"What mean ye that ye beat my people to pieces, Unlike the U.S. House of Representatives’ efforts some months ago, this was not theater. The Senate was deadly serious about stripping tens of millions of Americas of their health care in order to keep a foolish promise to a foolish base while, at the same time, lining the pockets of House members’ wealthy bribers. Fortunately—or unfortunately, depending upon one’s perspective—Republicans are better at theater than governance. It is still too early to know the outcome of all these shenanigans. But whether the stalemate continues or is somehow ended, we can now expect the “moderate” Republicans who voted against the destructive and cynical plans of their party leaders to be “primaried” from the right. Probably some Tea Party lunatic. And because those Tea Party enthusiasts, like Archie Bunker’s admiring and approving audience of yesteryear, are too ignorant to know that they are simply being made fools of, we will end up with some right-wing nut job in place of a “moderate,” making it more likely that the next Republican campaign of mass murder of the poor will succeed. We on the left have a vested interest in seeing that these “moderate” Republicans, already nearly extinct, are not outflanked on their right and disappear completely. Now, there is no reason to believe that the right-wing extremists can be reasoned with. They are not rational. So, talking is out. Neither is there any reason to believe that Republicans (or Democrats, for that matter), are prepared to say ‘no’ to the bribes of the wealthy class that corrupts the entire governing process. In light of these realities, it may be time for those of us on the left to hold our noses and take drastic, even repugnant measures. We may have to set aside our Democrat voter registration I.D.s and register as Republicans so that we can vote in the Republican primary in hopes of defeating the lunatic extremists on the right. We can always vote for the more left leaning candidate in the general election. And if by chance the “moderate Republican” wins in the general election, well, perhaps that is the price we pay to keep the lunatics on the far right out of office. These people are simply that dangerous and that wicked. Just a thought. Maybe I’ll start a campaign. We could call it something like, “Sheep in wolves clothing.” Registering as Republicans has an added advantage. We are well aware of the right’s attempts to reduce the number of voters and to suppress voter turnout. It seems unlikely they will come after registered Republican voters. How can they be sure whose really a wolf, and whose a sheep pretending to be a wolf? So, “Democratic” voters, register as Republicans. Come to think of it, perhaps African Americans should all just register as Republicans. Then, by God, I bet those on the right won’t be so quick to deny them the vote! "Woe unto them that decree unrighteous decrees,
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"Now these lawyers were learned in all the arts and cunning of the people; and this was to enable them that they might be skilful in their profession. Today’s post will be a somewhat wide-ranging affair. Hopefully, I can provide the cohesion that I find in the diversity. I placed an op-ed piece by Jeffrey Sacks on the Just Reporting page of this site. I would like to comment on and expand on a couple of points that he makes. It is no secret that I am not a fan of the current conservative supreme court. Among the many evils they have propagated is, as Sacks points out, the legalization of bribery in politics. As far as I am concerned, it is as clear as clear can be that the court’s decision in the Citizens United case, along with several others like it, is utterly corrupt and legalizes criminal behavior. I headed this post with a statement of the great Book of Mormon missionary, Amulek. “The unrighteousness of [our] lawyers and [our] judges” are indeed laying “the foundation of the destruction of this people.” However well-known and oft quoted, this passage is often, I think, misunderstood. It is not a criticism of individual lawyers and judges. It is a criticism of the entire legal system. More broadly, it is really a criticism of our culture. Let me try to explain what I mean. In their rulings, such as that found in Citizens United, the judges of the supreme court only rule on behavior in which others are already engaged. Individuals and corporations were already engaged in a form of bribery. They either saw no immorality in their behavior or did not care. Either way, it is they, the people, who, in appealing to the supreme court, wished to have their immoral behavior found legal and acceptable. In their ruling, the supreme court simply affirmed their legal right to bribe. To use Amulek’s language, they only laid the [legal] foundation for behavior in which the people were already engaged. The supreme court was, then, as they always are, “reactionary”—that is to say, they were reacting to the culture in which they live. As part of the same culture as those who brought the case, they were simply ruling out of the traditions they had inherited from the culture—notwithstanding all the highfalutin nonsense about objectivity, constitutional originalism, etc. So, as we say, Amulek’s criticism of “lawyers and judges” is really a criticism of the judicial system. But the judicial system is thoroughly part of and influenced by the culture—that is to say the citizenry, the people. Criticism of the judicial system is a criticism of the culture, the people. (After all, while Caligula nominated Gorsuch, the people elected Caligula