Month: November 2020

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And Shall I Hail the New Truth?

It is difficult for me to hear the complaints of those who have committed themselves to Trump, that the (fake news) has not given him credit for the good things he has done. I asked this person, whom I’ve know for better than 20 years, a good Christian man, good husband and father, “what good things has he done?” What I got was an appeal to the wall and the arms deal with UAE which got them speaking with the Israelis. Anything else? I suppose I should also be giving credit to Pompeo for touring the occupied territories? How many kudos are you obliged to give someone who has been judged to be an enemy to both truth and the state?

What do you do with someone who has from the very beginning doubled down on an obvious, easily falsifiable lie and called you a horrible human being for calling him out on it? The excuse I hear is, “All politicians lie.” And so we are left with the argument of what level of lying is acceptable before threatening the security of the state. Trump has moved the bar so far; the fog is thick.

This is exactly what is intended in such an assault upon the very concept of truth. But it’s all fake news right? (The same people who should be giving the assailant kudos for the ‘good’ stuff.) We have a crisis of truth. Now that all is ‘fake news’ being a true believer means believing Trump’s word over all others.  Everyone is a horrible liar except Trump and company.

As someone who still believes Jesus is the Son of God who was raised back to life but has lost all faith in the church, how does such a person, amongst all his peers who have seemed to have expanded their horizons of plausibility into absurdity, hold fast against exile? Christians made Trump; the changes he has wrought, to many cheers, will not recede anytime soon.

Our orange savior, the infinite victim, the one who suffers such indignity for us all, has, in his incessant campaign against Corona restrictions as tyranny, and had succeeded in making villains out of the most heroic amongst us.

But who gives a shit right? When I have to argue with you Christian, realize that I must look at you as someone who has been duped. I assume you in turn look at me the same way. There are no commonly assessable norms of truth anymore. They’re gone. Mission accomplished Team Trump (and fuck you for helping drive that home.) All we got left is force, trickery, and numbers. I don’t remember reading anything in my Bible about rightness and truth being divinable by such means. But we’ve bowed the knee to the popular ‘Christian’ culture, the ‘Left Behind’ nonsense and the empire of prophets and apostles who have well feathered their nests as our new lords. We’ve bowed the knee to the one they’ve named champion. I will say plainly that those who have trained you faithful Christians to interpret scripture through the lens of American culture have done you a terrible disservice.

But who am I to make such a claim? Nobody. No cameras on me as I should sell you some bullshit about having great faith. I have no flock to try to placate for the sake of unity. My enemy is going scorched earth, so am I.

I was raised right-wing Republican. I am ashamed that I was duped by you all for so long. Trump did not create you; he is you. He was me; for that I am ashamed.

I’ve gone through a book, ‘Being Wrong’ twice because of the existential crisis that I am in right now, because of what I used to believe, because I see the rampant racist hate, and the cowardly fear, which propels Trumpism. Truth, as we see it, is very dependent upon our emotional stability. Our collective emotional state brings us Trump, both a colossal liar and a petulant child who will not see what has been traditionally regarded as reality, as our representative. He is us. Unwilling to really dig, agonize, and improve; for we are already perfect.

Thank God, at least over 5 million more of us agree that Trump needs to go. But no, despite what has carried us thus far (our election system,) our savior, claims, without evidence (he’s had a while now to present it) that since he proclaimed (as our source of truth) that the only way he could lose is if there is massive fraud; so since he is losing there MUST be massive fraud. EVERYONE else who doesn’t acknowledge this MUST be an idiot and/or a liar. This is where we are. From the Left’s perspective, if we let him get away with this, we’re, quite frankly, fucked. (So no, BTW, I’m not going to give him kudos on the ‘good’ things he’s done.)

Addressing all the bullshit about Trump caring about the process… Please.

Evidence:

Our beloved Trump cares so deeply about the truth and the integrity of the process, right? Now the date of this email is clear yet at the time of this email (and to my knowledge still of this writing) North Carolina has not finalized and certified.

