Saturday, May 02, 2026
Wednesday, April 29, 2026
killing for the hell of it
Reflections on killing for the hell of it on March, 09, 2005 |
Last month [February, 2005], Marine Lt. Gen. James N. Mattis famously said, "Actually it's quite fun to fight them, you know. It's a hell of a hoot…It's fun to shoot some people. I'll be right up there with you. I like brawling…You go into Afghanistan, you got guys who slap women around for five years because they didn't wear a veil…You know, guys like that ain't got no manhood left anyway. So it's a hell of a lot of fun to shoot them."
Marine Corps Commandant General Mike Hagee, wishes Mattis had chosen his words more carefully. World Magazine columnist Gene Edward Veith, on the other hand, concluded that: "As in other vocations, so in the military, there is nothing wrong with enjoying one's work."
To Dr. Vieth, Martin Marty poses a few questions:
______________________________________
If a Christian believes that humans are made in the image of God, should it be "a hell of a lot of fun to shoot them"?
World Wars I and II, and many other wars, had Christian fighting Christian, sometimes because they were drafted to do so against their will. If a Christian believes that another Christian is a child of God, should it be a "hell of a lot of fun to shoot" and kill him?
If a Christian is an evangelical -- like those to whom World magazine is directed -- and he must kill someone who is as yet unevangelized, thus cutting short his potential for salvation, should it be a "hell of a lot of fun" to shoot him?
If a Christian is a grandson, son, father, husband, brother who knows that survivors of his killed counterpart will suffer all their lives because of his necessary act of killing, should it still be a "hell of a lot of fun" to shoot him?
If a Christian is to pay special attention to the weak, and he decides that someone "ain't got no manhood left anyway," should he do Darwin's work and eliminate the unworthy, taking a "hell of a lot of fun" in doing it?
Can the unconvinced -- and I don't mean just the "What Would Jesus Do"-types -- at least ask how finding it a "hell of a lot of fun to shoot" those who "ain't got no manhood" squares in any way with "love your enemies"?
___________________________________________
It just startles me what people who claim to know something about God are willing to put their name to in 2005.
So, with a line from someone who didn't claim to know much about God, I'm out:
"When I began as a prayerful student to study Christian literature in South Africa in 1893, I asked myself again and again, ‘Is this Christianity?’ And I could only say, ‘No, no. Certainly this that I see is not Christianity.’ And the deepest in me tells me that I was right; for it was unworthy of Jesus and untrue to the Sermon on the Mount."
Mahatma Gandhi’s Ideas: Including Selections from His Writings, C. F. Andrews; pp93-95 The Macmillan Company, 1930
we need this. why're you so mean?
Here's the list of U.S. presidents and administrations who have been calling for the construction of a large, permanent, secure, gathering space on the White House grounds for 150 years. **
1876
1877
1878
1879
1880
1881
1882
1883
1884
1885
18**
1887
1888
1889
1890
1891
1892
1893
1894
1895
1896
1897
1898
1899
1900
1901
1902
1903
1904
1905
1906
1907
1908
1909
1910
1911
1912
1913
1914
1915
1916
1917
1918
1919
1920
1921
1922
1923
1924
1925
1926
1927
1928
1929
1930
1931
1932
1933
1934
1935
1936
1937
1938
1939
1940
1941
1942
1943
1944
1945
1946
1947
1948
1949
1950
1951
1952
1953
1954
1955
1956
1957
1958
1959
1960
1961
1962
1963
1964
1965
1966
1967
1968
1969
1970
1971
1972
1973
1974
1975
1976
1977
1978
1979
1980
1981
1982
1983
1984
1985
19**
1987
1988
1989
1990
1991
1992
1993
1994
1995
1996
1997
1998
1999
2000
2001
2002
2003
2004
2005
2006
2007
2008
2009
2010
2011
2012
2013
2014
2015
2016
2017
2018
2019
2020
2021
2022
2023
2024
2025
2026 Donald J. Trump
** banned number sequence
Monday, March 30, 2026
no kings iii . seattle . 03.28.26
 |
Anti-Authoriterrier |
An estimated 90,000 participants took to the streets in Seattle proper for the peaceful No Kings III protests on March 28 [final number pending expert analysis].
For Seattle, that more than doubles the storied 3.5% share of the population that political scientist Erica Chenoweth identifies as a common feature — once it reaches national scale — of nonviolent mass movements that succeed at sparking regime change and/or major government policy concessions.
