We welcome change and openness; for we believe that freedom and security go together, that the advance of human liberty can only strengthen the cause of world peace. There is one sign the Soviets can make that would be unmistakable, that would advance dramatically the cause of freedom and peace. General Secretary Gorbachev, if you seek peace, if you seek prosperity for the Soviet Union and Eastern Europe, if you seek liberalization, come here to this gate. Mr. Gorbachev, open this gate. Mr. Gorbachev...Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall!
~Ronald Reagan
...
And war broke out in heaven Michael and his angels fought with the dragon; and the dragon and his angels fought, but they did not prevail, nor was a place found for them in heaven any longer. So the great dragon was cast out, that serpent of old, called the Devil and Satan, who deceives the whole world; he was cast to the earth, and his angels were cast out with him. ~Revelation 12:7-9...
Karis Nemik: There will be times when the struggle seems impossible. I know this already. Alone, unsure, dwarfed by the scale of the enemy. Remember this. Freedom is a pure idea. It occurs spontaneously and without instruction. Random acts of insurrection are occurring constantly throughout the galaxy. There are whole armies, battalions that have no idea that they've already enlisted in the cause. Remember that the frontier of the Rebellion is everywhere. And even the smallest act of insurrection pushes our lines forward. And then remember this. The Imperial need for control is so desperate because it is so unnatural. Tyranny requires constant effort. It breaks, it leaks. Authority is brittle. Oppression is the mask of fear. Remember that. And know this, the day will come when all these skirmishes and battles, these moments of defiance will have flooded the banks of the Empire's authority and then there will be one too many. One single thing will break the siege. Remember this. Try. ~From the Star Wars series Andor, S1.E12 "Rix Road."
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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
I saw this last night.See that guy on the far right-hand side of this group of "Young Republicans?"
He doesn't get more votes than his political opponents in internecine Republican elections, he eats them.
It's sad to see the Republican Party of Lincoln, Teddy Roosevelt, Eisenhower, Reagan and even the Bushes come to...this. To people who have no business considering themselves superior calling themselves the "Master Race" and praising Hitler...who Eisenhower and a number of members of the Roosevelt family (Not Just FDR) fought against. Ted Roosevelt...Theodore Roosevelt Jr. died during the Normandy landings of a heart attack while leading his troops after storming ashore on Utah Beach with his cane in one hand and a Colt M1911A1 .45 pistol in the other like it was San Juan Hill with better weapons and more water.
And now, Republicans are this.
Stop and think about that for a second.
I'm tired of these fucking people's hate, their misogyny, their racism, and even more tired of them thinking that because they're miserable bastards everybody else should have to be one too.I couldn't live like that. I'm an addict and have had issues with depression. I would not still be alive.
But...These Fucking People??
As the world and the rest of America increasingly defies them and finds its voice and uses its power to do so...they absolutely keep doubling down to the point of actively trying to sacralize their miserable bastardy and shitty behavior.
These Fucking People's ideal world is basically the Killing Fields of Khmer Rouge Cambodia, but with a church and a mall.
The wind whispers of fear and hate. The war has killed love. And those that confess to the Angkar are punished, and no one dare ask where they go. Here, only the silent survive. ~Dith Pran, The Killing Fields
I've been saying this since the height of the COVID-19 pandemic.
This will be worse.
The Pope is effectively breaking up Opus Dei.
My read on that, is that it likely will cause those kind of Catholics (a hell of a lot of whom were Protestant Fundamentalists before) simply to return to the open arms of Evangelical Protestantism, a fair number will probably go schismatic if not full Sedevacantist, but on the level of how it looks to the rest of us...basically this shit will probably cause Dark Catholicism and at least some branches of Evangelical Protestantism to fuse, informally if not actually formally.
Why?Because whether they realize it or not, at least on the level of certain parts of the United States, the Evangelicals do actually have the kind of infrastructure and levels of church attendance...if not actual belief...to create the kind of cultural religion These Fucking People want.
Note I did not say "Christianity" and there's a reason for that.
Because their entire basis is anything but "Love Thy Neighbor."
They aren't interested in Love or Redemption or substitutionary Sacrifice.
At least not in having to do any of that themselves.
These motherfuckers want other people to die for their Sins.
And then they have the balls to want to call that "Redemption."
"God" as these assholes define Him might as well be Dis Pater or Mammon or some other Biblical demon.
And I guarantee you, when they do this...I do not think it's an "If" I think they are going to deliberately aim for a level of Crusading Atrocity that'd make both the First Crusade and the most bloody-minded interpretations of Radical Islam blanch in utter horror.
They literally want everybody else who does not join them to have to fight just to survive.
They see Putin's attitude towards Ukraine, just for one example, as how the world gets made.
All they care about is the expression of raw Power, even if it's against them, so long as it's delivered with a grim-enough affect. God is not on the throne in their hearts, their Self is.
Why?? Because these assholes are all narcissists, bowing down to them or fighting against them, either way, you're paying attention to them and that's all they really care about.And yes, it's absolutely going to come down to a fight.
You either believe in freedom or you don't.
And you're either willing to fight for it or you're not.
This crap never ends well, not least for the goddamned fascists themselves.
But they don't care, so long as they get to take others down with them.
And I think that's why These Fucking People are going to try to make their shitty politics into their literal religion, so they can try to escape Hell.
But they aren't the ones who get to make that call.
God judges us, not Man.
Remember that.
No Kings tomorrow, but Judgment Day is coming, in this life or the next.
You watch and you see what These Fucking people will do to try to escape that.
We're fortunate that these people are as pathetic as they are.
Слава Україна!
hiding inside the black granite.
I said I wouldn't
dammit: No tears.
I'm stone. I'm flesh.
My clouded reflection eyes me
like a bird of prey, the profile of night slanted against morning.
I turn that way—I'm inside
the Vietnam Veterans Memorial
again, depending on the light
to make a difference.
I go down the 58,022 names,
half-expecting to find
my own in letters like smoke.
Names shimmer on a woman's blouse
but when she walks away
the names stay on the wall.
Brushstrokes flash, a red bird's
wings cutting across my stare.
The sky. A plane in the sky.
A white vet's image floats
closer to me, then his pale eyes
look through mine. I'm a window.
He's lost his right arm
inside the stone. In the black mirror
a woman’s trying to erase names:
No, she's brushing a boy's hair.