For By Thy Sorceries Were All Nations Deceived (American Revelation XVI, Eight.)

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 said 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 judges 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

...

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

I know I'm old school.

Outdated, planned obsolescence, even. I get it. I'm Okay with that, even though I know it's not always a good thing. Things must change, from time to time. 

But come on, people.

I'm a former conservative Republican, who was taught a certain way of doing things that is completely nonpartisan and not up for debate, and which I've always at least tried to live up to. I'm a Democrat now because like it or not, that's the side that gives a shit about America, and that represents Democracy and actually listens to the common people like me now and then.

And they've become the side that represents things I can at least recognize as values, even if I don't personally agree with their particular take on that stuff, I can at least shrug and say Okay, I'll be over here minding my own business because I don't think I have some magical right to tell other people what to do. For me, "Power" in and of itself, is not a value.

But it's more than that, for me at least.

Democrats in general, and Joe Biden in particular, seem to at least have a modicum of self-respect, they actually believe in what they say, and believe what they say about themselves. 

Joe Biden himself has more than once looked at some goofy-ass thing Republicans were doing and said "Come On, Man!"

Everything is not some kind of naked, stupid power calculus where everybody on that side just ignores the blatant, bullshit-ass hypocrisy in the name of bowing and scraping for profit, for the sheer joy of doing so.

(Because that's what Republicans think is "Right." This is what they think the world is supposed to be.)

But again, that's not all there is to it.

The modern Democratic Party of 2024 does NOT both #1 Consist of some of the most ridiculously over the top, pop-cultured, privileged, puffed-up and wealthy people who've ever lived, and #2 Permit those fucking people to constantly go around asking people like me for money.

But of course, there's more to it than just money.

Donald Trump, whether you think deservedly or undeservedly, lives the kind of life a whole hell of a lot of Americans...much less people in the wider world...can't even imagine. 

I'm talking in terms not so much of power and wealth here but in terms of literally getting to spend his time...and I mean, like, all of it aside from very recently, when he's on trial for crimes...enjoying himself in terms of everything from attention to drugs to material comforts to sex and whatever the fuck else we don't even know about, never will, and wouldn't want to.

And for all that, he's still a miserable bastard! Worse, the motherfucker wants me to feel sorry for him??

I mean, doesn't any of this seem wrong to you??

Let me put it another way; According to how I was taught, if your ass is hanging around with, sharing secrets with, or otherwise seriously being involved with a skeevy looking dude who's literally named Pecker, you need to go home and seriously start rethinking your life choices.

I have a hard time understanding how these fucking people don't get that. 

Stuff like that was never presented to me as a choice, apparently with good reason. In fact, I don't know that my Grandpa or anybody else ever actually told me to avoid skeevy-looking dudes with funny names, I just sort of got that. Republicans (and Trump) apparently did not.

And these super-comfortable people, who literally act like they are not and never will be under threat, act like it's some kind of betrayal that other Republicans, led by Mike Johnson, sided with Democrats in approving aid to Ukraine so that those people over there can keep fighting for their country and for their culture and their literal right to exist as a People.

And these Republicans, even though the Ukrainians are protecting them, too, and making it so they and people like them or people that they represent don't have to go and fight, think they're too good to have to help out.

And that's before you even get to the fact that a whole bunch of these motherfuckers are actually in bed with the goddamned Russians. If you want the truth, I'm not sure that Republicans like Donald Trump or Thomas Massie would defend America if we got attacked...at least, not if we got attacked by the fucking Russians.

Never mind that the Russians don't give a shit about them, either.

I'm tired of this bullshit.

I'm tired of these fucking people and their priggish religiosity.

I'm tired of their Christ-less Christianity.

I don't want to live the kind of joyless, loveless existence they would gladly prescribe for people like me if they were given that kind of power.

Their entire bit, the whole goddamned thing is literally anything but them living in a civilization to which they must contribute.

Anything but America.

Anything but "Love Thy Neighbor."

Anything but Freedom, if anybody else gets to have it.

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

Because for these idiots, it's Anything but doing the work of life and taking responsibility for yourself and maintaining and protecting the society that gives them life, too.

It's literally any old damn thing besides "Having to give a shit about other people, simply because they're other people."

(And America gives selfish-ass clowns like this cop authority and access to weapons? WTF??)

I'm sorry, but I was taught that keeping all that shit up was exactly what being a conservative was. Giving a shit, whether it's convenient or it's not.

These motherfuckers would rather be slaves to somebody like Donald Trump than be free.

And then they're miserable, and they want me to feel sorry for them because of it.

No.

Grow the fuck up, Republicans.

Because if you don't, sooner or later the rest of us are going to have to start treating you like the stupid, violent children you act like you are...not only for our own survival, but for yours too.

And then these idiot wannabe Nazis who've never taken a punch in their lives think they're going to threaten people like me?? Okay, we'll see how that works out for you. I'm a veteran, bro. I faced down people like you in Bosnia...and they pissed themselves and surrendered. If you're so "White" and "Western" what kind of a name is "Gaad Saad" anyway?? I'm a just call you "Saad Sack" 'Cause that's what your ass is.

