Brain Damage (Reason For The Season 2025, Eleven.)

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.

...

And it came to pass in those days, that there went out a decree from Caesar Augustus that all the world should be taxed. (And this taxing was first made when Cyrenius was governor of Syria.) And all went to be taxed, every one into his own city. And Joseph also went up from Galilee, out of the city of Nazareth, into Judaea, unto the city of David, which is called Bethlehem; (because he was of the house and lineage of David:) To be taxed with Mary his espoused wife, being great with child. And so it was, that, while they were there, the days were accomplished that she should be delivered.

And she brought forth her firstborn son, and wrapped him in swaddling clothes, and laid him in a manger; because there was no room for them in the inn. And there were in the same country shepherds abiding in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night. And, lo, the angel of the Lord came upon them, and the glory of the Lord shone round about them: and they were sore afraid. And the angel said unto them, Fear not: for, behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people.
For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, which is Christ the Lord.
And this shall be a sign unto you; Ye shall find the babe wrapped in swaddling clothes, lying in a manger. And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God, and saying, Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men. ~Luke 2:1-14

...

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 keep seeing shit like this.

First off, that racist bitch that got fired from her job for spewing a bunch of racist crap at a Somali couple has raised like $75K on some bullshit knockoff Go Fund Me type site.

That this is even being tolerated pisses me off, let alone the fact that there are fucking people out there willing to give this cunt money for basically getting filmed doing something stupid and wrong and losing her job for it?

Fuck that, sorry. I'm not buying the idea that this bullshit should even be legal let alone socially tolerated.

Not least considering had there been video of some of the stupid human tricks I pulled and got fired for as a younger man?? Bitch, first I'd have got laughed at and then somebody that I know that say wit would've beat my ass.

Nobody would have given me money for any of that shit, and nothing I ever did was that bad.

Then I see this 1950's style "Race Mixing Is Communism" bullshit and I immediately thought of the fact that my first girlfriend after high school was Black. We dated for a couple months and hooked up a few times after that. Note I was a conservative Christian Republican at the time, and she was (I'm pretty sure, although we didn't really talk about that much) a liberal, certainly by the standards of today. She was a Christian despite the fact that she had an Arabic last name.

We worked together at the Grand Hotel on Mackinaw Island. My Mom liked her, cause we met Mom for pizza on the tourist strip in Mackinaw City one day and at that point in her life my Mom absolutely wasn't going to object to me dating a girl that excitedly wanted to talk about Jesus and also the AME church she went to back in Detroit over lunch.

This was in *Checks Notes* 1992.

And Republicans have to be seeing all the same shit that I'm seeing from (at this point) Bipartisan and even international sources and yet they're like the kid in Bill Cosby's "Brain Damage" riff the SECOND anybody asks them even one damn thing about any of this shit that's going on, with a whiny "I Don't Know."

Bullshit, bro-slice, you know exactly what's going on.

You fuckers just thought you were gonna get away with it, or at least profit in some way, before anybody noticed.

But since it's not working out that way, nobody "knows" anything. I mean, it's not like it's news that you don't have to know jack shit to be a "Conservative" or a Republican nowadays.

You just have to kiss Trump's flabby stinky ass and pretend to like it.

Well, that and you can never deviate from the party line or go off-script no matter how ridiculously outlandish all that crap gets.

You cannot have any lines that you won't cross or any original ideas or personal opinions about anything that matters.

And you have to be a Republican first, above all things, and follow the Hive Mind or the Republican Mob wherever it goes. 

I couldn't do it and that was *Checks Notes* 17 years ago at this point.

Nowadays they're tossing anybody over the fantail that has any personal beliefs about much of anything...up to and including when those beliefs were Party gospel until a couple months ago.

The Epstein files, for one.

If they'll PNG MTG nobody is safe, and in fact MAGA itself is on the way out.

That's not a thing to be happy for, because the Groyper and Manosphere and "Patriot Front" bullshit that's replacing it is much, much worse.

The thing that gets me is, MTG seems genuinely distressed and surprised that Trump was unkind.

After a decade of seeing this dude in action? Seriously??

It's Christmas time, I'll give her the benefit of the doubt.

But, This is what I mean when I say "Brain Damage."

