The Southern Blasphemers Convention (Scenes From The Fall, Three.)

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.

...

The clocks stopped at one seventeen. There was a long shear of bright light, then a series of low concussions. By day the dead impaled on spikes along the road. I think it's October but I can't be sure. I haven't kept a calendar for five years. Each day is more gray than the one before. It is cold and growing colder as the world slowly dies. No animals have survived and all the crops are long gone. Soon all the trees in the world will fall. The roads are peopled by refugees towing carts and gangs carrying weapons, looking for fuel and food. Within a year there was fire on the ridges and deranged chanting. There has been cannibalism. Cannibalism is the great fear. Mostly I worry about food. Always food. Food and the cold and our shoes. Sometimes I tell the boy old stories of courage and justice - difficult as they are to remember. All I know is the child is my warrant and if he is not the word of God, then God never spoke. ~The Man, from Cormac McCarthy's "The Road" (Film.)

...

Freedom is the freedom to say that two plus two make four. If that is granted, all else follows. ~George Orwell, 1984. 

I saw this yesterday.

Al Mohler, the president of the *Checks Notes* Southern Baptist Convention, argued in his new book that "Blasphemy against the state" should be illegal.

Hold on, as a Christian here, in fact, as a former conservative Baptist, let's back the truck up.

Since when is the State *Checks Notes Again* God?!?!

Answer the question, I'll wait. Show your work.

Show me how a constitutionally secular democracy, currently led by an adulterous rich asshole who flouts the Lord's Word every second of every day and treats the Seven Deadly Sins like a "Honey-do" list is divine in any fashion what the fuck ever. I'll wait, I've got all night.

Show me how a nation whose current government is backed by billionaires, one of whom very much wants to institute the *Shuffles through notes again, what, are you fucking kidding me??* literal Biblical Mark Of The Beast straight out of Revelation in the same way that the 1990's End Times Prophecy Movement said it would be done is somehow "Baptist" let alone "Christian??"

Might as well just change the name to the Southern Blasphemers Convention at this point, according to what I was taught. The fact that this guy didn't automatically get fired and run out on a rail should tell you something. Fuck, I've read this guy's work. His own ass 20 years ago would've been having a cow about what he just said.

Without going down any theological rabbit holes, without Free Will, without separation of Church and State, almost all of Baptist (or Evangelical, for that matter) doctrine doesn't actually work. It has nothing to do with itself. You cannot compel Salvation. Literally the point of adult Baptism is that all this stuff is supposed to be a choice. I could go on about this for hours...

Or, ya know, I could save you the trouble.

The Holy Quran says it, "Pilgrimage to the House [of God built by the prophet Abraham] is a duty men owe to God; those who are able, make the journey." (3:97) Allah said: "And proclaim the pilgrimage among men; they will come to you on foot and upon each lean camel, they will come from every deep ravine" (22:27). 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 intermittently 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.

It's not. It's just NOT, and anybody who tries to tell you it is is a fucking liar. Any "Christian" movement that led to this crap is a lie, it's all bullshit. None of this is of God. Almost any other Christian denomination right now that's not infected with Calvinism or Evangelicalism, from the Catholics and mainstream Protestants on down to even a decent number of non-denominational churches and pretty much every other religion in America is opposed to this garbage and we're up to like 75% of people...of ALL walks of life...are against it. Do you have any idea how fucking difficult it is to get 3/4 of Americans to agree on *Anything?*

The only people who seem to actually like this mess are perverts and rich people. Maybe you can throw in the occasional racist who hasn't checked his bank account lately. Not only does the Constitution not permit this crap, American culture isn't cool with it either.

I'll note first off, that America doesn't have "Rulers" we have Presidents, who are supposed to be constitutionally beholden to the People and two other branches of government and restrained by, ya know, morality of some kind.

Second, that's a kid, standing next to Mr. Don't Curse The Ruler.

A Kid.

That's a little girl he's got his arm around. I don't give a fuck about any other details. That kid looks younger and is a lot physically smaller than my partner's kid. This guy should have law enforcement both here and in the Philippines pretty much rammed up his ass on general principle and if you think anything else, fuck you, too.

If it's a cult, it's a cult with malice aforethought and a lot of common purposes they can't tell the rest of us without getting arrested or just plain strung up by an irate public.

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.

Again, I think we pretty much safely can call this shit Baal-worship.

At a bare minimum These Fucking People have forgotten what they were supposed to be doing.

And it's far more likely that it was all a lie to start with. I don't know, I can't even talk the way these people talk.

And these fucking people suck so badly at this that they're bringing about exactly the world that they've said they were trying to stop for 50 years...except that I don't think based on what I've seen of it that the EU, not even with Canada as a prospective member now...is gonna try to put 666 on nobody nor try to push for the acceptance of pedophilia or anything super-evil like that.