to nominate Gorsuch). This, it seems to me, is clear from Amulek’s comments. He claims that the lawyers were “learned in all the arts and cunning of the people.” Judges and lawyers are part of their culture. They practice the arts, cunning, and evils--the traditions—of the culture. These are arts, cunning, evils, and traditions shared by all in the culture. Tradition and culture. For the most part, these simply go unnoticed, unexamined, and unquestioned. They explain, in part, why good people support policies and people that, on the face of it, would seem to be contrary to their personal beliefs. They act upon traditions inherited from their fathers and that have gone unexamined. In my indictments of an America Christianity that supports and sustains our American Caligula, I often hear the complaint that these are good people about whom I speak so rudely. To an extent, this is true—individually. However, they have imbibed in many false traditions of their fathers. These in many instances lead them to act and feel contrary to their individual belief system. From these false traditions, they make many immoral choices, that, again, might be in tension with their (softly) held principles. There is simply no question. By every standard, our American Caligula is an immoral man. His policies are immoral in every way. He maintains the support of his rabid base, including that of American “Christians” with the assistance of the false traditions inherited from their fathers. Need examples of false traditions. Here is but one of many that could be sited. We are currently having a debate about health care. Those elected, with strong support from “Christians,” are attempting to dismantle an imperfect attempt to accomplish the most moral of objectives—provide health care to poor and vulnerable portions of our population. How can this be? How could anyone proclaim against this attempt, imperfect as it is? Well, we ask, who, according to the tradition of the fathers, are the poor? They are, in the mind of the tradition, African Americans. Never mind that the poor are not only or primarily African American. Let’s just pretend the false tradition has one scintilla of truth to it. What is wrong with providing African Americans who cannot afford it, with subsidized health care? Answer, according to the tradition: African Americans are not fully human. Thus we had slavery. Thus were African Americans denied voting rights for most of American history. Thus have they been denied basic civil, even human rights for most of American history. We have found our way out of slavery (much to the chagrin of many a southerner), and have even grudgingly and unevenly granted African Americans a modicum of human rights. We “allow” them to vote—though even this is currently under attack by “Christian”-backed extremists. But the tradition we inherited from “inspired founding fathers” is still there, screwing things up in the back of our heads. Are African Americans really and fully human? Are they fully Americans? Are they fully “us” or are they still “them”? Thus, Americans, joined by so-called Christians, having inherited the tradition, act and vote in ways that are, in fact, contrary to every fair and good principle they ever heard in their constitution and every Christian principle they ever read in their precious Bible. Perhaps the American people are basically good. Perhaps American Christianity is not completely bankrupt of all righteousness. But the traditions they have inherited from their fathers are dampening these good and righteous impulses. They are leading them to do things like vote for and applaud the most immoral president of my life time and, likely, in American history. The only thing in which he and his Republican cabal will make America great again is immorality and rebellion against God. "Beware lest any man spoil you through philosophy and vain deceit, after the tradition of men, after the rudiments of the world, and not after Christ” (Colossians 2.1). “And I will come near to you to judgment; and I will be a swift witness against the sorcerers, and against the adulterers, and against false swearers, and against those that oppress the hireling in his wages, the widow, and the fatherless, and that turn aside the stranger from his right, and fear not me, saith the LORD of hosts” (Malachi 3.5). In his powerful book, The Half Has Never Been Told: Slavery and the Making of American Capitalism, Edward E. Baptist writes, “For seventy years, southern and northern economic and political elites—and many average white citizens—had cooperated to extract profit and power from the forced movement and exploitation of enslaved people’s bodies and minds. Always, the proslavery forces had made the rest of the United States choose between profitable expansion of the slave country or economic slowdown.” Unfortunately, economic and political elites are still at it. Today, the price we pay for economic expansion, so they say, is what some critics refer to as “wage slavery.” Now, there are those who have theorized that anytime a man or woman agrees to work for a wage, they have entered a form of slavery. I am not so extreme. However, in today’s economic environment, many corporations, with a nod of the head and wink of an eye by politicians of all stripes, have suppressed common wages and kept the minimum wage so wickedly low as to, essentially, have created indentured servants. In addition, employers have, again with politicians’ blessing, stripped away benefits such as health care and pensions. And while all of this is happening, company profits go up, already rich stock holders get richer, and CEO’s salaries and bonuses go through the roof. Really? You can’t cut just a tad, a trifling mite into your grotesquely gigantic financial portfolio to give that skilled technician who installs your customers’ cable service a measly little raise so he or she is making $15 dollars an hour rather than $10 or $12? You know, the one you demand six 10-12 hour days’ labor a week; the one who gets no paid vacation (while you sail on your yacht during one of your 20 weeks a year vacation); the one you take from his or her family so that their children see them 15 minutes a day? By how many hundreds could we multiply this one example? Great “Family Values” you have there. You are pathetic. Cro-Magnon. Your behavior is ungodly. It is anti-Christ. “It be sin unto you.”