We've got to take the neighborhood back. We've got to go in there. Just forget telling your child to go to the Peace Corps. It's right around the corner. It's standing on the corner. It can't speak English. It doesn't want to speak English. I can't even talk the way these people talk. "Why you ain't where you is go." I don't know who these people are. And I blamed the kid until I heard the mother talk. Then I heard the father talk. This is all in the house. You used to talk a certain way on the corner and you got into the house and switched to English. Everybody knows it's important to speak English except these knuckleheads. You can't land a plane with "why you ain't…". You can't be a doctor with that kind of crap coming out of your mouth. There is no Bible that has that kind of language. Where did these people get the idea that they're moving ahead on this? Well, they know they're not, they're just hanging out in the same place, five or six generations sitting in the projects when you're just supposed to stay there long enough to get a job and move out. ~Bill Cosby, the "Pound Cake" speech.

I'm quoting Bill Cosby's much-dogpiled (and deservedly so) 2004 NAACP speech at this point because that's pretty much what today's Republican Party has become, except it's not the Hood, it's the trailer park and it makes the Republican Party of John McCain and Sarah Palin in 2008 look like a model of normalcy, loyalty to country, sanity and situational awareness by comparison.

This is what the Republican Party of Donald Trump 2.0 sounds like, now. Republicans have become exactly the shit they routinely used to accuse others of being, and they did it with malice aforethought.

And I'll note that I was at the point of "I can't even talk the way these people talk" *In* 2008. I'll note that, starting in the fall of 2007 or so, that shit happened fast.

Like I'm talking, one night late in 2007 I'm just minding my own business playing World Of Warcraft one night and like three people at around the same time (My Evangelical ex-girlfriend and a couple of the old Republicans back home) all E-mailed me the "Birther" conspiracy theory bullshit about Obama.

I blew up about it and fired off the same response to all of them, which was basically that if you have the slightest of anything to do with the nuclear triad whether you're the guy pushing the button or the Security Police knuckle-dragger guarding the bombs, the Military Industrial Complex and the National Security Establishment will know which Sports Illustrated swimsuit issue model you rubbed one off to as a teenager and which hand you used. 

Yeah, trust me, I served in Security Forces and that's a surprisingly low bar to clear but if you're NOT a citizen, there's shit you can't do and duties to which you cannot be assigned and places you will not be authorized to be in. If you're not a natural-born citizen you cannot be President and that is per the (at that time) Iron Law of the Constitution on top of all that.

And holy fuck, people did not like that.

I didn't give a shit, then or now.

Within days, that bullshit was everywhere.

I'm not going to entertain or ignore or tolerate obviously bullshit racist conspiracy theories because racist dipshits that think they're not racist because they don't call Black people the N-word in public find entertaining racist conspiracy theories to be entertaining in some sort of guilty-pleasure way or think they're some sort of "code" to safely express racist bullshit-ass opinions, and I said exactly that at the time, too.

I got a bunch of excuses back in my E-mail to which I predictably went full Security Forces Squad Leader-at-Drill-time level of profanity, fuck you and the horse you rode in on, sideways with that shit, and I didn't care.

My best friends from the Air Force were a Black convert to Islam (who'd been raised Black-church Christian) and an Italian American Independent Fundamentalist Baptist who'd been raised Catholic. They were both in my wedding, which was held in a Baptist church and damn if the Baptist church people and my Muslim friend didn't get along famously back in 2000.

Which is exactly why my response to "What if Obama is Muslim" was "So what if he is?" 

If you really wanna go by the Constitution, shouldn't the President be an Atheist, Agnostic, or perhaps a Deist like most of the Founding Fathers were??

Not to mention I spent a couple of Air Force TDY's in *Checks Notes* Saudi Arabia.

If all Muslims were our enemies, that would not have been so.

But that shit, the Birther crap, was the start of the Great Degradation of the Republican Party.

And me, being a Republican at the time, I was like "WTF changed?" Yes, some of our enemies at that time were Muslim but so were many more of our allies.

The fact of it, both that the conspiracy theories and racism repulsed a lot of people and the fact that neither John McCain nor Mitt Romney played along with it hard enough were big parts of why neither got elected. (That's also how we got Trump.)

