Kash and the Secretary of #WarCrimes STARS of AI slopaganda

 Iran-linked video diss tracks based on the weekly news stream are one of RantWoman's very guilty pleasures, with the following additional comments.

Gee: shouldn't the people of Iran have the opportunity to make fun of their leaders without getting mowed down by the tens of thousands? Welp, hard to gain access right now with SEVERE internet information control within the country. Oh, and if only the fate of formerly very valuable examples of US democracy at its best, the Radio Liberty / Radio Free Europe franchise were not up in the air thanks to the ravages of DOGE and some step in court-based limbo.

Iran seems to be following the advice of Sun Tzu (?): never interrupt your enemy when they are in the process of making a mistake."

And US-based interests seem to be grabbing advice from an authoritarian playbook: penalize channels who host the content, oh and eat away at (or monetize?) the wayback machine internet archive all the better to try to make history tell only the most flattering stories. RantWoman almost feels as if she should download content in case key items get erased. Almost.  

With all that to set the mood, please enjoy the videos.

They reflect depressing truths which, among other things are serious deviations from concerns from RantWoman's grad school colleagues wanting to keep their reputations as clean as possible in order to qualify for security clearances.

IRANS New LEGO DISS TRACK Druken HEGSETH 🤭 #viral #fdt #war #funny #lol

Sea Shany with a side of misquoted Bible

Ezekiel 25:17 - Bible Gateway

Speaking of Overkill, both textually and in the "kinetic" sense, this link should yield the verse in all English translations available on Bible Gateway.

RantWoman is not going to chase down the Pulp Fiction quote. This quote is consistent with Hegseth's previous quote from the Psalms about breaking the teeth of enemies. Isn't that threat alone supposed to be a war crime?

And Kash Patel, the Epstein Class, hostile work environments

Kash Patel Gets NASTY SURPRISE After Iranian Diss Track Goes VIRAL

So many questions:

Shouldn't reasonable vetting have caught alcohol issues before confirmation.

Why would a security team need a battering ram. Couldn't they just think of some reason to ask for help from hotel staff or were they complicit in hiding the unacceptable behavior.

President #StableGenius promised to drain the swamp and hire only the best people. Instead everything is SO MUCH swampier and the best he can do is the bottom of the barrel, drunks when he hates drunkenness....

Oh swell. It's a wild Saturday night Play the sea shanty again.

Repentance on TikTok?

MAGA Christians are turning on Tr*mp for 2 reasons. 

Holy Week prayers for one simultaneously hiding under Constitutional protections and trying to tear up the Constitution

RantWoman, It's Holy Week. MUSTYOU?

Uh, #DonPoorleone was out in public comparing all his legal travails to the sufferings of Christ. Is that enough reason? 

Besides, what about if there is a prayer included? Seriously, hating that EX President guy takes too much energy. Hopefully there are at least a few people, maybe family members who truly love the EX President, but that is probably way too much for most of us. At LEAST we can pray for him.

This past weekend brough blizzard of social media chatter and YouTube videos about the possibility of NY Attorney General Letitia James seizing some of Defendant T's assets, mixed in with heartwarming pleas from son of the defendant to spare $5 or $10 or even $25. Even more touching was a plea from SC Senator Lindsey Graham to pray for the defendant and also for the country.

Ok, SOLD. Stealing inspiration from Fiddler on the roof:

"May the Lord bless and keep ... far away from the White House, top secret information, and everyone and everything most of us care about. May the Lord bring him in-depth psychological evaluation. May he be provided a winsome young woman who has taken a purity pledge--and karate classes--to read him daily passages assuring him that God loves him even if the liberal media, the deep state, and LOTS of people across the political spectrum definitely do not. May the Lord provide him, as soon as possible, retirment" circumstances befitting...

And furthermore, if at all possible, may everyone involved with Dude's legal matters, drink deeply from the suggestions here:

RantWoman suggests Extraordinary Relief

PS For Readers with even more energy to wade further into commentary, RantWoman offers samples from RantWoman's social media streams.

MSNBC Panel on events of the day

Glenn Kirschner on #DonPoorleone Monday in Court

RantWoman comments:

I am not a lawyer, a real estate finance wizard or a spycraft expert but I am not completely chagrined. Here is how I see today's action in the Civil Fraud case.