[1] You are, not doubt, simply acting the part of “disciple.” Following the “Satanic Verses” written by one such as the false prophet, Milton Friedman, who “holds that a corporation that acts responsibly toward the community in which it does its business is shirking its only duty: to maximize its short-term stock valuation.”[2] Of course, your guilt is, perhaps, nothing compared to others; you know, those who claim to know better; who claim grace and inspiration and discernment through the Holy Spirit; those who call themselves Christian. O, how many so-called Christians, with the Bible sitting at their fingertips shouting at them to do otherwise, actively condone and support such immoral behavior or, by their silence, assent to the ungodly oppression of the poor! It is mind-boggling. The entire unseemly gaggle—corporatists, politicians, and “Christians”—are united in their commitment to shamefully set at naught the commandments of a just God, and reject his attempt to assist “deviant us” in the formation of a just society. “This is a rebellious people, lying children, children that will not hear the law of the LORD: Which say to the seers, ‘See not;’ and to the prophets, ‘prophesy not unto us right things, speak unto us smooth things, prophesy deceits: Get you out of the way, turn aside out of the path, cause the Holy One of Israel to cease from before us.’”[3] Where is the Christian prophetic voice? Obsessed and diverted by gay marriage and all other genitalia related matters, they have forgotten or ignored or denied that “the love of money is the root of all evil.”[4] This one passage captures the message that is at the heart of so much of the Old Testament prophets. But, alas, the watchmen have not, or will not blow the trump. Rather, “…The shepherds of Israel… do feed themselves! Should not the shepherds feed the flocks? Ye eat the fat, and ye clothe you with the wool, ye kill them that are fed: but ye feed not the flock. The diseased have ye not strengthened, neither have ye healed that which was sick, neither have ye bound up that which was broken, neither have ye brought again that which was driven away, neither have ye sought that which was lost; but with force and with cruelty have ye ruled them. And they were scattered, because there is no shepherd: and they became meat to all the beasts of the field, when they were scattered. My sheep wandered through all the mountains, and upon every high hill: yea, my flock was scattered upon all the face of the earth, and none did search or seek after them.”[5] Too many Christian shepherds have been taken in by the sorcery of wealth; heeded the siren call of the wealthy “wizards that peep, and that mutter.” “But, should not a people seek unto their God? To the law and to the testimony: if they speak not according to this word, it is because there is no light in them.”[6] Be warned, those wizards of wealth and those false prophets who oppress are not to be trusted. “Their throat is an open sepulcher; with their tongues they have used deceit; the poison of asps is under their lips… destruction and misery are in their ways.”[7] [1] Deuteronomy 24.15 [2] See, The Deep State: The Fall of the Constitution and the Rise of a Shadow Government, Mike Lofgren, chapter 7. [3] Isaiah 30.9-11 [4] 1 Timothy 6.10 [5] Ezekiel 34.2-6 [6] See Isaiah 8.19-20 [7] Romans 3.13 & 16 Thou shalt not oppress an hired servant that is poor and needy, whether he be of thy brethren, or of thy strangers that are in thy land within thy gates: at his day thou shalt give him his hire, neither shall the sun go down upon it; for he is poor, and setteth his heart upon it: lest he cry against thee unto the Lord, and it be sin unto thee” (Deuteronomy 24.14-15). “O full of all subtilty and all mischief, thou child of the devil, thou enemy of all righteousness, wilt thou not cease to pervert the right ways of the Lord?” (Acts 13.10) “I was honestly concerned that he might lie.” Wise man. We all should wish there were tapes. If Comey said it once, he said it 4, 5, 6, 7 times. The man is a liar. He is not to be trusted. Truer words have seldom been spoken in the halls of government. Of course, he’s just stating the obvious, really. It has been clear from the beginning. America’s Caligula is a liar. He is a con artist. He has lied his entire life and never been held accountable. He never ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever speaks a truth, except by accident. Now he has managed to perpetrate the greatest con in American political history and become President of these Dis-United States. Will he finally be held accountable? Not by those who call themselves Christians, he won’t! Those who falsely claim to have discernment through the Holy Spirit can’t see what is perhaps the clearest thing that has happened in decades in an always murky American political system. He