Babylon USA (Reason For The Season 2025, Fifteen.)

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

...

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

...

Tobias Beecher: [Walking up to Vern Schillinger] Whatcha readin'? Mein Kampf? Well, let me tell you how it ends. The Aryans get their asses kicked!

~From the HBO series "Oz" Season 2, Episode 2, "Ancient Tribes."

I saw this last night. Evidently Kyle Rittenhouse got married. Somehow, I don't think this is gonna work out all that well, but I don't really care, either. Seems kind of stupid that they'd think they need an AR-15 in the wedding, but what the fuck do I know?

And then I saw that Elon shared a post lamenting the fall of Rhodesia.

Like, dude, that country died when I was like six years old and nobody but a few racists really gave a shit. There's still White people in Zimbabwe, come on. I'll note Elon doesn't seem to give a shit about all the Black people Mugabe fucked over and hurt and stole from.

And I'll note that when he was deposed by the Zimbabwean Army, the rest of Authoritarianism, Inc. didn't rush to old Bob's aid, either, there was no half-baked plot to try to save him like there was with Jair Bolsonaro. 

Funny how that works, isn't it??

Meanwhile, Zimbabwe is still there, things are marginally better and even slightly improving for most people. I used to work with a guy from Zimbabwe, so when I was still downstate I used to hear things 'cause there's a few people back there he still talked to.

The world is changing, in most cases it's done changed already and they can't change it back. Guns and political power will only get you so far if you cannot actually persuade anyone to follow your point of view, and at the end of the day "Conservatives" will be undone by their own idiotic collapsing standards and preference for woo woo over dealing with reality. 

These Fucking People's obsession with AI slop and throwing money at things is a tell. The truth is most of them are just entitled dipshits who don't even want to do the work to get what they think they want.

And the truth is they don't seem to care if they actually get it, just so they make somebody else miserable by failing.

They don't care if they fuck up your Christmas.

Really, that was kind of the point of the whole Trump thing, "Conservatives" thought he was going to do all the work for them and they were going to be able to outsource their Sin to him and get away with it.

But here we are a decade later and These Fucking People's sins have consumed them.

And nobody, not even many conservatives themselves, really wants to live in their world.

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."

I'll happily cite my partner as an example of that.

She may be back up here soon, because the truth is her right-wing relatives don't want to do the work of life either and she's getting absolutely sick of it.

I mean, fuck, I feel sick for her and I'm sick of it right along with her.

The truth is a lot of These Fucking People are fine with squatting in the dark and shitting on their own shoes, just so nobody else gets any light, either.

Including their own families.

And it looks like at least a few of the ideological manipulators who thought they were gonna get something out of this are starting to figure out that...in all honesty, compared to Bubba from Dry Hump, Alabama and Susie from Booty Poke, Idaho...the Chris Rufo types are just another species of pointy-headed Ivory Tower dipshits that people who are happy being addicts, leeching off relatives or temporary significant others, living on welfare and (very) occasionally doing farm work and under the table bullshit jobs when they have to could give a shit about

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 dealt with this shit 25 years ago from my ex-wife and it changed my entire view of what conservatism was or should be. I'll note that not only did my ex's notional "Side" of this whole thing win the argument but from what I hear she's basically been cast aside just as much as I was.

In practice, it's less that these idiots would take the Mark Of The Beast than "they'd take it in exchange for a free $2 bag of Bugler roll-your-own tobacco and some vague notion that Donald Trump or Elon Musk approved of them."

These Fucking People don't give a shit about dudes like Chris Rufo or Stephen Miller. Hell, they barely give a damn about Donald Trump since he didn't make them all rich via Wealth Without Work. They might be arsed to care if Tommy Tuberville ran for President, but that's about it.

What pisses me off even more is that a hell of a lot of alleged "Liberals" are fine with playing for second in this bullshit system. It's not working at all, anymore. We need to start fixing a lot of things, and too damned many of those people won't do the work either.