And guess what? People like John McCain were like "I don't know" when they got confronted about that garbage, too. Right until that horseshit was staring them in the face yelling at them with bug-eyed spittle-flecked rage at their own Town Hall, too.

The same thing will happen to Trump before this is over.

Nick Fuentes (for example) is already against him. 

Not everyone who hates Trump is your friend, and those bleeding-edge far-rightists will go after Republicans first, because they're easy.

When you stand before God "I Don't Know" will not be an excuse, nor will politically-motivated Brain Damage.

You knew, you just hoped that other people didn't know you knew.

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

And the time's going to come when this bullshit tries to eat you, too.

Слава Україна!

When I was sixteen I won a great victory. I felt in that moment that I should live to be a hundred, now I know I shall not see thirty. None of us know our end really, or what hand will guide us there. A King may move a man, a father may claim a son. That man can also move himself. And only then does that man truly begin his own game. Remember that how so ever you are played, or by whom, your soul is in your keeping alone. Even though those who presume to play you be kings or men of power. When you stand before God, you cannot say "but I was told by others to do thusly" or that "virtue was not convenient at the time." This will not suffice. Remember that. ~The Leper King, from the film Kingdom Of Heaven.

Ten

My black face fades,
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 this way—the stone lets me go.
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. 

I touch the name Andrew Johnson; 

I see the booby trap's white flash.
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.

~Facing It, by Yusef Komunyakaa, US Army Veteran

Abomination (Reason For The Season 2025, Ten.)

I believe in no God, no invisible man in the sky. But there is something more powerful than each of us, a combination of our efforts, a Great Chain of industry that unites us. But it is only when we struggle in our own interest that the chain pulls society in the right direction. The chain is too powerful and too mysterious for any government to guide. Any man who tells you different either has his hand in your pocket, or a pistol to your neck. ~Andrew Ryan, Bioshock

...

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

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

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

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

Eli Sunday: All right.

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

~From the film There Will Be Blood.

...

And it came to pass in those days, that there went out a decree from Caesar Augustus that all the world should be taxed. (And this taxing was first made when Cyrenius was governor of Syria.) And all went to be taxed, every one into his own city. And Joseph also went up from Galilee, out of the city of Nazareth, into Judaea, unto the city of David, which is called Bethlehem; (because he was of the house and lineage of David:) To be taxed with Mary his espoused wife, being great with child. And so it was, that, while they were there, the days were accomplished that she should be delivered.

And she brought forth her firstborn son, and wrapped him in swaddling clothes, and laid him in a manger; because there was no room for them in the inn. And there were in the same country shepherds abiding in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night. And, lo, the angel of the Lord came upon them, and the glory of the Lord shone round about them: and they were sore afraid. And the angel said unto them, Fear not: for, behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people.
For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, which is Christ the Lord.
And this shall be a sign unto you; Ye shall find the babe wrapped in swaddling clothes, lying in a manger. And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God, and saying, Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men. ~Luke 2:1-14

...

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 seen this a few times now.

Supposedly, Barron Trump is This Close to "Putting His Faith In Christ." Yeah, right.

I'm here to tell you, people like that don't do things like that.

I mean, you shouldn't need me to tell you that, the Bible says it.

And what are all these "Christians" doing??

Aside from the same old "Christian" clout-chasing and trying to "Influence" the secular world so they can be "popular?"

Pontificating about marrying virgins, plotting to spread "Christian Nationalism" to Canada, and the Canadians clearly don't want that shit, and causing viral racist incidents in Cinnamon Roll shops. It's Christmas, for fuck's sake!

I'm honestly a little curious what the fuck any of that crap has to do with Christianity and this "revival" these idiots like to claim.

Then yesterday I found out that somebody that I sort of know effectively rejects modern medicine...in favor of conspiracy woo woo...which is one of the most ridiculous things I've ever heard.

It's all bullshit.

ALL OF IT.

Now I'm gonna let you in on a dirty little secret.

Suppose that, one way or another, Faith in Christ or in any particular Christian denomination suddenly became antithetical to Right-Wing political goals, or became seen as "Liberal" in the same way that (for example) modern Medicine became seen that way during the COVID-19 Pandemic.

Yes, it can happen, it can happen in the space of a couple of weeks in fact. I saw it happen.

It's already happening again.