And when I say stuff like that, remember I was raised with the Ass Whuppin.' Learning to be a person, much less an adult, responsible person wasn't always pleasant in my day. Whether it's right or wrong, that's just how it was when I came up. I had to take the hits when I fucked up.

Note: I looked him up. Bro is an Arab, Lebanese-Canadian marketing professor. Please note, in all seriousness that not a bit of that scans as either "Western" in the way he thinks he means it, or as "White." Let alone macho or to be taken seriously in the kind of (Yes, very White and Male) moral universe that I was originally taught, let alone the one he proposes that we all live in. Yes, Middle Eastern people, both Christian and Muslim...not to mention all those Black Africans and Afro-Caribbean people who speak The King's English, French and other European languages are as Western as old Saad Sack is, or even more so.

There's a reason I say that:

Part of the goddamn point was that Western culture originally was designed to go around hoovering up and incorporating and absorbing the strengths of other cultures and people groups. That's what Rome did, for fuck's sake! During the Islamic Golden Age, plenty of philosophers and scholars were as conversant with the writings of Aristotle as they were with those of the Holy Quran. This is how this is/was supposed to work.

(And if Saad Sack thinks I don't like him, wait until he has to deal with actual Nazis. And remember, the Nazis had a fascination not only with lots of non-Western religions but with Occultism. And I've known that since I saw Raiders Of The Lost Ark as a kid.)

The old white WASP-y shit Elks Club Republicans I used to drink and golf with when I was a teenager and young man wouldn't have let this motherfucker in the goddamn door, and they'd have called him worse than Saad Sack! They'd have laughed at him, to his face. These were guys who cheerfully called people from places like Lebanon all type of shit! And remember, in going out into the real world I had to go from keeping up with these guys to first working with a bunch of [Black] Jamaicans and shit working a summer on Mackinaw Island and I had to have nothing but respect for those people and how hard they worked. Then I worked the kind of hard-ass factory job, working with a bunch of redneck white dudes, that sucked so bad I thought the military might be an upgrade. And then, after I enlisted, I was serving with and learning, sometimes the hard way, the worth of people of all colors and races and walks of life. 

One of my best friends in the Air Force (and my roommate in the Airman's Dorms at KI Sawyer AFB) was an African American convert to Islam who was as Black as a night in the desert. Eventually, we were both Senior Airmen, then Sergeants, Squad leaders. Disobedience of authority in that sort of context or that one didn't like the "Look" of wasn't an option, nor was not liking the look of it. (Per regulations) But, trust me, when That Guy (Probably "That Person" more properly today) gives you an order, you'll obey and you'll like it. You ain't got time to care what Color (or what anything else) they is.

But you know what else those people that I served with and before them, my elders and in fact, those people I worked with and even the shitty old Republicans, taught me??

You either believe in freedom or you don't. Freedom ain't free. 

Understanding that is why I did shit like serve in the Air Force in the first place. It's why I write and try to educate people now. 

Here's the thing, freedom and rights come with responsibilities, too. 

Freedom is neither a given, nor self-perpetuating, a lot of people around the world don't have it. You have to do the work to keep it, and yes, sometimes you have to fight for it. Like I said yesterday, if the Ukrainians can understand that, why can't so many privileged Americans??

Non Nobis Solum Nati Sumus. (How's that for "Western" eh, Saad Sack?) We are not born for ourselves alone.

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

And this?

This ain't it.

Citizenship is what America is based on, not Privilege. America is based on what you can be, not what you're born as. I've known that since I was five years old, and we'd best get back to it.

Because if we don't, privilege is going to kill us. Dominant ethnic groups and incestuous nobilities and privileged performative foolishness was exactly what turned Europe into the kind of soup sandwich our Founders wanted to get away from.

How's that for an understanding of Western Civilization, motherfucker?

Barbara: With a cute little rear end like that, you'll be the belle of the ball. Your dance card'll be filled every day. You'll be so popular, making all kinds of new, close friends. Big, ugly, hairy friends! Not that you'll ever see what they look like, 'cause you'll be facing the other way.
- Ken Kessler: You're very good at this. You should write children's books. ~From the film Ruthless People

Слава Україна!

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

Seven

Every one of the thousands at the airport, about to leave for Jeddah, was dressed this way. You could be a king or a peasant and no one would know. Some powerful personages, who were discreetly pointed out to me, had on the same thing I had on. Once thus dressed, we all had begun calling out "Labbayka! (Allahumma) Labbayka!" (Here I come, O Lord!) Packed in the plane were white, black, brown, red, and yellow people, blue eyes and blond hair, and my kinky red hair -- all together, brothers! All honoring the same God, all in turn giving equal honor to each other.

That is when I first began to reappraise the "white man." It was when I first began to perceive that "white man," as commonly used, means complexion only secondarily; primarily it described attitudes and actions. 

In America, "white man" meant specific attitudes and actions toward the black man, and toward all other non-white men. But in the Muslim world, I had seen that men with white complexions were more genuinely brotherly than anyone else had ever been. That morning was the start of a radical alteration in my whole outlook about "white" men. 

~Malcolm X, letter written following the Hajj.