I'm genuinely starting to wonder how fucking shitty the world would have to be before these assholes would be happy in it, yet at the same time I don't really want to know that bad.

At the end of the day, I can't imagine not wanting to interact with the rest of the world except at gunpoint or only wanting to see the world through a rifle scope.

And for fuck's sake I was a gun guy.

I'm also extensively on record saying that it's less that I'd never have gotten away with murdering people like Kyle Rittenhouse did...I'd never have gotten away with having a weapon without permission or supervision at the age he was when he shot those people.

The cops would have had to wait in line while my family and the whole neighborhood whupped my ass.

And aside from at the range, out hunting or when I was in the military and had to, I've never felt the need to carry a weapon most of the time.

Because the truth is, if you can't fight or are otherwise useless without a weapon, odds are you're gonna be the same way if you're carrying one, and if you're marginally competent and useful you'll either be fine without it or you'll arm yourself one way or another.

I'll note also that all these gun nuts have been perfectly well useless in dealing with all the perils our country is currently facing.

The truth is most of these idiots won't even notice there's a problem until somebody's boot is on their neck and it's that much harder to do anything about it.

At the end of the day, none of These Fucking People really care if you're a Democrat or a Republican. All they want is to kill and steal and all they care about is whether you will enable or help them or whether you won't.

You either believe in freedom or you don't.

You either believe you have a right to live your own life or you do not.

Their next move really is "It's not the Mark Of The Beast when WE do it!"

(Yes it is.)

This isn't America anymore, it's Babylon.

And they'll try to do it all in Trump's name, and when it fails and breaks the country in the process, to blame him also.

All those Amendments to the Constitution, all those beliefs and laws and weapons and shit? They're only as good as what WE do with them and no amount of political power will ever change that fact.

Remember that.

Because you're going to have to do something.

Слава Україна!

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

Fourteen 

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

Rapture (Reason For The Season 2025, Fourteen.)

And I stood upon the sand of the sea, and saw a beast rise up out of the sea, having seven heads and ten horns, and upon his horns ten crowns, and upon his heads the name of blasphemy.

And the beast which I saw was like unto a leopard, and his feet were as the feet of a bear, and his mouth as the mouth of a lion: and the dragon gave him his power, and his seat, and great authority.
And I saw one of his heads as it were wounded to death; and his deadly wound was healed: and all the world wondered after the beast.

And they worshipped the dragon which gave power unto the beast: and they worshipped the beast, saying, Who is like unto the beast? who is able to make war with him?

And there was given unto him a mouth speaking great things and blasphemies; and power was given unto him to continue forty and two months.

And he opened his mouth in blasphemy against God, to blaspheme his name, and his tabernacle, and them that dwell in heaven.

And it was given unto him to make war with the saints, and to overcome them: and power was given him over all kindreds, and tongues, and nations.

And all that dwell upon the earth shall worship him, whose names are not written in the book of life of the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world.

If any man have an ear, let him hear.

He that leads into captivity shall go into captivity: he that kills with the sword must be killed with the sword. Here is the patience and the faith of the saints.

And I beheld another beast coming up out of the earth; and he had two horns like a lamb, and he speaks as a dragon.

And he exercises all the power of the first beast before him, and causes the earth and them which dwell therein to worship the first beast, whose deadly wound was healed.

And he doeth great wonders, so that he makes fire come down from heaven on the earth in the sight of men,

And deceive them that dwell on the earth by the means of those miracles which he had power to do in the sight of the beast; saying to them that dwell on the earth, that they should make an image to the beast, which had the wound by a sword, and did live.

And he had power to give life unto the image of the beast, that the image of the beast should both speak, and cause that as many as would not worship the image of the beast should be killed.

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

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

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

...

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

I don't really wanna just say "I keep seeing this bullshit" but I keep seeing this bullshit.

