427 (Babylon, Six.)

And the fifth angel sounded, and I saw a star fall from heaven unto the earth: and to him was given the key of the bottomless pit.

And he opened the bottomless pit; and there arose a smoke out of the pit, as the smoke of a great furnace; and the sun and the air were darkened by reason of the smoke of the pit.

And there came out of the smoke locusts upon the earth: and unto them was given power, as the scorpions of the earth have power.

And it was commanded them that they should not hurt the grass of the earth, neither any green thing, neither any tree; but only those men which have not the seal of God in their foreheads.

And to them it was given that they should not kill them, but that they should be tormented five months: and their torment was as the torment of a scorpion, when he strikes a man.

And in those days shall men seek death, and shall not find it; and shall desire to die, and death shall flee from them.

And the shapes of the locusts were like unto horses prepared unto battle; and on their heads were as it were crowns like gold, and their faces were as the faces of men.

And they had hair as the hair of women, and their teeth were as the teeth of lions.

And they had breastplates, as it were breastplates of iron; and the sound of their wings was as the sound of chariots of many horses running to battle.

And they had tails like unto scorpions, and there were stings in their tails: and their power was to hurt men five months.

And they had a king over them, which is the angel of the bottomless pit, whose name in the Hebrew tongue is Abaddon, but in the Greek tongue hath his name Apollyon.

One woe is past; and, behold, there come two woes more hereafter.

And the sixth angel sounded, and I heard a voice from the four horns of the golden altar which is before God,

Saying to the sixth angel which had the trumpet, Loose the four angels which are bound in the great river Euphrates.

And the four angels were loosed, which were prepared for an hour, and a day, and a month, and a year, for to slay the third part of men.

And the number of the army of the horsemen were two hundred thousand thousand: and I heard the number of them.

And thus I saw the horses in the vision, and them that sat on them, having breastplates of fire, and of jacinth, and brimstone: and the heads of the horses were as the heads of lions; and out of their mouths issued fire and smoke and brimstone.

By these three was the third part of men killed, by the fire, and by the smoke, and by the brimstone, which issued out of their mouths.

For their power is in their mouth, and in their tails: for their tails were like unto serpents, and had heads, and with them they do hurt.

And the rest of the men which were not killed by these plagues yet repented not of the works of their hands, that they should not worship devils, and idols of gold, and silver, and brass, and stone, and of wood: which neither can see, nor hear, nor walk:

Neither repented they of their murders, nor of their sorceries, nor of their fornication, nor of their thefts. ~Revelation 9, King James Version.

...

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 distrust those people who know so well what God wants them to do to their fellows, because it always coincides with their own desires. ~Susan B. Anthony

I saw yesterday that the House of Representatives voted 427-1 to force release of the Epstein files.

But perhaps more to the point, I've been seeing a hell of a lot of creepy behavior from men lately. Like, way over the top weird creepy shit.

And of course, Republican creeper Clay Higgins was the one vote against releasing the damn files. Like anyone's surprised?

Look, these dudes ain't near to lonely enough and I say that as a goddamned Man.

It's going to come out that Donald Trump is a goddamned child molester and these dudes will be beyond unrepentant. In fact, they'll likely love him all the more for that shit.

Their whole bit, especially with all these allegedly "religious" MAGA's is living vicariously through Trump, making him their identity in the hope that some of his imagined untouchability will "trickle down" to them, and outsourcing their Sin to him.

Outsourced Sin is still Sin, yo. 

You still had the intent, imagining that somebody else will do it for you is not going to absolve you in God's eyes.

But I say unto you, That whosoever looks on a woman to lust after her hath committed adultery with her already in his heart.

And if thy right eye offend thee, pluck it out, and cast it from thee: for it is profitable for thee that one of thy members should perish, and not that thy whole body should be cast into hell.

And if thy right hand offend thee, cut it off, and cast it from thee: for it is profitable for thee that one of thy members should perish, and not that thy whole body should be cast into hell.

It hath been said, Whosoever shall put away his wife, let him give her a writing of divorcement:

But I say unto you, That whosoever shall put away his wife, saving for the cause of fornication, causes her to commit adultery: and whosoever shall marry her that is divorced commits adultery.

~Matthew 5:28-32

Just sayin.'

You can be as goat-eager as you want to to blame your shit on other people, declare your religion as "Supreme" and outsource your Sins to some other motherfucker all you like.

None of this works that way.

'Cause the one person you cannot manipulate and will never fool is *Checks Notes* God.

You think God doesn't know you thought about that fucked up shit *Buzzer Noise* WRONG!

You think you can convince God that you're better than those Muslims over there?

You can't do that, because He's their God, too.

The perversion of a lot of these so-called "Christians" is laid bare in the thoughts they have, commit to some format or another in public, and then try to blame on other people.

Islam doesn't permit rape.

I mean, fuck, you wanna get the whole neighborhood after you and start a blood-feud that'll last for a few generations? Commit that sort of crime in a Muslim country.

You'll end up hoping the cops come and take you to jail and that you'll be there for  a good long time all the while hoping like a motherfucker that the victim's family ain't got no connections on your cellblock. 