Don't you think people who are wildly obsessed with the appearance of religiosity but effectively don't believe in free choice or free will or that one's soul is in one's own keeping (mainly this is just a bullshit excuse for control but bear with me) would flip a bitch if their political movement or religious leaders or their government (especially the government of one of several US Successor States that might claim to be "Conservative") suddenly switched gears and decided that Christianity was a bad thing, or had become politically inconvenient, or whatever?

By the way, if you're Catholic, mainstream Protestant Christian, any sort of non-MAGA conservative Christian or pretty much any non-Christian religious believer or really anything other than a Calvinist or other Christian Nationalist or Prosperity Gospel Pentecostal type this is already happening to you.

I am Andrew Ryan, and I'm here to ask you a question. Is a man not entitled to the sweat of his brow? "No," says the man in Washington, "it belongs to the poor." "No," says the man in the Vatican, "it belongs to God." "No," says the man in Moscow, "it belongs to everyone." I rejected those answers; instead, I chose something different. I chose the impossible. I chose... Rapture. A city where the artist would not fear the censor; where the scientist would not be bound by petty morality; where the great would not be constrained by the small! And with the sweat of your brow, Rapture can become your city as well.

~Andrew Ryan, Bioshock

And I'm here to tell you they're just waiting for...oh, I don't know, Elon Musk's prototype Mark Of The Beast, or the unveiling of Dis Pater or Mammon as the true "gods" of the Prosperity Gospel, or the declaration of secular Republican Party politics or the worship of Donald Trump as God as the One True Religion or whatever.

It doesn't matter what it is, really. What they're waiting for is to be formally told they don't have to "Love Thy Neighbor" anymore by some Authority or other.

And it will come to exactly this, likely soon.

What they're waiting for is to be told that Hate is the new Opiate of the Masses, and they don't have to hide it behind anything else anymore.

I think we're gonna see these fucking people become the most anti-Christian and in point of fact anti-religious movement you can even imagine the second they think they can get away with it.

And remember, these fucking people's ideal world (at least since 2020) is nothing less than the Killing Fields of Khmer Rouge Cambodia, but with a Mall or some such shit.

These are people who think Elon having to pay a relatively small fine to the EU is some kind of Crime Against Humanity, but that Crimes Against Humanity are just things you do for clicks and likes on social media, or for fun or political profit.

If you're not willing to fight for it, take the word 'Freedom' out of your vocabulary. ~Malcolm X.

Do you think they're gonna give a fuck about you??

The answer to that question is "No."

And the truth is, these motherfuckers really just wanna kill people, they wanna fly off the handle like the Splicers in Bioshock and KILL. They don't care who, plenty of MAGA's will die with the rest of us because that, uh, political philosophy is already being eclipsed by the Groyper bullshit and at that point I'm here to tell you Those Fucking People hate conservatives more than anybody.

I traded You, oh Lord, for Mammon, and what did it get me, huh?! ~Splicer, Bioshock

I'm serious.

And even MAGA "Conservatives" (in fact, especially them) are blindly walking into a trap regarding this shit.

When ye therefore shall see the Abomination of Desolation, spoken of by Daniel the prophet, stand in the holy place, (who so reads, let him understand)

Then let them which be in Judaea flee into the mountains:

Let him which is on the housetop not come down to take any thing out of his house:

Neither let him which is in the field return back to take his clothes.

And woe unto them that are with child, and to them that give suck in those days!

But pray ye that your flight be not in the winter, neither on the sabbath day:

For then shall be great tribulation, such as was not since the beginning of the world to this time, no, nor ever shall be.

And except those days should be shortened, there should no flesh be saved: but for the elect's sake those days shall be shortened.

Then if any man shall say unto you, Lo, here is Christ, or there; believe it not.

For there shall arise false Christs, and false prophets, and shall shew great signs and wonders; insomuch that, if it were possible, they shall deceive the very elect.

Behold, I have told you before.

Wherefore if they shall say unto you, Behold, he is in the desert; go not forth: behold, he is in the secret chambers; believe it not.

For as the lightning cometh out of the east, and shines even unto the west; so shall also the coming of the Son of man be. ~Matthew 24:15-27

People have the right idea to start fighting back against this shit but I don't think most people realize how bad it will get.

