Welcome To The Revolution (American Revelation XX, Four.)

What was fascism in Italy, in Germany? The exaltation of racial prejudices. Instead of fighting racial prejudice, which is what a revolution does, fascism exalts prejudice and turns it into hatred. ~Fidel Castro

...

 [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."

...

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

So, apparently, Tom Homan is going full Fidel Castro, wearing scruffy fake military uniforms and shit, even looks like he's growing a ratty-ass beard.

Welcome to the Revolution, I guess? Will History absolve him, too??

The Trump administration keeps trying to sound like it's going to war, meanwhile like 300 California Army National Guard soldiers are apparently standing around doing nothing, not getting paid and not properly logistically supported. So for all of their apocalyptic war-rhetoric, their response...were L.A. burning down, which it isn't...sucks.

Thing is, outside of a four-block or so radius life in Los Angeles is just going on like normal, although these protests are spreading...which is exactly what happens in most cases like this.

These aren't people who are fighting anything to win...they just want to destroy shit. Including themselves, cuz if you're a smart fascist you don't fuck over the muscle.

Don't get me wrong, the Right wants to fight...they just don't seem to understand what fighting is. I went out to my Mom's the last few days, but in checking my socials I saw a freaking ridiculous amount of bloodlust from people who've apparently never experienced more violence than a loud argument.

These fucking people seem to think the government and the military and the police (not to mention the Church and every other goddamn thing) exist to enforce their political and social views...and to do it by doing shit like dropping "Big, Beautiful" bombs in the middle of a dense urban core (and wouldn't that destroy the federal building??) or using Special Forces to simply kill protestors and anybody else they don't like.

And like, every single one of these goddamn people follows that shit up with some Bible verse, or has "Christian" or "Evangelist" or some shit like that in their bio.

Evangelist for what?? Bhaal, the Lord of Murder??

And they're all basically acting like this shit is some big joke with some kind of politically-partisan tie-in or some shit.

This is Christianity without Christ.

Or, perhaps more accurately, and continuing when this situation doesn't work out how these assholes think it will, another link in the continuing deification of Donald Trump. In the end, they'll say "At least he tried" or some such horseshit.

How this endless parade of fucked-up shit for Dopamine hits doesn't end with these freaks worshiping literal demons like Dis Pater and Mammon in an endless demand for more hate and rage and wealth and power, I have no fucking idea.

I mean, I get it, most of these fucking people don't like this world or most of the people in it, don't want to live here, and think based on some Sola Fide (Faith Alone) idea of "Once Saved, Always Saved" folk-Christianity that they're going to Heaven and are going to get to watch the rest of us burn either down here on Earth or in Hell...

And so that is the entire point of their religion. More to the point, in the here and now, their Bloodlust only grows.

These fucking people, many of whom do not read the Bible for themselves, have no fucking idea that they're not automatically In Like Flynn on Judgment Day just 'cause they said some dumbed-down version of the Sinner's Prayer in Sunday School when they were like six years old.

And it's amazing how many of them are fake cowboys or clearly wannabe-Marines and Special Forces cosplayers themselves.

I'm warning you that when the shit really does hit the fan (and because of these fucking people, it eventually will no matter what happens in California unless FAFO gets to be too much or we start changing the culture that creates them) the cops and the troops will be fighting and struggling to survive just like all the rest of us and These Fucking People, with their own weapons, haphazardly supported by the local rich people, will absolutely be your local "January 6th People's Cowboy Jesus Special Forces Militia."

And expect the title of "Revolutionary..." to get appended to everything, as if there's anything revolutionary about any of this bullshit.

Yes, very likely sporting that or some other such title that looked like it was cooked up by somebody trying to repurpose some old Soviet "Order Of The Red Banner People's Tractor Factory #427" type names, because if there's one thing "elites" have internalized it's "Keep Blowing The Narcissist" and they'll be a one-stop shop for dealing drugs, murder of the undeserving, stealing people's shit, and enforcing right-wing redneck ideas of "Social Order" by shooting random people and wielding Terror against the local populations. 

And it's worth noting that not a few rich assholes are, themselves, these exact kinds of motherfuckers, but with money.

See also the kind of assholes that constitute the Republican donor-class in places like Texas.

