The Great Unraveling (When's Enough, Enough? Four.)

And I saw when the Lamb opened one of the seals, and I heard, as it were the noise of thunder, one of the four beasts saying, Come and see.

And I saw, and behold a white horse: and he that sat on him had a bow; and a crown was given unto him: and he went forth conquering, and to conquer.

And when he had opened the second seal, I heard the second beast say, Come and see.

And there went out another horse that was red: and power was given to him that sat thereon to take peace from the earth, and that they should kill one another: and there was given unto him a great sword.

And when he had opened the third seal, I heard the third beast say, Come and see. And I beheld, and lo a black horse; and he that sat on him had a pair of balances in his hand.

And I heard a voice in the midst of the four beasts say, A measure of wheat for a penny, and three measures of barley for a penny; and see thou hurt not the oil and the wine.

And when he had opened the fourth seal, I heard the voice of the fourth beast say, Come and see.

And I looked, and behold a pale horse: and his name that sat on him was Death, and Hell followed with him. And power was given unto them over the fourth part of the earth, to kill with sword, and with hunger, and with death, and with the beasts of the earth.

And when he had opened the fifth seal, I saw under the altar the souls of them that were slain for the word of God, and for the testimony which they held:

And they cried with a loud voice, saying, How long, O Lord, holy and true, dost thou not judge and avenge our blood on them that dwell on the earth?

And white robes were given unto every one of them; and it was said unto them, that they should rest yet for a little season, until their fellow-servants also and their brethren, that should be killed as they were, should be fulfilled.

And I beheld when he had opened the sixth seal, and, lo, there was a great earthquake; and the sun became black as sackcloth of hair, and the moon became as blood;

And the stars of heaven fell unto the earth, even as a fig tree casts her untimely figs, when she is shaken of a mighty wind.

And the heaven departed as a scroll when it is rolled together; and every mountain and island were moved out of their places.

And the kings of the earth, and the great men, and the rich men, and the chief captains, and the mighty men, and every bondman, and every free man, hid themselves in the dens and in the rocks of the mountains;

And said to the mountains and rocks, Fall on us, and hide us from the face of him that sit on the throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb:

For the great day of his wrath is come; and who shall be able to stand? ~Revelation 6 (King James Version)

...

Freedom is the freedom to say that two plus two make four. If that is granted, all else follows. ~George Orwell, 1984.

I've been seeing shit like this for two days, now.

Trump seems to be melting down, call it dementia or whatever, I guess. It's not funny, it's not some big joke, this guy is running for President and can't remember basic shit or speak understandably.

In a sane goddamned world he'd be being taken care of by his family and this crap wouldn't be the profoundly weird public spectacle it'll turn into.

But the thing to remember about Trump is...nobody who's close to Trump gives a shit about him.

He's an excuse for hate, a means to an end, a venue for assholes to try and get rich.

All I'm a say is, I can remember when nobody even seemed to notice Transgender people until 2015 or so when Republicans were looking for a new punching-bag class of people and Trump said "OK" and suddenly there was this great big moral panic about Transgender people...who have, by the way, been around pretty much forever and nobody, not even haters...who wasn't versed in "gay" issues really cared. When this whole mess started I literally said on Facebook "WTF is the big deal, why are these assholes so mad about like 0.0001% of the population??"

Turned out even then I knew more Trans folks than I thought I did. And, fun fact, along with the rest of us LGBT people and Transgender folk in particular said "Fuck you" and now they're a visible minority even where I freaking live here in the absolute ass end of nowhere. You have no idea how great of a thing I think that is. I had co-workers and friends downstate who were Transgender or came out as such...all during the Trump years. That was in a bigger city, in "the world" more or less. Here, now?

There's a dozen Pride flags on houses, in windows or yards, between here and where I work. 30 years ago finding an openly gay person in this area of Michigan was like finding a Unicorn in the wild.

But still, some of these assholes just won't stop the goddamned hate.

And the same vitriolic hatred they have for LGBT people and People of Color is now rabidly and rapidly expanding to include women in general. Maybe it's just me...but it seems like demonizing half the goddamn species is a bad idea, especially when half these dudes don't know how to wash their own underwear.

The sad goddamn fact of this whole mess is that These Fucking People would rather lose...and lose automatically at that not even contesting the goddamned field...whether it be losing a Volleyball game, losing America and its status in the world or even losing their own fucking freedom...than give up their hate and that implicit permission they think Trump gave them, to be the worst fucking people possible.

But ya know, it's even worse than that, really.

Not only is this Project 2025 garbage pretty much straight Russian bullshit, apparently, but JD Vance (of all fucking people, remember this dude was a US Marine) has been spouting that kind of garbage for years now.

I mean, I get it.