Not because these savages are viciously effective, they're not, but in fact as much as anything else because they're both cowardly and stupid.

Stupid people make mistakes, among other things.

You want an enemy with even a small degree of intelligence and moral courage, or at least the expectation of obeying basic rules simply so that said rules will be obeyed towards their own people at least some of the time.

These Fucking People don't care about any of that. And they don't really care if they get killed, either.

Just so they can have fun terrorizing people before they die.

They don't care about anything else.

As for you? You either believe in freedom or you don't.

You're willing to fight for it or you're not.

And it's going to come to that.

Soon.

Слава Україна!

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

Nine

When I was sixteen I won a great victory. I felt in that moment that I should live to be a hundred, now I know I shall not see thirty. None of us know our end really, or what hand will guide us there. A King may move a man, a father may claim a son. That man can also move himself. And only then does that man truly begin his own game. Remember that how so ever you are played, or by whom, your soul is in your keeping alone. Even though those who presume to play you be kings or men of power. When you stand before God, you cannot say "but I was told by others to do thusly" or that "virtue was not convenient at the time." This will not suffice. Remember that. ~The Leper King, from the film Kingdom Of Heaven.

It's Got Electrolytes (Reason For The Season 2025, Nine.)

Joe: For the last time, I'm pretty sure what's killing the crops is this Brawndo stuff.

Secretary of State: But Brawndo's got what plants crave. It's got electrolytes.

Attorney General: "So wait a minute. What you're saying is that you want us to put water on the crops.

Joe: Yes.

Attorney General: Water. Like out the toilet?

Joe: Well, I mean, it doesn't have to be out of the toilet, but, yeah, that's the idea.

Secretary of State: But Brawndo's got what plants crave.

Attorney General: It's got electrolytes.

Joe: Okay, look. The plants aren't growing, so I'm pretty sure that the Brawndo's not working. Now, I'm no botanist, but I do know that if you put water on plants, they grow.

Secretary of Energy: Well, I've never seen no plants grow out of no toilet.

Secretary of State: Hey, that's good. You sure you ain't the smartest guy in the world?

Joe: Okay, look. You want to solve this problem. I want to get my pardon. So why don't we just try it, okay, and not worry about what plants crave?

Attorney General: Brawndo's got what plants crave.

Secretary of Energy: Yeah, it's got electrolytes.

Joe: What are electrolytes? Do you even know?

Secretary of State: It's what they use to make Brawndo.

~From the film Idiocracy.

...

And it came to pass in those days, that there went out a decree from Caesar Augustus that all the world should be taxed. (And this taxing was first made when Cyrenius was governor of Syria.) And all went to be taxed, every one into his own city. And Joseph also went up from Galilee, out of the city of Nazareth, into Judaea, unto the city of David, which is called Bethlehem; (because he was of the house and lineage of David:) To be taxed with Mary his espoused wife, being great with child. And so it was, that, while they were there, the days were accomplished that she should be delivered.

And she brought forth her firstborn son, and wrapped him in swaddling clothes, and laid him in a manger; because there was no room for them in the inn. And there were in the same country shepherds abiding in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night. And, lo, the angel of the Lord came upon them, and the glory of the Lord shone round about them: and they were sore afraid. And the angel said unto them, Fear not: for, behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people.
For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, which is Christ the Lord.
And this shall be a sign unto you; Ye shall find the babe wrapped in swaddling clothes, lying in a manger. And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God, and saying, Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men. ~Luke 2:1-14

I keep seeing shit like this.

Basically, statistically half of America is functionally illiterate. TLDR, I guess?

Please, stop and think about that for a second.

This is a nation where a large plurality of the population loudly claims to be Christian, Christianity is a vastly philosophically complex religion rooted in Greek and Middle Eastern thought. And half of our fucking people can't read, yo. Stop and think about that this Christmas, too. How do you even know what to Believe if you can't read the Lord's Word, let alone understand the concepts therein, seriously??

And then of course, FIFA (which has no business doing anything of the sort) gave Trump some kind of bullshit "Peace Prize." Our functionally-illiterate President, ladies and gentlemen, getting his narcissism sucked off by the largest sporting org on the planet.

It's Got Electrolytes...

I'm just sayin' it's not quite Idiocracy yet but you can see it from here.

