Evil Empire (American Reformation II, 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 never more than one generation away from extinction. We didn't pass it on to our children in the bloodstream. The only way they can inherit the freedom we have known is if we fight for it, protect it, defend it, and then hand it to them with the well fought lessons of how they in their lifetime must do the same. And if you and I don't do this, then you and I may well spend our sunset years telling our children and our children's children what it once was like in America when men were free. ~Ronald Reagan

So I saw this earlier today.

George W. Bush's brother voted for James Talarico.

And rightly so, probably.

I've had it with this shit, Republicans apparently don't believe anybody who isn't a billionaire should have any rights, or for that matter, any money or anything else.

The only right they seem to think anyone should have, and the only thing they want to give anybody, is hate. Meanwhile, everybody that I know is just barely getting by. We're all angry and tired, and tired of being angry and tired, while chuckle-fucks like Elon Musk sit there and lie about guys like James Talarico. 

While he also lies about Ukraine and Volodomyr Zelenskyy and whether or not it was him or Trump that ordered the Starlink slowdown (And meanwhile Europe is backing away from relying on us for anything defense-wise at this point, and rightly so.)

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.

I'm sorry, but Ken Paxton is a scumbag and should never have been allowed to be anywhere near public service. It's not just that I know people that went to jail for way less than what he's done...It's that I've been to jail and I didn't do anything even close to all that.

As long as Republicans are going to include and support men like this, and America is going to allow any Republicans to hold office anywhere, nobody (including most Americans) should ever trust America ever again. We are a very short distance from the whole damn country falling apart simply because the full faith and credit of the Federal government and America's standing in the world has been completely trashed, by malicious, rabidly stupid men who thought it was funny to shit all over everything.

These motherfuckers consider the vast majority of Americans (and yes, most conservatives, that means you too) to be their enemies, and they consider people like Vladimir Putin to be their friends. I mean, what the hell kind of stupid person does that??

Apparently Republicans believe if Power wants what you got, you're supposed to just bend over, hand it over, whatever. You have no right that Power or Wealth is obligated to respect. I wonder if they realize that means them, too, when somebody bigger or meaner shows up??

Vladimir Putin (Russians in general) don't care about your privilege.

In fact the Russians don't believe you have it, or that you should.

They basically think if you're not a Russian you're supposed to be their n****r. I've heard people from former-Soviet countries that are now free (like Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania) say this. I've seen video of Ethnic Russians saying that kind of shit about other people.

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

There is a reason Ronald Reagan called these people the Evil Empire.

I'm not sure why Steve Whack-It-Off thinks he's gonna be any different. Russians have a long history of murdering their own political types, much less those who they used to gain power in subject countries.

I've conversed with people who've lived in Russia or visited long enough to get to know some people and honestly, the only people I know who've been there who ever said they felt welcome or entirely comfortable, let alone safe were, basically, a very specific kind of dude-bro. Not all of them were Republicans at the time, a fair number of them aren't or never claimed to be MAGA (some of them are/were Leftists and I'll bet you can guess what kind) although those that are far-right or Trump Supporters often are so to a ridiculous degree. A former SNCO from my squadron is an electrical engineer and worked on the grid in Sochi before the Winter Olympics there. After that he became very weirdly pro-Russian and in 2015-2016 he went full weird MAGA. It pretty much wrecked our Facebook KI Sawyer AFB veterans group. 

The group is still there but no one posts on it regularly anymore.

Hess: So what shall we toast to, boys? I can blather on about “To health” or “To success,” but I’d like to do somethin’ a little less rote. Where you from, Brown Eyes?

Migs Mayfield: How ’bout a toast to Operation Cinder?

Hess: Now there’s a man who knows his history.

Mayfield: No, I don’t just know it. I lived it. I was in Burnin Konn.

Hess: Burnin Konn?

Mayfield: Mmm.

Hess: That was a hard day. I had to make many unpleasant decisions.

Mayfield: Yes, you did. Entire city gone in moments, along with everybody in it. We lost our whole division that day. Man, that was like 5-10,000 people.

Hess: Yep. All heroes of the Empire.

Mayfield: Yeah. And all dead.

Hess: Well, it’s a small sacrifice for the greater good, son.

Mayfield: Depends on who you ask, don’t you think?

Hess: [irritated] What you gettin’ at, trooper?

Mayfield: All those people, the ones who died, was it good for them? Hmm? Their families? The guys I served with? Civilians, those poor mud scuffers, died defending their homes, fighting for freedom. Was it good for them?

Hess: But we’ve outlasted them, son. They’re eating themselves alive. The New Republic is in complete disarray, and we grow stronger. You see, with the rhydonium you’ve delivered, we can create havoc that’s gonna make Burnin Konn pale by comparison. And then they’re gonna turn to us once again. You see, boys, everybody thinks they want freedom, but what they really want is order. And when they realize that, they’re gonna welcome us back with open arms. Ah. To the Empire.