They've finally found that superior justification for selfishness, which, as it turns out was just plain old hate and selfishness.

And robbing from the poor to give to Themselves is exactly the kind of world these motherfuckers want to live in, of course they're rooting for the collapse of the United States...because every last one of these shitheads sees themselves as the Grand Warlord of Scottsbluff or a "Christian" equivalent to Mullah Omar or some such shit, not as the catamite that's strapped to the back of the technical truck right next to the box of .50 caliber ammunition.

Never mind what happens to them when the local satrap comes calling.

You don't want to know.

If you burn down civilization and take everything else away, there are three things people (a certain kind of men in particular, but not exclusively so) will always try to do; Get High, Have Sex, and Kill People.

That's what happens when Hate becomes the Opiate of the Masses, I warned you.

Anybody who thinks that most folks will be sheltering at the local Church praying to be protected under the wings of angels doesn't understand the fallen nature of Sinful Man nor in the least how far too many of the people drawn to what's become of modern "Conservatism" operate.

Whether the "ideology" under which these fucking people take cover is Capitalism or Communism, Evangelical Christianity or Radical Islam, somehow it always works out the same way for everybody else.

If this shit breaks down as far or as hard as these so-called "Conservatives" and death-cultist "Christians" want it to, there ain't gonna be no government or society and we'd all best hope the United Nations can work up one motherfucker of a peacekeeping operation, but if you've paid the least bit of any attention to shit like M23's campaign in the Congo or the Sudanese Civil War...don't ask how that shit turns out. The United Nations has a reputation for sucking at this for a reason.

Republicans are trying to turn America into the kind of place most people try to get away from so they can loot the homes of people who have fled as refugees.

The protestors in California have thus far kept their cool and denied these assholes an excuse to Immanentize their bloody murderous Eschaton, but not everybody is going to be able to do that.

And this whole Trump thing has the media playing at a constant dog-and-pony show to try and justify, in effect, America going to war against Americans, mostly because the rich people who own everything want #1 some kind of bullshit revenge for so many people quitting their jobs during COVID-19, and #2 they think, one way or another, whether it's AI and robots or former-Americans reduced to Serfdom, that they are somehow owed a class of Slaves and Wealth Without Work.

And they think Trump has promised them that, along with only having to look at people just like themselves.

Hell, if they have to try to implement the fucking Mark Of The Beast to get it...that's what they think they're gonna do. That's the thing about cults, they can just get Fox News and the rest of the media to say "It's not the Mark Of The Beast when WE do it!" and too much of the Christian End Times Prophecy Movement itself will line up 'round the block to get that computer chip put in their forehead or their right hand. As long as its pitched as spiritual slavery to Capital, they don't care.

This is true whether it's my my Mom's chuckle-fuck MAGA neighbor or some goddamned billionaire.

Worse, when all these white racist motherfuckers find out that it's all a lie, that it's all been a lie intended to reduce them to Slavery, they'll shrug as long as the "Liberals" and whatever Brown People are left have to be a worse class of slave than they are.

And if you think the crazy shit will ever stop of these fucking people will ever get what they "Want" enough to stop demanding more? You're flat out wrong.

Either we stop this now, or it will never stop.

You either believe in freedom or you don't.

Welcome to the Revolution.

We didn't start it, they did.

So, pick a side.

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

Three

[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."

Bonus Content

Every one of the thousands at the airport, about to leave for Jeddah, was dressed this way. You could be a king or a peasant and no one would know. Some powerful personages, who were discreetly pointed out to me, had on the same thing I had on. Once thus dressed, we all had begun calling out "Labbayka! (Allahumma) Labbayka!" (Here I come, O Lord!) Packed in the plane were white, black, brown, red, and yellow people, blue eyes and blond hair, and my kinky red hair -- all together, brothers! All honoring the same God, all in turn giving equal honor to each other.

That is when I first began to reappraise the "white man." It was when I first began to perceive that "white man," as commonly used, means complexion only secondarily; primarily it described attitudes and actions. 

In America, "white man" meant specific attitudes and actions toward the black man, and toward all other non-white men. But in the Muslim world, I had seen that men with white complexions were more genuinely brotherly than anyone else had ever been. That morning was the start of a radical alteration in my whole outlook about "white" men. 

