Personal Jesuses (American Abominations, One.)

When the Son of man shall come in his glory, and all the holy angels with him, then shall he sit upon the throne of his glory:
And before him shall be gathered all nations: and he shall separate them one from another, as a shepherd divides his sheep from the goats:
And he shall set the sheep on his right hand, but the goats on the left.
Then shall the King say unto them on his right hand, Come, ye blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world:
For I hungered, and ye gave me meat: I was thirsty, and ye gave me drink: I was a stranger, and ye took me in:
Naked, and ye clothed me: I was sick, and ye visited me: I was in prison, and ye came unto me.
Then shall the righteous answer him, saying, Lord, when saw we thee an hungered, and fed thee? or thirsty, and gave thee drink?
When saw we thee a stranger, and took thee in? or naked, and clothed thee? Or when saw we thee sick, or in prison, and came unto thee?
And the King shall answer and say unto them, Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me.
Then shall he say also unto them on the left hand, Depart from me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels:
For I hungered, and ye gave me no meat: I was thirsty, and ye gave me no drink:
I was a stranger, and ye took me not in: naked, and ye clothed me not: sick, and in prison, and ye visited me not.
Then shall they also answer him, saying, Lord, when saw we thee an hungered, or athirst, or a stranger, or naked, or sick, or in prison, and did not minister unto thee?
Then shall he answer them, saying, Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye did it not to one of the least of these, ye did it not to me. 

~Matthew 25:31-45

...

Reach out, touch faith
Your own personal Jesus
Someone to hear your prayers
Someone who cares
Your own personal Jesus
Someone to hear your prayers
Someone who's there
Feeling unknown
And you're all alone
Flesh and bone
By the telephone
Lift up the receiver
I'll make you a believer
Take second best
Put me to the test
Things on your chest
You need to confess
I will deliver
You know I'm a forgiver
Reach out, touch faith
Reach out, touch faith

~Personal Jesus, by Depeche Mode

...

Karis Nemik: There will be times when the struggle seems impossible. I know this already. Alone, unsure, dwarfed by the scale of the enemy. Remember this. Freedom is a pure idea. It occurs spontaneously and without instruction. Random acts of insurrection are occurring constantly throughout the galaxy. There are whole armies, battalions that have no idea that they've already enlisted in the cause. Remember that the frontier of the Rebellion is everywhere. And even the smallest act of insurrection pushes our lines forward. And then remember this. The Imperial need for control is so desperate because it is so unnatural. Tyranny requires constant effort. It breaks, it leaks. Authority is brittle. Oppression is the mask of fear. Remember that. And know this, the day will come when all these skirmishes and battles, these moments of defiance will have flooded the banks of the Empire's authority and then there will be one too many. One single thing will break the siege. Remember this. Try. ~From the Star Wars series Andor, S1.E12 "Rix Road."

I saw this a few days ago.

Some idiot trying to tell somebody that they "Don't serve the same Jesus" because they protested in "No Kings."

Again it's funny how These Fucking People willfully do not get that Jesus said His Kingdom was NOT of This World.

Or that Jesus never said a word about gay stuff, never supported the rich, and forgave Sin rather than condemning it. Or that God the Father, specifically and in direct active voice commands Believers to not molest the immigrant and to welcome the stranger:

“'When a foreigner resides among you in your land, do not mistreat them. The foreigner residing among you must be treated as your native-born. Love them as yourself, for you were foreigners in Egypt. I am the LORD your God.”

~Leviticus 19:33-34, New International Version.

And by definition, God and Heaven are infinite. Infinity does not have borders. If God can somehow be undone by a few migrant workers picking vegetables who only want a better life for their kids, then He is not God.

It's these fucking people who are always trying to stuff Eternity into the smallest of boxes so they can portion it out for nothing more than some kind of bullshit Earthly profits that serve different and by definition much more malevolent spirits.

Dis Pater and Mammon, for example. The Four Horsemen of Revelation chapter six, perhaps? Various and assorted Antichrists?