1. Reducing the bond to file an appeal is not the same thing as reducing the total fines and penalties.

2. Last week Judge Engoron (?) barred #TFG and sons from serving as officers in their company and placed all Trump businesses in NY under supervision by a retired Judge. That probably. That probably made it EXTREMELY difficult for Defendant T to do ANYTHING that would have helped him come up with bond in whole or in part. Today's action stayed the previous total ban on doing business in NY but left in place the supervision by the other judge. This probably means that T now has more options to arrange a way to pay the bond without for instance getting himself even more indebted to foreign interests than he may be now. It ALSO probably cuts down on his ability to siphon campaign funds to pay his legal bills and makes him have to draw on resources he supposedly has.

3. 10 more days of legal stuff will HOPEFULLY cut the level of campaign blather at least a little. Disinformation is gushing out all over the place but the RNC is broke. I have the impression that small donors are not charmed by pleas for even small contributions supposedly for his campaign but likely to go toward his bond and / or penalties for..cheating on his taxes.

4. #DonPoorleone is still leveraged out his ears and for good reason no one wants to do business with him, but at least now, if he loses on appeal, apparently he can forfeit his bond and the state of NY will get at least some of what they are owed.

Closing out,

Jon Stewart in highly unQuakerly vernacular

Adam Kinzinger flaks his book on Colbert and other Kinzinger

First Segment 

Kinzinger now regrets voting against impeachment the first time around. What changed his mind is important

Adam Kinzinger on House speakers

paraphrasing "Mike Johnson does not match either my understanding of Christianity or my understanding of the Constitution."

Donald Trump is a loser who needs to keep losing

paraphrasing slightly: 

Fine with trying to keep T off the ballot in court but really wants to see him trounced at the ballot box.

"No wonder Trump is still on top of the polling because most of the people running against him won't denounce him"

And a bonus Kinzinger on The Bulwark

analysis others have also offered about the demographics of #TFG appeal and weakness by Democrats.

And one thing leads to another and here RantWoman is reading Adam Kinzinger's substack

Adam Kinzinger Substack about the Democrats' Hamas problem

RantWoman appreciates Rep. Kinzinger's willingness to do soul searching.

And this article makes RantWoman's head explode.

Killing Innocent civilians is WRONG. It does not matter where it happens. IT does not matter who does it.

Kinzinger is all worried because young Democrats are overwhelmingly pro-Palestinian. Coincidentally, 50% of the population of Gaza is under 18 and some of them have been refugees for 4 generations. Could young Democrats' stance possibly have anything to do with demographics and true democracy.

PS funding genocide is fiscally irresponsible no matter where the money comes from. The #GOP should be laughed out of the room for even pretending that diverting funds from the IRS and directing them toward aid to Israel is anything but SILLY. Plus it's just welfare for defense contractors and we know welfare is...

Faithful America urges Christian Nationalists to repent and resign from public office.

First some music to set the tone. The music is for everyone

Nearer my God to thee; cello quartet.

Next the latest in RantWoman's faitfhful trolling of Lauren Boebert R #CO03 #landslideLauren #NotoriousGED (RantWoman gets that this hashtag is classist and otherwise problematic. RantWoman has not thought of a better one for evoking hope for continuing revelation, lifelong learning, and Lovwe They Neighbor, #NoExceptions.

Readers interested in very Christian language and holding accountable the many Christian nationalism enthusiasts on today's political scene may appreciate what appears to be endless petitions calling on people to repent and resign. RantWoman find Christian Nationalism alarming on many counts and definitely favors helping get problematic figures diselected. RantWoman also indulges in the hope that repentance might lead to vastly more insightful approaches to public policy and to legislators' co-workers even if the newly repentant don't resign but merely get diselected.. 

Petition supply courtesy of Faithful America

Another Video from RantWoman's video stream featuring the soon to be Grandma Lauren.

Previous posts

Put Boebert in the search bar. 

Gotta Love Lauren Boebert

Faith without works is dead: Online Conversation on themes from Jose Santos Woss of FCNL 8/17 at 7pm Pacific

RantWoman's summer visitations to many Quaker gatherings leave her both well-fed and stimulated. They also leave her with housekeeping challenges and a jumble of seasoning about What Next.

One clear What Next? How to continue the badly needed discussion about racism in the US. RantWoman recommends: 

Jose Santos Woss Keynote at Intermountain Yearly Meeting

The ministry speaks of family background, lived experience, and evolution in faith.

Continue the Discussion online August 17 at 7 pm Pacific

Calvin Lecture Act 4: Acts. Pentecost

RantWoman thanks RantMom's church, Rainier Beach Presbyterian for the opportunity to participate in its series of worship enrichment programs funded through the Calvin fund. RantWoman appreciate both rich spiritual experiences and really good food. Tonight's  focus was poetry and spoken word. RantWoman feels like a dork for not noting the presenter's name but RantWOman is impressed and hopes to run into him again.