"Christians" from fully state-controlled Russian Orthodox to your local Independent Fundamentalist Republican-Jesusites in Dry Hump, Alabama...claiming they're "persecuted."

Even as they and Trump stand there at some bullshit rally he shouldn't be having, loudly braying at each other about all being goat-eager to literally persecute other Americans for basically no reason worth mentioning.

They say they're "Persecuted." It's nothing more even in their minds than an excuse to hurt other people.

I'll note; Same motherfuckers loudly in the bag for AI, corporate takeovers financed by our enemies, and Citizenship, Constitutional Rights and Laws not meaning a damn thing.

But they say they're "Persecuted."

I'll note that I've said on here; Hell, I've been saying for 30 years...and I was a Conservative Christian Republican Senior Airman in the United States Air Force, then-very-new to the End Times Prophecy Movement at the time when I first said so, that if the government...any government, can say that a woman cannot have an Abortion, you've automatically removed any defense against the Mark Of The Beast that is not dependent on a specific religious doctrine and/or interpretation thereof, which invoking that also automatically tells anybody pushing such a thing who they need to eliminate first and perhaps even more importantly, why...should it ever come to that.

When the State says "Hey, we're gonna put this computer chip in your hand or your head" and you refuse specifically citing Revelations, Chapter 13? Yeah, you're gonna put an altogether different mark on yourself, it's called a target. And that's what Persecution actually is.

But the real truth of the matter is much worse, and I've been saying this for several years now. 

These Fucking People are gearing up to try and say "It's Not The Mark Of The Beast When We Do It!"

And do you really think all the "Conservative" White people who don't even believe in stuff like basic medical science and human rights and have about this level of educational attainment;

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.

Are gonna even have the presence of mind to bring up Revelations, Chapter 13, especially not after Fox News has had a bunch of botox-filled, fake-boobs or spray-tanned glittery well-dressed, D-grade "Celebrities" on to show off their shiny new X-The-Everything-Chips by NeuraLink?? 

People will literally buy that shit!

That's where this idolizing billionaires and Capitalism and the worship of wealth leads.

(If you wonder why I reject so much of the annual Christmas hysteria, that's why.)

And if they have a brain in their head these fucking people won't start with some dried up, washed up blowhard Republican like James Woods or Jon Voight or some performative second-rate like Kevin Sorbo, no, they'll start with somebody that flies that shit under the public's radar like Gwen Stefani or Katy Perry.

We live in a country where half the population is functionally illiterate, how in the fuck is somebody supposed to know what Revelation, Chapter 13 even says when they cannot read the Lord's Word for themselves?? 

I'll note here yet again that Ukraine is a small-c conservative, big-C Christian country but one that chose Democracy with intention and a will and that respects human rights and religious freedom. The Ukrainians don't seem to have the problem of a high rate of illiteracy either. This stuff is generally referred to as the Lord's Word for a reason!

But it's not enough to just be able to read; to hear or say the words. This is not Magic Words And Phrases time, Unga Bunga, any kind of that shit. You have to know some of the context and eschatology and history and philosophy and shit so they can problem solve for yourself. How does that work, when people go into this stuff thinking all the bad shit only happens to all those Sinful other people?? Or for that matter, when a Pastor preaching about Sin must be thought only to be preaching about the Sins of Other People??

Yo, nobody ever got Saved by worrying about what other people were doing.

Salvation is about your participation in the Divine Conversation, your relationship with God as you understand Him/Her/It/Whatever to be, and your Repentance and sorrow for your wrongs, not theirs.

Nobody and nothing can take that away from you, if you genuinely have it.

And if you believe Heaven isn't Heaven if other people get to go, or that the point is to go and watch the suffering of other people who didn't?? God and Jesus and Heaven and Hell ain't what you really believe in, now is it?

You believe in privilege and relative status and sadism and that crap never saved nobody. That's what False Doctrines like the Rapture are meant to create.

(Also, seriously, Chris??)