Perhaps, since Trump has destroyed the East Wing of the White House and, like Nero in ancient Rome, is attempting to build a new Domus Aurea in its place, the "Christian Nationalists" will seek to deify him, next?? I mean it makes sense...since so many Republicans are likewise clamoring to be the American Sporus they obviously need a Nero to use and abuse him and then make him a "god." Yeah, look it up. I dare you.

There's nothing Christian about any of this shit.

It's not religion, it's narcissism.

I truly believe we're facing an epidemic of narcissism in this country that makes the COVID-19 pandemic look like a particularly mild cold and flu season, and in my experience this has been building for a long time and most commonly finds expression through "Conservative" religiosity.

Sooner or later, that too is gonna blow up.

Yeah, there's some shit brewing and Republicans are gonna find themselves on the wrong side of it just as much as all the rest of us are.

And the reason for that is that seventy million Americans look at stuff like the Abomination Of Desolation and see themselves in it and see something to aspire to, yes, they aspire to Abomination and Damnation:

When ye therefore shall see the abomination of desolation, spoken of by Daniel the prophet, stand in the holy place, (who so reads, let him understand)
Then let them which be in Judea flee into the mountains:
Let him which is on the housetop not come down to take any thing out of his house:
Neither let him which is in the field return back to take his clothes. ~Matthew 24:15-18

Just so they get to take you to Hell with them.

These fucking people have much more faith in Relative Status than they do in Jesus Christ.

Imagine being that Abomination, an icon of Self and Selfishness, of mocking God and profaning the Holy of Holies in the Temple...by choice.

(And then having the nerve to talk shit about other people.)

And I'm here to tell you if the MAGA's now going after people like Greg Abbott and Kash Patel for *Checks Notes* various levels of observation of Diwali (a Hindu holiday) are some kind of example? They don't care about Jesus...they just want an excuse to hurt people and kick them out.

Whether you like Kash Patel or you hate him, this is America and he has a Constitutional Right to observe whatever religion he fucking wants to, or none at all. 

In fact, Hindus and Muslims were used as specific examples by none other than Thomas Jefferson in his personal writings on the subject of religious freedom.

And, per Matthew 25, the rank hatred towards poor people that I've seen from some of these Chuds now that it's come out that SNAP next month will be severely impacted by the ongoing government shutdown...to the point that up to 40 million people may be affected...and most of those people work, including my partner, by the way. 

So what does that mean?? Well that suggests that these motherfuckers never knew Jesus in the first place. It certainly says that He never knew them.

And at this point, I don't think they care.

In fact, like the crowd before the Crucifixion shouting for Barabbas, I think if somebody offered these motherfuckers the literal choice to choose between Jesus and Trump, they'd choose Trump. When asked what to do with Jesus?? They would shout "Crucify Him!" in the streets.

You have to want to be Saved.

And if Salvation meant they had to give up their harsh judgmental religiosity and simply Love Their Neighbors? Well I bet a lot of these MAGA's just wouldn't do it.

I think they'd rather go to Hell. In fact, worse, I think they would see Hell as some kind of a win in such a scenario.

That's where this eternal march ever-Rightward, this crapulous desire to "Own The Libs" at any cost ends up.

In fact, if I had to guess, the average MAGA...whether they claim to be Christian, Christian Nationalist, none of the above or something else, all of them seems to think when they die they're going to go to Heaven and live in peace and blessedness with *Checks Notes* Donald Trump and if that doesn't sound worse than any Hell the most depraved Medieval Catholic Priest could ever dream up...well, I don't know what the fuck does!

Eternal Life comes only from the release of self, not the exaltation of self, it comes from compassion, not greed.

Some people wanna "Win" so bad that they forget to ask what they get if they win.

And what these idiots have "Won" for themselves by 50 years of increasing Biblical (and, by the way, literal now) illiteracy is a "Christianity" that teaches them not that they are free in Christ, but that they are and should be Slaves Of The Caesars.

The authoritarian, cult-like model of many Evangelical, Fundamentalist, and Pentecostal churches is exactly where a lot of These Fucking People got the programming for this MAGA shit.

It's less a matter of different, dueling, rival saviors as it is that a lot of these idiots basically think their favorite politician or preacher or televangelist or whatever is Jesus and they don't care to seek the real one.

