has fuck-all to do with any of the skills required.

The sea doesn't care. You fuck up, she'll kill ya.

Just like I learned in the Air Force, fundamentally you have to do it the right way, the first time, every time...or you don't come back, even possibly if all you're doing is training. And, even if you do all that, the right way, accidents and bad shit can still happen.

Which is why you train, train, and train some more...because the world is a dangerous place. It's all the more that way when you're at sea.

Not that I think any of the political fuck-offs involved here, or their hangers-on or various wannabes will ever understand any of that. They have more "Important" things to do.

And if you ever wonder why modern Christianity or "Conservatism" is such a Land Of Confusion, start with that. 

Who's gonna Save you from the Shouty Man who's waving that MAGA Bible around??

These motherfuckers have no interest in what's actually true. They care about what they wanna believe.

If they're wrong, they can always find a new political bullshit line, a new scam, whatever.

It's all a game to them, they think God is not real.

And if it's not stopped, their endless, everlasting contempt for other humans and the Truth is gonna get a lot of people killed.

And guess what?? If you're wrong, you go to Hell. Probably so do your followers.

Reality doesn't care about you immanentizing your shitty political eschaton.

The whole message of this Season is that Eternal Life comes from compassion, not greed.

Remember that, it's going to be on the test later.

Слава Україна!

When men stop believing in God, it isn't that they then believe in nothing: they believe in everything. ~Umberto Eco

One

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

Raising Up Golden Idols In Holy Week (Easter In Babylon, One.)

In the end of the sabbath, as it began to dawn toward the first day of the week, came Mary Magdalene and the other Mary to see the sepulcher.
And, behold, there was a great earthquake: for the angel of the Lord descended from heaven, and came and rolled back the stone from the door, and sat upon it.
His countenance was like lightning, and his raiment white as snow:
And for fear of him the keepers did shake, and became as dead men.
And the angel answered and said unto the women, Fear not ye: for I know that ye seek Jesus, which was crucified. He is not here: for he is risen, as he said. Come, see the place where the Lord lay.
And go quickly, and tell his disciples that he is risen from the dead; and, behold, he goes before you into Galilee; there shall ye see him: lo, I have told you. ~Matthew 28:1-7

...

When men stop believing in God, it isn't that they then believe in nothing: they believe in everything. ~Umberto Eco

....

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

So, now Trump is trying to directly compare and conflate himself with Jesus.

It's Easter week, for fuck's sake!

I mean, come on, what the fuck??

What's wrong with you??

How in the hell is this acceptable??

Show me where Trump has ever shown love to anybody other than himself or ever sacrificed anything at all, go ahead, I'll wait.

Seriously, I remember those stupid pictures of Trump hugging the flag...a calculated, obvious gesture that shouldn't have impressed a five-year-old child. All this dude has ever been is utterly shallow showmanship, designed to fool rubes that he has utterly obvious contempt for.

But whose cheers for every stupid thing he does or says are basically the food that keeps this goddamn narcissistic psychic vampire alive.

And "Conservatives" utterly embrace this goddamned blasphemous fraud in some kind of blatantly obvious (and, mind you, completely secular) effort to shore up "Conservative" social hierarchies that are dying. Why are they dying??

They're dying because, well "Conservatives" that clearly don't believe in their own God or even believe in what they say about themselves have made that shit toxic and unpopular and, well, never actually bothered to tell anybody at all why they should follow any of that crap. That's because they just think they can exercise Power and make it so, and that this somehow won't lead to bloody revolutions and wars of religion and gods only know what the fuck else...like it always has before when people get sick and tired of these fucking people's bullshit.

I mean, you could make that argument about everything from the Reformation and resulting Wars Of Religion to the rise of Communism and dozens of conflicts over the last 80 years.

And I'm afraid of what's going to come from the State's repeated indulgence of this motherfucker in particular.

Not that he'll win the election, I think he's going to lose...and lose by quite a bit at that.

Not that it'll matter in real terms.