I just don't get why anybody thinks that's Okay.

Russia is functionally trying to bury Ukraine (and ultimately the rest of Europe) under a big enough pile of stinking corpses that they drown out basically everybody else who's there...but speaking as a veteran, that seems like a really shitty way to fight a war.

Of course I'm a modern, Western, ultimately American white former conservative who was taught to have a certain level of respect for life and the idea that unnecessary loss of life was generally a bad thing. Of course, to these fucking people I was basically just a different species of "liberal" this whole time for exactly that damn reason...because I've seen death and I don't think it's cool or funny when people die. 

To me, the basis of conservatism is "Things as they are." That means America as it is, not as I wish it to be, is my starting point. Sure, some things need to be fixed. Basic stuff like drug addiction, excessive gun violence, poverty, racism, etc. need to be fixed, not profited off of. Not to mention the fact that the USA is the only First World nation with for-profit health care. I mean, shit, the UK...dominated by Tories for most of the last three decades...has a National Health Care system! There are literally developing countries with cheaper and more reliable health care than America.

But no, I don't give a good goddamn what you think, we do not need to turn America into some kind of Russia-Lite because somebody you think you don't like can publicly be themselves or somebody else you don't like got themselves a little bit of political power. 

Come on, man, What the fuck is wrong with you??

And the thing is, it's not just Trump that's spiraling out.

It's gonna be...hell, apparently already is...his followers, too.

Again, as I've said before I used to be a conservative, a Republican...and a I was a religious man. I'm a United States Air Force security police veteran. I mean, shit, as an Airman I arrested people for drug use, we'd show up with AFOSI agents or DOD civilian cops, even. People I knew lost their careers and ended up with Other Than Honorable discharges, some even did time for drug stuff.

And, after my own career came to a premature crashing end and I was medically discharged, I was an addict myself.

Took me damn near 20 years to kick all my habits. Probably a good thing I did, too. That shit wasn't no fun, either. 

You simply do not want to know what I think of open drug use and intoxication at a Republican political rally where a Republican ex-President is speaking, and yes I know the son of a bitch does Adderall and Cocaine. Something in my brain still wants to expect better of the goddamned Republican voters because fuck, I know what people (including my own damn family!) thought of me when I was living like that and I didn't do anything near that bad. 

It ain't my Dad's Republican Party no more.

The fact that media people felt unsafe, and were fearful of sexual assault at a Republican political rally about sent me over the fucking falls when I saw it.

You know, Republicans, the people who were (allegedly) promoting chastity, faithfulness to one's spouse and basic morality in general 10, 20, or 30 years ago...the people who kicked Newt Gingrich to the curb for cheating on his wife while he was impeaching Bill Clinton for the same kind of shit. Of course they replaced his ass with Dennis Hastert, a sexual abuser, but we didn't know that he was that at the time...and when it came out that too was a big scandal. My high school best friend teaches in the same school district that he did.

Now local independent media goes to a Trump rally and fears rape?? That pisses me off!

"Reagan Wept" does not even begin to cover it, and never will.

And that's before all the Russia crap, even.

The whole Russian thing just makes it worse and worse.

The absolute truth here is that we're all watching the Great Unraveling of American Conservatism.

And when Trump loses, they're going to try and violently break a piece of America off for themselves. It won't work very well, at best they'll end up with a small banana republic somewhere in the Deep South, but probably lacking actual bananas...and they will likely get that far only because the damn Russians come streaming in to help them fight the rest of America.

(Remember, Putin's actual goal is to destroy America, that's why Russian bots and shit promote so much anti-American bullshit, and that's why Putin corrupted the Republican Party and helped Trump.)

And whatever of these fucking people end up in that small space will end up slaves or stooges to the goddamn Russians. The worst part is, they're Okay with that because their whole mentality is "Anything But America."

And they'll end up under the sway of Medieval-wannabe Catholics who worship a monstrous trinity of Dictator, Hangman and Sedevacantist Leader (You don't really think the Catholic "Traditionalists" are going to keep obeying the Pope, do you??) and/or of Russian Orthodox priests who'd appoint Putin as their Christ if they could and whose main motivation seems to be hatred of LGBT people.

And they'll think they won something doing it.

The thing that gets me is, these fucking people would gladly sell out their own freedom or inflict the Torments of Revelation on all of Humanity, including themselves, for no better reason than they've become addicted to hate and rage...mostly at the fact that other people have the gall to keep existing.

Seriously, somebody like Trump isn't the cause of all this. He's the result. The shit was wrong before.

And when Trump unravels, when all this bullshit comes crashing down, there will be another one, and another one after that.

Likewise Ukraine's fate, Europe's fate, Israel's fate...all these things are intertwined. Together we rise, or none of us do. We do not exist in isolation.