Not just that, but gullible stupidity gets tolerated because it's profitable.

(And until we address both this and the fact that it was tolerated, problems will continue. When this is over, there's gonna need to be a lot of remedial education in this country including in matters of religion.)

Play stupid games, win stupid prizes, I guess.

Again, you either believe in freedom or you don't.

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

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

Last Post

There's a reason for this, there's a reason education sucks, and it's the same reason it will never ever ever be fixed. It's never going to get any better. Don't look for it. Be happy with what you've got... because the owners of this country don't want that. I'm talking about the real owners now... the real owners. The big wealthy business interests that control things and make all the important decisions. Forget the politicians. The politicians are put there to give you the idea that you have freedom of choice. You don't. You have no choice. You have owners. They own you. They own everything. They own all the important land. They own and control the corporations. They've long since bought and paid for the Senate, the Congress, the state houses, the city halls. They got the judges in their back pockets and they own all the big media companies, so they control just about all of the news and information you get to hear. They got you by the balls. They spend billions of dollars every year lobbying. Lobbying to get what they want. Well, we know what they want. They want more for themselves and less for everybody else, but I'll tell you what they don't want. They don't want a population of citizens capable of critical thinking. They don't want well-informed, well-educated people capable of critical thinking. They're not interested in that. That doesn't help them. That's against their interests. That's right. ~George Carlin

Rain Down Fire (Self On The Throne, Five.)

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

...

[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."

...

I met a traveler from an antique land,

Who said—“Two vast and trunkless legs of stone
Stand in the desert. . . . Near them, on the sand,
Half sunk a shattered visage lies, whose frown,
And wrinkled lip, and sneer of cold command,
Tell that its sculptor well those passions read
Which yet survive, stamped on these lifeless things,
The hand that mocked them, and the heart that fed;
And on the pedestal, these words appear:
My name is Ozymandias, King of Kings;
Look on my Works, ye Mighty, and despair!
Nothing beside remains. Round the decay
Of that colossal Wreck, boundless and bare
The lone and level sands stretch far away.

~Ozymandias, Percy Bysshe Shelley

So apparently, in response to the "No Kings" protests, Trump posted a video of himself, as a king, flying a jet fighter and dumping shit on Americans like what he thinks an avenging god raining down fire looks like. 

(LOL, No. As someone familiar with apocalyptic imagery, No.)

So basically, These Fucking People are saying they wanna shit all over their fellow Americans. Trump is just an excuse for that BS. Now, I'd like to point out something else here, something that surprised me.

Yesterday morning I found out that, despite not feeling good all weekend, on Saturday my partner went to the No Kings protest where she lives now...her daughter wanted to take her Pride flag and go and see what it was all about. So they went.

My partner, mind you, is pretty much a mid-conservative along similar but more right-leaning lines to me being a (more or less) conservative Democrat. 

The arguments are fun, and mostly about policy. Interestingly she's to the Left of me on some things. We get along, obviously.

Last night at work, I was taking my lunch and my buddy comes in the back room looking at the paper, wanting to see if he was in it. Turns out he went to the protest here with his Pride flag.

Aside from gun rights and LGBT issues (because he is very, very gay) with a side of not liking Donald Trump or Evangelical Christians very much, my coworker isn't political at all.

But he's hardly a Leftist.

Just a word of warning to all the Leftists who think they're gonna get what they want after all this. Y'all ain't the ones I see doing all the work.

For example I see the Catholic Church with its new American pope specifically making a lot of effort here, while a lot of online Leftists were telling other people not to protest and not showing any support themselves.

A hell of a lot of the people showing up now are Old White People.

And that will probably end up affecting the various outcomes of this whole mess.

I had to work, naturally, and I was exhausted for whatever reason yesterday. So I slept through it. Didn't hear a thing even though the protest was like two blocks from my house.

More people than the one back in June, too.

Apparently there was a competing "Jesus" rally (because apparently somebody figured out direct pro-Trump wasn't good optics) but like a dozen people showed up for that.

It's amazing to me just how triggered "Conservatives" are by this whole thing.