You know, I'm old enough to remember when bullying, racism and stupidity were considered bad things and drew social condemnation from a majority of people. 

I'm honestly very tired of bigotry of all kinds, blind faith in general and willful ignorance in particular.

But you know what I'm even more tired of? People making excuses for that shit. Worse, people trying to profit from that shit.

The day's going to come pretty soon when a lot of people get to see with their own eyes that a Black soldier can stop a bullet just as good as a White one, and that an immigrant doctor can keep them alive just as well as a native born one can, and that (yet again) we won't have a choice but to see that women can do almost all the same shit that men can do, while dealing with more bullshit from everybody just to get the job done.

And out there in real life, in the way that the Global Other Half has to live, inattention, laziness and willful stupidity gets people killed.

I've been trying to warn people for years that if the Right gets their wish and sparks off a Civil War, they're probably gonna lose because they're stupid, but one hell of a lot of America is gonna have to get over itself and its own bullshit just to fight and survive properly.

Maybe even just to survive, like at all.

The people who are doing this don't give a shit if you're conservative. In fact they're more likely to prey on you because they think all they have to do is convince you that you're "Owning The Libs" by willingly being their bitch, their prey, or whatever.

Nobody, and I mean nobody has more contempt for "Conservative" White Folks than the Billionaires and Trump.

And the thing that scares me is there's millions of people who'd rather die than give up their bigotry, their bullshit, or their worship of wealth...even though they will never actually get anything for any of it.

I get it, relative status is a hell of a drug. But at the same time, one hell of a lot of these fucking people are cruising for that amounting to "Zero" as well.

Because people like Donald Trump and Elon Musk and Peter Theil can never have enough of anything, and they're pretty much cannibalizing this country.

And half of America can't even read the room.

We're going to collapse like the Soviet Union did unless We, the People, get it together real quick.

Even if we don't, even if the fucking far-left got what they wanted and America became a Socialist country or some shit...at this point we'd be far more likely the depleted post-WWII UK than something like modern Denmark or Norway or even today's United Kingdom.

And the thing is, that's what These Fucking People want because honestly, Republicans seem to derive some kind of validation for their shitty worldview when everything is terrible.

And they're just fine with billionaires shoveling whole tiers of our standards of living into their pockets.

As long as Donald Trump or somebody like him gets to pretend to rule over ashes and ruins and cabinets full of skulls and they can be strung along with the fantasy of having their boot on somebody else's throat before they die.

I'm just sayin' when I was a kid you didn't even have to read all that well to learn this shit, I grew up with movies like Raiders Of The Lost Ark where the Nazis were clearly the bad guys, I rented the movie The Killing Fields at the local corner video rental place one night just cuz I was curious, I've probably seen Red Dawn (the original, that is) way more times than any one person needed to.

Now? 

We all have access to all the knowledge of Humanity and all we have to do is apply ourselves for like ten seconds and know part of a phrase or a word to search for.

I'm honestly starting to wonder if people were more knowledgeable in 1985, certainly they were held to higher standards.

You either believe in freedom or you don't.

But you have to know a thing or two to understand what freedom is much less appreciate it.

What good is being a consumerist simpleton if you can't even read the label to know what you're buying?

And what the fuck else are you missing? This for the people who constantly act as if they know the rest of the world is holding out on them.

Get a grip, people.

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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

Eight

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

So Lonely (Reason For The Season 2025, Eight.)

Wives, submit yourselves unto your own husbands, as unto the Lord.

For the husband is the head of the wife, even as Christ is the head of the church: and he is the savior of the body.

Therefore as the church is subject unto Christ, so let the wives be to their own husbands in everything.

Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ also loved the church, and gave himself for it;

That he might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water by the word,

That he might present it to himself a glorious church, not having spot, or wrinkle, or any such thing; but that it should be holy and without blemish.

So ought men to love their wives as their own bodies. He that loveth his wife loveth himself. For no man ever yet hated his own flesh; but nourished and cherished it, even as the Lord the church:

For we are members of his body, of his flesh, and of his bones.

For this cause shall a man leave his father and mother, and shall be joined unto his wife, and they two shall be one flesh.

This is a great mystery: but I speak concerning Christ and the church.