Because Trump himself has promised bloodbaths whether he wins or loses and the State refuses to reign him in or criminally prosecute him.

And I honestly think America is headed for a split over that one damn thing, which is itself emblematic of deeper, endemic problems nobody wants to face. 

I think certain of the political classes on each side, Left or Right, figure that a divided America is a way to be rid of one another without having to do all that much work, and the Left knows they're the ones who will keep all the International connections and shit, money connections, NATO, you name it. In practical terms they'll probably keep most of the military force simply because too many people lose by throwing in with the other side.

I don't think the Left figures that's exactly the Right's plan, or that they fully intend to go to war to recover the parts of America they don't get...or that the Right will grow it's own garbage Russian-style armed forces in record time, in addition to simply inviting the Russians in. 

I don't think the Right realizes just how tired of them everybody else is, or how hard of a fight that shit's going to be...especially to do it the way they intend to...and how impossible of a goal it is in real terms.

And the only ones who actually stand to profit from this are our enemies and the weapons manufacturers.

Remember, if the Left keeps 75% of America and the Right gets 25% for their banana republic, that still means America is 25% less able to help countries like Israel or Ukraine.

And the Russians will count that as a win.

More to the point when other polities like the EU rise to fill the gaps that (for example) a 25% reduction in American power leaves...the conspiracy theorists and the religious nuts will have a field day with that shit.

And I don't think anybody reckons on the costs of war itself, sorry, but I really don't.

But there's a worse problem.

I don't think anybody's figuring on the costs to the world of handing a narcissistic sociopath with messianic delusions and a cult following a political proto-nation...and Republicans already did this by basically letting Trump's ass have their Party for nothing more than some shitty thrill of "Owning The Libs."

Whatever that even means.

It's Holy Week.

Think about that for a second.

Trump is basically using the occasion to declare himself Christ...which is Biblically a declaration of Antichrist status since he's not Jesus, and the mob cheers.

Listen up, America and the rest of the world;

You hand this motherfucker land and a tax base, let alone a captive population to experiment on and socially engineer...and high-profile supporters like Elon "It's Not the Mark Of The Beast When I Do It" Musk and this mess will very, very rapidly become exactly that, a captive population of lab rats for tech bros and the Trump family...it's gonna make North Korea look like motherfucking Denmark.

And the first thing they'll want to do...or be told to do by the chips implanted in their brains...is go to war against the rest of us.

So just because you don't live in, or can get out of, the places these people end up controlling doesn't mean they aren't going to try to visit their visions of apocalypse and destruction on you.

I'll never understand the American urge to attempt to make real the very worst parts of Revelation or the fiending for Apocalypse in general.

This shit is enough to make me glad I slept through Palm Sunday.

You want a better nation? Be a better Citizen, and follow the vision of our founding Fathers and tell gods, real and imagined and wannabe alike...to go fuck themselves.

Because this is America and our Constitution and ideals may protect your religion, but they're not supposed to be subject to it.

And that goes double for bullshit cultures and ideologies and social hierarchies that don't do anything but leech off the rest of us.

You tell me, what have "Conservatives" ever done for anybody but themselves, and now they can't even be bothered to obey the very First of the Ten Commandments that they claim to fetishize.

You cannot bow before Golden Idols and call it Christianity, let alone "Christian Nationalism."

Not if you really believe there's anything in the Afterlife that's going to hold you to account.

This crap isn't even the Mammonite "American Resurrection" these assholes were hoping to have four years ago, but something that blasphemes even that.

Because it's not even about money anymore, except insofar as that money could be used to build more Golden Idols to debased wannabe potentates like Donald Trump.

That's what their Enchanted World has come to.

No Biblical Babylon could do it worse.

Fuck these motherfuckers.

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

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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

American Revelation 13 (The Enchanted World Chronicles, Three.)

"Come on, you sons of bitches. Do you want to live forever?!" ~First Sgt. Dan Daly, USMC, urging his men forward during the battle of Belleau Wood.

...