So yeah, how is that whole "Self on the Throne" vs. "God on the Throne" thing working out for Trump??

(Badly, like most things do.)

The other thing I've been seeing a lot of the last few days is this Joshua Haymes chuckle-fuck saying Christians should defend slavery because it's in the Bible.

Yo I'm just sayin' rampant drunkenness, incest and mass murder are in the Bible too, would you defend those things??

I used to be a Christian and I've never felt the need to defend slavery!

It's been my experience that when things aren't going well, the "Conservative" white male Id pops off. So what they're sayin' is they want to shit all over their fellow citizens and they want to own people.

That's pretty much "Conservative" values right there and I didn't need this last weekend to tell me that.

And apparently this guy has been saying shit that's egregious enough for Dinesh D'Souza to dunk on his ass.

I'm...uncomfortable...being on the same side of any argument as Dinesh. I never liked him or thought he was a trustworthy voice even when I was a Republican.

(And apparently Dinesh has been on this guy's podcast, per the Community Note?)

But here we are, I guess?

I have friends everywhere.

Welcome to the Rebellion, bro?

Christ, I feel dirty for saying that, especially about him.

But I want you to stop and think about that for a second.

And then, apparently, JD Vance's motorcade was on the freeway that the Marines were firing artillery shells over during their exercise and a vehicle in his motorcade got hit by shrapnel from a 155mm Howitzer shell exploding prematurely.

Yeah, I'm not sure if that's shades of what (almost) happened to Mike Pence or just that these fucking people really are that stupid.

Either way somebody decided to rain down fire (badly) on JD Vance.

Like how much of an ass-kissing degenerate does a Republican Vice President have to be for dangerous, risky and threatening shit to not happen to them??

Do I even want to know??

That's the thing about MAGA, they don't want [fellow] citizens, or even subjects, they (each one of them, singular) want everybody else to have to be their slaves, including other MAGA's.

Well, basically I think that's what happens when you have a country overstocked with narcissists that has a political movement composed of narcissists with leaders that are narcissists.

And they're going to try to keep going until everybody either has to bow to them or fight against them. Or at least, that's their plan...because they get all their narcissistic fuel either way.

I don't think this is gonna work out the way that they think it will.

But even so it'll probably come down to a fight, at least somewhere.

And when that time comes, either you believe in freedom or you don't.

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

We'd best figure it out before God decides he's gonna rain down fire on this whole country. 

And if He does, you know why.

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

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 music, 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

Four

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

Not Of This World (Self On The Throne, Four.)

Then led they Jesus from Caiaphas unto the hall of judgment: and it was early; and they themselves went not into the judgment hall, lest they should be defiled; but that they might eat the Passover.

Pilate then went out unto them, and said, What accusation bring ye against this man?

They answered and said unto him, If he were not a malefactor, we would not have delivered him up unto thee.

Then said Pilate unto them, Take ye him, and judge him according to your law. The Jews therefore said unto him, It is not lawful for us to put any man to death:

That the saying of Jesus might be fulfilled, which he spoke, signifying what death he should die.

Then Pilate entered into the judgment hall again, and called Jesus, and said unto him, Art thou the King of the Jews?

Jesus answered him, Say thou this thing of thyself, or did others tell it thee of me?

Pilate answered, Am I a Jew? Thine own nation and the chief priests have delivered thee unto me: what hast thou done?

Jesus answered, My kingdom is not of this world: if my kingdom were of this world, then would my servants fight, that I should not be delivered to the Jews: but now is my kingdom not from hence.

Pilate therefore said unto him, Art thou a king then? Jesus answered, Thou say that I am a king. To this end was I born, and for this cause came I into the world, that I should bear witness unto the truth. Every one that is of the truth hears my voice.

Pilate said unto him, What is truth? And when he had said this, he went out again unto the Jews, and said unto them, I find in him no fault at all.

But ye have a custom, that I should release unto you one at the Passover: will ye therefore that I release unto you the King of the Jews?

Then cried they all again, saying, Not this man, but Barabbas. Now Barabbas was a robber.

~John 18:28-40

I first saw this a couple days ago, or some variation of it.