The ‘faithful’ may say Trump doesn’t control the intellectually integrity of these emails. Let’s not ask the question why he accepts these results without the automatic verification process and not the rest. Let’s not be hasty, right? Those with half a brain know what this is really all about.

 Let’s turn to what is predictable as the sun rising tomorrow morning… Firstly we knew Trump was not going to concede, even as clear as it was (over 5 million votes nationally.) Secondly, we knew he was going to cry fraud. This goes way back. Thirdly, I knew, and Christopher Krebs knew, as soon as the cybersecurity chief, whom many said did a good job, said that there was no evidence of massive fraud that his head was on the block. As sure as shit the axe fell.

Now for all you Christian defenders of truth (and Israel) out there, I’m sure Trump is to be praised for calling out yet another liar in the ‘deep state.’ Am I wrong? Krebs MUST be a part of the radical left which HATES me and wants to keep me DOWN and SILENT. This is the new world.

For all you lovers of TRUTH out, from one who evidently loves LIES, let me tell you how the LIE LOVER, sees the threat forming to MY way of life. In the past, I’ve bitched about how the Electoral College skews elections (Hillary won the popular by a couple million votes,) but accepted that this was the established process so that a colossal piece of shit with the name Trump became the legitimate POTUS. Okay; that’s the system—have serious doubts but hoped that he will grow into the job.

Right off, he starts with obvious lie which was easily falsifiable. The Press, this is their job, calls him out on it. Trump not only doubles down but calls them horrible people for doing so and accelerates the campaign to label them ‘fake news.’ (And he just getting started.) Now what do you do? Do you let him get away with it? The ‘decent’ among us say we should just roll over—after all, he is the authority. That is what mindset of the authoritarian assumes should happen. If I want to be ‘free’ I should just accept what your gracious heart should see fit to afford me. Right? Not me, and not many.

Rolling over, being bowled over, being gaslighted, being bullied, is not healthy for ANY relationship. And so, rightfully so, the war with the press began. I (as a labeled believer of lies) happen to believe certainty is a difficult thing to grasp. I happen to BELIEVE that minimizing error involves acknowledging a wide variety of sources and largest samples to make evaluations of claims to truth. I will not commit to unfalsifiable claims, yet I tend to believe claims to which there is EVIDENCE. My Christian compatriots seem to not but rather follow personality and fad. Perception alone is deceptive which is why philosophers and scientists argue endlessly about the interpretation of what we observe. From all I’ve seen from my better than 50 years, Christians, when you get caught up behind a bunch of frauds and charlatans, are some of the stupidest people on the planet. Many of you are sweet and well intentioned, and many of you, thank God, are thoughtful and intelligent (and I see that you all pay a heavy price for being sweet and intelligent. Before I go further, I make no claim to being sweet, I’m an ornery sort.) When authoritarian types pushed me into a corner on bowing to Trump, when you demanded that I place my faith in what I see is terrible human being as my hope so as to be acceptable to the ‘club,’ I left the club.

Now the truth is no more, or should I say, ‘Trump is the source of truth,’ I am faced with a decision about how far I’m going into rebellion because I give a shit and I’ve had my eyes horrifyingly wide open my entire life (and I am worn out.) I will not submit to the ‘end around’ (the people’s vote) which remains a possibility. The notion of honor among the Republican party is gone; all quake in fear of you Christians, who pledge homage to the orange beast. They seek to preserve what they perceive is ‘theirs.’ From what I’ve seen they’re willing to do almost anything to hold onto any scraps of power which remain. There is still a possibility that the Orange Beast can trickster his way to keeping his position by overriding the vote of the people. This is where my life is directly affected.

Since I firmly believe Trump is a liar who has no regard for either us or the truth, that he is systematically dismantling all that is left of our decency, that he has for his own will to power set his countrymen against one another for his own benefit, Trump is an enemy of the people. I truly fear that if he is able to ‘save us’ from a RIGGED ELECTION then this country will go up in flames. (On top of all this, as evidence to your own cluelessness, you have the audacity to wonder at why we ‘leftys’ hate looking at your MAGA hats?)