Get your shit together, America.

You either believe in freedom...for all the people...or you don't.

You're either a Better Citizen or you're not.

So get after it.

Слава Україна!

When I am dead, bury me

In my beloved Ukraine,

My tomb upon a grave mound high

Amid the spreading plain,

So that the fields, the boundless steppes,

The Dnieper's plunging shore

My eyes could see, my ears could hear

The mighty river roar.

When from Ukraine the Dnieper bears

Into the deep blue sea

The blood of foes ... then will I leave

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

To the abode of God,

And then I'll pray .... 

But until that day I know nothing of God

Oh bury me, then rise ye up

And break your heavy chains

And water with the tyrants' blood

The freedom you have gained.

And in the great new family,

The family of the free,

With softly spoken, kindly word

Remember also me.

~Taras Shevchenko

Three

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

...

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

Quisling (When's Enough, Enough? Three.)

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. 

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 5:1-8

...

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

I'm tired of this bullshit.

Donald Trump (and Republicans in general nowadays) never seem to miss an opportunity to gargle Vladimir Putin's balls live on TV.

Putin is a goddamn Chekist, a KGB Agent, whether he's a practicing Communist now or not, he had to be a Communist's Communist just to be considered for the position back in the 1980's.

Ukraine is still there, Ukraine is still fighting. Hell, the Russian Army has itself been exposed as the flimsiest of paper tigers.

Like if we actually fight these motherfuckers we'll be able to install Vladimir Lenin's taxidermed corpse in the Wax Museum at Knott's Berry Farm before it's over. If we came at them the Russian Army would shit itself and run away screaming.

I'm serious.

And Republicans cannot wait to get on their knees and blow Vladimir Putin, and then mash their faces, still dripping with KGB-agent-spunk into the goddamn floor in their utter, shameless haste to prostrate themselves before the fucking Hammer and Sickle and then give away the store to the goddamn Commies in terms of US Power and world affairs.

And there's absolutely no reason to do this unless they've been compromised by Russian oligarch money and are on the same team with those motherfuckers.

I mean, actually, there's literally no reason for Republicans to keep their word and not betray these sons of bitches and defeat them anyway...unless they actually want to.

They seem to not even want to turn the tables and win for themselves, so long as other Americans lose.

"Reagan Wept" does not even begin to cover it.

Seriously, how many of these motherfuckers would've just rolled over during the Cold War and made the most far-left Berkeley professor or San Francisco hippie look like Winston Churchill...if the Soviets had just pretended to be "Conservative" or said they hated the same people that these so-called Republicans hate??

Of course, Republicans were, love 'em or hate 'em, a different Party at the time.

I remember back in 2002, I happened to be getting gas at the corner store by my Mom's house and I still had the car radio on when I heard that Republicans had shit-canned Trent Lott for singing the praises of Strom Thurmond at some event or other.

Nowadays you got Clay Higgins talking a bunch of racist shit against Haitians on Twitter and apparently, it's all good 'cause he deleted the Tweet.

And I think that's the key right there, to this whole goddamned thing.

In America and most other Western countries the idea of the Russian Apparatchik, Commissar or more recently, conventional politician as a greedy, ill-mannered, unserious pig of a man (and there not being a whole lot of daylight between those guys and the KGB itself) was cemented in our imagination by three generations of bad movies.

I mean, we gave these fucking people a hell of a chance back in the 1990s (And Boris Yeltsin himself didn't really help Russia's image much) and Russian nationalists with Communist leanings were still staple US movie villains. So now it's 30 years later and the Russian "Nationalists" have re-Sovietized Russia and brought Communism back in literally all but name.

There's even been efforts to bring back the Hammer and Sickle as Russia's national flag, although it didn't go much of anywhere.

Republicans be like "I'm gonna get me some of that."

And they're going after it with a level of cravenness that would make WWII Norwegian Nazi leader Vidkun Quisling blush.

And I think UK foreign secretary David Lammy about nailed why.

He called Russia a Mafia state, with pretensions of becoming a Mafia empire...and likened Putin to a slave-owner.

Personally, I think Republicans see the same shit, but think it's a compliment.

I said back in 2015 when Trump started talking about building a wall, that "Republicans are basically Communists now."

But the actual truth is that Russia is and always was (more or less) a vast criminal conspiracy with the trappings of a monarchy or, later, a Communist totalitarian state laid over the top of it.

But more than that, it's that this bullshit simply shambles on and lets people be the worst version of themselves that they can fucking manage. There's apparently no aspect of Russian society that isn't riddled with corruption and run by thieves. The Russian armed forces is a soup sandwich for this exact reason...and no one cares.