"I'm against the idea of No Kings cuz Jesus Christ is my King!"

Seriously?? 

There's just one tiny little thing wrong with that, Jesus said His kingdom is not of this world.

Like, don't take my word for it, read the half-a-chapter highlighted above.

Like do these fucking people even read the Lord's Word at all??

My vision of what that moment must have been like is, in fact, informed by how it was shown in Mel Gibson's The Passion Of The Christ.

Imagine, Jesus, dark, bearded, long-haired, clad in the simple robes of a Jewish peasant and itinerant Rabbi, but muscular, his hands clearly strong from working stone and wood alike as a carpenter, scruffy and kind of beat-up at that point, but clearly radiating power beyond mere physicality and a deep serenity anyway. Pilate faces him...smaller, lighter-skinned, clean-shaven and short-haired as Romans often were, certainly fit for martial skill or at least training would have been a requirement of his station in Roman society and wearing the robes of his office, perhaps flanked by guards as Jesus was held chained by more of the same.

Jesus says, likely in Greek or Latin "Everyone that is of the Truth hears my voice."

Pilate answers back...in Latin; "Truth? What is Truth??"

The Empire that raised up Emperors and their Catamites alike as debased Gods, suddenly has no answer, is tongue-tied, and it chokes.

He is silent, for he has no one to answer him, and has only realized thusly in that moment.

Pilate hands Jesus back to the mob, because he has no idea what the fuck to even do.

That's where the Empire falls, that's were the Power of the State fails. Political, secular Power and spiritual power are not the same, and by definition they cannot be. 

If you cannot understand that, Christ is NOT your King.

You have to have Faith in the things you cannot see. This is a prerequisite for...well, anything, spiritually. That you have to Believe is literally the goddamned point!

And These Fucking People don't want to do that. They don't want to see it, their Self is on the throne and all they can imagine is themselves in that seat of Power or living vicariously through the one who has it or trying to profit by proximity to or some imagined social contract with that person.

That they would have agency for themselves never occurs to them, because they don't want it to. Self-governance is hard.

And so is the self-awareness and reflection that's actually kind of important to having any sort of faith. What is my place in the world? What is my relationship with God?? Where am I in the divine conversation?

In Oz, sometimes the things you can't touch are more real than the things you can. For instance, fear, hatred, loneliness are more real to me than a shank. And a soul. Everyday can grow into something you can almost hold. How fucked up is that?! In a shit-hole like this, to first and finally see the face of God. ~Augustus Hill, from the HBO series Oz, S1 E3 "God's Chillin.'"

You'd think people for whom literally everything is predicated on a "Personal relationship with Jesus" would understand this in at least some fashion.

I'm only gonna say this one time, so listen up: We're going to find out that These Fucking People are more Atheistic and, indeed, anti-Religion (or at least any religion where beliefs cannot change instantly for the convenience of political elites) than the most fanatical Stalinist Soviet Commissar and more deluded by Black Magic and Occultism than members of Adolf Hitler's inner circle as described by the Indiana Jones movies. I'm fucking serious...and they're all like that.

When Jesus turns out not to be their avenging Big Stick that they can use to knock everyone else into the Outer Darkness or some kind of giant nuke they can use to destroy the World, they will reject Him.

It's not even hard, to imagine Trump replying (if asked) "What is Truth?" is it?? Nor is it difficult to imagine that he genuinely does not know...and cares even less.

And what's worse is that so many "Christians" follow after all this bullshit and seem entirely unaware of those words....let alone why they matter.

Either you believe in freedom or you don't.

Without truth, there can be no such thing as freedom.

Truth is the only thing that gives us a floor to stand upon to push back against power.

Remember that, and don't get it twisted.

And then know that you're going to have to fight for it.

Слава Україна!

[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."

Three

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

No Kings III (Self On The Throne, Three.)

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.

...

Cassian Andor: Kino. Tell them what to do. It has to be you. Come on, Kino. You do this every day. Tell them what to do.

Kino Loy: [presses PA system] My name is Kino Loy. I'm the day shift manager on Level Five. I'm speaking to you from the command center on Level Eight. We are, at this moment, in control of the facility.