~Malcolm X, letter written following the Hajj.

War Dance (American Revelation XX, Three.)

Ka mate, ka mate! ka ora! ka ora!
Ka mate! ka mate! ka ora! ka ora!
Tēnei te tangata pūhuruhuru
Nāna nei i tiki mai whakawhiti te rā
Ā, upane! ka upane!
Ā, upane, ka upane, whiti te ra!

~Ka Mate, Maori Haka (main body)

...
'Tis Death, 'Tis Death, 'Tis Life, 'Tis Life
'Tis Death, 'Tis Death, 'Tis Life, 'Tis Life
This is the hairy man
Who caused the sun to shine again for me
Up the ladder, up the ladder!
Rise! The Sun shines.

~Ka Mate, Maori Haka, English translation.

(The Maori are the Native people of New Zealand. Among other things, they are known for the Haka, a war dance that many other traditional cultures believe has magical properties and is very powerful. This was in fact referenced by Morgan Freeman's portrayal of Nelson Mandela in Invictus. The most famous, Ka Mate, is the story of a Maori chief named Te Rauparaha who hides in a well, from pursuing enemies of other tribes. He evades his enemies and is rescued by an unnamed man who puts a ladder down the well so he can get out. Made world-famous thanks to its use by the New Zealand All Blacks Rugby team, Ka Mate is a story of the triumph of life over death.)

...

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.

I saw this yesterday.

Evidently, people in LA decided they'd had enough of ICE deportation raids and there was a massive protest and people surrounded a federal building. No violence except that done by Federal agents, no property damage to speak of, etc. Even the LAPD came right out and said so, commending the protestors for their obedience to the law and restraint.

The Trump administration promptly lost their shit and called in the California National Guard, who of course won't get there until the protest is over and I'm here to tell you, spending a couple days guarding a federal building in southern California in June in any amount of battle rattle for basically nothing sounds like it's own level of punishment from God.

These fucking Trump people are not smart.

There was a major protest and they started talking like there were Zombies marauding in the streets and eating people. If we get hit by pretty much any kind of crisis that can't be bought off by them stylin' for their base, these fucking people will crumble like the government of Afghanistan did almost four years ago. They are stupid, weak men.

And more to the point, they are the ones itching to try and start some kind of a Civil War, so that they can break up America and create a fiefdom for themselves, and do atrocities, don't forget that part.

Pete Hegseth thinks of himself as some kind of brave Crusader and thinks the rest of us are unworthy peasants. I've known guys like him, self-styled "Infidels" that don't know dick about Islam and most of the ones I knew either never served, or if they did they never were deployed to a Muslim country and never met or talked to any Muslims...and people like that are mostly just assholes and bitches who want to be mad about shit that will never affect them, that they think they'll never see anything for railing against it, etc. 

Shit, the guy I worked with like that was a fake biker and self-proclaimed martial artist (who didn't know shit about that, either) that had a tattoo of a Templar Knight, suffice it to say he didn't know shit about the history of the freaking Templars. Dude believed in about every conspiracy theory imaginable and got our one fake Pentecostal dude to go right along with him, at least as such was a decade ago. He thought all that and the fact that he'd been to jail or some shit made him tough, which thus made him somehow above the rest of us peasants. I never bothered to do anything but laugh at him, except I told him to fuck off once, don't remember what about.

What interaction with him I had, I was like, dude, you're a Custodian. You mop floors for a living. If you can do all that shit you keep talking, what you doing working here?? At least I can account for all the fuckups I did to land me in this shithole.

Funny enough, after he left us, somebody found out what he'd actually been to jail for...a low-level criminal sexual conduct charge, low-grade enough he could work at the casino anyway. I guess I was looking at the future of conservatism and I didn't even know it.

These fucking people don't want to be in government, they don't want to lead. 

They want to be Barons and Dukes and shit like that, with the fleshpot incestuous lifestyles and Wealth Without Work that they think goes with it, and they're pretty much acting like how Tom Clancy wrote the Chinese Communist Politburo in a couple of his novels. And the media pushed this on the country for nothing more than their own alleged profits and preference for covering crazy bullshit and palace intrigue. Both the media and the Trump administration seem to have the sort of level of entitlement that leads to people ending up being about a foot shorter, but from the neck up.