is a con artist. They’ve been had. Conned by a fiendishly professional and skilled con artist. A master of illusion. A sorcerer. Willingly and willfully, they’ve been conned. “If ye were blind, ye should have no sin: but now ye say, ‘We see;’ therefore your sin remaineth” (John 9.41). “O ye hypocrites, ye can discern the face of the sky; but can ye not discern the signs of the times? (Matthew 16.3) “And it came to pass that Enoch looked upon the earth; and he heard a voice from the bowels thereof, saying: ‘Wo, wo is me, the mother of men; I am pained, I am weary, because of the wickedness of my children. When shall I rest, and be cleansed from the filthiness which is gone forth out of me? When will my Creator sanctify me, that I may rest, and righteousness for a season abide upon my face?’” (Moses 7.48) The astonishing madness continues to gush, spilling over into ever widening channels. The newest spew of madness is, as usual, based on ignorance, arrogance, deceptions, murderous idolatry, and religious perversion. In yet another act of impure theater, America’s Caligula[1] has withdrawn an ignorant and greedy nation from the Paris Climate Accord. One of three nations rejecting the accord, it has shown itself to be, in very fact, the greatest danger to and the most wicked nation on planet earth. I call it theater based on ignorance because, though his ardent and admiring audience presumably does not know it, the “accord” had no teeth. It was less edict, and more mild suggestion. All “suggestions” were “voluntary.” There was no way and no organization to “enforce” its “suggestions.” Under an unprincipled and sick Caligula, who could remain in the accord while ignoring all suggestions without consequence, not one single job would ever be lost… never mind that it could create millions of jobs, as the much wiser Chinese well know. I suppose that they will now become the world leader in searching out investment opportunities aimed at renewable energy sources. While they prepare for the future, we will remain bogged down in outdated and polluting energy sources. I call it theater based on ignorance because neither the perverted actor nor his adoring minions has the intellectual honesty to acknowledge the indisputable truth that we—whether, or not, you believe that humans are contributing to global warming—are doing unconscionable violence to our God-given global inheritance. And, really, what is the problem with taking care of the planet, whether we are having an impact upon it or not? I call it theater based on deception because Caligula’s administration knows there was no need to withdraw; knows there would be no need to act in accordance with the accord; knows there would be no consequence for non-compliance; knows that with inaction not one American job would be lost; knows that not one job will be created as a result of our withdrawal; knows that many jobs will be lost through neglect of renewable energy advancements; and knows that we are doing immeasurable harm to the planet. All this deception is simply meant to feed the beastly and mad crowd with the lies it craves. Caligula’s circus, a modern-day version of flesh-eating lions, has excited his mobs, who cheer the tyrant on to ever more and greater outrages. He does not stand on some street of New York and kill someone, as he once boasted he could do without consequence. Rather, he sits in his office and threatens millions; for which he receives the accolades of his depraved hordes. I, for my part give his killing circus a big thumbs down. I call it theater based on murderous idolatry because, though no jobs will be lost and no economic disadvantage will come to the good ol’ U.S of A if it remains in the accord, the little man has told his disciples otherwise. His reason for leaving, he claims, is to get gain. His minions cheer his greed. His minions suck on the teats of his greed. His greed is their greed. Mammon is their god. They have, all of them, as Cain of old, murdered to get gain. Sold their souls for filthy lucre. I call it theater based on arrogance because Caligula does what Caligula wants—and to hell with the rest of the planet. How long before they all go their own way without us? We have proven that we can be trusted with nothing but our own selfish self-interests. Hopefully, in his arrogance, and in the arrogance of his minions, he will finally put an end to the ungodly American hegemony that has for too long polluted (pun intended) the world. I call it theater based on religious perversion because the most adoring portion of his craven audience—white unchristian evangelicals and fundamentalists—claiming an unction of the Holy Spirit by which they discern truth from error, good from evil, loudly applaud Caligula’s intended defilement of our divine inheritance. Oh, what language is sufficient to describe the perversion of those who claim so falsely that they, with their eyes anointed with the unction of the Holy Spirit, “need not that any man teach” them when, in fact, their eyes and ears and hearts and minds are slathered with a thick coating of hell’s putrid muck? In the end, it is this religious perversion of the unchristian right that is most damning. What do we do when the “righteous” fail? Caligula is simply sick in the head. To some degree he “knows not what he does.” But those who vainly take the name of God onto their lips and claim to see… they are the real threat to our nation and to all that is good and pure in the world. “How are the mighty fallen!” [1] Up to now, refusing to call him by name—thus denying him a certain degree of power—I have only referred to the latest POTUS