Dopamine Hits For Jesus (Reason For The Season 2025, Seventeen.)

I put no stock in religion. By the word religion, I've seen the lunacy of fanatics of every denomination be called the "Will of God". I've seen too much religion in the eyes of too many murderers. Holiness is in right action and courage on behalf of those who cannot defend themselves. And goodness - what God desires - [pointing at his head then heart] is here and here. And what you decide to do every day, you will be a good man...or not. ~The Hospitaler, Kingdom Of Heaven.

...

Now after Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea in the days of Herod the king, behold, wise men from the East came to Jerusalem, saying, “Where is He who has been born King of the Jews? For we have seen His star in the East and have come to worship Him.”

When Herod the king heard this, he was troubled, and all Jerusalem with him. And when he had gathered all the chief priests and scribes of the people together, he inquired of them where the Christ was to be born.

So they said to him, “In Bethlehem of Judea, for thus it is written by the prophet:

‘But you, Bethlehem, in the land of Judah,
Are not the least among the rulers of Judah;
For out of you shall come a Ruler
Who will shepherd My people Israel.’ ”

Then Herod, when he had secretly called the wise men, determined from them what time the star appeared. 8 And he sent them to Bethlehem and said, “Go and search carefully for the young Child, and when you have found Him, bring back word to me, that I may come and worship Him also.”

When they heard the king, they departed; and behold, the star which they had seen in the East went before them, till it came and stood over where the young Child was. When they saw the star, they rejoiced with exceedingly great joy. And when they had come into the house, they saw the young Child with Mary His mother, and fell down and worshiped Him. And when they had opened their treasures, they presented gifts to Him: gold, frankincense, and myrrh.

Then, being divinely warned in a dream that they should not return to Herod, they departed for their own country another way. ~Matthew 2, New King James Version

I saw this last night.

Imagine thinking that today's Project 2025 Prosperity Gospel-infected Holy Roller-controlled Christian Nationalist insane Republican Party isn't Christian Nationalist enough.

To the point, not of asking "Can they be more Christian Nationalist" but of outright thinking that the Republicans are deserving of "Invasion."

(And here These Fucking People were worried about illegal immigration? What are they gonna do when they get overrun by freakish Pentecostals trying to jam the Jesus all the way up they ass rather than immigrants who just need like, jobs and shit??)

I'm serious. Listen to me.

You think things are bad now?!?!

Ignore this garbage and wait and see what happens when These Motherfuckers get some power somewhere.

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.

Please don't take me up on that.

Like I said, Hell No, and I say that as a former Republican.

I don't even want to think about what happens when this weird shit mutates along with all the other weird shit that's out there, just right now, much less what might come of these streams of "thought" (for lack of a better word) crossing paths.

Because whatever freakish bullshit they have going on now, it can only ever get worse...at least until it finally becomes unsustainable for the person spewing that crap and then they might stop, maybe for awhile, maybe on a more permanent basis.

But it's a rare Pentecostal even that's on the way out that doesn't go back to give it another try at least once. I'm serious, People get addicted to this BS.

This isn't "religion" in the conventional sense. It's dopamine hits and narcissism, sanctified.

And it's a hell of a drug.

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

These fucking people don't believe in God, so much as they believe in their own brain chemicals.

The problem is that they don't know the fucking difference.

My ex-wife never, so far as I know, ever fully kicked the habit. And that's fine, I don't care. It's not my problem anymore. She has that right, and to her credit she doesn't seem to care about trying to control and manipulate other people's lives anymore...or at least she leaves me the fuck alone.

Other people have yet to understand that, though.

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.

The thing to note is, these motherfuckers wanna make it your problem anyway.

It's Idiocracy, but far more malevolent than that.

It's all the relentlessness of MAGA, with none of the moral character.

And yes I mean that with all the sarcasm and scorn you can imagine.

However bad you think this mutant Christian Nationalist Pentecostal shit is, it's worse.

Like I said, imagine thinking today's MAGA Republican Party needs to be invaded and taken over for Holy Roller Jesus.

Yes, think about that for a second.

You either believe in freedom or you don't.

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

It's Christmas, this is a hard, stressful time of year for a lot of people.

Now imagine how people who never think you can Jesus it up enough might make that.

Слава Україна!

 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

Sixteen

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.

Christmas FFS (Reason For The Season 2025, Sixteen.)

 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

...

Now after Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea in the days of Herod the king, behold, wise men from the East came to Jerusalem, saying, “Where is He who has been born King of the Jews? For we have seen His star in the East and have come to worship Him.”