They're lazy and stupid and weak, but the problem with that is, so is a big chunk of the American electorate, apparently.

I still say it's going to come down to a fight to get rid of these assholes, but the evidence suggests it might not be as much of a fight as I've been worried about.

The thing is, in the short term unless you're careful, revolutions tend to lead to worse government and again, I'm warning you that these right-wing morons are, one way or another, going to try and break up the country before this is over, just so they can claim their own plot of land because something something Gazpacho. They don't seem to understand that the billionaires trying to pull the strings here would just as gladly enslave them as anybody else. And yes, when push comes to shove, if they have to, in order to preserve the idea of slavery, they'll be the damn slaves if it'll "Own The Libs."

As we've seen this week, Republicans aren't exactly a hivemind, they can't even agree on the things they all claim to agree on. Except, that is, for three things: #1 They think everything should be terrible because reasons (Seriously, this is the one common article of faith that "Conservatives" all have) and #2 "Fuck You, That's Why." Plus, (currently anyway) #3 Trump. (There's a side order of bigotry holding all this crap together, but I think that mostly falls under the second article, anyway.)

What they'll do when he's gone, I've no idea, but probably simply reverting to the first two ideals, which is all they ever really had before.

It seems like a hell of a way to live.

MAGA isn't a political movement, hell, it's not even a cult in the actual religious sense of the word (at least not yet. When Trump dies, we'll see, I guess?) It's a giant red foam-rubber middle finger aimed at the rest of us by people who, ten years ago, thought that flipping off the TV when Barack Obama was on it made some sort of a statement or made them look like something other than a racist jackass.

And they all think Trump is their Light and their Salvation. Most of them can't or won't tell you why they think that, either, in my experience.

They don't want to do anything, the trouble is, they don't want anybody else to do anything either and they think they can use Trump to make it so AI and Robots, or at least the rest of us peasants, have to do all the work and they can just get rich for having the right "beliefs" or some such bullshit.

Not one damn bit of this is sustainable, but they don't care.

Collapse, destruction for its own sake and failure are the point, just so long as they get to take everybody else down with them, and preferably make sure that rich people profit off the whole damn thing.

This isn't really about them.

That's the part that the media and the Democrats who only seem to care about keeping their place in the magical city and all the rest of these motherfuckers miss.

This is America, people. By definition, it is all about you, just not in the way the average narcissist likes to think.

It's about Us, We The People, by design.

And either we believe in Freedom or we don't.

Yes, it really is that simple.

You're either willing to put up with shitty fascists who think you should have to have their permission just to walk down the street, or you ain't.

There is no middle ground here.

Слава Україна!

 [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."

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

Vaporware Nation (American Revelation XX, Two.)

The martyrs of history were not fools, and our honored dead who gave their lives to stop the advance of the Nazis didn't die in vain. Where, then, is the road to peace? Well, it's a simple answer after all. You and I have the courage to say to our enemies, "There is a price we will not pay." There is a point beyond which they must not advance. This is the meaning in the phrase of Barry Goldwater's "peace through strength." Winston Churchill said that "the destiny of man is not measured by material computation. When great forces are on the move in the world, we learn we are spirits — not animals." And he said, "There is something going on in time and space, and beyond time and space, which, whether we like it or not, spells duty. ~Ronald Reagan

...

If we were base enough to desire it, it is now too late to retire from the contest. There is no retreat but in submission and slavery! Our chains are forged! Their clanking may be heard on the plains of Boston! The war is inevitable and let it come! I repeat it, sir, let it come. It is in vain, sir, to extenuate the matter. Gentlemen may cry, Peace, Peace but there is no peace. The war is actually begun! The next gale that sweeps from the north will bring to our ears the clash of resounding arms! Our brethren are already in the field! Why stand we here idle? What is it that gentlemen wish? What would they have? Is life so dear, or peace so sweet, as to be purchased at the price of chains and slavery? Forbid it, Almighty God! I know not what course others may take; but as for me, give me liberty or give me death! ~Patrick Henry

...