Now this was the sin of your sister Sodom: She and her daughters were arrogant, overfed and unconcerned; they did not help the poor and needy. They were haughty and did detestable things before me. Therefore I did away with them as you have seen. ~Ezekiel 16:49-50 (NIV)

And if you don't think, in the likely case that America comes flying apart because of this shit, that parts of America will end up as parts of the EU, well, you're wrong. I live in one of those parts, and 1990's End Times Prophecy Guy me is pretty much facepalming himself to death in my head right about now. 

Thanks, Trump.

I think it's extremely possible that the next couple of years could see a United Europe and a disunited United States Of America.

I also still don't think that These Fucking People will get nearly as much of America as they thought they were going to.

That said, just going off the numbers if they get to keep 25% to 30% of America they still have many times over what they need to have their own weird right-wing dystopian country where the Party and the State are effectively "god." and where there's not only a Flock camera on every post but a microphone (put out by the same company but with a similarly dystopian weird name) to go with it, but there's a fucking computer chip in your hand or your forehead on top of that.

And outside of whatever territory those people end up controlling, I hate to sound that way but after a couple weeks and once everybody with the ability, the guts or the money to get out has, nobody will care.

You think the American abandonment of Afghanistan was shameful?? (And yes, speaking as a veteran who had friends that died there, oh yes it was.) Wait until it's Oklahoma. And yes, if this blows all the way up, that could happen.

I think at least the Red parts of America, the people who are still on board with all this shit, are in fact about to find out that no, the rest of the world did not "Need us more than we need them." In fact, at the end of the day they were not necessary at all.

In fact I think as life gets better, gradually or quickly, for the rest of us there is going to be a lot of anger directed at these motherfuckers, I don't think they're prepared for that. Oh yeah, I think they think it's funny now.

[Cassian Andor and a number of men are sent to the Narkina Five prison complex]

Prison officer: Welcome to Narkina Five. This is an Imperial factory facility. You've all been assessed as labor-worthy. Now, following this introduction, you'll be transferred to your level assignment and workroom, where your floor manager will explain the details of our schedule and expectations. Your length of stay has been predetermined. The quality of that time will be up to you. Now, those who've been incarcerated before will be surprised by the calm, sanitary conditions, and our minimally invasive enforcement techniques. Well, I'm sure some, if not all of you, are wondering, how we risk standing before you without weapons? It's a potent question. And hopefully, one you won't need to have answered very often, but... [activates electric floor and the new prisoners are shocked to floor before he turns it off] You may stand. That was level one of three. Our floors are Tunqstoid steel. Do your time productively, keep to your lane, and this needn't be more than a memory. Good luck to you.

~From the Star Wars series Andor S1.E8 "Narkina 5."

But in a very, very short amount of time their narcissistic persecution-complex shit will kick in and I think their obsession with control, and guns, and walls and shit like that will probably leave them being the ones living in the kind of sterile, prison-like places one might associate with the Empire from Star Wars, where the main difference between prisoner and anybody else was simply a matter of what uniform one might be wearing.

And for people that don't see themselves or anybody else as people, who think belief systems and corporations deserve human rights, but humans don't, that's going to have some very seriously fucked up consequences.

Neither the Goats at the Judgement, nor the Souls Under the Altar are gonna look much like American Evangelicalism implied or said they would. The refugees streaming down the road might look as expected, for awhile. 

But that's only gonna last until all "Those" people leave. 

I don't preach a social Gospel I preach the Gospel, period. The gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ is concerned for the whole person. When people were hungry, Jesus didn't say, "Now is that political or social?" He said, "I feed you." Because the good news to a hungry person is bread. ~Archbishop Desmond Tutu.

After that it's all gonna be White People who thought the Rapture was gonna save them and that they were gonna get to watch, and you don't need to tell me a lot of those people won't make it, I already know. You think it's a crab bucket now, with civilization still mostly intact? 

You ain't seen nothing yet.

If the State (as they define it) cannot be God, and they cannot have the totalitarian unlimited Power they covet (and I use that word deliberately, there is no "higher" motivation here, it's as Base as the Lord's Word defines it, no more and no less) it's not just that these assholes don't want to have anything...they don't want anybody else to have anything either.

So no, JD, you don't get another chance. Fuck You.

At this point you either believe in freedom or you don't.

And either you're willing to stand up against the fall of night or you're not.

These fucking people will each and every one blaspheme the Lord and go to Hell for it before they will genuinely love their neighbors or try to make a better world.

And there is no damn reason we the People should have to tolerate that, let alone give it a second chance.

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

Two

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."

"I will not trash talk. I will not be a divider in chief or an agitator in chief. I won't be out there blowharding, talking a big game without backing it up. I think the next president needs to be a lot quieter but send a signal that we're prepared to act in the national security interests of this country — to get back in the business of creating a more peaceful world."

[Silence. Glass shatters, sound of a toilet flushing, distant scream.]
"Please clap."

~Jeb! Bush, February 2nd, 2016