I don't have any great insight or magic answer here; That part is for you the reader to figure out as is how it relates to you.

But again, you either believe in freedom or you don't.

And if you don't make your choice freely, you don't make a choice, and likely all that awaits you is the Underworld.

Think on that.

Слава Україна!

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

Thirteen

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

America WTF (Reason For The Season 2025, Thirteen)

Charlie White-knife: Do you know what "fiduciary responsibility" means?

Cooper Howard: "Fiduciary responsibility?" No. I have no fucking idea. I play a cowboy for a living.

Charlie White-knife: Okay. So, the US Government has outsourced the survival of the human race to Vault-Tec. Vault-Tec is a private corporation that has a fiduciary responsibility to make money for its investors. And how does it make money? By selling Vaults.

Cooper Howard: That's called "capitalism," Charlie.

Charlie White-knife: But they can't sell Vaults if these peace negotiations go through. So, Vault-Tec has a fiduciary responsibility to make sure that it don't work out.

Cooper Howard: [scoffs] Yeah? How are they gonna do that?

Charlie White-knife: I don't know. But...do you remember that movie we did with Johnny Morton? You were the Sheriff, and I was some generic Indian?

Cooper Howard: Hey come on, don't say that. Tall-hand Mudlake could talk to horses. You played him with grace and dignity. It was a great role for you!

Charlie White-knife: Morton played a rancher who owned half of Missouri. And what happens when the cattle ranchers have more power than the Sheriff?

Cooper Howard: The whole town burns down.

Charlie White-knife: The whole town burns down. Right. Vault-Tec is a trillion-dollar company that owns half of everything, and after ten years of war the US Government is broker than a joke. The cattle ranchers are in charge, Coop. Unless the People do something about it.

Cooper Howard: I guess everything's a conspiracy, right? Come on man, you sound like you're in a cult.

Charlie White-knife: And you're sitting here defending a system that's ready to set the world on fire, Cooper. Maybe you're the one in the cult. ~Fallout (TV Series) Episode 1.06 "The Trap."

I just saw this not too long ago.

Apparently the John Birch Society is commenting on video game bullshit now. Just in case you wondered, as I don't anymore, what has become of Twitter.

These are the people who'd think the Enclave in Fallout was the good guys.

Stop and think about that.

I'm starting to think the internet was a mistake, people weren't this dumb in 1994.

Or at least if they were (and you occasionally did find such people) they usually didn't admit it in any kind of public setting.

Now it's getting so corporations like Fox News and Twitter have a financial responsibility to produce more of this garbage!

Like, does this seem wrong to anybody else??

Or is it just me.

I'm tired of this shit, I'm tired of the shit like the John Birch Society having any goddamned voice at all in this fucking country and I say that as a former Republican. If people in 1965 knew those fuckers were nuts, what the fuck is our excuse here in 2025.

Other than we want to have an excuse because everybody and their goddamned Cousin It is trying to pull some bullshit or other?

People are acting stupid because they have the capability to act stupid.

And America is letting them get away with it.

As opposed to doing what needs to be done in terms of the purpose of doing things.

A lot of people have no inner voice and no internal morality, and left to their own devices, like little kids, they will do whatever they are permitted to do.

Actual leadership is not letting idiots like that do whatever they want.

I'm just warning you now, when God's Wrath hits this country it's gonna be bad enough that everybody's gonna know what it is.

And when that happens it'll be all these conspiracy theory mooks and skeevy far-rightists that are in denial like the unrepentant in the Book of Revelation when the judgments come.

Elon Musk will use "X" to try and declare that it's a natural phenomenon and there is no God.

There isn't a damn thing on the conventional Right/Left spectrum or in Christian belief as I or anybody over about 30 was taught that stuff, that These Fucking People believe in, it's all crazy-land shit now.

Watch and see.

In fact, they mock all that stuff, and rub our noses right in it.

It's Christmas, for fuck's sake, and people still be acting like this.