The ideal set up by the Party was something huge, terrible, and glittering — a world of steel and concrete, of monstrous machines and terrifying weapons — a nation of warriors and fanatics, marching forward in perfect unity, all thinking the same thoughts and shouting the same slogans, perpetually working, fighting, triumphing, persecuting — three hundred million people all with the same face. ~George Orwell, 1984.

I saw this last night.

Apparently, Elon and Trump are fighting.

It occurred to me that when this crap goes down, it's going to go very fast.

I remember in August of 2021, writing about the collapse of Afghanistan and the Fall of Kabul, I mean, like, seriously in the space of just a few days and entire country pretty much evaporated. Like, literally one day we heard "Oh shit, it's bad, the Afghan Army is getting their ass kicked by the Taliban." A day or two later, the Taliban were outside of Kabul and the Afghan government fell, everybody who could started trying to get the fuck out of the country and then the enemy held back for just a few days to permit an evacuation because the US and NATO all hurried up and at least got troops as far as Kabul international airport to protect an evacuation, which I also wrote about extensively for several days.

The Republic of Afghanistan was pretty much Vaporware Nation.

I know people, I served with people, who fought in Afghanistan. One of my best friends from my Air Force days ended up with severe PTSD because there was some part of his Self that never came back from that place, and he's one of the ones that didn't make it. The fall of the Republic of Afghanistan was one of the saddest damn things I have ever seen.

I'm starting to think when all this MAGA shit goes down, it's gonna be like that.

The only problem is that both Republicans and current Democratic leadership have effectively made sure that there's no one to replace them if they go.

And please, tell me, aside from idiot MAGA's like Cat Turd, who the hell's confidence does this government or the Republican Party even have??

I think when all this MAGA shit goes down, or when Trump kicks the bucket, or whatever, it's gonna take America with it.

And honestly, people like Gavin Newsom or Gretchen Whitmer are acting more like they wanna be the first-Presidents of US-successor states, and too few other people even care.

As for Republicans, LOL.

These fucking people cannot even agree on all the shit they allegedly agree about.

And I'm not even sure, if America collapses on our own idiocy and narcissism, that the rest of the world is gonna miss us when we're gone.

Five years ago I was writing about the height of COVID-19 and George Floyd and here's even post the I wrote five years ago today. Five years ago I was reasonably sure that we'd make it even through all that because we were America and here we are, now, five years later and I'm not even sure what that means anymore.

And if I, who swore an oath to this country and its Constitution, feel that way?? I believed in America enough to put my ass on the line for it. Now? A transgender friend in the Navy is being forced into early retirement and she's one of the lucky ones. (???)

How do all the Americans who America has never worked out for feel??

Damn, what's next??

Meanwhile, the rest of the world seems to be figuring out how to live without us just fine.

Like what the fuck do you even teach at the end of the day, about a country, historically speaking, that would elect Donald Trump as its last leader and put idiots like Dan Bongino (who doesn't even seem to know what his job is) in charge of its national security??

When there's a major crisis, or when there's resistance to their diktats, or what-the-fuck-ever...These Fucking People will crumble. Oh, sure, they'll try to kill their way into staying in power...and they'll kill plenty of MAGA's too...but when that doesn't work??

People like Dan Bongino or the idiot grocery cashier fresh out of college with no experience that he put in charge of counter-terrorism will shit themselves and run away screaming, only to be dug out of a spider hole months later by cops or troops from the beginning of whatever rises up to replace this goddamned soup sandwich.

And these assholes, yet again, appear to be way more concerned with what's happening to Russia than what's going on in the United States.

They are absolutely terrified that somebody, anybody, might follow the example of the Ukrainians and fight back.

Dan Bongino's initial claim to expertise, or at least sort-of fame was that he was a Secret Service agent.

This testicular-ly-challenged freak who's more afraid of our allies than the goddamned Enemy, Russia, or more accurately per Putin's own designs, what Reagan called the Evil Empire (which Vladimir Putin wants to bring back, he wants to make Russia the Soviet Union again, by the way) was an agent in the Clinton White House or something.

Stop and think about that, for a second.

