Enough Is Enough (Scenes From A Cold Civil War, Eight.)

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 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, letter written following the Hajj.

...

[Mon Mothma addresses the Senate chambers again]

Mon Mothma: Fellow Senators, friends, colleagues, allies, adversaries, I stand before you this morning with a heavy heart. I've spent my life in this chamber. I came here as a child, and as I look around me now, I realize I have almost no memories that predate my arrival, and few bonds of affection that cleave so tightly. Through these many years, I believe I have served my constituents honorably and upheld our code of conduct. This chamber is a cauldron of opinions, and we've certainly all had our patience and tempers tested in pursuit of our ideals. Disagree as we might, I am hopeful that those of you who know me will vouch for my credibility in the days to come.

I stand this morning with a difficult message. I believe we are in crisis. The distance between what is said and what is known to be true has become an abyss. Of all the things at risk, the loss of an objective reality is perhaps the most dangerous. The death of truth is the ultimate victory of evil! When truth leaves us, when we let it slip away, when it is ripped from our hands, we become vulnerable to the appetite of whatever monster screams the loudest. This Chamber's hold on the truth was finally lost on the Ghorman Plaza! What took place yesterday, what happened yesterday on Ghorman, was unprovoked genocide! Yes, genocide! And that truth has been exiled from this Chamber! And the monster screaming the loudest, the monster we helped create, the monster who will come for us all soon enough, is Emperor Palpatine!

~From the Star Wars series Andor, S2.E9 "Welcome To The Rebellion."

...

"The fight is here; I need ammunition, not a ride." ~Volodymyr Zelenskyy, allegedly 25 February 2022, Associated Press

I saw this yesterday.

Some white racist idiot got kicked out of a Trader Joes for harassing Latino immigrants.

Pretty much everybody in earshot erupted in applause.

People are getting tired of this shit, getting tired of these shitty little haters, and Republicans just keep going and going with it, like nothing is happening.

Their sins are reaching unto Heaven and they're having so much fun and so full of themselves that they can't even be bothered to look up and see the signs in the sky, and even if they could they don't want to repent. Racism is a hell of a drug.

I've read the Bible and studied history, much less read enough other books to know exactly how this level of hubris tends to work out.

Much of America bakes under a heat wave as Climate Change becomes too great of a difficulty for most of us regular people to ignore.

It's hot out and "People are tired of yo bullshit" historically is a very bad combination.

Where I live, here in a small city in Northern Michigan, there ain't a Trump sign left in sight.

The Epstein Files coverup has apparently done its work, but not in the direction that these motherfuckers had hoped. I had a discussion on Facebook yesterday with a former co-worker that was a Trump Supporter and apparently he isn't anymore and said everybody involved with the whole Epstein mess should be locked up...or worse.

My gut feeling is this kind of shit involves a lot more of our political class than people suspect, and if even some of that shit comes out, there's going to be a Revolution.

It feels like things are gonna blow up, soon.

People have made the big divide in this country out to be Left vs. Right, Democrats vs. Republicans but the truth is, as the conduct of so many Democrats since January has shown, it's really about to be between Billionaires, Politicians and their Hangers-on vs. The Rest Of Us.

And yes, I believe the central issue that drives a stake through the heart of this country and causes the American Crackup (very likely a Soviet-style US collapse, but with plenty of small wars) will most likely be elite corruption and debauchery with a big side order of child sexual abuse. It's turning out to be a far bigger thing than the Republican monomania for creating a damn political and social monoculture.

It's already caused the MAGA crackup.

Trump himself is in a state of obvious decline.

Most of the people shouting for us common folk to "Pay no attention to that man behind the curtain!" aren't True Believers in anything. 

They just don't want the grift to stop.

But if I had to guess?

Honestly, I think it's still going to come down to a fight to get rid of these assholes and reign in the motherfucking 1% so the rest of us can go about our lives without having to deal with this goddamn bullshit forever.

And if we don't stop this crap, it will never stop.

Because the truth is these fucking people are, one and all, narcissists who won't stop until every knee shall bow and every tongue confess to...not Jesus Christ being Lord...but them personally.

Think about that for a second.

When is enough going to be enough?

If we don't do something about it now, the moment will come when these assholes try to implement some version of the Mark Of The Beast in the name of worldly power and control.

And I don't know about you but I sure have no intention of putting up with that, nor of singing the literal praises of Elon Musk or Jeff Bezos let alone any of the goddamned narcissists that I know in my own personal life. 

Fuck That.

And remember, hate and racism are exactly the weapons they've used to crowbar apart a society that even 20 years ago would not have tolerated this level of bullshit.

You either believe in freedom...for all people...or you don't.

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

There can be no half-measures.

It really is that simple.

Слава Україна!

We have become a Nazi monster in the eyes of the whole world, a nation of bullies and bastards who would rather kill than live peacefully. We are not just Whores for power and oil, but killer whores with hate and fear in our hearts. We are human scum, and that is how history will judge us. No redeeming social value. Just whores. Get out of our way, or we'll kill you. Who does vote for these dishonest shitheads? Who among us can be happy and proud of having all this innocent blood on our hands? Who are these swine? These flag-sucking half-wits who get fleeced and fooled by stupid little rich kids like George Bush? They are the same ones who wanted to have Muhammad Ali locked up for refusing to kill gooks. They speak for all that is cruel and stupid and vicious in the American character. They are the racists and hate mongers among us; they are the Ku Klux Klan. I piss down the throats of these Nazis. And I am too old to worry about whether they like it or not. Fuck them. ~Hunter S. Thompson

Seven

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