as “that man” (emphasis on the “little”). But, I have decided to give him a name. It is a name he has well earned. The name by which he will be known on the pages of this site is “Caligula,” “little boots.” Consistent with my paste manner of referring to him, the name still emphasizes his smallness of character, but has the added benefit of emphasizing his madness. “Make the heart of this people fat, "For your hands are defiled with blood, That man has spent the week in the Near East, where he has attempted to spread his contagion of wickedness. He has committed himself and our country to a new course: “We will not preach. We will not speak to you of ‘American Values.’” That’s good, cus’ our values suck. Human rights? Look at what we have done in our own borders. See what violence we have forever and always perpetrated against African Americans. See how we treat women. Watch how we kill mentally ill people. Listen to our hateful speech about LBGT. More recently, look at what that man is doing to immigrants. Look what he wants to do to Muslims. Have a look at the latest GOP health care bill. Peruse that man’s latest murderous budget. Perhaps we should all be relieved that he isn’t going to lecture anyone about values. The new buzzword, the latest “value” is “transactional.” During his Near Eastern visits, the man donned his plaid sport coat and made his sells pitch. “Help us create new jobs and put our people back to work.” “‘How,’ you ask? Our skilled workers build the deadliest weapons known to man. Purchase our wonderful weapons. What a bargain we’ll give you. Help us flood the planet with weapons of mass destruction.” These latest “transactions” tells us all we need to know about our values. OUR values. OURS. We have heard a good deal of criticism of the man. But have we heard one cross word about this transactional offer? Nope. Politicians are happy. Laborers are happy. Hell, even Christians are happy. More money with which to line our pockets. So what if it has blood all over it? What kind of nation does this? What kind of nation creates jobs by selling weapons of mass destruction? What kind of people kill others to feed their own little babies? Not a decent nation. Not a Christian nation. No, a wicked, wicked nation. A wicked, wicked nation marching toward the besom of destruction. Mine is not simply a voice of complaint; one that points out the flaws and does nothing about it. No, I am a preacher. And I resist this evil with the only tool I know—the “foolishness of preaching.” I plead with and admonish those who profess to be disciples of Christ. You must not be taken in by this blasphemy. You must stand up and lift your voices loudly. You must demand an end to this madness. Demand it by e-mail. Demand it by phone calls. Demand it in marches. Demand it in the voting booth. Demand it in the name of Almighty God. Cry aloud: “Stop! We will not abandon the sick and needy. We will not support governmental abuse of strangers or the harm of millions of innocent children. We will not stand with those who seek to grow our economy by weaponizing the planet. We will have none of this, lest our hands be stained with the blood of martyrs; for we know the Lord will hear their complaint. “Stop the madness now.” "I saw under the altar the souls of them that were slain… and they cried with a loud voice, saying, "And again Alma commanded that the people of the church should impart of their substance, every one according to that which he had; if he have more abundantly he should impart more abundantly; and of him that had but little, but little should be required; and to him that had not should be given. And thus they should impart of their substance of their own free will and good desires towards God…” (Mosiah 18.27-28) An opinion piece recently appeared in the Deseret News (of all places!), written by Taylor G. Petrey, and entitled “The Failures of Mormon conservatism.” Many of the thoughts and observations found in the piece closely match my own.[1] Can I just say, as an aside, how macabrely humorous I found the Deseret News 12 May update found immediately above this piece’s title? “2017 GUN LAWS (Updated) Avoid Concealed Carry Mistakes and Stay Out of Jail With Your Free Map usconcealedcarry.net” Talk about Madness! I can’t begin to describe all the absurdities I find in this innocent little update. Anyway, back to the opinion piece. There is an editor’s note found below the opinion’s title linking three responses to the original piece. I will not respond to all that was said in either the original piece or the responses. However, I want to make a few observations. Those who are opposed to having their tax dollars used for welfare and “wealth-redistribution” purposes often claim that the collection of funds for such purposes is “coercive” and does violence to “moral agency.” Often it accompanies some nonsense about Satan’s plan. (I will not go into my own objections to having one red cent of my tax dollars spent to wage bloody war the globe over). No Mormon, it seems to me, can seriously maintain such a stance without condemning the Church to which they proclaim fealty. If you don’t pay your taxes, you’re going to jail. If you don’t pay your tithing, you’re going to hell.