I seem to remember pretty much the entire rest of the agency hated Dan Bongino, but for fuck's sake you'd think being a goddamn Secret Service agent would require a basic level of personal courage or some leadership ability? He has neither.

Not for the first time, I'm asking; What the fuck are we even doing here, America??

Do we know??

For fuck's sake the majority of Trumpers I've ever asked directly cannot or will not even tell me why they like Trump, and the rest offer some bullshit non-answer to the effect of "I like the shit he says."

But this is America and I sort of expect at least half the basic people on the street to be useless dumbasses. It's worse than that, now.

Trust me, I used to work in a casino.

People Are Stupid does not even begin to cover it.

But at least historically we expected better from certain people, I guess.

I generally expect even worse from half of Congress now, but I expect enough survival instincts to not do the kind of stupid shit that'd cost them their jobs, at least, I think??

Anybody that's allegedly a deputy director of a government agency should know something.

Or at least should have the sense not to panic about anything on goddamn TV??

How long has our system been being eaten from within by these useless twats who are supposed to know better if they paid attention to briefings or even their own fucking experience or training??

Does nobody at least have the sense to at least ask Chat GPT or whatever the fuck it is "What are principles of leadership??" Or, ya know, Google "I am a government official. Why am I here??"

The thing is, what a lot of us are about to find out the hard way is that Actions have Consequences.

Arrogance, lack of proper planning, stupidity, even something as simple as drinking local water or forgetting to change your socks can get you killed, severely injured or terribly sick in some of the dark and dangerous places in the world and being sick out in the field is about the worst thing imaginable for a young Airman.

These Fucking People, being poisonously stupid, want to make America like that...because they think it won't happen to them.

They figure they can cash out before it gets too bad, or some shit.

Real life tends not to work like that, as some people are finding out.

And in that specific context, either you believe in freedom or you don't.

That spell it out for you??

Disgusted??

Hell yes, I'm disgusted. Disgusted doesn't even begin to cover it.

Historians, teachers, if you're starting to look for some way to explain this bullshit to future generations, I'd suggest that we be covered as America: Vaporware Nation.

Слава Україна!

 [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."

One

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

Antichrists And Golden Images (American Revelation XX, One.)

[Luke is training with his lightsaber and a laser remote sphere aboard the Millennium Falcon]

Obi-Wan: Remember, a Jedi can feel the Force flowing through him.

Luke: You mean it controls your actions?

Obi-Wan: Partially, but it also obeys your commands.

[Luke gets shot by the remote sphere]

Han: [laughs] Hokey religions and ancient weapons are no match for a good blaster at your side, kid.

Luke: You don't believe in the Force, do you?

Han: Kid, I've flown from one side of this galaxy to the other. I've seen a lot of strange stuff, but I've never seen anything to make me believe there's one all-powerful Force controlling everything. There's no mystical energy field that controls my destiny. [Kenobi smiles] Anyway, it's all a lot of simple tricks and nonsense.

Obi-Wan: [gets up and takes a blast helmet] I suggest you try it again, Luke. Only this time, let go your conscious self and act on instinct. [puts the helmet on Luke, which covers his eyes]

Luke: But with the blast shield down, I can't even see! How am I supposed to fight?

Obi-Wan: Your eyes can deceive you. Don't trust them. [remote sphere shoots Luke] Stretch out with your feelings! [watches Luke succeed in blocking the lasers... just before they fire] You see? You can do it.

Han: I call it luck.

Obi-Wan: In my experience, there is no such thing as luck.

~From Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope.

...

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

...

There will be no curiosity, no enjoyment of the process of life. All competing pleasures will be destroyed. But always — do not forget this, Winston — always there will be the intoxication of power, constantly increasing and constantly growing subtler. Always, at every moment, there will be the thrill of victory, the sensation of trampling on an enemy who is helpless. If you want a picture of the future, imagine a boot stamping on a human face — forever. ~George Orwell, 1984

I saw this over the weekend.

Apparently, Trump is willing to go after even longtime conservative stalwarts like Leonard Leo of the Federalist Society, simply because judges he got appointed ruled against Trump, presumably because they believe...on some level...that laws actually matter and that things function better when people can reasonably well predict, based on a certain set of variables, such as laws, what the State will do in any given moment or how it will react to any given crisis.