As for the rest of us, either you believe in freedom or you don't.

And you're either willing to fight for it or you're not.

It really is that simple.

Again, I used to be a conservative and I can't even talk the way these people talk.

I highly suggest, again, that you stop and think about that one for a second.

What the fuck is wrong with people??

Слава Україна!

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

Twelve

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.

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 Last Of Us (Reason For The Season 2025, Twelve.)

The Holy Quran says it, "Pilgrimage to the House [of God built by the prophet Abraham] is a duty men owe to God; those who are able, make the journey." (3:97) Allah said: "And proclaim the pilgrimage among men; they will come to you on foot and upon each lean camel, they will come from every deep ravine" (22:27).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 intermittently 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.

...

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

...

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

I saw this shit a few days ago;

Patriot Front or whoever holding up a banner saying "Race Mixing Is Communism." Then the other night at work, I saw exactly the same shit but with a bunch of Elks Club looking pinch-faced racist assholes from the early 1960's, I guess? 

But now the fucking Chuds have to cover their faces, so, progress I guess?

Also, Communism hasn't been a thing since 1989.

It's the Christmas season.

You know, Christianity, that religion that famously describes people "Of Every Tongue, Tribe And Nation" proclaiming Jesus Christ as Lord and serving Him. I'm just saying if "DEI" or diversity or "Race Mixing" isn't implied somewhere in there to you, you're probably doing it wrong.

Likewise, what's next, saying that women having jobs is "Communism" too?? I'll note the woman they keep putting front and center saying this bullshit about the State trying to replace a woman's "need" for a husband has at least like two jobs and multiple degrees herself and finds time to be on TV all the time and ends up rubbing up on about every famous "Conservative" white dude she sees.

Traditional, you ain't, Erika.

My partner doesn't need a husband, she's been pretty vocal on this point. I'm lucky she wants me

The world doesn't work that way anymore, that she needs me just to live.

Now everybody needs a job, or at least to have had one at some point.

The world doesn't have to work that way anymore.

Nobody wants it to but these assholes.

And honestly, most of us can't afford to live like that anyway.

And the thing is, people like Elon Musk are in fact proof that none of that shit has to work that way. Whatever his attachment to the Nazi bullshit of the past, it's long been clear that Elon doesn't actually hold to any beliefs that would be "traditional" in the American (or current British Commonwealth including South African) context.

I'm tired of These Fucking People.

I'm tired of it being the same fucking shit every damned time.

Most of the world stopped wanting to live in 1952 on *Checks Notes* January 1st of 1953.

I'm extremely tired of them holding up progress and making life difficult for the rest of us because they don't care if they live or die or get to eat, just so they can hate and steal and wield petty power like a club.

And I'm tired, most of all, of the fact that these sons of bitches will abandon anyone and anything that doesn't help them with whatever they think they want right now.

I mean you'd think they themselves would know that they individually have no loyalty, and that they would be repulsed by it same as the rest of us.

But no, that's obviously too much basic intelligence and logic for these willfully stupid motherfuckers to understand.

This is no way to have a goddamned society.

If Ilhan Omar, a Congresswoman, somehow isn't an American...then none of us are, not really.

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

Because if you leave it up to the Chud Mob...they would end up deciding that the only "Real" American is Donald Trump.

Imagine people functionally declaring that Donald Trump was The Last American.

And doing it on purpose because they thought they were gonna get something for it.

What's that say about us, what's that say about people?

And why the FUCK can't these idiots stop blowing the narcissist??

If he's the last of us, we aren't just fucked as a society, we always were.

Thus, the hierarchy itself will eventually crumble even if they did get it in the short term. This crap fails every time you run the experiment because all that has to happen is people say "No."

And I'm here to tell you, these motherfuckers only see Others, whether they be other conservatives who don't share their hate, liberals, moderates, etc. as people to exploit.