I've seen things you people wouldn't believe. Attack ships on fire off the shoulder of Orion. I've watched c-beams glitter in the dark near the Tannhäuser Gate. All those ... moments will be lost in time, like tears...in rain. Time to die. ~Roy Batty, Blade Runner.

....

Through me you go to the grief wracked city;
Through me you go to everlasting pain;
Through me you go a pass among lost souls.
Justice inspired my exalted Creator:
I am a creature of the Holiest Power,
of Wisdom in the Highest and of Primal Love.
Nothing till I was made was made, only eternal beings.
And I endure eternally.

~Sign above the gates of Hell, From the Divine Comedy.

.....

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

I saw this earlier today.

Some tech-bro idiot wants to live forever, thinks he needs his own nation-state to do it, and wants to forbid alcohol, donuts and pizza.

Oh, hell no.

Fuck, bro, I'd literally rather die than live in your bullshit dream-world and I say that as an addict who's finally kicked all the habits and tries to watch his health. I'll never understand why these motherfuckers are so obsessed with the quantity of their lives that they don't care about the quality of their lives (let alone anybody else's.)

It's for the same reason I wouldn't want to live in a bunker, I don't give a shit. I've been in enough bunkers to know I don't want to live my life in one. If you can't understand why, that's your fucking problem.

I have a church background, I'm a veteran, there's a few things I'm afraid of (of course) but death isn't really one of them, because I believe that the soul is eternal. The body dies, that's just a part of life. We evolved or were created (or whatever) with a certain natural lifespan for a reason. Shit, the human mind sometimes doesn't do well towards the end of that.

What good is having a bunch of money and living forever if you can't remember where you fucking put it or if you can't even physically do anything?? Do you know you're a bad person and you're thus that afraid of the Big Fire Below?? Get real!

What good is living through an apocalypse in a concrete and steel tube you can never leave??

And by the same token, what's even the goddamn point of still being mad about something that happened like 50 or 65 years ago, that doesn't in any way materially affect you??

I used to be a Republican and I don't understand why some of these assholes are still mad about Jane Fonda, or Watergate, or any other shit that happened when I was a goddamn baby. I mean, fuck, I was born during Watergate. Doesn't mean I think Richard Nixon was supposed to be my god or something.

Like, goddamn, is ideology that much of a fucking drug??

What's even the goddamned point??

What the hell good is a life lived in fear, or a life lived for things like anger, dirty politics, hate, lust for power and petty revenge?? I'm sorry, but like I said before, I have a church background and I have enough exposure to various other beliefs and philosophies to know that shit makes you a prisoner in your own goddamn mind and a slave of your own goddamned fears and increasingly petty hatreds. Like literally why the fuck do these assholes think other people existing, having anything, or holding office is some kind of a crime against them?? 

(Let alone some foul deed worthy of revenge.)

What the fuck is wrong with these people??

They fuck up, push terrible policies and their shitty religious beliefs on the rest of us...and then have the balls to get mad when we don't vote for them?? 

Bro, fuck you!

Are the same fucking people going to be mad about the whole Trump thing for the next hundred years, blaming the rest of us for his failures when the truth is that he was an incompetent fucking dumbass??

Not only that, but today one of his own fucking people in a House hearing pretty much came out and implicated more Republican Senators as Russian agents and basically said the whole idiotic attempt to impeach Biden was nothing more than a goddamned KGB operation to fucking start with, and he said Trump was aware of the whole goddamn thing, which implicates him too!

Russia, Russia, Russia, they said. Like it was some sort of a joke.

Well it sure looks like there's a lot of goddamn Russians around here. I mean, fuck.

If I'd have had that many goddamn Russians or their agents around when I was in uniform, my ass would've ended up in jail. 

Why do these Republicans get to be like this?

Reagan Wept.

I mean, I guess I get it. Modern Republicans hate the entire idea of freedom, of happiness, of being anything other than miserable, resentful sons of bitches.