The blood of this crime will largely be your heads Christians; because of your laziness and failure to properly interpret God’s Word—to instead rely upon depraved liars to divine it for you. You’ve led alright; but you’ve led us into a trap, into backing an evil man to evil ends. It is hard for me to express how ashamed I am of all of us. Thank you for adding to my life of shame. And to this end, if my life be required, I will die with my finger in the air towards the American Church and towards your champion. If Trump is your savior, I want nothing to do with you.

This breaks my heart.

Thank you, Church, for introducing me to a few dear friends for which I am profoundly grateful. But to all else, good riddance to what you collectively teach (by the very structure and environment in which your leaders do it.) As ever I will continue to roam amongst the ruins, ever hoping for our collective return to sanity and freedom. Pleading ever for you to come have liberty, also to warn that such is anything but free.

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Defending Integrity

I’m not a journalist; I just editorialize on current events as seen through my worldview while gleaning from a deliberately broad number of sources. The above email, I get several of these kinds of appeals a day, is the most recent evidence which shows the whole Trump apparatus are shameless… putting it nicely… ‘misrepresenters.’

A little poking around a local source, we find out that, lo and behold, the Trump outfit did win this case concerning extending the deadline until identification could be confirmed. Hurray. Yes, the ballots were invalidated, and rightfully so—rule of law prevailed. This is exactly why counts should always be finished and certified, legal challenges should occur after elections for judges to examine and make rulings on the law, and any cases of fraud be turned over to law enforcement to maintain the integrity and our faith in elections. Again, hurray, because if we really want to screw up our country in a big, big way, just undermine our trust in the validity of our elections.

However, it is, firstly, jumping the gun to state maleficence was behind the extension. Given the small number of ballots involved with granting the extension casts doubt upon the notion that those who allowed it in first place believed they could throw the election by doing this. The MAJOR WIN described in the email appeal for money was little more than the ordinary grind of policing the election process—the decision does not affect the plain fact that Biden won. To say that Team Trump is the only one defending the integrity of the election is a brazen insult to the thousands of people who defend the election process, vital to maintaining peaceful transitions of power and legitimacy, as a moral imperative and a sacred duty.

Secondly, it is highly misleading to imply to those who’ve sold themselves to the idea that it is (only?) democrats who engage in fraud and deceit that somehow this MAJOR WIN means Trump has a chance at legitimately winning the election. The repeated calls for money and activism to protest not only the process, but the results, of the election, bears with it a serious risk of violence and civil unrest.

These PATRIOTS have long been primed to believe the only way Trump could lose is through massive fraud and deceit by deep state democrats. Trump has lost but maintains, without providing evidence, that massive fraud MUST be there. Many, a dangerous number of people, believe him. In such an environment, where mere accusations without the backing of evidence to substantiate the claim, the notion that Trump, and his apparatus, are the ones defending the integrity of the election would be laughable if it weren’t so terrifying.

Trump was hired to break the machine, and he is doing one hellava job. Thanks to all the lies and tantrums from our Toddler-in-Chief, our fundamental belief in sharing power in ritual transfers of such determined by our, so far, enduring laws and traditions is under an existential threat. Much rests in the heavily engineered and AI (social media) peddled lies that Trump is working hard to defend us and freedom. The evidence is abundant, from this human’s perspective, that Trump is working for Trump. If he must burn it all to the ground to ‘win,’ he’ll do it. Trump’s lack of character in stoking the fires of Q-anon, by his channeling of grievances and resentments to keep the hopes of millions of the faithful alive that he may maintain power, thus proving the ‘prophecies’ to be true, demonstrates this.

May ‘we’ and ‘he’ not succeed. My prayer,

Father forgive us for we do not know what we do. We’ve squandered our intellectual faculties and forgone our moral responsibility to examine the evidence to take the lazy road, funneling into echo chambers which prop up the illusion of freedom, peace, and the safety of no acceptable challenges to our belief. Our neglect has atrophied our ability to reason and compromise with each other to some mean of truth—accepting the top-down, ‘God’ given structure of governance. We seek not to make disciples but subjects.