Oh, sure, they'll execute you if you get caught, now that they started a war a couple years back. But the thing is, right up until then, the assholes have absolute free reign on levels that there's just no reason for. I mean, when the Ukrainian counter-invasion of the Kursk region started, Russian soldiers were routinely filmed abusing and pillaging their own people.

Think about that, for a second.

The Russians don't pay or even feed their own soldiers worth a crap, so I kind of get it, but Russian military discipline is supposedly brutal. I kind of figured that would keep things in check. Being a former US Air Force security forces Sergeant myself, I wondered where the NCO's, let alone the officers were in controlling their men. I mean, that is literally a Sergeant's job, to (very often) babysit a bunch of window-licking morons and keep them on task and pointed in the same direction (Some time I'll tell you how damned lucky I was to have both a good LT and a good squad) and the truth is they were right at the head of the pack, stealing the best stuff for themselves. I'm serious when I say that viscerally disgusted me.

But that, right there, is what MAGA thinks they're gonna get.

These fucking people would rather be the foot soldiers of a criminal empire that robs and steals from its own people than be Americans.

And Trump thinks he'll get to be the biggest thief of all, while still getting the mob to cheer for him..

It's like this, people.

Either you can work it up to stand up against that kind of shit, or you get what you get.

You either believe in freedom...and in being a better citizen...or you don't.

Republicans have decided that they want to be a better class of slaves to a worldwide criminal Empire.

As for the rest of us?

We either believe in freedom or we don't, at this point it's really that damned simple.

So get after it.

Слава Україна!

Freedom is the freedom to say that two plus two make four. If that is granted, all else follows. ~George Orwell, 1984.

Two

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"

Hate For Sale (When's Enough, Enough? Two.)

Never have I witnessed such sincere hospitality and the overwhelming spirit of true brotherhood as is practiced by people of all colors and races here in this ancient Holy Land, the House of Abraham, Muhammad, and all the other Prophets of the Holy Scriptures. For the past week, I have been utterly speechless and spellbound by the graciousness I see displayed all around me by people of all colors...

You may be shocked by these words coming from me. But on this pilgrimage, what I have seen, and experienced, has forced me to rearrange much of my thought-patterns previously held, and to toss aside some of my previous conclusions. This was not too difficult for me. Despite my firm convictions, I have always been a man who tries to face facts, and to accept the reality of life as new experience and new knowledge unfolds it. I have always kept an open mind, which necessary to the flexibility that must go hand in hand with every form of intelligent search for truth.

During the past eleven days here in the Muslim world, I have eaten from the same plate, drunk from the same glass, and slept in the same bed (or on the same rug) -- while praying to the same God -- with fellow Muslims, whose eyes were the bluest of blue, whose hair was the blondest of blond, and whose skin was the whitest of white. And in the words and in the actions and in the deeds of the "white" Muslims, I felt the same sincerity that I felt among the black African Muslims of Nigeria, Sudan, and Ghana. We were truly all the same (brothers) -- because their belief in one God had removed the "white" from their minds, the 'white' from their behavior, and the 'white' from their attitude. I could see from this, that perhaps if white Americans could accept the Oneness of God, then perhaps, too, they could accept in reality the Oneness of Man -- and cease to measure, and hinder, and harm others in terms of their "differences" in color.

With racism plaguing America like an incurable cancer, the so-called "Christian" white American heart should be more receptive to a proven solution to such a destructive problem. Perhaps it could be in time to save America from imminent disaster -- the same destruction brought upon Germany by racism that eventually destroyed the Germans themselves.

They asked me what about the Hajj had impressed me the most. . . . I said, "The brotherhood! The people of all races, color, from all over the world coming together as one! It has proved to me the power of the One God. . . . All ate as one, and slept as one. Everything about the pilgrimage atmosphere accented the Oneness of Man under One God. 

~Malcolm X, Letter following the Hajj.

...

Freedom is the freedom to say that two plus two make four. If that is granted, all else follows. ~George Orwell, 1984.

...

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

I saw this last week, but I've kept seeing it.

Mike Lindell is down to using racist dog-whistles (in reality, it's a goddamn Air Raid siren to anybody that knows what the numbers mean) to sell his shitty-ass fucking pillows.

And today, backed by the US Supreme Court, the state of Missouri went out of its way to execute a Black man in spite of the fact that the people who'd fucking prosecuted him in the first place said they should not do it.

I mean this seriously, all Republicans even have...all they want to have...is hate and racism. It's their only unifying factor, and this is by choice.

As far as I'm concerned, we don't need to just get rid of the Death Penalty.

Why??

Because Republicans are literally acting like they think they ain't gonna be able to kill Black dudes tomorrow, so they're trying to get their kicks in now.

There need to start being consequences for this bullshit in general.

