Category: Beating Back the St00pid

…not everyone is as stupid as his knuckle-dragging sycophants.

From Billboard:

The singer paused during her performance of “Million Reasons,” saying, “If the fucking president of the United States could please put our government back…there are people who live paycheck to paycheck and need their money.”

She then took aim at Pence, whose wife Karen is under fire for accepting a job at a school that excludes LGBT children, adding, “And to Mike Pence, who thinks it’s acceptable that his wife works at a school that bans LGBTQ: you’re wrong. You say we should not discriminate against Christianity. You are the worst representation of what it means to be a Christian. I am a Christian woman, and what I do know about Christianity is that we bear no prejudice and everybody is welcome. So you can take all that disgrace, Mr. Pence, and you can look yourself in the mirror and you’ll find it right there.”

So the Orange Menace claims that Mueller’s sentencing recommendations for Paul Manafort prove his innocence and exonerate him of any wrongdoing.

No, Donnie Two Scoops. It proves just the opposite. But you’re too stupid to realize it.

Come on Ann, you've hated Kansas since it dropped a house on your sister

— Ken Reid (@KennethWReid) November 7, 2018

That one’s gonna leave a mark.

Via.

…but after the Kavanaugh shit show last week, and the fact that the pussy grabber in the White House actually managed to pull off getting that other  pussy grabber appointed to the Supreme Court, I have very little hope for the future of this country.

Women, be afraid. Be very afraid.

POC, be afraid. Be very afraid.

GLBT, be afraid. Be very afraid.

Muslims, be afraid. Be very afraid.

In fact, if you’re not a rich, white, heterosexual “christian” male, you should probably be looking over your shoulder as well, because they will eventually come for you too. We’ve seen this story play out countless times in the history of our world, and it never ends well.

My question is who will “save” us? Will we be speaking Russian or Chinese when The United States takes its dying breath and the dust settles?

I seriously would like to know what the Orange Wigstand’s response would be if Russian troops landed on the west coast.

I think we all know.

While the number of people who hate Shitler’s guts far outweigh the number of knuckle-draggers in his base, I fear the so called “Blue Wave” expected in November is never going to materialize. Please prove me wrong. Between general voter apathy, the knat-like attention span of the population (the Kavanaugh crap show will be an entire month in the past by the time Election Day rolls around), Republican gerrymandering/voter suppression/dirty tricks and expected-yet-undefended-from Russian interference next month, if the Democrats do make gains, they still won’t be substantial enough to flip the balance of power in Washington.  And at that point WE. ARE. FUCKED.

Please, please, please…women, LGBT, people of color, and the vast majority of whites who are patriotic and care for this country, get off your asses and vote. This may be your last opportunity.  I’m not being hyperbolic here; our country is sliding into fascism much the same way Germany did in the 30s, and apparently a sizable portion of the population is okay with that. There’s a small, angry mob of white-hooded nationalists and tiki-torch sympathizers who have decided that all their woes are because of the “other,” and the Shitgibbon (who they’re too stupid to realize doesn’t give a fuck about them other than they’re useful tools who fawn over him, stroking his narcissistic sociopathy) view him as their holy savior. It seems that now the main goal of republicans is not to actually govern or reach compromise; their singular focus has become “owning the libs,” even if it means burning everything this country was founded on to the ground.

With Twitler today spewing garbage that is a hair’s breadth away from labeling Democrats Enemy of the People, I have very little hope that we are in for anything other than VERY dark times ahead. Mexican kids in cages? You ain’t seen nothing yet—especially if you’re not a rich, white, heterosexual “christian” male.

Fleeing the country is not an option for Ben and I or the vast majority of our friends, and I’m sure that when the shit really hits the fan, our borders will be closed tighter than Melania’s coach. (Has anyone considered that Agent Orange’s border wall is more to keep us in than to keep anyone else out?)

So please, if you care one whit about this country, if you’re not ready for “Trump Youth” or jackbooted thugs marching in formation down your city streets—or simply about staying alive and not ending up in a camp—get off your ass and vote November 6th because you know the Shitgibbon’ s minions will.

when there’s a LOG in your own.