[Mayfield chuckles, then fires a blaster at Hess' chest, killing him instantly. He and Mando then shoot their way out of the mess hall] ~From The Mandalorian, Season 2, Ep. 7 "The Believer"

Of course, it's a really safe bet that people who believe in testing *Checks Notes* Energy Weapons on human beings probably don't believe in Human Rights, not even their own. There are international laws and treaties against that kind of shit being used on the battlefield. The real world ain't Star Wars and there's a fucking reason for that. And, more, you don't want it to be.

And of course privilege and racism and Whiteness and Just World fallacies convince a lot of dipshits that such things won't be used against them.

Until they are. How has any of this crap worked out the last couple of years??

People who are willing to platform an enabler of sex abuse just to hurt a political opponent in a democratic election will absolutely shoot you in the face with a crude real-world version of the E-Web heavy blaster cannon from Empire Strikes Back or The Mandalorian, for kicks.

And the really stupid part of this is These Fucking People are okay with that, as long as they think some other person is gonna get shot in the face with it twice.

If you don't smoke Tarryton's, fuck you! ~Sign, Idiocracy.

I get that Negative Partisanship can be a hell of a drug but are you fucking kidding me?? 

Let's have some basic survival instincts here, shall we?? It doesn't matter if Black people or Mexicans are somehow gonna be more dead than you are. 

Dead is still Dead.

Traumatized for life is still, in fact, traumatized for life. PTSD, etc. etc. doesn't actually care about the color of your skin or your political affiliation. Like a virus, or Russians for that matter, it'll kill you or wreck your shit just the same as it will the people you don't like. I don't understand why people keep playing around with this shit when it'll all kill you just the same.

Yeah, stupidity, I get it.

I mean, come on, when Osama Bin Laden was killed, Abdul Al-Sayed was finishing up his doctorate in public health, which likely meant he was working a shit job while busting his ass in a demanding program while being the "Funding apparatus" for Ramen Noodles.

But these idiots never let reality get in the way of a bald-faced blatantly obvious lie.

Or there's always Argle Bargle Bargle, Unga Bunga Bunga "Own The Libs!" or some such dumbass bullshit.

Anybody else tired of this shit yet??

I'm tired. My Mom is tired. My partner is tired. None of us asked for any of this garbage.

For a long time I said that Republicans, most specifically Republican Men all would be fine with being the Emperor's catamite, so long as they thought they were gonna get to boss around some of the servants once in awhile.

Well, I think it's rather worse, or maybe it always was.

Barbara: With a cute little rear end like that, you'll be the belle of the ball. Your dance card'll be filled every day. You'll be so popular, making all kinds of new, close friends. Big, ugly, hairy friends! Not that you'll ever see what they look like, 'cause you'll be facing the other way.
- Ken Kessler: You're very good at this. You should write children's books. 

~From the film Ruthless People 

These Fucking People would just as soon be the bitches of the petty illiterate local warlord, strapped to the rusty tailgate of his favorite Toyota Hilux Technical next to the .50 Caliber BMG ammunition until he wants them. 

Such is their desire for "Proximity" to "Power" that they don't care if they're stuck facing the other way the whole damn time.

I couldn't do it. But from what I hear maybe Tim Scott would.

But then I couldn't and wouldn't get so much plastic and silicone and whatever the fuck else put in my face that I look like a Star Wars alien either.

I mean, what's the fucking point, Laura??

You look like a damn mutant and you're pushing the same abuse-platforming bullshit that's pretty much turned Vivek RamaRamaDingDing into a radioactive political mutant in a day or so, too.

May These Fucking People all have to deal with each other, day in and day out for Eternity, in Hell.

Honestly Hell is too good for these people.

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.

When is enough going to be enough, America??

You either believe in freedom or you don't.

But you have to be smart enough to know what that word means.

The Reformation happened because among other things people died horrible deaths for the right to read the Word of God at all, and then in their own languages. And now you're telling me that people in supposedly the greatest country that ever was can't be bothered to read or know what words mean??

The fact that politics and religion are OK with this murderous bullshit tells me we need an American Reformation, Republicans lust after both the Power of the medieval Catholic church, and the bloodshed of the wars of religion. They forget how that worked out for the Church. Or maybe they just don't care. We have to stop this shit, lest America itself become the next Evil Empire.

If you're stupid enough to think you can have some kind of a social contract with an autocrat that thinks your freedom, your rights, your stuff is some kind of infinitely moveable goalpost and he can do whatever he wants? Let alone some billionaire cranked out on drugs who's convinced himself he's more powerful than nations. If you think that? You deserve whatever you're gonna get from them.

But the rest of us...don't.

So get after it.

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

Jesus said unto her, I am the resurrection, and the life: he that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live: ~John 11:25