We, as a nation, are eventually going to have to have Nuremburg trials against the Republican Party for shit like racist murder by the States, and probably against a certain segment of the wealthy for backing them...the question, I guess, is do we have that shit before or after they try and start a civil war?

And the thing is...the way Republicans are acting right now tells me that's exactly what they're afraid of. They're afraid that there's going to be consequences for their behavior, and I mean literal physical consequences and punishments. 

Deep down, those are the only things they even understand...or want to.

And on some level that appears to be what they think is going to happen. They're afraid they're gonna be treated how they treat other people.

More to the point, they're willing to burn down America, anything they ever said they believed before, their own Party, and each other to (individually) escape that sort of fate.

But even they won't escape their own self-destructive rage and stupidity.

The entire point of this exercise appears to be coming down to figuring out who they can take down with them when they go.

Why do I say that? In the face of People Being Sick Of This Shit...the only thing they can agree on is Donald Trump.

Yes, Donald Trump is these fucking people's Great White Hope...think about that for a second. Or, as some idiot kid at some rally somewhere put it, Trump is "His Daddy."

I don't even want to think about what kind of a dumbass fucking useless piece of shit reject you'd have to be as a person to form that thought in your own brain-pan knowing that you actually have a father and it isn't Trump.(Let alone the idea that such a statement might well have...sexual connotations.)

It's a particularly creepy cult, and these fucking people are perilously close to poisoning themselves in some remote jungle hideout.

And they think they'll beat the rest of us somehow by destroying themselves.

So, I'm gonna ask again, When is enough...enough??

When in the fuck are we going to hit the point where there's been enough of this balls-on-fire donkey-show bullshit??

I mean, for fuck's sake Mark Robinson's own campaign staff quit on him, but the Republican Party as a whole is doubling down.

I mean, like what's even the damned point??

What's worse is these idiots don't even seem to understand the idea that other people could reject being self-destructive, selfish, sociopathic morons, or would want to.

If this is what "Conservatism" comes down to in the end than I'm angry that I ever was a part of it. I mean, come on, what's wrong with you??

It's not that these fucking people don't give a shit about right and wrong...although obviously, they don't.

It's that they don't even recognize the concept if they're not the only ones who can define the terms, and that's all they care about...having the power to define the terms...even though increasingly lately they've done nothing to deserve or earn such power.

They're rationalization is, well, they had it once upon a time...therefore they should get it back and always have it forever and it should be illegal and some kind of religious heresy to even consider challenging them.

Bitch, you ain't those people from back in the day who at least managed to look like they could or should have a say in defining what was what, in fact you spit on the legacy of people like that every chance you get. Not only that, but you fuckers think it's funny.

There was a time when Conservatives and Republicans gladly worked together with Liberals and Leftists to defeat the Nazis. 

Now Trump talks Nazi shit all the time...and that's not a deal-breaker for 20% of America.

Yeah I'm a use that number on purpose, among other things Republicans For Harris is a thing.

I don't need the media to tell me that. There's houses here that I drive by every day that had Trump signs in 2022 and have Harris/Walz signs now.

Not many...but probably enough to matter, in the grand scheme of things.

I mean, fuck, Joe Rogan (of all people) came out and said he thinks Kamala Harris is "killing it" RE: How well she's campaigning.

And Republicans have flat-out gone from "Make America Great Again" to openly hating America...for no better reason than because they see Trump doing it.

At this point, they only really seem to want to "Build The Wall" if they're building it to keep other Americans out...and/or their own chosen victim-classes in.

And when Trump loses because all he's got as an ideal is "Hate For Sale" they're going to try and have some kind of bullshit Civil War and at least some of these motherfuckers will die for the "right" to oppress other people.

And they're gonna lose that, too.

I mean, what a fucking thing to have on your tombstone, eh??

But evil and hate and murder and oppression isn't just all these fucking people have...It's all they even fucking want to have. Hell, that kind of shit is how they want to define and order civilization. It's all they want or understand.

But as for you, reader??

You either believe in freedom or you don't.

You're either willing to stand up against this bullshit or you aren't.

Think on that.

But the time to act is going to be soon.

Слава Україна!

You were just babies then!" she said.
"What?" I said.
"You were just babies in the war— like the ones upstairs!"
I nodded that this was true. We had been foolish virgins in the war, right at the end of childhood.
"But you're not going to write it that way, are you." This wasn't a question. It was an accusation.
"I — I don't know," I said.
"Well I know," she said. "You'll pretend you were men instead of babies, and you'll be portrayed in the movies by Frank Sinatra and John Wayne or some of those other glamorous, war-loving, dirty old men. And war will look just wonderful, so we'll have a lot more of them. And they'll be fought by babies like the babies upstairs." So then I understood. It was war that made her so angry. She didn't want her babies or anybody else's babies killed in wars. And she thought wars were partly encouraged by books and movies.
So I held up my right hand and I made her a promise: "Mary," I said, "I don't think this book of mine is ever going to be finished. I must have written five thousand pages by now, and thrown them all away. If I ever do finish it, though, I give you my word of honor: there won't be a part for Frank Sinatra or John Wayne.
"I tell you what," I said, "I'll call it The Children's Crusade." She was my friend after that.