I see some people going to amazing lengths (or just plain ignoring every damn thing) to try and pretend that all this stuff is OK when it's very clearly not.

And I'm here to tell you when those Groypers and Patriot Front types make their move the first thing they're gonna do is go after the lily-white pasty-ville "Bad stuff like that doesn't happen anymore" milquetoast "Conservatives" because those fucking people are easy and will fold up like an origami crane.

I've been some places and I've seen some shit and Those Fucking People want to do worse than that.

More, there's a reason they keep putting Trump...who is obviously in full-on later-stage dementia at this point...out in front even in spite of that.

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.

Dementia makes people be piss-mean for no goddamn reason, especially later on.

And both today's version of the 1955 Segregationist Bros and the people pulling the strings behind Trump love the fuck out of that part.

The thing is, Trump and his hate and nonsense-talk are not the cause of this, they are a symptom.

These Fucking People have no fear of the Lord, unless they can be induced somehow to think Trump is The Lord.

But he isn't, he's just a man, and not even a very good one.

Trump is an Oracle for their grievance; Their actual grievance being that "Other People Exist."

Like I said the other day, I can't even talk the way these people talk, and no, I don't know who these people are.

It's like The Last Of Us or The Walking Dead out there, but with idiots instead of Zombies.

Remember that, like, eighteen years ago or so when an obvious racist was automatically considered an idiot?? 

I sure do.

I believe this foolishness is bringing God's wrath on America.

And yes, I do specifically say that as a White Man who is a former conservative Christian Republican.

And yes, I absolutely do believe it's going to come down to a fight to even stop it, much less resume anything even close to how anything was before.

And I am well aware that this set of circumstances and events may well break America.

Maybe we deserve exactly that.

Because we've had 250 years to get with the program and some of us have outright refused.

The Bible talks a lot about what happens to those kind of people.

Just sayin.'

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.

Eleven  

[In a 1968 talk show, two scientists are interviewed about what could be the next form of viral outbreak in the future, and when one of them, Dr Newman, postulates that it could come from a fungus...]

Dr. Newman: [notices audience murmuring] Yes, that’s the usual response. Fungi seem harmless enough. Many species know otherwise. Because there are some fungi who seek not to kill, but to control. Let me ask you, where do we get LSD from?

Host: Where do you get it from? [audience laughs]

Newman: It comes from ergot, a fungus. Psilocybin? Also a fungus. Viruses can make us ill, but fungi can alter our very minds. There’s a fungus that infects insects. Gets inside an ant, for example, travels through its circulatory system to the ant’s brain and then floods it with hallucinogens, thus bending the ant’s mind to its will. The fungus starts to direct the ant’s behavior, telling it where to go, what to do, like a puppeteer with a marionette. And it gets worse. The fungus needs food to live, so it begins to devour its host from within, replacing the ant’s flesh with its own, but it doesn’t let its victim die. No, it... it keeps its puppet alive by preventing decomposition. How? Where do we get penicillin from?

Host: Fungus? [points at host]

Dr. Schoenheist: Oh..

Host: Dr. Schoenheist, you’re in distress.

Schoenheist: Fungal infection of this kind is real, but not in humans.

Newman: True, fungi cannot survive if its host’s internal temperature is over 94 degrees. And currently, there are no reasons for fungi to evolve to be able to withstand higher temperatures. But what if that were to change? What if, for instance, the world were to get slightly warmer? Well, now there is reason to evolve. One gene mutates and an Ascomycota, uh, candida, ergot, cordyceps, aspergillus, any one of them could become capable of burrowing into our brains and taking control not of millions of us, but billions of us. Billions of puppets with poisoned minds permanently fixed on one unifying goal: to spread the infection to every last human alive by any means necessary. And there are no treatments for this. No preventatives, no cures. They don’t exist. It’s not even possible to make them.

Host: So if that happens?

Newman: We lose.

~From The Last Of Us, S1.E1 "When You're Lost In The Darkness."

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 saw it 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