Nevertheless let every one of you in particular so love his wife even as himself; and the wife see that she reverence her husband. ~Ephesians 5:22-33

...

And it came to pass in those days, that there went out a decree from Caesar Augustus that all the world should be taxed. (And this taxing was first made when Cyrenius was governor of Syria.) And all went to be taxed, every one into his own city. And Joseph also went up from Galilee, out of the city of Nazareth, into Judaea, unto the city of David, which is called Bethlehem; (because he was of the house and lineage of David:) To be taxed with Mary his espoused wife, being great with child. And so it was, that, while they were there, the days were accomplished that she should be delivered.

And she brought forth her firstborn son, and wrapped him in swaddling clothes, and laid him in a manger; because there was no room for them in the inn. And there were in the same country shepherds abiding in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night. And, lo, the angel of the Lord came upon them, and the glory of the Lord shone round about them: and they were sore afraid. And the angel said unto them, Fear not: for, behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people.
For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, which is Christ the Lord.
And this shall be a sign unto you; Ye shall find the babe wrapped in swaddling clothes, lying in a manger. And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God, and saying, Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men. ~Luke 2:1-14

...

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 a lot of this crap.

"Conservatives" preaching bullshit about how wives need to submit to their husbands, women need to submit to men in general, and so on.

Imma only gonna tell you this one time; I'm not going to be asking my partner to submit, in any way, shape or form. In fact, it may be an unpopular take these days but I'm in love with my partner specifically because she's not a submissive type.

I've never been attracted to submissive women, I've never had a relationship with a submissive woman that lasted and all my long-term relationships have been with mid-conservative ladies that were some degree of religious.

And that's who these fucking people are targeting with this absolute horseshit, because even any conservative woman that's actually worthwhile to get with and not some rampant "Pick Me" type doesn't want their stank asses either.

These guys ain't lonely enough.

And their attitude isn't just that way about women.

It's everything, politics, science, theology and all type of shit. These absolute Jabronis (most but not all of whom are white men) simply don't want to hear anything that contradicts their grunting, gut-level malevolent-Idiocracy selfish bullshit.

And they think they can simply bully reality and the rest of the world into being petty little micro-gods.

Actually, increasingly they're simply ignoring reality in favor of a 1950's-themed White Crypto-Bro/Day trader version of the same sexual dream-world bullshit that my first girlfriend (back in high school) used to criticize rap videos for.

That's basically the root of this whole Trump thing.

They want sex on demand and they don't want to care for or pay for any kids that might come from this, and they want plenty of worse things, too.

I mean, shit, they don't even want to have feelings for their partners.

No, none of this works that way.

You can take a lot of things away from a man. Cigarettes, the gym. You can take his freedom, his legs, but not his feelings. Not his feelings. A man loves a woman. Don't matter what kind of man he is, if he loves her, he wants her. He wants her body. He wants her to want his. So you say to him, "you can never make love again. You will never touch her in that way again. This is the last time. The last time. Forever." If that's not cruel and unusual punishment, I don't know what is. ~Augustus Hill, from the HBO series Oz, S1.E2 "Visits, Conjugal and otherwise."

And, obviously, I couldn't do it.

The thing is, if you look at stuff like Ephesians chapter five; Okay, sure, wives are supposed to submit to their husbands, but then (according to what I was taught) husbands are also supposed to love and submit to their wives. Both are then supposed to submit themselves to God.

That's not the world a lot of These Fucking People want to live in.

The "Male Loneliness Epidemic" is in reality a Biblical-level plague of Narcissism.

And women and one hell of a lot of other men absolutely want nothing to do with that shit.

I happen to believe Trump is a symptom of this, not the cause, but the truth is these dudes see that he doesn't believe in the Lord and that legalizes bad behavior, prejudice and unbelief in their minds if they weren't like that before or they hid it.

On that point, I am dead serious.

Trump doesn't believe in any gods unless he gets to count his Self as one.

There's a reason I keep quoting that old Fundamentalist Baptist bit about "Self on the Throne vs. God on the Throne."

And I love old-school conservatives like Adam Kinzinger (or my partner, for that matter) but they will always be at a disadvantage against self-interested narcissistic sociopathic shit-birds because THEY have Fear of the Lord (and a lot of other beliefs that are at least somewhat conducive to people living in a society and working together and they often have trouble understanding that other people just...don't.