~From the novel Slaughterhouse-Five, by Kurt Vonnegut 

One

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

Bonus Content

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"

Shouty Man II (When's Enough, Enough? One.)

And I saw when the Lamb opened one of the seals, and I heard, as it were the noise of thunder, one of the four beasts saying, Come and see.

And I saw, and behold a white horse: and he that sat on him had a bow; and a crown was given unto him: and he went forth conquering, and to conquer.

And when he had opened the second seal, I heard the second beast say, Come and see.

And there went out another horse that was red: and power was given to him that sat thereon to take peace from the earth, and that they should kill one another: and there was given unto him a great sword.

And when he had opened the third seal, I heard the third beast say, Come and see. And I beheld, and lo a black horse; and he that sat on him had a pair of balances in his hand.

And I heard a voice in the midst of the four beasts say, A measure of wheat for a penny, and three measures of barley for a penny; and see thou hurt not the oil and the wine.

And when he had opened the fourth seal, I heard the voice of the fourth beast say, Come and see.

And I looked, and behold a pale horse: and his name that sat on him was Death, and Hell followed with him. And power was given unto them over the fourth part of the earth, to kill with sword, and with hunger, and with death, and with the beasts of the earth.

And when he had opened the fifth seal, I saw under the altar the souls of them that were slain for the word of God, and for the testimony which they held:

And they cried with a loud voice, saying, How long, O Lord, holy and true, dost thou not judge and avenge our blood on them that dwell on the earth?

And white robes were given unto every one of them; and it was said unto them, that they should rest yet for a little season, until their fellow-servants also and their brethren, that should be killed as they were, should be fulfilled.

And I beheld when he had opened the sixth seal, and, lo, there was a great earthquake; and the sun became black as sackcloth of hair, and the moon became as blood;

And the stars of heaven fell unto the earth, even as a fig tree casts her untimely figs, when she is shaken of a mighty wind.

And the heaven departed as a scroll when it is rolled together; and every mountain and island were moved out of their places.

And the kings of the earth, and the great men, and the rich men, and the chief captains, and the mighty men, and every bondman, and every free man, hid themselves in the dens and in the rocks of the mountains;

And said to the mountains and rocks, Fall on us, and hide us from the face of him that sitteth on the throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb:

For the great day of his wrath is come; and who shall be able to stand? ~Revelation 6 (King James Version.)

...

Freedom is the freedom to say that two plus two make four. If that is granted, all else follows. ~George Orwell, 1984.

Back in March I asked Evangelicals and Republicans "Who's gonna save you from the Shouty Man?"

Well??

Don't wave your arms around, answer the fuckin' question.

The other day, NC Lt. Governor and candidate for governor, Mark Robinson...was reported to have both been a porn consumer of, shall we say interesting tastes (including transgender porn) who defended Slavery (and slave-themed porn) and referred to himself as a "Black Nazi" on a porn site's message board in 2012.

I mean, come on, what the fuck??

I'm so old I can remember when this bullshit would have gotten a dude run out of public life much less the Republican Party...probably with one of Ronald Reagan's cowboy boots jammed up his ass...and the dumb shit he said would have probably been fodder for late-night comedians for months and all this crap would likely have lost the election for Republicans all by itself.

I mean, there's Dukakis in the tank...and then there's this bullshit.

I mean, come the fuck on. What's wrong with you, Republicans??

Where does it stop?!?!

And it sure looks like the Shouty Man is gonna cost Republicans North Carolina, at least.

(and Democrats didn't dig this up, it was Republican Oppo research, apparently.)

So now Republicans are doubling down on racism and on defending slavery??

My dude, I'm old enough to remember when nobody defended slavery...like at all...except for a few Southern "Lost Cause" assholes and racist cranks who even a vast majority of Republicans hated.

And in the same few days, it's come out that RFK Jr. (who's married) had an affair with a New York Magazine reporter who's 30-some years younger than he is...

And Chris Rufo (of all fucking people, basically the Commanding Officer of the Unfuckable Dork Brigade) posted solicitations on a website ("Ashley Madison" or some shit like that) that's for married people who are looking to cheat on their spouses.