Andor: Is that the best you got?

Loy: How long we hang on, how far we get, how many of us make it out, all of that is now up to us. We have deactivated every floor in the facility. All floors are cold. Wherever you are right now, get up, stop the work. Get out of your cells, take charge and start climbing. They don't have enough guards and they know it. If we wait until they figure that out, it'll be too late. We will never have a better chance than this and [looks at Cassian, knowing he said it] "I would rather die trying to take them down than giving them what they want." We know they fried a hundred men on Level Two. We know that they are making up our sentences as we go along. We know that no one outside here knows what's happening. And now we know, that when they say we are being released, we are being transferred to some other prison to go and die, and that ends today! There is one way out. Right now, the building is ours. You need to run, climb, kill! You need to help each other. You see someone who's confused, someone who is lost, you get them moving and you keep them moving until we put this place behind us. There are 5,000 of us. If we can fight half as hard as we've been working, we will be home in no time. One way out! [repeats it multiple times as he leaves the command center]

Andor: Come on! Let's get out of here!

~From the series "Andor" S1 E10 "One Way Out."

It's "No Kings Day" again.

Maybe it's just me, and sure, I used to be a conservative...but this is America and it seems like I remember from somewhere or other that it said "No Kings" on the side of the can or something. Like, nobody should even have to say this. The United States of America was founded on the explicit rejection of Monarchy. Sure, it was founded by elite white dudes, blah blah blah. Spare me that shit. I'm aware. I've studied this.

You have no fucking idea how revolutionary the belief that even some of the population should get to control their own destiny was at the time.

At that time, incestuous and insane monarchs and utterly debauched narcissistic sultans and vicious strongmen were the fucking standard. Most people's lives were nasty, brutish and short, to say the least.

Seems like if "Conservatives" were who they said they were, and revered the things they said they did, revealed truth and the wisdom of the ancestors for example, that they'd be all about preserving democracy not trying to subvert it. That would, after all, be things as they are.

Of course the same fucking people are basically trying to replace Christianity with their cruel, miserly Prosperity Gospel and outright worship of the Self...so what the fuck do I know? 

I know what I read, what I was taught to believe, and that I actually believed it.

Of course, for These Fucking People it's anything but "Love Thy Neighbor" so I suppose fucking over poor people tracks, too.

God is clearly not on the throne in these people's hearts.

Or perhaps more appropriately their idea of God is so false and heretical that God isn't even what these motherfuckers are worshiping to start with!

(Taps The Sign)

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 music, 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

As a teenager back in November of 1989 I watched the Berlin Wall come down live on CNN and spent the ensuing next few months watching Communism in Eastern Europe fall, and 771 days later the Soviet Union itself fell, Merry Fucking Christmas, 1991.

I was there. I saw ordinary Germans take sledgehammers to the Wall while shell-shocked border guards stood there with rifles slung, wondering what the fuck happened.

All the bombers, fighters, guns, missiles, tanks and warships in NATO couldn't and didn't do that, ordinary people did. Regular people's work boots conquered where Boots On The Ground could never have gone.

And Republicans didn't just celebrate that, we knew we were the team captains in bringing it about! I'm serious, we won! Yet here it is, 2025, and Mike Johnson won't shut the fuck up about Communism.

And not just that, but Republicans pretty much line up to lick the boots of every goddamned petty authoritarian on the fucking planet. I can't make that shit make any goddamned sense considering what I was taught.

Communism hasn't been a thing since 1989, it was destroyed by its own authoritarian bullshit with a big assist from *Checks Notes* Ronald Reagan and the Republican Party.

Today's Republicans would rather be miserable bastards than free.

We welcome change and openness; for we believe that freedom and security go together, that the advance of human liberty can only strengthen the cause of world peace. There is one sign the Soviets can make that would be unmistakable, that would advance dramatically the cause of freedom and peace. General Secretary Gorbachev, if you seek peace, if you seek prosperity for the Soviet Union and Eastern Europe, if you seek liberalization, come here to this gate. Mr. Gorbachev, open this gate. Mr. Gorbachev...Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall!
~Ronald Reagan

Yet today Republicans stand ready to hold up a man and system not only as Godless and controlling as Communism under Josef Stalin...but one that aspires to do much worse, and is fairly open about exactly that.