[2] I am not telling you anything you don’t already know. If a Mormon wishes to remain a “citizen” with full “benefits,” especially those associated with the temple, they must, absolutely must, pay their tithing.” Do not tell me that this is not “coercive.” It is difficult to imagine anything more “pressure packed.” Is a member of the Church, I wonder, who does not participate in the highest ordinances of the temple… do they… can they really feel that they are a “full citizen” of the kingdom? Can they feel anything other than that they are second class citizens? Further, if the Mormon does not pay these “temple taxes,” they cannot go to the temple and do the work that will link them to a spouse, a child, a mother, a father, a great-great-great-great-grandfather, etc., etc., etc. Since they cannot be saved without such linkage, they are damned. Now, let’s see, which is more “coercive”? Pay up or be fined, maybe jailed? Or Pay up, or be half a person in this life, and live a lone life apart from loved ones in the next? “Oh, but wait. Whether I pay my tithing, or not, is up to me. I pay tithing voluntarily. No one forces me.” We will not ask how “voluntary” it really is with such applied pressures as we mentioned above. But we will ask this, “What is to stop you from paying your taxes voluntarily? What is to stop you from paying taxes with the same sense of freedom that you pay your tithing?” I, for one, though I despise the warmongering for which my taxes are so often utilized, pay taxes for the same reason I pay my tithing. It is an obligation I owe to my community. As for me and my house, taxes are, as hard as it will be for some to believe, a “freewill” offering. I pay them because I want to (while continuing to lobby against American militarism). The “coercion” so many find in the paying of taxes is all in their head. If they would repent, they would be a good deal happier. “Oh, but I agree with the Church’s use of my “temple tax.” Again, we will not address the waste that attends Church funds. I saw it many, many times as a Church employee. It wasn’t intended. It wasn’t the consequence of dishonesty. It is simply what happens in a huge bureaucracy—the bigger the bureaucracy, the bigger the waste. Rather, I will address, in the briefest of ways, a principle “disagreement” so many of these disloyal “patriots” have about the use of their taxes. Many complain about their taxes being used for “welfare” and for the purpose of “redistributing wealth.” Such complaints, in addition to swirling around false issues of coercion, often rest upon the judgement that those receiving the assistance—food, housing, healthcare subsidies, etc.—are “unworthy.” Such “unworthies,” it is argued, are the cause of their own difficulties. They manage their lives poorly. “I shouldn’t have to bail them out the trouble into which they have gotten themselves.” Never mind that a huge percentage of such “unworthies” are innocent children. We will only remind such rascals, again, of something that they should already know. “Perhaps thou shalt say: The man has brought upon himself his misery; therefore I will stay my hand, and will not give unto him of my food, nor impart unto him of my substance that he may not suffer, for his punishments are just” (Mosiah 4.17). Need I even go on? Apparently so. “But I say unto you, O man, whosoever doeth this the same hath great cause to repent; and except he repenteth of that which he hath done he perisheth forever, and hath no interest in the kingdom of God” (Mosiah 4.18). Lobby to deny the use of your taxes to help the poor, if you must. But you must not, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever lobby to deny the use of your taxes to help the poor because they have brought it upon themselves, because they are unworthy. This you are not permitted to do. Not ever, ever, ever, ever. Not, at least, if you want any “interest in the kingdom of God.” My bottom line. Make paying taxes a freewill offering. Stop trying to hide the narrowness of charity behind the smokescreen of “coercion.” Stop judging the poor with false and arrogant judgement. [1] You can find a link for it on the Just Reporting page of this site. [2] There is a common, and false, claim among many that anything short of the celestial kingdom is hell. "For who maketh thee to differ from another? And what hast thou that thou didst not receive? Now if thou didst receive it, why dost thou glory, as if thou hadst not received it? (1 Corinthians 4.7). Woe unto them that decree unrighteous decrees, In an act of impure messaging rather than legislating, the GOP “led” house passed their “we-don't-care-about-health-care-act” yesterday. Having previously supplied their junkie base, rabidly mad, with a continuing stream of lies and vain hopes, they have injected them with another shot of poisonous lies to fix their addiction to self-serving untruth. The GOP cynics have done all of this at the expense of a nation’s physical and spiritual health, and to the great cost of our most vulnerable and sick citizens. These drug dealers of hallucination have no idea what the consequences of their “fake bill” will be. They will not wait to find out. They will not wait because it doesn't matter. They don't care. They know it cannot pass the senate. They don't intend for it to. This is impure theater. A publicity stunt performed for a mad and irrational base. It is simply preparation for the real work of this corrupt cabal: infuse more money into the unholy veins of the rich by bleeding the life blood from the innocent poor through a new tax scheme. This is murder to get gain. America will pay for their leaders’ malpractice. These dealers of death will pay for their malfeasance. I saw under the altar the souls of them that were slain… And they cried with a loud voice, saying, “…He looked for judgment, but behold oppression; Police officers, mostly white, European-Americans, repeatedly go unindicted for murder, mostly of black, African-Americans, because “intent cannot be proven.”