From John Pavlovitz:

“You keep using that word. I do not think it means what you think it means.” — Inigo Montoya, The Princess Bride,

The first Christians didn’t call themselves Christians.

It wasn’t some congratulatory self-identifier as it is today; a way of loudly trumpeting one’s own supposed goodness, quickly slapped on Twitter bios and bumper stickers and t-shirts without forethought or personal cost or empirical evidence. It wasn’t about a place you visited for an hour on Sunday before Cracker Barrel, either.

The term Christian was originally a designation of the community of people following Jesus, by those outside of it after his death—and it was quite likely a slur; a scarlet letter attached to a marginalized group who’d traded comfy allegiance with Caesar for dangerous devotion to an itinerant Hebrew street preacher from Nazareth.

In the Roman Empire in which it was born, Jesus’ movement was fully countercultural; shunning its power and material wealth, breaking its barriers between the important and the inconsequential, fighting the stereotypes of the in and the out. It was a table builder and a wall breaker.

These “little Christs” as they were called, were derided by outsiders because the expansive, diverse, interdependent community they were creating stood in such opposition to Rome’s singular trickle down might—and their presence created turbulence there.

Being called a Christian then, meant ridicule and threat and oppression from the Government and the religious leaders. It wasn’t a cheap decal one adorned themselves with to declare their own righteousness; it was applied to them by powerful people who despised them.

Trump Christians wouldn’t be called Christians by these people, they would be called Romans—and those following Jesus then, wouldn’t recognize people supporting this President now, as their spiritual descendants.

There would be no bloodline to trace, no affinities to note, no visible family resemblance.

Christians then, destroyed social barriers between people—they didn’t fortify them.
Christians then, welcomed the marginalized and vulnerable—they didn’t harass them at school or in hospital rooms or on street corners.
Christians then, healed the sick and fed the hungry and clothed the naked—they didn’t resent them for being lazy or making bad choices.
Christians then, pushed back against the corrupt power hoarding wealth—they didn’t partner with it.
Christians then, loved their disparate neighbors as themselves—they didn’t wall them off and send them away and lock them in cages.

People aligned with a Jesus who said “Let the children come to me and do not hinder them”—would have been fully sickened by families separated at borders.

People connected to a Jesus who said, “You cannot serve both God and money”—wouldn’t be overlooking adultery, corruption, and bigotry just to pad their nest eggs.

People synonymous with a Jesus who fed a hillside multitude, not because they were right or saved or moral, but because they were hungry—wouldn’t recognize a “pull yourself by your own bootstraps” callousness toward those in need.

People associated with a Jesus who touched lepers and healed the blind and bleeding—wouldn’t be able to comprehend believers who penalized people for preexisting conditions or made staying alive a financial death sentence.

Most of all, people connected to Jesus they weren’t tripping over themselves to publicly claim their Christlikeness. Other people decided that.

People currently supporting this President can label themselves any way they want.

They can imagine themselves sanctified while perpetuating something that far more resembles Caesar of Rome than Jesus of Nazareth.

They can try and retrofit Jesus’ Christianity to the bloated, self-aggrandizing, malevolent Empire they’re currently wallowing in.

They can try and bastardize Jesus expansive’ “For God so loved the world” purpose statement, into a walled-off, gated community “America First” rally slogan.

They can even preach the angry gospel of white nationalism and contempt for outsiders—and call themselves Christian while doing so.

But no one in the time of Jesus would be calling them Christian.

Not the Romans.
Not the Christ followers.
Most of all, Jesus.

The first Christians were labeled Christians, because they emulated Christ—in all his compassionate, kind, loving, healing, welcoming, border-breaching, barrier-busting goodness.

These folks emulate someone antithetical to all of it.

Technically speaking of course, given the origins of the word, none of us should claim to be Christian—but if we’re going to, we should at least seek some spiritual synergy.

They may be self-identified Christians, but from the outside the title is suspect.
They aren’t “Little Christs”
They aren’t “followers of the Way.”
They aren’t even Evangelicals.

They are “Little Trumps.”

In that God of arrogance and greed and enmity, they truly trust.