When Herod the king heard this, he was troubled, and all Jerusalem with him. And when he had gathered all the chief priests and scribes of the people together, he inquired of them where the Christ was to be born.

So they said to him, “In Bethlehem of Judea, for thus it is written by the prophet:

‘But you, Bethlehem, in the land of Judah,
Are not the least among the rulers of Judah;
For out of you shall come a Ruler
Who will shepherd My people Israel.’ ”

Then Herod, when he had secretly called the wise men, determined from them what time the star appeared. 8 And he sent them to Bethlehem and said, “Go and search carefully for the young Child, and when you have found Him, bring back word to me, that I may come and worship Him also.”

When they heard the king, they departed; and behold, the star which they had seen in the East went before them, till it came and stood over where the young Child was. When they saw the star, they rejoiced with exceedingly great joy. And when they had come into the house, they saw the young Child with Mary His mother, and fell down and worshiped Him. And when they had opened their treasures, they presented gifts to Him: gold, frankincense, and myrrh.

Then, being divinely warned in a dream that they should not return to Herod, they departed for their own country another way. ~Matthew 2, New King James Version

I saw this earlier.

Some idiot saying "Send Them All Back" because he heard Christmas songs in Spanish in Utah.

I'd like to note that in my old hometown of Cheboygan, MI, one of the main gas stations has plenty of signage in Spanish...because guess what? Spanish speaking Latinos dominate the construction trades up here. Why do they do that?? Because White Men won't do that kind of work anymore. Note also construction used to be a big-time White Dude professional job up here. That town's about 2 hours from Canada by road.

Most of Utah on the other hand used to be part of Mexico.

These shitty White dudes all want to be Crypto Bros or Influencers or sit on they ass and play video games and have wealth without work.

Fuck that. The world does not work that way.

Somebody's gotta do the work. If you won't get off your ass, somebody else will.

Like I keep saying it's  *Checks Notes* Capitalism.

But they don't even want anybody to do the physical labor anymore, they'd rather see it go undone and have the future unbuilt.

And again, the overwhelming majority of the Latino workers that show up are Christians, many of them actually Evangelical Christians, Protestants from countries like El Salvador and Guatemala who doctrinally profess Jesus Christ as Lord the same as American Evangelicals supposedly do.

Funny how that suddenly doesn't matter, isn't it?

And of course, the same dumbass motherfuckers want any workforce that shows up to be diseased and poverty-stricken on top of that because they're simple-assed cruel cretins.

And These same Fucking People supposedly worship a poor, homeless Savior who was presented with gifts by immigrant, unbelieving Wise Men. Stop and think about that for a second.

But the truth is These Fucking People don't even want to offer the most basic social services and support, like the kind of shit you need to even have a society...unless people fall down and go into full slobbery bootlicker mode at the command of their fake wannabe King. When's enough, enough??

If you think these fuckers wouldn't put computer chips in people's foreheads or right hands in the name of control and Power and then compel them to worship Devils and Idols of Gold and the Number Of His Name, you're not paying attention.

And any real belief in Christianity or any other religion is a threat to that shit!

*Taps The Sign, AGAIN*

Nebuchadnezzar spake and said unto them, Is it true, O Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, do not ye serve my gods, nor worship the golden image which I have set up?
Now if ye be ready that at what time ye hear the sound of the cornet, flute, harp, sackbut, psaltery, and dulcimer, and all kinds of musick, ye fall down and worship the image which I have made; well: but if ye worship not, ye shall be cast the same hour into the midst of a burning fiery furnace; and who is that God that shall deliver you out of my hands?
Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, answered and said to the king, O Nebuchadnezzar, we are not careful to answer thee in this matter.
If it be so, our God whom we serve is able to deliver us from the burning fiery furnace, and he will deliver us out of thine hand, O king.
But if not, be it known unto thee, O king, that we will not serve thy gods, nor worship the golden image which thou hast set up.
~Daniel 3:14-18

I don't know why people don't get that this ain't right. 

It's not like it isn't plastered all over even the Old Testament of the Bible that it ain't right, or anything.

It's not like history and literature and even science fiction aren't littered with the wreckage of gilded monarchs that came to bad ends. Come on now.

To their credit, enough Indiana Republicans voted down the gerrymandered map and told Trump to go fuck himself.

And some of these people were getting death threats. From their own "Side."

There's something profoundly wrong with American "Conservatism."

And it seems past fixing, so the rest of us are gonna have to beat it down.

It's going to come down to a fight if we wanna stop this bullshit.

Soon.

You either believe in freedom or you don't.

You either believe in the Truth or you don't.

Truth is the only think that gives people a floor to stand on to push back against Power.

Remember this.

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

Fifteen

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.

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