3.5% population mobilization is not a guarantee; it's a rule of thumb. But it *is* a rule of thumb, so....
Source
[https://www.hks.harvard.edu/faculty-research/policy-topics/advocacy-social-movements/35-rule-understanding-what-makes-protest].
 |
 |
  |
 |
 |
 |
 | |
Sunday, March 15, 2026
suck it up.
Taxpayers have bailed out U.S. airlines to sustain smooth air travel in the past and it'll be no surprise if we do it again.
But not today.
Today, it's not about keeping commercial travel easy; it's about equal protection under the law, due process of law, and keeping American democracy possible.
Suck it up ... that's what you expect people whose health insurance has been stripped from them to do ... it's what you demand when the moms and dads of trans kids demand you protect their parental rights ... it's what you've required of TSA workers and other federal aviation employees ... it's what Congress, right now, imposes on farmers, truckers, and commuters — all of us — by failing to put the brakes on this hellbent for holy war administration. Suck it up.
And, yes, of course I want TSA and federal aviation workers to be paid fairly and on time. That's not a gift to those who labor; it's nothing but right.
That said, there's too much on the line to give in to businesspeople whinging about long lines at the airport, and short term losses. We've always found a way to make that up in the end. Our bigger concern today is constitutional protections for everyone within our borders and protectorates.
Until we've done that ... Suck . It . Up.
Source
Tuesday, March 10, 2026
the answer to your prayers?
Mark Twain's mysterious stranger tells the congregation God sent him to make sure they understand what they're praying for:
“O Lord our Father, our young patriots, idols of 398our hearts, go forth to battle--be Thou near them! With them--in spirit--we also go forth from the sweet peace of our beloved firesides to smite the foe. O Lord our God, help us to tear their soldiers to bloody shreds with our shells; help us to cover their smiling fields with the pale forms of their patriot dead; help us to drown the thunder of the guns with the shrieks of their wounded, writhing in pain; help us to lay waste their humble homes with a hurricane of fire; help us to wring the hearts of their unoffending widows with unavailing grief; help us to turn them out roofless with their little children to wander unfriended the wastes of their desolated land in rags and hunger and thirst, sports of the sun flames of summer and the icy winds of winter, broken in spirit, worn with travail, imploring Thee for the refuge of the grave and denied it--for our sakes who adore Thee, Lord, blast their hopes, blight their lives, protract their bitter pilgrimage, make heavy their steps, water their way with their tears, stain the white snow with the blood of their wounded feet! We ask it, in the spirit of love, of Him Who is the Source of Love, and Who is the ever-faithful refuge and friend of all that are sore beset and seek His aid with humble and contrite hearts. Amen.”
Source
From Mark Twain, “The War Prayer.” Circa 1904–1905; Published posthumously in Europe and Elsewhere (1923), Harper & Brothers, New York and London, page 394, edited by Albert Bigelow Paine. Download for free at: https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/68604
Saturday, March 07, 2026
Wednesday, March 04, 2026
what a wanker ii
ev’rything’s a bit
straight from the horse’s mouth — ha!
who’s the horse’s ass
[with apologies (and gratitude) to Carlo Collodi, who told the story, and Enrico Mazzanti, whose art made it good and ugly]
[what a wanker i — which addresses trustworthiness — is here: https://jimhancock.blogspot.com/2026/03/what-wanker.html]
Monday, March 02, 2026
what a wanker
what a wanker.
It's annoying to even mention this today; but on this of all days ... with U.S. military personnel at risk on the borders of Iran — some already dead, many wounded in the first days of the president's military adventure — on this day when many Trump Epstein files remain illegally concealed ... the president directed our attention to *this* matter. He asked for our attention. And so he has it.
In fact:
1. The White House Correspondents Association has invited this president to every annual dinner in both his terms. In each prior instance, he sullenly announced he would not attend, because what a wanker.
2. If the president shows up this time, he will not be the WHCA Dinner *Honoree* because *there is no Honoree* — the event celebrates the First Amendment; raises money for journalism scholarships; and celebrates the recipients of journalism awards from the association. Also, he will not be the *Honoree* because, what a wanker.
Sorry to have even brought it up, but it needs to be said since the U.S. President wants you to believe it's something it isn't, because, you know....