Trump has also...possibly as a function of his dementia...been very openly descending into rabid conspiracy theory madness, simply because it's there, I guess? Like, these fucking people (especially Trump, who was, ya know, the President in 2020) have to know this fucking bullshit is a lie at this point.

But they keep finding gullible idiots and other grifters who'll play along, so they keep doing it. That lying is a Sin does not seem to matter to These Fucking People one damned bit.

Again, "Christians" my ass. And yes, they know exactly what they're doing.

Like, what the fuck are we even doing here, America??

Also, on Sunday night I saw that the Ukrainian military had launched a massive attack against Russian Long-Range Aviation, destroying around 40 various TU-22M, TU-95 and TU-160 strategic bombers at bases spread from the Kola Peninsula in northern Europe to near Irkutsk in Siberia. Go ahead, stop and think about that for a second. Jesus.

I'm a United States Air Force bomb wing security forces veteran. What the Ukrainians did to the Russians this weekend (by themselves and without our help) is the rough equivalent of somebody taking out Barksdale Air Force Base and the entire 2nd Bomb Wing. Hell, we could retire the B-1B Lancer force now and still be decades ahead of where the Russians are now. 

And they cannot replace the aircraft, as only the TU-160M Backfire remains in (very limited) production. Add to that, that Russian battlefield casualties are about to surpass ONE MILLION if they haven't already.

Meanwhile, America is sitting on its ass, basically jerking off and descending into crazy-land for no good reason. 

Look here; While the country that was supposed to take 3 days to conquer (Checks Notes: Three and a half years ago now) cheerfully kicks Vladimir Putin's ass again, we're pretty much as a nation getting high, eating Cheetos and engaging in the political equivalent of watching Spongebob while billionaires loot the country and fascists run wild in our streets terrorizing Brown people, again, for no good damn reason.

Nobody's invading the USA, nobody except Russia is even seriously threatening us.

(And these assholes got mad because the Ukrainians didn't tell them they were going to pull this goddamn beautiful drone operation.) At minimum another country just assured that in case of nuclear war 40 less US cities will get bombed and these fuckers don't even appreciate it.)

People come here, basically, to do the jobs that Americans don't want to do. What exactly does it say about Stephen Miller that he feels threatened by this??

I mean, dude just got his wife stolen by Elon Musk, of all fucking people. Never mind that all three of them look about as attractive to me as a sheet pan full of frozen chicken (white meat, of course) and have about as much personality. Evidently, among themselves, there was some level of manipulation and seduction going on. (Ew.)

So dude overcompensates by trying to accuse Democrats (again, of all the fucking people) and regular people of being terrorists simply for resisting his ethnic-cleansing wank-fest agenda. I mean, come on, dude.

I'd ask, Jesus, just how fucking weak are these fucking people? But, I'm afraid eventually we're going to find out. 

Also, since these fucking people have all jacked "Conservative" America this damn hard, finding out that this shit is nothing but vaporware will probably break the damn country. I mean, yeah, the "Oh, hey, we fucked up" is starting to really set in, but not near with enough people yet.

And by the way, even ICE goons and Republicans are very much acting like they know there's going to be an "after" to all this, where they might have to try to hide their participation.

They just want to try to get their kicks in while they can, before the world says "No More."

The question is; Where might one get the idea that this bullshit is Okay?

Well, start with the fact that I also saw a whole bunch of stuff this weekend about some kind of Pentecostal rally on Hollywood Boulevard that there was no permit or preparation for, and from what I can tell it was just the standard Unga Bunga stupid bullshit and self-worship that goes with that sort of thing, and the cops were just fine with it as long as they were off the streets by rush hour or some shit.

You want to start dealing with the rest of America's problems? Start addressing the narcissism, start doing something about the fact that so much of America's religion not only is a self-reverential wank-fest (and has been for a generation, trust me, I was there.) I remember when we used to laugh at these kind of people in my church. Well, about a decade later, it was the standard-conservative, Fundamentalist-adjacent churches like I went to, not to mention more Fundamentalist types, that were in retreat and the Prosperity Gospel nonsense that was ascendant.