The tasks

--Read the Passage

--Identify some words important to the reader

--Write words or imagery evoked by the words above

--Weave those words into a poem.

--Feast generously

--Share readings in the sanctuary

The passage via BibleGateway so there are lots of choices or ways to wander in the text:
Acts 2:41-47 

RantMom's Church

The process as realized by RantWoman.

--Arrive LATE. URK (Cue humility SOMEWHERE, SOMEHOW about judgmentalism with respect to other people, people who Drive Cars instead of ride the Metro limousine service. )

--Zip to the restroom to relieve bus bladder.

--Have RantMom tell RantWoman the citation.

--Note extreme gratitude that RantMom seems to have fallen in with a group that will get a poem out of the deal along with a lot of other nourishing chatter. Go back to RantWoman;'s solitary meditations.

--Chew around several different version including the Geneva Bible just because.

Keywords: Baptize, teaching, signs and wonders / miracles, fear, AWE, MEAT added to their numbers, eat, fire


What resulted, with RantWoman tweaking all the way until time to read, at tehvery end because group 8 was the last group and there were some awesome pieces ahead of RantWoman. The pieces would have been more awesome if a microphone had been involved, but RantMom did not want to move more closer to hear, sheepishly admitted good intentions about hearing aids, and will get highlights with microphone in Sunday worship.


As read:
(RantWoman, probably like much of the world has been watching a lot of #Kilauea volcano eruption videos. RantWoman is always grateful for natural phenomena reminder that God whatever part glows within RantWoman is also a lot bigger than RantWoman alone.)

Holy volcanism devouring vehicles

Seething disquiet in hot #lava pics

Eyes splashed with fiery Images

Ears splattered with volcanic roar

Feet soaked in geologic rumbling

Voices teaching love and values

Those who hunger and thirst for righteousness drawn together by the thousands

gathering by bus and train, bicycle and plane, van, ATV,  feet and phone.

vegan, vegetarian, and omnivore feasting together

God going viral

========
Reflections after the three previous Calvin worships

For tonight with hashtags and because RantWomang ets to get really happy still to see the collages from this workshop in the sanctuary, and speaking of food and embodied religion
#RamadanMubarak
Allahu Akbar with the Presbyterians
#RamadanKareem


Chrstianity as an embodied religion, Lenten Reading, the Quaker practice of sitting in silence as presence.
Christianity as Embodied Religion

What Have We Done Senzenina
What Have We Done? Senzenina

Gogol Bordello - "Wonderlust King" (official video)

Warning: Loud. Irreverent. Which is why this is here.

RantWoman was delivered unto this path of Wander/wonderlust by an innocent inquiry (Innocent? It was the Association of Bad Friends. That's how Innocent.) about what "we are all ministers of God" Quakers wear as clerical garb. No, there was not consensus even about "just wear something." But on to the music.

And by the way is GOGOL Bordello, not Google Bordello.




Only ONE of a number of Bad Friend moments, besides the song title: Mr. Gogol Bordello is just putting out a new album called Seekers and Finders. Start your search engines if you want to know more!

Quaker Speak: How Do Quaker Meetings Do Outreach and Welcome Newcomers?

RantWoman's brain is scurrying around crazily like a puppy on new linoleum meditating about many threads of storing and organizing information but RantWoman is glad to collect both the this QuakerSpeak video and the link to the equivalent in Russian. RantWoman will now return to the rest of her frenzy.

Quakers.Ru Introduction to the video and trasncript translated into Russian

Sacraments: I want to be a Catholic

RantWoman knows it's the anniversary of 9/11. Here is what RantWoman is called to riff on.

RantWoman's theme here is sacraments and memorials, specifically Catholic memorials in RantWoman's recent experience. Alas this is RantWoman so the sacraments stuff comes tied up with a whole bunch of other themes too. Cope. If God can do it, PROBABLY that of God within you can help you do it too!

Seattle Times Obituary for Douglas Hugh Morrison

Here's what touched RantWoman most about the memorial above:

A few months before Doug's death, he showed up at mass and told the priest he wanted to be a Catholic. The priest, obviously touched telling the story, offered to baptize him immediately, but Doug wanted to study. The priest was very impressed that Doug made it to class every Tuesday. (There's a bus from Doug's apartment!)