Ya know, again, I'm old enough to remember when this kind of bullshit was at least seen primarily as a thing of the Left, was tolerated primarily by the further fringes of the Left (until Bill Clinton and Monica Lewinsky, anyway) and would end a Republican's career...Right, Newt??

But now Republicans want to do all this fucked up sexual shit and think they're gonna get away with it, while they try and force some kind of straight-laced fake-as-fuck "Christian" moralism on the rest of the goddamn country?? 

Oh HELL NO, motherfucker.

I'm tired of these shameless assholes, well remembering that at 13 or so my Grandma basically told me I could feel shame, or she'd beat my ass until I did...and I didn't get caught doing anything near this bad.

In fact, hell, I'm 50 and I wouldn't have even thought of this kind of horseshit on my own. 

(And I'm a gamer and a writer and I think of screwed up shit for fun.)

I mean, I've done some pretty fucked up shit, but nothing like defending or fetishizing slavery while I'm spanking the monkey to porn that I've claimed other people should be killed for using.

I get it, okay, call it the Trump Effect. 

You have Donald Trump as the leader of your party, shit like this is gonna happen.

But here's the thing. After awhile it reflects on you.

You get what you tolerate. I learned that as an Air Force security police Sergeant.

What you support is gonna come back around for you, and sooner or later you're gonna have to own it or repudiate it and you will be called on the carpet for it in this life or the next.

Either you believe in basic human values or you don't.

Belief in nothing but Power and Trump is exactly what's gotten the Republican Party into this goddamned soup sandwich.

I mean, for fuck's sake if these fucking people had the common sense God gave a domestic Ferret, y'all wouldn't be in this mess.

This ain't even "Reagan Wept" no more.

We're getting to the level of things where it's "Lincoln Wept" because the Republican Party has quite literally forgotten its entire goddamn purpose in the name of nothing more than perpetuating itself. It has become the nature of "Conservatives" to abase themselves before the Shouty Man simply for the sake of abasing themselves before what they see as "Power."

And all the Shouty Man has to do, basically, is yell loud enough. He doesn't even have to really say anything. I mean, he could be shouting "Unga Bunga!" or "I Like Big Butts And I Cannot Lie!" for all it actually matters.

It's like all that even matters is the tone of voice, what are you, a fuckin' Schnauzer or a human being?

There's no excuse for this crap! Use your head for more than a hat rack!

Historically, when it gets to that point...when people become that debased, dumbed-down or just plain fucking stupid...systems fail, nations fall, the list goes on.

And instead of trying to deal with their shit, the Republicans are actively and openly plotting to take America and the rest of its citizens...not to mention the rest of the world...down with them in collaboration with the goddamned Russians while profiting off of mass stupidity...as if the money would even be worth shit if they succeeded??

Either you have the fucking guts and basic sense of self-preservation to stand up against that, or you don't.

You hear that, fellow Democrats?? You even listening, Merrick Garland and Joe Biden??

Where's the goddamned bottom with this bullshit, I'm fucking tired of it. "Idiocracy" is too good of a word for what the Republican Party has become. The characters in Idiocracy were not anywhere near this actively malicious.

The worst part is, it's probably gonna take a war to get these assholes to stop fucking with our politics and using that shit to hurt people.

Enough is goddamned Enough, what's wrong with you??

We as a people need to stop tolerating this bullshit...and if our government won't stop it, we're gonna have to.

Otherwise when the great day of His wrath is come, what you gonna be able to say for yourself??

Слава Україна!

When I am dead, bury me

In my beloved Ukraine,

My tomb upon a grave mound high

Amid the spreading plain,

So that the fields, the boundless steppes,

The Dnieper's plunging shore

My eyes could see, my ears could hear

The mighty river roar.

When from Ukraine the Dnieper bears

Into the deep blue sea

The blood of foes ... then will I leave

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

To the abode of God,

And then I'll pray .... 

But until that day I know nothing of God

Oh bury me, then rise ye up

And break your heavy chains

And water with the tyrants' blood

The freedom you have gained.

And in the great new family,

The family of the free,

With softly spoken, kindly word

Remember also me.

~Taras Shevchenko

Last Post

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

Slaves Of The Caesars V (Signs Of The Times, Ten.)

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.

...

Freedom is the freedom to say that two plus two make four. If that is granted, all else follows. ~George Orwell, 1984.

...

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

I keep seeing stuff like this.

Crazy shit, getting worse and worse. 

Like it's being alleged that Laura Loomer (of all fucking people) has gotten very close to Trump, and she's apparently going around telling people she gave Trump a blowjob.

Like, seriously the last thing I ever wanted to think about, ever, for any reason...is Trump sticking his toadstool schwantz in Laura fucking Loomer.