Not only that, but "Young Republicans" basically jerk off to the idea of Adolf Hitler.

These idiots pretty much want to give back every victory over Evil from like the last 250 years because they think they'll get something out of it.

I can't support that bullshit.

Sorry, but one of my Grandpa's brothers was a Navy gunner's mate and had a Liberty Ship sunk from under him by a German U-boat, then spent the rest of his career on a Destroyer and got to participate in sinking a couple of the damned things, another of Grandpa's brothers helped liberate a concentration camp. Fun fact: He never talked about that specifically, not once, although he did talk about getting to meet Edward R. Murrow while he was in the Army...which happened there...but until his death in 1999 and somebody in the family requesting his military records for the family history we never put two and two together.

I'm assuming that was on purpose because he didn't want to talk about traumatic events. I don't know how people have forgotten this stuff.

So yeah, fuck Hitler, fuck Monarchy, fuck Slavery.

Even at my most conservative and most Republican, as an Airman serving in the United States Air Force security police in the mid-1990's it would never have occurred to me to ever say anything the fuck else.

And of course, Fuck Trump and all his rich enablers and White Trash cultists.

And while I'm at it, fuck Communism and fuck people like Vladimir Putin who are trying to bring that shit back.

If you support any of that?? Yeah, Fuck You too!

You either believe in freedom or you don't.

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

No Kings, yo, this is America.

I still think it's gonna come down to a fight, but remember that These Fucking People are scared of people simply holding up signs restating the obvious purpose of this country. So I'm not sure it'll be that much of a fight.

Слава Україна!

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 

Two

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

Judgment Day (Self On The Throne, Two.)

We welcome change and openness; for we believe that freedom and security go together, that the advance of human liberty can only strengthen the cause of world peace. There is one sign the Soviets can make that would be unmistakable, that would advance dramatically the cause of freedom and peace. General Secretary Gorbachev, if you seek peace, if you seek prosperity for the Soviet Union and Eastern Europe, if you seek liberalization, come here to this gate. Mr. Gorbachev, open this gate. Mr. Gorbachev...Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall!
~Ronald Reagan

...

And war broke out in heaven Michael and his angels fought with the dragon; and the dragon and his angels fought, but they did not prevail, nor was a place found for them in heaven any longer. So the great dragon was cast out, that serpent of old, called the Devil and Satan, who deceives the whole world; he was cast to the earth, and his angels were cast out with him. ~Revelation 12:7-9

...

Karis Nemik: There will be times when the struggle seems impossible. I know this already. Alone, unsure, dwarfed by the scale of the enemy. Remember this. Freedom is a pure idea. It occurs spontaneously and without instruction. Random acts of insurrection are occurring constantly throughout the galaxy. There are whole armies, battalions that have no idea that they've already enlisted in the cause. Remember that the frontier of the Rebellion is everywhere. And even the smallest act of insurrection pushes our lines forward. And then remember this. The Imperial need for control is so desperate because it is so unnatural. Tyranny requires constant effort. It breaks, it leaks. Authority is brittle. Oppression is the mask of fear. Remember that. And know this, the day will come when all these skirmishes and battles, these moments of defiance will have flooded the banks of the Empire's authority and then there will be one too many. One single thing will break the siege. Remember this. Try. ~From the Star Wars series Andor, S1.E12 "Rix Road."

...

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

I saw this last night.

See that guy on the far right-hand side of this group of "Young Republicans?" 

He doesn't get more votes than his political opponents in internecine Republican elections, he eats them.

It's sad to see the Republican Party of Lincoln, Teddy Roosevelt, Eisenhower, Reagan and even the Bushes come to...this. To people who have no business considering themselves superior calling themselves the "Master Race" and praising Hitler...who Eisenhower and a number of members of the Roosevelt family (Not Just FDR) fought against. Ted Roosevelt...Theodore Roosevelt Jr. died during the Normandy landings of a heart attack while leading his troops after storming ashore on Utah Beach with his cane in one hand and a Colt M1911A1 .45 pistol in the other like it was San Juan Hill with better weapons and more water.