The priest recounted Doug's passionate interest in the study, the number of good wishes in Doug's apartment, the picture of Jesus across from his bed. Doug wanted to be baptized at the Easter Vigil with everyone else in his class. He did not live that long, but the story and the degree to which the priest was obviously touched made one thing really clear. It was funeral mass so there was communion. The priest said something along the lines of "this is what we believe about communion and if you do not believe that, feel free to com for a blessing but please do not..." RantWoman found the clarity wonderful. There was already so much Divine presence RantWOman felt NO need even to fuss about communion!


And because Catholic memorials are on RantWoman's mind and she has not yet collected items about Father Bill Bichsel, SJ:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_J._Bichsel

http://ncronline.org/news/peace-justice/longtime-peace-activist-jesuit-fr-bill-bichsel-dies-age-86

http://paxchristiusa.org/2015/03/04/obituary-farewell-to-bix-fr-bill-bichsel-sj-d-february-28-2015/

http://www.seattletimes.com/seattle-news/obituaries/rev-bill-bichsel-86-longtime-peace-demonstrator/


And reprising another memorial in RantWoman's recent experience with a different take on Communion
Funeral Rite for Lu Walls

And for a different sacraments thread
http://johanpdx.blogspot.com/2015/09/theological-mathematics.html

Nazis against Nazis

Nazis Against Nazis: German town turns Neo Nazi march into anti-Nazi walkathon fundraiser.

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2014/11/18/1345711/-German-town-pranks-annual-neo-Nazi-march-with-clever-counter-protest?detail=email#
The narration contains several wry bits.

Dostoevsky Gratitudes

Dostoevsky Gratitudes: at least for now, the cliff notes version, without the whole Russian novel of free associations fogged about RantWoman's head this time of year:

RantWoman in connection with today's meeting of the group meandering through John Woolman's journal allowed her mind to wander to various moments of 18th and 19th history, the French revolution in 1789, the upheavals in Europe and the US of 1848 which reached Russia as well...

RantWoman has particularly been having many conversations of Dostoevsky and hereby offers a few links, should the churnings from the endless stream of raw material for RantWoman's spiritual compost heap present time for more focused reflection:
http://www.egs.edu/library/fyodor-dostoevsky/biography/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fyodor_Dostoyevsky
https://people.brandeis.edu/~teuber/dostoevskybio.html
Dostoevsky, as was the fashion of the time, got paid by the cuarto. He also had lots of debts to try to stay ahead of because of  a gambling problem. So, should extensive digressions be needed, he certainly had incentive to offer.

RantWoman's current mental health professional is into Dostoevskyh. A couple appointments ago, she was reading the Idiot, one of the gentler of the old gambling addict's ouevre. Let's hear it for free content from Amazon.

Recently, a brave soul unfamiliar with the Still Didn't Get  The Memo on Email Immoderation invited RantWoman to communicate by email. Somehow RantWoman mentioned having been a Russian literature major in college, the therapist reading the Idiot. Brave email correspondent just LAUGHED! Stay tuned?

Reddit discussion on quakers, anger, finding that of God within

Interested in being a Quaker but have trouble with religion: a reddit discussion.

http://www.reddit.com/r/Quakers/comments/2mla0y/interested_in_being_a_quaker_but_have_trouble/


Various threads of gratitudes:
--lovely play of themes about worship and centering and anger and inner Light

--more conventional evangelical get saved stuff later on in the comments.

--better success with reddit and JAWS athan I previously remember. Probably partly a JAWS version issue.

Soy PAVista - Programa Alternativas a la Violencia (PAV)

Extremely cool bilingual Alternatives to Violence video

FJ Chronic Relativity

Friends Journal: Chronic Relativity
Alcohol. Drugs. Youth. Mutual care.
What's not to like?

http://www.friendsjournal.org/chronic-relativity/

Quakerism: Nourishment for the Soul

Great introduction to Quakerism; consider letting Youtube point you to Zach's visits to other faiths!

Really, really, really fun for anyone who has ever met Joe Franko to remember him.

Clemency Petition for Aaron Borrero

From the Friends Committee on WA Public Policy Criminal Justice Working Group

Friends,
Our colleague, Tim Wettack, sent this petition for clemency for Aaron  Borrero. In addition to Tim's personal description below of Aaron,  there is more information about him on the link below. Although we may not know Aaron personally, he is an example of a number of guys in prison who have done their "correctional" work and need to go home.