Now, this sort of thing isn't always blatant self-worship and narcissistic acting-out with a thin coating of Jesus-paint, but it very often is exactly that, and then some, and it ends up being damaging to people's faith.

And it's getting so, outside of major denominations that didn't let that crap in the door in the first place, it's all that's left. I watched my old association get taken over by this bullshit and I watched everybody who cared leave, because it's what they could even do and keep their sanity. Trust me, I get it.

Now, personally, I no longer have any issues with Pentecostals overall...so long as they leave me alone and mind their own business...but there's a large sub-sect of them that does exactly the opposite of that and does shit like shut down Hollywood Boulevard for an afternoon 

(and somehow, that's Okay with the LAPD?? What??)

Sorry, and I say this knowing that a substantial portion of American Christianity is very fucked in the head. But what the hell are these nuts even on??

The thing is, it can get worse.

What's worse is, if you think we're cooked...check out how bad of a case of far-right brain-worms Liz Truss has gotten herself into.

And it's worth noting here that the UK is one hell of a lot more atheistic of a country than the United States, that American-style Evangelical or Fundamentalist Christianity isn't really much of a thing outside of Northern Ireland, and that (in my experience, anyway) the typical devout Pentecostal in the UK is more likely to be Nigerian or some other African immigrant and politically basically a socialist. The church I used to live by downstate had a fair-sized contingent of these kind of people, most of whom had come via Canada or the UK, and they were mostly alright.

There's a certain level of religious fuckery that's almost uniquely American. The trouble is every once in awhile, you get somebody from somewhere else who wants to try to keep up.

So, it's unlikely to spread very far...that's until you realize that in the British political class, it doesn't have to. There's a lot fewer of them and it's more of a closed system that starts in prep school and shit.

And that's the thing, isn't it?

We're supposed to be like, THE world-leader, WE should, theoretically, be the ones out there fucking up the Russians with the Ukrainians as some sort of proxy, but it's not that, anymore, is it?? Because half of America wants to keep feeling "Special" and making money to the absolute exclusion of all else, and it's killing us. We have basically become a nation of fucking addicts seeking Wealth Without Work.

And whether it's Dopamine or Ketamine, the shit is getting out of control.

Literally.

And until we address this national narcissism and start fucking fixing it, narcissism is the only thing we're going to lead the world in.

Freedom is hard, I understand that.

Well, guess what? It's even harder when you're insane.

And the problem with a lot of this crap (take it from somebody who has actual mental issues) is that a lot of this insanity is apparently voluntary and self-programmed and a lot of it is grounded in bigotry that most of us know is wrong, but too many of us want to keep doing anyway.

And if we don't stop this shit, we're going to lose.

If we don't start reintroducing concepts like consequences for bad behavior, shame and social sanction, if we can't call crazy out as CRAZY, if we can't make words have meaning again, we're fucked.

As long as decency or truth is optional, there will be people who refuse to have either.

You either believe in freedom or you don't.

It really is that simple.

The Ukrainians get it.

Why don't we??

Did America get too comfortable, or what??

'Cause I see that evaporating real quick, at the rate things are going.

But there's some people who get so high off following this Antichrist bullshit that I don't think they'll ever stop.

And if we can't fix it, if this country splits up, writ large we're still going to have the same problems even if a majority of the successor-states drift or force-march back towards a reality-based worldview, because there will likewise be some that don't.

And they will likely only get worse as they see the rest of the world reject their bullshit.

Note: The most important part is it's their bullshit.

Look, I don't care how "Special" you think you are, you ain't God.

Maybe it's time to grow the fuck up and start acting like it.

We can tear down the Golden Image, or we can be torn down by it.

Слава Україна!

Simon Adebisi: See, we are all of us bad men, even you. I know you have come to destroy me.

Kareem Said: Simon, I don't want to destroy you. I want to help you change.

Simon Adebisi: That is what would destroy me. 

~From the HBO series Oz, S4.E8 "You Bet Your Life."

Prequel

I am the Lord thy God, which have brought thee out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage.
Thou shalt have no other gods before me.
Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image, or any likeness of any thing that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth.
Thou shalt not bow down thyself to them, nor serve them: for I the Lord thy God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation of them that hate me; ~Exodus 20:2-5

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 musick, 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