I mean, for fuck's sake in the Islamic Republic of Iran, it's actually legal for a rape victim or someone from the victim's family to be the person that executes the rapist.

No, their systems ain't great, not anymore than ours is. There's a great deal less empathy for the victims and there are a lot of things those people do differently, but that's their countries and their cultures and it's not really my place to judge or even say too much about it.

Most Middle Eastern cultures have been the way they are since before the Americas were even known to the rest of the world. My buddy from Egypt? His family has lived in the same neighborhood since at least before America was America.

So, damned if the way they do things over there doesn't work on some level.

We don't have to like it.

You'd think conservatives, of all the fucking people, would understand that and appreciate it.

But of course the "Standing athwart the flow of History yelling STOP!" kind of old-school conservatism is deader than Bill Buckley.

When my partner was in New York and her life had gone to shit and she was food-insecure and things were really bad, she survived in part on the kindness of the Muslims who owned and ran the bodega across the street from her apartments, who gave her what they could and threw her every break they could and then made up the difference on their books right out of their own pockets.

Because charity is scripturally mandated in Islam.

Because those people were, in fact, acting on codes basically laid out even in the Old Testament of the Bible, if you really think about it.

I don't know if I'll ever get a chance to meet those people or ever even go to the city she was living in but to me, that stands as a debt unpaid and because I've been to the freaking sandbox and neighboring countries and dealt with those people and their honor culture, that's at least karma I feel like I have to pay forward somehow and my partner feels similarly.

And all the religious supremacy and weird, performance-art religiosity in the world ain't gonna cover up shit like that.

What I don't get is, people think God does not know this?!?!

Where do these fucking people think the Holy Books like the Bible, the Koran and the Torah even come from??

Even from the most secular point of view, it's all the same deep dark well of Middle Eastern mythology, and it's not very cuddly and all sunshine and rainbows and meek pasty saviors, either.

It's bloody and it's terrible and wondrous beyond imagination and it's pretty much older than dirt, literally so if one wishes to take it all the way literal. I've had that conversation with Atheists, yo.

America, for all its secular and temporal Power knows nothing of any of this. Or rather, too many of us look at it repeatedly and simply refuse to learn.

Either you believe God is all-knowing, all-powerful and all-seeing and knows more than you or you don't.

And if He isn't, what are you even wasting your time doing all this hocus-pocus shit for??

If such is the case aren't we all pretty much damned anyway, at least according to Christianity??

I mean, I'm just applying the Evangelicals own logic here!

The truth is, that we're about to find out that These Fucking People are going to try to turn their politics into a religion, with Trump as its Golden Idol and fake deity. 

We will find out that these conflict-driven, politics-obsessed weirdos are savagely anti-Christian and anti-religion...or at least anti-anything-but-theirs.

Anything but "Love Thy Neighbor" yo.

Honestly, I think even Trump will get thrown overboard before too long 'cause they're already test-running new gods. I mean, what the fuck do you think that whole Charlie Kirk thing was all about??

I'm serious, if dancing around a fire shouting "Unga Bunga!" or worshiping demons let them abuse women, be mean to LGBT people, People of Color and the poor, and maintain a "Conservative" affect while getting social bonus points for doing nothing?? These fucking people?? They'd be all for that shit, and be shouting "Crucify Him!" in the streets if Jesus showed up to do anything about it.

Truth is the only floor any of us have to stand on to push back against Power.

And before long, if you want the right to believe anything other than what Power tells you that you must, let alone to have the women in your life treated as people, or even to have the right to your own life, you're going to have to fight for it.

Because that's what these power-mad narcissistic greedy motherfuckers even want.

Bow down, or fight back.

They get their narcissistic fuel, and it's your fault, either way.

Either you believe in freedom or you don't.

So pick a side.

Not making a choice is making a choice.

If the US House of Representatives, of all the fuckin' people in the world, can figure that out? Maybe you can too.

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And after these things I saw another angel come down from heaven, having great power; and the earth was lightened with his glory.

And he cried mightily with a strong voice, saying, Babylon the great is fallen, is fallen, and is become the habitation of devils, and the hold of every foul spirit, and a cage of every unclean and hateful bird.

For all nations have drunk of the wine of the wrath of her fornication, and the kings of the earth have committed fornication with her, and the merchants of the earth are waxed rich through the abundance of her delicacies.

And I heard another voice from heaven, saying, Come out of her, my people, that ye be not partakers of her sins, and that ye receive not of her plagues.

For her sins have reached unto heaven, and God hath remembered her iniquities.

Reward her even as she rewarded you, and double unto her double according to her works: in the cup which she hath filled fill to her double.

How much she hath glorified herself, and lived deliciously, so much torment and sorrow give her: for she said in her heart, I sit a queen, and am no widow, and shall see no sorrow.

Therefore shall her plagues come in one day, death, and mourning, and famine; and she shall be utterly burned with fire: for strong is the Lord God who judges her.

And the kings of the earth, who have committed fornication and lived deliciously with her, shall bewail her, and lament for her, when they shall see the smoke of her burning,

Standing afar off for the fear of her torment, saying, Alas, alas that great city Babylon, that mighty city! for in one hour is thy judgment come. ~Revelation 18:1-10

Five

[Cassian plays Nemik's audio diary]

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."