And now, Republicans are this.

Stop and think about that for a second.

I'm tired of these fucking people's hate, their misogyny, their racism, and even more tired of them thinking that because they're miserable bastards everybody else should have to be one too.

I couldn't live like that. I'm an addict and have had issues with depression. I would not still be alive.

But...These Fucking People??

As the world and the rest of America increasingly defies them and finds its voice and uses its power to do so...they absolutely keep doubling down to the point of actively trying to sacralize their miserable bastardy and shitty behavior.

These Fucking People's ideal world is basically the Killing Fields of Khmer Rouge Cambodia, but with a church and a mall.

The wind whispers of fear and hate. The war has killed love. And those that confess to the Angkar are punished, and no one dare ask where they go. Here, only the silent survive. ~Dith Pran, The Killing Fields

I've been saying this since the height of the COVID-19 pandemic.

This will be worse.

The Pope is effectively breaking up Opus Dei.

My read on that, is that it likely will cause those kind of Catholics (a hell of a lot of whom were Protestant Fundamentalists before) simply to return to the open arms of Evangelical Protestantism, a fair number will probably go schismatic if not full Sedevacantist, but on the level of how it looks to the rest of us...basically this shit will probably cause Dark Catholicism and at least some branches of Evangelical Protestantism to fuse, informally if not actually formally. 

Why? 

Because whether they realize it or not, at least on the level of certain parts of the United States, the Evangelicals do actually have the kind of infrastructure and levels of church attendance...if not actual belief...to create the kind of cultural religion These Fucking People want.

Note I did not say "Christianity" and there's a reason for that.

Because their entire basis is anything but "Love Thy Neighbor."

They aren't interested in Love or Redemption or substitutionary Sacrifice.

At least not in having to do any of that themselves.

These motherfuckers want other people to die for their Sins.

And then they have the balls to want to call that "Redemption."

"God" as these assholes define Him might as well be Dis Pater or Mammon or some other Biblical demon.

And I guarantee you, when they do this...I do not think it's an "If" I think they are going to deliberately aim for a level of Crusading Atrocity that'd make both the First Crusade and the most bloody-minded interpretations of Radical Islam blanch in utter horror.

They literally want everybody else who does not join them to have to fight just to survive.

They see Putin's attitude towards Ukraine, just for one example, as how the world gets made.

All they care about is the expression of raw Power, even if it's against them, so long as it's delivered with a grim-enough affect. God is not on the throne in their hearts, their Self is.

Why?? Because these assholes are all narcissists, bowing down to them or fighting against them, either way, you're paying attention to them and that's all they really care about.

And yes, it's absolutely going to come down to a fight.

You either believe in freedom or you don't.

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

This crap never ends well, not least for the goddamned fascists themselves.

But they don't care, so long as they get to take others down with them.

And I think that's why These Fucking People are going to try to make their shitty politics into their literal religion, so they can try to escape Hell.

But they aren't the ones who get to make that call. 

God judges us, not Man.

Remember that.

No Kings tomorrow, but Judgment Day is coming, in this life or the next.

You watch and you see what These Fucking people will do to try to escape that.

We're fortunate that these people are as pathetic as they are.

Слава Україна!

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

One

[At ISB headquarters, Major Partagaz plays a clip of Karis Nemik's audio diary as Supervisor Lagret enters the conference room]

Major Leo Partagaz: I'm assuming you've heard it before.

Supervisor Lagret: Bits and pieces.

Partagaz: Just keeps spreading, doesn't it?

Lagret: It's been hard to contain.

Partagaz: Who do you think it is?

Lagret: I'm afraid they're waiting for you, sir. I told them I'd bring you down.

Partagaz: [breathes heavily and inhales sharply] May I have a moment to collect my thoughts?

[Lagret leaves. Outside the room, he hears a blaster sound, indicating Major Partagaz has shot himself.] 

~From the Star Wars series Andor, S2 E12 "Jedha, Kyber, Erso."