Yet, such unholy regimes as we see in Arkansas can indict, try, sentence, and murder the mentally ill, often black, who are incapable of understanding or possessing “intent.” Our judicial system is in such ruins, it can only be labeled as being in a terminal state of madness. This may come as a surprise to those who follow this blog, along with its associated “Mad State of Rebellion,” “Just Society,” “Just Scripture,” and “Just Reporting” pages found on this site, but I am, as of tonight, Thursday, 6 April 2017 in support of the military action taken by the current administration against the fiendish Syrian regime of Bashar al-Assad.
My support will likely continue if the reason for the action remains what it seems to be—a reaction to the murder of innocents and a warning that the murder of innocent people must stop. If over the following days and weeks, we begin to see any silver-back chest thumping or hear blustery testosterone-filled language begin to emanate from the administration, as has been its habit in the past, it will quickly lose me and my support. The military actions will shift from “just” to just more of the same American hypocritical arrogance.” The action taken tonight, if done to protect the innocent, is long overdue. Though it might look, at first glance, rather rushed, let's hope the military planners had planned for such action long before the past 24 to 48 hours. I was highly critical of President Obama for his killing of innocents with his dreadful drones. Such actions were all the more abhorrent in light of his refusal to act against Assad for the sake of the innocent. I am not for war. And in my view America has no business putting “boots on the ground” in the Near East. We simply have no idea what we are doing in that part of the world. We’ve made quite enough of a mess of it already. But Syrian planes should have been stopped from conducting their deadly bombing. No fly zones, and destruction of airfields and jets should have been put into practice years ago. Obama will be harshly judged for his inaction in regard to Syria—much like Clinton will be for his inaction in the Rwandan genocide and its aftermath, and George Bush will be for his ill-advised and dishonest invasion of Iraq. Now, as I say, I am all for standing up for the innocent Syrian victims of the vile Assad. I am, it is true, less interested in firing missiles into Syrian military installations because the Syrian government is in violation of international treaties and laws. It is impossible to know and count all the treaties that the U.S. and its allies, such as Israel, have and continue to flaunt, skirt, and cheat. We have no business lecturing or attacking others over such breaches. The pot is as black as the kettle. God bless us if we are acting out of a desire to save innocent lives. And God bless those poor, poor Syrian people. The obstructionist party of no was obstructed today by a giant “NO!” largely from the grotesquely misnamed anarchist wing of the Republican party--the “Freedom Caucus”--who will be satisfied with nothing short of a “We-Don’t-care-about-poor-or-sick-people” health care law so that their rich bribers have more money with which to bribe them.
Nevertheless, it will not pay to take our eyes off this scheming cabal. They are committed to their unprincipled and anarchist principles. The only freedom that infamous and incongruously named caucus and the yahoo’s who voted them into office know or want is the kind of freedom Cain discovered when he murdered his brother and thus freely acquired his brother’s flocks. They are intent in sacrificing the poor in order to further enrich the already filthy rich. “And they bend their tongues like their bow for lies:
but they are not valiant for the truth upon the earth; for they proceed from evil to evil, and they know not me, saith the LORD. Take ye heed every one of his neighbour, and trust ye not in any brother: for every brother will utterly supplant, and every neighbour will walk with slanders. And they will deceive every one his neighbour, and will not speak the truth: they have taught their tongue to speak lies, and weary themselves to commit iniquity. Thine habitation is in the midst of deceit; through deceit they refuse to know me, saith the LORD” (Jeremiah 9.3-6) I know that it is all very dizzying, but let’s see if we can get this straight. First, the man has a psychotic break, accompanied by delusions, and makes clearly false and easily refutable slanderous accusations. “Obama wiretapped my palace.” “The Martians are coming.” Then, with a cynicism unparalleled in our national history, he doubles down on his fantasy, and calls upon congress to waste its time and money investigating his obvious delusion. Everyone knows it’s a lie. When it is clear to everyone but fools that there was no wiretapping, well, “it’s in quotes.” Even fools should understand that when something is placed in quotes, it is an indication, apparently, that it is not meant to say what you think it says. Are you keeping up with this? Well, it gets better. Rather than admit that he is simply out of his mind, the president accuses our closest international ally of doing the dirty work for Obama! Where is Kafka when you need him. It is all absurdity. It is madness. One hardly knows where to put the exclamation points! I am sorry, but the man is an idiot. That’s not anger speaking. It is a simple unassailable fact. The world is round (unless you are a certain NBA player), and the