And, perhaps sensing that the End Is Near, are reverting to open goddamned racism...and what I'm starting to call Ethnic Slur Fantasty Football, because that's exactly what this bullshit about accusing Haitians of eating cats is...with an occasional assist from their various alleged far-left hangers-on like *Checks Notes* Marianne Williamson?

Good to know that the open, tolerant religious views she expressed in all those vapid self-help tapes 30 years ago were nothing but hot air...or perhaps she didn't extend that tolerance to afro-syncretic religions, aside from the vague Pentecostalism of that one Detroit-area church she preached at 25 years ago??

I've been there, by the way, I've seen her speak.

Fun fact...it's a Black church. I rather doubt the people there would approve of this bullshit.

And for the record, Afro-syncretic religions like Santeria and Voodoo owe as much of their belief system to Christianity in general (and Catholicism in particular) as they do to the African traditions that the slave-forebears of many current practitioners were trying to preserve.

Also for the record, the origin of faiths like Voodoo as well as the call-and-response style of most Black churches is in syncretic traditions that began to develop during the Middle Passage as even newly-enslaved Africans sought to preserve something of their cultures and to resist their enslavers. This isn't specific to that time and place. Doesn't matter if it's Africans 300 years ago or Ukrainians today...it is human nature to resist.

And naturally, shills for Power and Whiteness who want to jam their bullshit so far down your throat that it's coming out your asshole in one piece are still mad that those people did that.

Hell, they're mad that anyone didn't submit...you know, like they did.

There's a whole group of people, most but not all of them "Conservatives" who missed the whole goddamned point of America. They don't want to resist tyranny...they want to be lackeys of a tyrant.

They believe in slavery so much that they don't give a shit if they have to bite the bullet and be the goddamned slaves, so long as the "meme" of bondage, domination, hierarchy and slavery is maintained somehow.

And they think Trump is going to give them that...oh sure, a dimwitted and/or wealthy few think they'll be the masters and not the slaves. But the truth is they'll all be happy with whatever...even if it means being Trump's slaves...so long as they're a better class of slaves than some of the other slaves.

And they're mad as hell that anybody is resisting this.

They're mad that anybody would even try and go about their own lives and business without having to spend two hours a day blowing the goddamn narcissist.

And they think somehow they're going to get something for it, even if it's just "Owning The Libs" (whatever that means.)

Personally, I couldn't do it.

At this point, the Republican Party itself is basically a totalitarian cult-state like Baathist Iraq.

And Trump is a fatter Saddam Hussein without the mustache or a country to run.

And when they try and start some bullshit Civil War, then start losing (badly) and then try and sell themselves out to the Russians to avoid ending up being shot by American firing squads, they'll be mad as all fuck that people on their own side resist Russification after the "Limited Contingent Of Military Advisors" comes flooding in and does nothing but buy them time. They'll be surprised when the Zampolits, the obligatory Russian political hacks, show up too.

And they'll build walls and drop bombs and grovel before Power and throw away everything that they themselves said they thought was so great about America to try to please people like Putin and Trump and in the end...they'll be the ones who lose most of all.

Trump will go to prison and probably die there, Vladimir Putin will get to just go on being Vladimir Putin unless the Ukrainians get to him.

These fucking people...won't. It's a sign of our debased times that Republicans won't stop blowing the fucking narcissist.

And both then and now, they don't give a shit how debased their so-called rulers are, nor how debased they become in their quest for a world based on an unholy trinity of Power, Force and Submission, so long as they think they'll get it for awhile.

They don't really care what comes after, either. Or they can't or simply don't want to think that far ahead.

These fucking people want life to be nasty, brutish and short, but as long as they exit stage right with an upraised middle finger or have their boot on somebody else's throat before they die, that's OK.

It's not just that these fucking people are fascinated with death...it's that increasingly they seem to expect that they're going to be ground to dust for no good reason and all they really want to see is somebody else getting it first.

Seems like a hell of a way to live, don't it??

I couldn't do it and I was a conservative and a Republican for most of my life.

You either believe in freedom or you don't.

And endlessly blowing some goddamned narcissist is not how you get freedom.

Слава Україна!

When I am dead, bury me

In my beloved Ukraine,

My tomb upon a grave mound high

Amid the spreading plain,

So that the fields, the boundless steppes,

The Dnieper's plunging shore

My eyes could see, my ears could hear

The mighty river roar.

When from Ukraine the Dnieper bears

Into the deep blue sea

The blood of foes ... then will I leave

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

To the abode of God,

And then I'll pray .... 

But until that day I know nothing of God

Oh bury me, then rise ye up

And break your heavy chains

And water with the tyrants' blood

The freedom you have gained.

And in the great new family,

The family of the free,

With softly spoken, kindly word

Remember also me.

~Taras Shevchenko

Nine

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