Now as we see it, there is just ‘us’ and ‘them.’ Just as the machines reason to truth, so now do we. It’s just numbers. Inside our sacred sanctuaries, our threatened numbers bear the warrant for action—there is no other legitimate side as we believe the ‘others’ are for, and bring, death and chaos. We’ve convinced ourselves that we are the persecuted and not the persecutors. Hence, we, in our proclaimed righteousness, shall not submit to the system which allows murder to continue, while failing to recognize we are all murderers in dire need of your mercy.  

Forgive us for we have been deceived by the (self-appointed) holiest among us that we must mobilize behind a racist, misogynistic, narcissistic liar to make the ‘others’ acquiesce to the truth that we (and God) care about everyone. We fail to recognize that in backing such a man, we’ve told the worst within us that it is good and necessary to be self-centered racists to maintain the order of the way things ‘ought’ to be. We’ve forgotten that you Father have the power to make us all behave but, in mercy and love, you don’t. Forgive us for taking it into our minds that we must take power into our own hands to correct your (perceived) mistake. May our hearts be wounded and broken.

Father please give us the mercy we do not deserve.

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Dragged out Kicking and Screaming

Latest revision on the explanation of the Trump-Belshazzar coin

As described in Daniel5, Belshazzar, eldest son of Nabonidus (whose army had been defeated by the Persians in 539 B.C), threw a party honoring the gods of Babylon using the sacred articles which had been looted by his forefather Nebuchadnezzar from the temple in Jerusalem. Babylon’s walls were strong so there was nothing fear—so he thought. During this party, under the Persian threat, a finger appeared to write on the wall the famous words, ‘You have been weighed in the balances and found wanting,’ forecasting Babylon’s fall. Belshazzar was done for. The Persians took the city.

On June 1, 2020, the Whitehouse was also under siege. President Trump had walled up the ‘People’s House’ and hid in a bunker due to the protests inspired by continuing police brutality which had been exacerbated by incompetent leadership and an economically devastating shutdown over the virus. Perhaps in an attempt to show strength, Trump decided to use federal, in large part, unidentified assets, to force protesters out of Lafayette Park, using tear gas and rubber bullets, so he could engage in a photo op, with Bible in hand, at St. John’s Episcopal Church, the ‘Church of the Presidents.’

We may debate the legality (and brutality) of the purge, but the photo op itself showed no reverence for the object displayed, the Bible. Trump read nothing, offered no prayer, just posed. Just like Belshazzar showed the articles from the Temple in Jerusalem, those ‘objects’ were just displays of what had been conquered, Trump waved a Bible about as symbol of what supposedly this fight is all about, the forces of chaos and rebellion against those of the Christian Right which represent order and rule of law, as something you would sell on a shopping channel. The cultural statement was clearly made, the Bible is just a symbol for something much larger—that ‘something much larger’ is political and involves force. The Episcopal bishop of Washington, Mariann Budde, described this event as the ‘abuse of sacred symbols.’ Trump abused a Bible, as ‘left-wing’ Christians such as myself see it, as an object for political benefit. As of this revision, Biden and Harris have made their speeches and calls to unity while Trump continues to cry ‘Fraud!’ without providing evidence. Treating an actual crisis as a PR problem, as both Trump and Belshazzar did, is not leadership. It is completely empty and lacks honor.

The depravity displayed at the photo op at St John’s will, I firmly believe, be in tomorrow’s history books as reference to that event frequently occur in editorials and various articles in magazines as time moves on. It is far more appropriate to link Trump with Belshazzar than to link him with Cyrus as many Christians do. The ‘prophets’ who predicted Trump’s domination are either apologizing, doubling down, or are, for the time being, remaining silent as they try to figure out what to do to keep their following.  The ‘writing is on the wall’ for Trump and those ‘prophets.’ They have no case, no evidence; all they can do is make a lot a noise and take as many with them as they can. Those who will continue to side with those depraved people making ourselves complicit, much in the name of the Christian religion, to their complete disregard for honesty, decency, and restraint. This kind of thing has happened many times before.