man is a sick, sick man. Totally mental. The latter is as certain as the former. But, it gets better. He is not yet finished with this delusion. “Oh, no evidence that the British are coming? Well I heard it on FOX. I’m just reporting what I heard them say. Go take it up with them!” The madness here is simply too deep to plumb. “You’re not a blasted reporter, (read expletive here). You’re,” gulp, “President of the United States of America. Act like it!” First, get on some medication to stop your delusions. Second, stop lying. Third, be a man and learn to say, “I was wrong.” Fourth, learn your lesson and stop being duped by the money grubbing cynics over at FOX. It is not a—I was going to say “legitimate news source,” but that is giving it too much credit. It is not a news source at all. It is a source of traitorous lies. Now, one might say, “This is a small thing. Stop picking on him over trivial matters. Let’s see what he can do with the things that really matter.” Well, that’s just it. There are, in fact, much more important issues: health care, immigration, regulation, global warming. But, if he cannot discern reality from fantasy in this small matter of wiretapping, how in the world is he to be trusted with these more important matters? He can’t. If his judgement is so poor in discerning a news story from a traitor’s tale, how is he to be trusted with the big, important stuff? He is not. If he doesn’t understand what is appropriate behavior and what is inappropriate behavior in a small matter, how can we place our trust in him? We can’t. If he is such a loose cannon as to make incendiary accusations against an ally, what kind of trouble will he get our nation into with those who are our enemies? Disastrous. Besides, we have already seen him in action in relation to important things. Look what he’s done with immigration. It is downright evil… in the Christian sense. Lucifer inspired and directed. Then, devoid of conscience, he lies to the courts about his intent. He is about to rape the poor, the immigrants, the elderly, the climate… Oh, we could go on. Though perhaps the American electorate has earned his obvious contempt for its intellectual and reasoning capacities, still, the nerve of it all is breathtaking. How long will the electorate choose, consciously choose to believe whatever they darn well please to believe? To heck with the facts! It is all simply astounding!! Surely I am asleep. Dreaming a nightmare. It can’t be real, can it? American can’t have fallen so low. Gone so stupid. Become so darkly evil. The worst of it all, of course, is that his voters have committed themselves to a man that should be committed—as in institutionalized. Knowing his every word is a lie, they will willingly choose to believe his blatant and obvious lies and willfully reject the truth. We are in some deep, deep trouble here. We have a madman leading a nation of madmen. We keep hearing from those who wish to justify that man’s terrorizing of undocumented workers that “my people came here legally, the right way.”
AGAIN!
FINALLY!!!
I see that CNN’s Don Lemon cut short an interview with one of that man’s lying lackeys, Paris Dennard. Good job, Don! This is a good first step. But, before cutting him off, Lemon had already given him several minutes to belch forth his lying propaganda. Lemon had attempted two or three times to engage him in reality. The media needs to take the next step: “One strike and you’re out.” One lie and the mic goes off. When this doesn’t work—and it won’t, the lying of that man and his propaganda machine is instinctual and sociopathic—the next step is simply to stop interviewing them. Don’t give them a single minute, not one question. They are not allowed back on until they make a commitment to stop their incessant lying. Now, while we congratulate Mr. Lemon, we must shout profanities at his and all the other networks. They devote seventy minutes of airtime to carry that man’s “fake press conference”! They ask him questions that they have to know full well he will not truthfully answer—not because he won’t, but because he can’t. He has no conception of reality and truth. He is utterly and completely delusional. He is a disciple of the “Father of lies.” Then they do one worse. They televise his damned Florida rally. WHY??? We all know why. People will watch. It will make the networks and their sponsors money. As I have charged before, that man is president today, in no small part because of the news media’s love of money over love of country. Report on the absurdities the man spouts—like the… whatever it was he imagined happened in Sweden. But don’t put him on T.V., for crying out loud. Just for the record, I no longer watch you, network and cable news organizations, so I did not actually see any of this. I practice in my own life what I am preaching to reputable news agencies. Cut him off! He can’t survive without you. Stop giving him oxygen. I only read. When I go to the gym with the cable news channels doing their all trump all the time from dozens of T.V.’s, I keep my head down. I simply cannot risk having to look at that man. I will not watch him perform his sociopathic act of lying hypnotism. I will not watch the deviant marionette manipulate his naïve and silly puppets. I will not watch him twist the media and their viewers around in his grubby little hands. Oh. Sorry. I forgot. His hands, like his other body parts, are of normal size. |
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