Those sort of conservatives and a world where people are free to feel that way should have been protected, that should have been the societal default. But that's not the world we live in anymore.

That said, I used to be that way and it really sucks when those people lose that belief and have to internalize that Sin is Man's default condition and that left to his own devices, Sinful Man (using "Man" as a generic term for "unregenerate" humans here) will always be all about exalting Himself, fucking over other people, and self-aggrandizement generally. 

I had to learn that because if my ex-wife, it was the only way I could free myself and get away

And it cost me any belief in or desire to participate in Organized Religion, because churches enabled that shit too much even 20 years ago.

And I hate to sound that way, but there's a lot of Sinful Man type shit going on even in the Church these days. In fact, outside of Catholicism and liberal Protestant denominations that's basically all that's left. Calvinism, Man-centered religiosity and the Prosperity Gospel make that shit too easy.

If we want to change that, it's going to be a fight.

The problem is these MAGA "Christians" AKA the emerging Cult Of Dis Pater are fairly open about wanting a new American Civil War and wanting it also to be a War of Religion.

Because they figure even if they lose, they can exhaust everybody else enough to get their own territory out of it and break a piece of America off for themselves and make it so nobody will come in after them.

And they figure they'll have a captive, non-resisting population to experiment on and socially engineer.

And yes, they will tell those people that "It's Not the Mark Of The Beast when WE do it!"

They're already making plain that they'd rather have Golden Idols than Christmas trees.

They don't care if they bring the worst parts of Revelation on themselves, they are already that unrepentant.

Even then, they won't be lonely enough.

Not least because they refuse to understand there's a reason why they are that way.

As for you?

You either believe in freedom or you don't.

And you should know the rest by now.

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And the fifth angel sounded, and I saw a star fall from heaven unto the earth: and to him was given the key of the bottomless pit.

And he opened the bottomless pit; and there arose a smoke out of the pit, as the smoke of a great furnace; and the sun and the air were darkened by reason of the smoke of the pit.

And there came out of the smoke locusts upon the earth: and unto them was given power, as the scorpions of the earth have power.

And it was commanded them that they should not hurt the grass of the earth, neither any green thing, neither any tree; but only those men which have not the seal of God in their foreheads.

And to them it was given that they should not kill them, but that they should be tormented five months: and their torment was as the torment of a scorpion, when he strikes a man.

And in those days shall men seek death, and shall not find it; and shall desire to die, and death shall flee from them.

And the shapes of the locusts were like unto horses prepared unto battle; and on their heads were as it were crowns like gold, and their faces were as the faces of men.

And they had hair as the hair of women, and their teeth were as the teeth of lions.

And they had breastplates, as it were breastplates of iron; and the sound of their wings was as the sound of chariots of many horses running to battle.

And they had tails like unto scorpions, and there were stings in their tails: and their power was to hurt men five months.

And they had a king over them, which is the angel of the bottomless pit, whose name in the Hebrew tongue is Abaddon, but in the Greek tongue hath his name Apollyon.

One woe is past; and, behold, there come two woes more hereafter.

And the sixth angel sounded, and I heard a voice from the four horns of the golden altar which is before God,

Saying to the sixth angel which had the trumpet, Loose the four angels which are bound in the great river Euphrates.

And the four angels were loosed, which were prepared for an hour, and a day, and a month, and a year, for to slay the third part of men.

And the number of the army of the horsemen were two hundred thousand thousand: and I heard the number of them.

And thus I saw the horses in the vision, and them that sat on them, having breastplates of fire, and of jacinth, and brimstone: and the heads of the horses were as the heads of lions; and out of their mouths issued fire and smoke and brimstone.

By these three was the third part of men killed, by the fire, and by the smoke, and by the brimstone, which issued out of their mouths.

For their power is in their mouth, and in their tails: for their tails were like unto serpents, and had heads, and with them they do hurt.

And the rest of the men which were not killed by these plagues yet repented not of the works of their hands, that they should not worship devils, and idols of gold, and silver, and brass, and stone, and of wood: which neither can see, nor hear, nor walk:

Neither repented they of their murders, nor of their sorceries, nor of their fornication, nor of their thefts. ~Revelation 9, King James Version.

Eight

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