No Kings

NO KINGS

We created Iran or at least this version of it. In the early fifties, Iran had a democratically elected prime minister. Good, right? Wait…he wants to what? Nationalize the oil??? Oh, no! So a joint US/UK operation deposed the prime minister and put in the Shah. The Shah was head of a brutal regime, arguably even worse than Saadam Hussein. The only people crazy enough to take the Shah were the “religious fanatics,” and even they waited until the Shah was out of the country getting medical treatment. They took over Iran and have been running it since 1979. So, if you ever why a bunch of stern dudes with beards waving the Quran run Iran…that’s why.

Saturday was the No Kings protests around the country. It was good people turning out, showing their disdain for Illiterate Mussolini. In the end it changes nothing. The people out there waving signs voted against the Orange One, the ones who voted for him watched disdainfully from the sidelines.

You’re too cynical! It’s good they were out there in en masse, showing how many Americans are against that toxic clown show.

What protests are good for is mental health. Those of us who see Trump as a soulless babyman, a grostesque carpetbagger, it’s easy to be left in a hand wringing state of despair. Anxiety breeds in solitude. Being part of a movement, you see there are millions like you, feeling and fearing the same. It give you hope…or something.

Protests are good for mental health, but in the end nothing has changed. Illiterate Mussolini, Poll Pot of Shit is still smirking in the Oval Office. 

Is all hope lost? Of course not. Money is our curse, but it can also be our salvation. Cuts in Federal funds, the tariffs, both those things are going to effect working people—working people at all points on the political spectrum. Now, add in all the “illegals” being given the boot. You know, the people who are willing to do back breaking work for low wages. Losing a chunk of that labor base will have an effect on prices—

The Midterms are in a year and a half. We have not begun to see the negative effects of what Poll Pot of Shit is doing yet, not really. We will, though, and all his fanboys and fangirls will start seeing the MAGA movement in a less positive light.

No Kings: The Shah was a king of sorts and the theocrazies kicked him out. Trump acts like a king. Israel acts with the capriciousness of a king:

Gaza is genocide. Flat out. Genocide.

Israel was attacked! They have every right to root out Hamas! You’re anti-semetic for being against Israel!

You understand that everyone who lives in that part of the world is a semite: Jewish folks, Arabs—semites. Gaza is a genocide commited by semites against semites.

I can’t even….you have nuclear bombs but everyone looks the other way and if other people in the area want nuclear bombs that’s not allowed and you’ll bomb them….how? I—

I can’t even.

War acheives two things: It makes people dead and it makes wealthy people wealthier. War is about money. Money, to coin a cliche, makes the world go around. You want to change the world, fuck with the money. It’s the only thing the people in power understand, the only God they genuflect to. Protests are good for mental health, and that’s about it. After all the trash is swept up and the last protestor has gone home, nothing is different. The King, in the end, is money, and we are a highly materialistic culture. You want to change the world, you have to change yourself first, change your priorities, change the way you lead your life—

And that’s difficult. Getting out, waving a sign and yelling, it feels good but it changes nothing.

Real change begins in solitude with reflection...