Because Washington state does not have parole they are kept imprisoned with wasted lives and expensive incarceration. Unless the WA legislature enacts second chance legislation to recognize men like Aaron for turning their lives around, clemency is one of the
few if only ways out.

Please consider signing the petition for clemency included in the link below

From Tim Wettack:
Aaron has been in prison for 16 years; he has approximately 5 years  left on his sentence.  I've gotten to know Aaron at the CLO [Concerned Lifers Organization at Monroe].  He is a very good and solid guy (man).  He recently got married (in prison, of course).  

There is no question that Aaron "gets it".  There is NO WAY that he is  any threat to society or that he would recidivate.  NO WAY.   I would welcome Aaron to stay at our home at any time with no concerns whatsoever.   The state does not need to expend $47K per year to continue to keep people like Aaron locked up. 

Please consider logging onto the below link and endorsing Aaron's clemency petition.  
Thank you.    Tim Wettack
 http://www.clemency4aaron.com

Marine Maj. General Smedley Butler converted

RantWoman greatly esteems unambiguous statements of one's Light. RantWoman received the following from a neighborhood peace group near her.

Marine Maj. Gen. Smedley Butler would be 132 years old today, were he still alive.

He was twice awarded the Medal of Honor, for his heroism during several combat tours in Central America. He took part in World War I, the Banana Wars, and the Boxer rebellion in China.

Consequently he became quite the anti-war activist in his older age. He even put a stop to a real-life potential military coup against F.D.R.

If Butler were around today, engagements like Iraq would have him simply astounded.

Not only is it the most violent since the middle of the American invasion, but it's also grown to become the second-leading nation for oil production in OPEC (first would be Saudi Arabia).

The irony would not be lost on Butler, who toured the U.S. in 1933 giving a speech he called "War is a racket."

Eventually he turned the speech into a book.

Here's an excerpt:

"War is just a racket. A racket is best described, I believe, as something that is not what it seems to the majority of people. Only a small inside group knows what it is about. It is conducted for the benefit of the very few at the expense of the masses.

I believe in adequate defense at the coastline and nothing else. If a nation comes over here to fight, then we'll fight. The trouble with America is that when the dollar only earns 6 percent over here, then it gets restless and goes overseas to get 100 percent. Then the flag follows the dollar and the soldiers follow the flag.

I wouldn't go to war again as I have done to protect some lousy investment of the bankers. There are only two things we should fight for. One is the defense of our homes and the other is the Bill of Rights. War for any other reason is simply a racket.

There isn't a trick in the racketeering bag that the military gang is blind to. It has its "finger men" to point out enemies, its "muscle men" to destroy enemies, its "brain men" to plan war preparations, and a "Big Boss" Super-Nationalistic-Capitalism.
It may seem odd for me, a military man to adopt such a comparison. Truthfulness compels me to. I spent thirty- three years and four months in active military service as a member of this country's most agile military force, the Marine Corps. I served in all commissioned ranks from Second Lieutenant to Major-General. And during that period, I spent most of my time being a high class muscle- man for Big Business, for Wall Street and for the Bankers. In short, I was a racketeer, a gangster for capitalism.

I suspected I was just part of a racket at the time. Now I am sure of it. Like all the members of the military profession, I never had a thought of my own until I left the service. My mental faculties remained in suspended animation while I obeyed the orders of higher-ups. This is typical with everyone in the military service.

I helped make Mexico, especially Tampico, safe for American oil interests in 1914. I helped make Haiti and Cuba a decent place for the National City Bank boys to collect revenues in. I helped in the raping of half a dozen Central American republics for the benefits of Wall Street. The record of racketeering is long. I helped purify Nicaragua for the international banking house of Brown Brothers in 1909-1912. I brought light to the Dominican Republic for American sugar interests in 1916. In China I helped to see to it that Standard Oil went its way unmolested.

During those years, I had, as the boys in the back room would say, a swell racket. Looking back on it, I feel that I could have given Al Capone a few hints. The best he could do was to operate his racket in three districts. I operated on three continents."


- Rainier Valley Neighbors for Peace & Justice

Curiosity

On the occasion of landing Curiosity, a nuclear powered rover the size of a compact car on Mars, a post about becoming a Quaker.


http://seekerfinding.blogspot.co.uk/2012/04/on-becoming-of-quaker.html

Reborn on the Fourth of July

Reflections on CO's, selective opposition to military actions, conversion.

By way of blog as filing cabinet

http://forusa.org/blogs/mark-johnson/reborn-fourth-july-challenge-faith-patriotism-conscience/10670