They'd prefer authoritarianism, bigotry, made-up social statuses, patronage, privilege, and the taste of boot-leather. I guess it's just easier being a cog in the system and never having to face what and who you are, or think for yourself, or to have to consider your own morality, mortality or Salvation, eh??

But then you peel the layers back a little and it's plainly obvious all these fucking people hate each other and ultimately that's why so many of them do drugs, or eventually commit suicide or destroy themselves by various other means because they actually can't face all the bullshit.

I couldn't do it.

I mean, sure, I had some issues...but fundamentally my problem was I liked to get drunk, or get high, or smoking helped with stress, and sexual excess is just plain fun by itself.

It never occurred to me to do a job I hated forever, or spend my life around people I hated because it was financially or politically profitable.

Some things have to be more important than money or politics, or this garbage is what you get. 

And I pretty much see Republicans trying to collectively destroy themselves. Trouble is, they want to take others down with them.

I'm sorry but after awhile, just constantly trying to get one over on some real or imagined "Other Guy" or get some kind of Eternal Revenge for some mostly-imagined slight becomes exactly as puerile as all this looks. 

These fucking people believe so much in the Apocalypse, so much in the idea of the End Times, that they'll bring that shit upon themselves, offering themselves up as a sacrifice to their fake Blood Gods as tribute, if they have to.

If they can't sacrifice somebody else, or throw some virgin in the volcano, or something, that is. 

I saw that shit all the time at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic four years ago.

The only problem is, they do this shit in the hope of taking America and Civilization out with them, they'd rather burn America to the ground than see Black folks or Latinos or LGBT people get a slice, however small.

It's not by any goddamned accident that I write about American Revelation.

And like I said, Donald Trump is basically promising these fucking people bloodbath and civil war whether he wins or loses, and they'll take it. And if they do succeed in breaking America apart...an outcome I see as all too likely simply because too many idiots like to give these fucking people what they want...their portion of "us" will gladly submit to Russian invasion and occupation, like Eastern Europe after WWII, but with rather less resistance.

Because it's anything other than America.

Because it's anything other than "Love Thy Neighbor."

Because it's anything other than really believing in an Infinite Creator or an Eternal Soul.

Because they can't wall America off and put computer chips in all our heads and inflict the torments of the worst parts of the Bible on the rest of us for no better reasons than their fun and profit...while themselves acting like they think the Bible is all crap and they can do whatever they want.

And he caused all, small and great, rich and poor, free and bond, to receive a mark in their right hand or in their foreheads:

So that no man might buy or sell, save he that had the mark, or the name of the beast, or the number of his name.

Here is wisdom. Let him that hath understanding count the number of the beast: for it is the number of a man; and his number is Six hundred threescore and six. ~Revelation 13:16-18

Fuck these motherfuckers.

Freedom ain't free.

And sooner or later, we're going to have to fight for it.

I know how, I can show you enough to get you started if I have to. 

It's going to come to that.

Unless you want these bitter, obsessed, vengeful assholes running your life.

Vote like your life depends on it, because it does.

Hell, if Musk gets his way, vote like your afterlife depends on telling him "No" because it just might.

And I'm here to tell you Elon Musk believes way more in his conspiracy theories and all this Enchanted World horseshit than he does in the Lord's Word.

These fucking people don't want to be Americans, they want to be gods.

I've read the Word, I know how that works out, every time you run the experiment.

But defeating these fucking people won't be that hard, if you're less afraid of dying than they are.

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When men stop believing in God, it isn't that they then believe in nothing: they believe in everything. ~Umberto Eco

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Be quiet and calm, my countrymen. What is happening now is what you came to do...you are going to die, but that is what you came to do. Brothers, we are drilling the death drill. I, a Xhosa, say you are my brothers...Swazis, Pondos, Basotho...so let us die like brothers. We are the sons of Africa. Raise your war-cries, brothers, for though they made us leave our assegais in the kraal, our voices are left with our bodies. ~Reverend Isaac Dyobha, during the WWI SS Mendi disaster.