Valley Of Decision (American Revelation XIX, Six.)

Albert: No good?

Armand: Actually, it's perfect. I just never realized John Wayne walked like that.

~From The Birdcage

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Franklin Roosevelt once said, "Too many who prate about saving democracy are really only interested in saving things as they were. Democracy should concern itself also with things as they should be." So in this campaign we face those who are interested in destroying things as they are. These fellows are not conservatives in the American tradition. They are just interested in tearing down institutions, not in preserving them. They are dedicated to extreme ideas, not to old values. They advocate aggressive interference with other nations, not increased reliance on others to order their own affairs. This is not a conservative philosophy. This is not even a Republican philosophy. This is not a philosophy ever embraced by any major American leader. "Conservative" may be written on their banner and in their books, but "radical" is in their hearts. ~Lyndon B. Johnson

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

I saw this earlier, and it's part of something I've been thinking about, so I figured I'd write about it.

Trump, Republicans, and all these far-right assholes and religious nuts are currently being busy little beavers trying to assert all sorts of power that doesn't belong to them, hoping people will just obey, and mad as fuck because most people aren't.

Again, why should we?? What's even in it for us??

The thing you have to remember is that our government, military, and everything else is composed of people...people who are being adversely affected by all this bullshit the same as the rest of us.

I think something's going to break long before 2026, simply because these fucking people are pushing too far, too fast, and way too openly for a bunch of shit nobody but rich Christian far-rightists even want. 

And again, I think it's by design, on purpose. These fucking people are literally trying to break America.

But trust me, these assholes, on their own? They do not exactly wield the big stick. This won't go how they think.

And I think they massively overestimate their own capabilities and support.

I saw this video this morning, of a "Patriot Front" training camp in Florida. The caption was labeled "Combat training" but it's not even proper Physical Fitness Training, let alone military drill. The video is basically just a bunch of hooded dudes marching in place, out of step, eyes wandering all over the place. Your local High School marching band would literally be expected to do better. For fuck's sake, syncing Left/Right was day one in Basic Military Training at Lackland Air Force Base, most of that day in the hot Texas sun. These guys ain't shit. These fucking people are a soup sandwich.

It's always the small things. If you can't stand up straight, how are you supposed to march? If you can't march, how are you supposed to fight? The list goes on.

And let me tell you one more fuckin' thing. I'm about violently projectile-vomiting sick of this "Daddy" Trump crap. If you think Trump is your father-figure, let alone fetishize the idea of this literal sex-pest creeper beating a person with a belt?? What the fuck is wrong with you?

Don't y'all have parents??

If I'd have ever said anything like that while my Dad or either of my Grandfathers was still alive, I wouldn't have said anything else that day, and they'd have beat my ass. Then they'd have followed up with "Well, why don't you go live with them, see how you like it??"

This kind of thing wasn't tolerated when I was coming up.

And for Trump? Really??

People need to stop blowing the narcissist. Screwing around with people who have personality disorders ends badly.

I mean, for fuck's sake look at Trump's own adult children. With the possible exception of Ivanka they're all cheap-ass clout-chasers, drug addicts, glory hounds, nepo-babies, obvious scammers and petty narcissists who ain't ever done shit in their actual lives besides be rich and live to levels of excess that'd land most of us in prison, if not the graveyard.

And why is it always car dealers and real estate that are the biggest fans of this horseshit, anyway??

Seems like those two industries in particular need Civilization in order to function and keep their value.

My Mom's part-time neighbor, a car salesman who owns two houses (the other, coincidentally, is not far from where I used to live in Cheboygan County) had two Trump/Vance signs in his yard last fall. I'm absolutely serious when I say outside of local HOA political signs (One cabin is owned by a family that's had two different board members over the years) I've never seen a political sign on my Mom's road before that and we moved into that house in 1987.

Granted, for most of my life (and because my grandparents used to live next door to my Mom I mean I've been going to that place all my life) the neighborhood in general and my Mom's little street in particular was populated by Greatest Generation and Silent Generation old guys, almost all of whom were WWII and/or Korean War era veterans who rarely if ever talked politics, my Grandpa mentioned it rarely enough and the man owned shit (buttons and stuff from that era) that made fun of Richard Nixon.

Just sayin' that's what I came from. This stuff used to be considered serious, and mostly private, in addition to that.

And now these fuckin' right-wing turd-burglars are doing "Combat training" that looks like something out of the Police Academy movies, and like they're the Chuds that the cadets misdirect to the Blue Oyster and the scene ends with them slow-dancing with a bunch of gay Leathermen.

Dudes, I'm just sayin' if you can't manage basic military drill and keeping your eyes focused and your mind locked in you're going to suck at all the other stuff. It's not combat training, it's a LARP, and a poorly done one at that!

Conservatism has turned itself into a self-destructive joke, and about the only thing serious about these fucking people is their desire to drag the rest of us down to destruction with them...all while bothering us with their religious crap out one side of their mouth and sexually propositioning us out the other side of it.

Make up your minds, which is it?? Hedonism or religion? 'Cause it can't be both, something must lose.

(And they don't really care if it's them, so long as they get to act like morons while feeling "special" for awhile first.)

And worse, while they act like that, they think they have some kind of a "Right" to destroy everything, because they think it's funny or some shit. 

They'll try and say "God Told Me..." but that's a lie.

God has nothing to do with any of this.

Like I said, you either believe in civilization and freedom or you don't.

And it's time to decide.

This is our Valley of Decision.

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Proclaim ye this among the Gentiles; Prepare war, wake up the mighty men, let all the men of war draw near; let them come up: Beat your plowshares into swords and your pruning-hooks into spears: let the weak say, I am strong. Assemble yourselves, and come, all ye heathen, and gather yourselves together round about: thither cause thy mighty ones to come down, O Lord. Let the heathen be wakened, and come up to the valley of Jehoshaphat: for there will I sit to judge all the heathen round about. Put ye in the sickle, for the harvest is ripe: come, get you down; for the press is full, the fats overflow; for their wickedness is great. Multitudes, multitudes in the valley of decision: for the day of the Lord is near in the valley of decision. ~Joel 3:9-14

Five

Peace is not the product of terror or fear.
Peace is not the silence of cemeteries.
Peace is not the silent result of violent repression.
Peace is the generous, tranquil contribution of all to the good of all.
Peace is dynamism.
Peace is generosity.
It is right and it is duty. ~Saint Oscar Romero.