Sources
2. https://whca.press/news/awards/
3. https://whca.press/2026/03/02/statement-on-president-trumps-decision-to-attend-whca-dinner/
Saturday, February 21, 2026
Joseph + the Amazing Technicolor Tax Plan*
“Okay, everybody, gather round; it’s time for a story!” Mr. Shepherd said with a big grin.
“What kind of story?” asked Miss Dollar, pretending she didn’t know.
“A Bible story!” Mr. Shepherd exclaimed.
And all the the children cried, “YAY!”
When everyone was still, Mr. Shepherd said, “Today’s story is about Joseph. How many of you remember him?”
“I do! I do!” said the children, raising their hands.
“Of course you do!” Mr. Shepherd said. “Joseph is a Bible hero! Does anyone remember why?”
“He’s a Bible hero because he loved his family!” said Ben.
“That’s right; Joseph loved his father and brothers very much, Ben. And what else?”
“Joseph refused to have premarital sex,” said Chastity. “He ran away naked when his boss's wife tried to…um…what do you call it?”
“When she tried to seduce him; that’s right Chastity! What else?”
“He’s a Bible hero because he always trusted God, even when everything looked hopeless.” said Will.
“My, you all remember so much about Joseph! And because of all those great qualities, he was promoted to a position of tremendous honor and responsibility in the land of Egypt. Isn’t that wonderful?”
And all the children nodded their heads; except Elizabeth, who raised her hand and waited until she was called on.
“You stopped asking, ‘And what else,’ before we got to the end,” she said.
“OK, Elizabeth,” Mr. Shepherd replied, throwing a little wink to Miss Dollar. "What else?"
“Joseph is also a Bible hero,” Elizabeth began, “because when he saw in a dream that a global food shortage was coming, he instituted a 20 percent tax on everything grown in Egypt for seven years and stored huge quantities of grain all over the country — so much that he stopped keeping records because no one could count it all."
“Wait a minute!” interrupted Milton. “That doesn’t sound right! I thought you said Joseph followed God.”
“He did!” Elizabeth responded, but Milton cut her off again.
“No way! That's nanny state stuff! God would never tell a leader to do that!”
“Well, apparently, that’s what God told Joseph,” Elizabeth said. “Then, when the economy slid off the rails, Joseph opened the storehouses and sold grain back to the Egyptians.”
“They bought their own grain?” Milton demanded. “That’s crazy! That’s like a double tax! God hates taxes! Tell her Mr. Shepherd!”
But Mr. Shepherd just sat there, looking stunned.
Elizabeth pressed on: “And then the global food supply collapsed and everybody in the world came to buy grain from the Egyptian government.”
This horrified the other children, who looked to Miss Dollar for help. But she faked a coughing fit and buried her face in the crook of her arm.
After an awkward moment, Milton intoned the words they were all thinking: “God believes in free market solutions, Elizabeth. You take that back.”
But Elizabeth didn’t take it back; she plowed ahead: “The famine was far from over, and Joseph sold food to the Egyptians until all their money was gone."
Milton’s face was very red now. “He never!”
“When the money was gone, Joseph traded food for livestock. And when the government owned all the livestock, Joseph bought up all the land in Egypt — and everyone sold, because you can’t eat dirt every day. So the people were reduced to servitude from one end of Egypt to the other.”
“LIES!” Milton screamed, his eyes bulging.
“No!” Elizabeth countered. “It’s not! It’s part of why Joseph is a Bible hero! It’s right there in the book of Genesis! You could read it for yourself!”
Milton was crying freely now. “But we’re just children!” he sobbed, snot running down the little furrow between his nose and upper lip. “The adults would have told us if that was in the Bible…right?”
“You’d think, wouldn’t you?” said Elizabeth in a sad voice. She smiled gently. “After that, Joseph gave everyone seed to plant. And he made the 20 percent tax permanent. And do you know what the people did?”
Milton snuffled. “They rose up in a mighty tax revolt and demanded a return to true capitalism as God intended?”
“No,” Elizabeth said. “They thanked Joseph for saving their asses — also their camels and goats. Just kidding; the government owned the livestock. They thanked Joseph for saving their lives and got to work rebuilding the economy.
“And that’s how Joseph became a Bible hero,” Elizabeth concluded. “And it’s how his father and the rest of his family survived to become the Twelve Tribes of Israel. The rest of the story, you can read at your leisure.”
”I need to blow my nodes,” Milton moaned, and excused himself to search for a tissue.
* Apologies to Andrew Lloyd-Webber, Tim Rice, Moses . First published on these pages 02.20.2011
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)