The 176thanniversary of the ‘Great Disappointment’ occurred a few weeks ago. When the Rapture didn’t occur then, to the ruin of many, a falsifiable belief was replaced by an unfalsifiable one. I predict we will do the same thing today. If Trump, by some miracle, wrests the electorate to himself by hook or by crook, then the hopes, and the prophecies, will be seen as vindicated by the hand of God as decided and affirmed by the people of God. Whatever craziness and depravity to follow will be seen as affirmed by the will of God as the means to a ‘greater’ end. If we are able to kick him out, which looks to be almost certain, then the faithful will suppose something to the effect that the forces of darkness, those who would ‘hurt God’ and ‘hurt the Bible,’ prevailed against the children of light thus fulfilling, in the minds of many, a certain eschatological view (dispensationalism) Christians are working very hard to make happen. Today’s prophets and apostles will have explanations for their failed prophecies and will have marching orders to follow—no matter what. The faithful will continue to have great faith. Trumpism is here to stay. Fear the one who take this chaotic movement which coalesced under Trump’s banner and cleverly used it to elevate himself to dominate. This is why I will continue to say we are being weighed in the balances–right now.

I made this investment in this coin to tell a story that needs to be told—to speak out against this bad man (and the movement which carries his name.) The coin serves as a scaffold to make an historical connection between all those who would use religion and its sacred symbols to forward their own interests regardless of the age. Today is no different. People are still people who are seduced by empty (and, in this case, blasphemous) displays. Evidence of our collective seduction may be soon to come. I cast my vote and will continue to speak my mind. No matter the political outcome, I will remain a ‘jackal among ruins’ until we collectively repent of our selfish, racist, justice-denying authoritarianism—so our nation can be truly healed.

“Give justice to the weak and the fatherless; maintain the right of the afflicted and the destitute. Rescue the weak and the needy; deliver them from the hand of the wicked.” (Psalm82: 3-4.)

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Weighed in the Balances

I went to bed on election night thinking I needed to brace my spirit against an emboldened and ‘mandated’ Trump who would continue, in office, to do unspeakable damage to this country and to literally billions of human beings. I woke up the next morning to new hope—though this is far from over.

I received a report that one of my fellow Christians went to bed that night feeling that all was well but woke up the next morning to then become distressed at the turn of events. What happened? Things were not well. I suppose with a sigh, that which I predicted in a previous post was said, something to the effect that, “All that has been said about the End Times says that things are going to get worse.”

I really have a hard time wrapping my head around this. There is absolutely nothing rational I can find in such a claim. How is it that so many have come to believe Trump was going to stave off The Anti-Christ? I suppose FoxNews and Trump’s faithful friend (and frequent contributor on said network) Robert Jeffress is pretty damn powerful. The fantasy has been molded and hardened into something solid. Jeffress did make a claim that Trump was here to ‘buy us time’ to save more of the lost. I guess if you believe that, it is terrible isn’t it?

In how many different ways need we show Trump is a horrible, depraved human being? Now he, to no surprise, is going scorched earth. Remember that four years ago, he claimed that there were a couple million illegal votes cast against him in his election against Hillary. In his almost four years as POTUS, his administration has failed to produce any evidence of this. Now he is making the same claim, and his people believe him. He couldn’t care less about what it is doing to this country and our faith (a very, very, important faith if you care at all about peace) in the integrity of elections. Without any evidence, he supposes (as one Republican put it) a massive conspiracy akin to one in a James Bond movie. As others have said something to the effect that if Trump had to burn the world to the ground to be King of the Ashes he’d do it. As QAnon now has a voice in Congress, we seem to be more than willing to be persuaded by all the lies to cheer as he does it.

A good man would not lie as he does—constantly. A good man would see beyond himself, and even sacrifice himself for the good of others. A good man would see, and admit, there is no evidence of significant fraud (it’s a very small fraction of a percent) and urge calm and patience as every vote is counted according to establish elections laws. It is laughable that this man is seen by millions as being for ‘law and order’ as he does his best to stir up chaos, division (and violence) to his own benefit. In our books on leadership, the qualities espoused within them are antithetical to those qualities Trump possesses. Yet better than 70 million of us choose this for leadership. It is almost unbearable to me as I fear my predictions that Christians will have doubled down on their investment in this bad man who going to do his best to burn it all.

It seems we all may be weighed in the balances and found wanting.

May God have mercy on us for embracing the wicked.

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Will we be complicit?

An updated description of the Trump-Belshazzar commemorative coin on E-bay.

As described in Daniel5, Belshazzar, eldest son of Nabonidus (whose army had been defeated by the Persians (in 539 B.C), threw a party, honoring the gods of Babylon using the sacred articles which had been looted by his forefather Nebuchadnezzar from the temple in Jerusalem. Babylon’s walls were strong so there was nothing fear—so he evidently thought. During this party, under the Persian threat, a finger appeared to write on the wall the famous words, ‘You have been weighed in the balances and found wanting,’ forecasting Babylon’s fall. Belshazzar was done for. The Persians took the city.

On June 1, 2020, the Whitehouse was also under siege. President Trump had walled up the ‘People’s House’ and hid in a bunker due to the protests inspired by continuing police brutality which had been exacerbated by incompetent leadership and an economically devastating shutdown over the virus. Perhaps in an attempt to show strength, Trump decided to use federal, in large part, unidentified assets, to force protesters out of Lafayette Park, using tear gas and rubber bullets, so he could engage in a photo op, with Bible in hand, at St. John’s Episcopal Church, the ‘Church of the Presidents.’

We may debate the legality (and brutality) of the purge, but the photo op itself showed no reverence for the object displayed, the Bible. Trump read nothing, offered no prayer, just posed. Just like Belshazzar showed the articles from the Temple in Jerusalem, those ‘objects’ were just displays of what had been conquered, Trump waved a Bible about as symbol of what, supposedly, this fight is all about, the forces of chaos and rebellion against those of the Christian Right which represent order and rule of law, as something you would sell on a shopping channel. The cultural statement was clearly made, the Bible is just a symbol for something much larger—that ‘something much larger’ is political and involves force. The Episcopal bishop of Washington, Mariann Budde, described this event as the ‘abuse of sacred symbols.’ Trump abused a Bible as an object for political benefit. This benefit may yet be realized, as the election (as of this writing) is too close to call.

The depravity displayed at the photo op at St John’s will, I firmly believe, be in tomorrow’s history books. It is far more appropriate to link Trump with Belshazzar than to link him with Cyrus as many Christians do. The ‘writing is on the wall’ regardless of the election’s outcome. The question remains if the people of the United States will choose to side with this depraved man thus making ourselves complicit, much in the name of the Christian religion, to his complete disregard for honesty, decency, and restraint.

The 176thanniversary of the ‘Great Disappointment’ occurred a few weeks ago. When the Rapture didn’t occur then, to the ruin of many, a falsifiable belief was replaced by an unfalsifiable one. I predict we will do the same thing today. If Trump wins the election then the hopes, and the prophecies, will be seen as vindicated by the hand of God as decided and affirmed by the people of God. Whatever craziness and depravity to follow will be seen as affirmed by the will of God as the means to a ‘greater’ end. If he loses, then the faithful will suppose something to the effect that the forces of darkness, those who would ‘hurt God’ and ‘hurt the Bible,’ prevailed against the children of light thus fulfilling, in the minds of many, a certain eschatological view (dispensationalism) Christians are working very hard to make happen. Today’s prophets and apostles will have marching orders to follow—no matter what.

I made this investment in this coin to tell a story that needs to be told—to speak out against this bad man. The coin serves as a scaffold to make an historical connection between all those who would use religion and its sacred symbols to forward their own interests regardless of the age. Today is no different. People are still people who are seduced by empty (and, in this case, blasphemous) displays. Evidence of our collective seduction may be soon to come. I cast my vote and will continue to speak my mind. No matter the outcome, I will remain a ‘jackal among ruins’ until we collectively repent of our selfish, racist, justice-denying  authoritarianism—so our nation can be truly healed.

“Give justice to the weak and the fatherless; maintain the right of the afflicted and the destitute. Rescue the weak and the needy; deliver them from the hand of the wicked.” (Psalm82: 3-4.)