Louisville, Kentucky
The NO KINGS rally of October 18, 2025, was the largest single protest in American history. What did we demand? Freedom and Liberty.
Here are my pictures from that day in Louisville, Kentucky.
NO KINGS RALLY 10/18/2025
politics
POINT-COUNTERPOINT: GUN CONTROL
A Play
Characters:
Fred, moderator
Jane Draper, Mothers Against Mayhem
Peter Steele, The National Rifle Association.
Place: Television Studio: Fox News
Time: Now
Lights up to dim. Jane Draper and Peter Steele are sitting in chairs opposite each other center stage. They are in silhouette. Lights up to full-on Fred stage right at a lectern.
FRED
Good evening, ladies, and gentlemen, and welcome to another edition of Point-Counterpoint where issues of national importance are debated on stage in front of a live audience. At the end of the show, we will take a poll to see which side was persuasive enough to earn your vote.
The topic of tonight’s show: Gun Control. It is brought to you by our sponsor Colt Manufacturing, proud manufacturer of the AR-15, when you absolutely, positively have to kill everyone in the room. Accept no substitutes.
Our guests tonight are Jane Draper, president of Mothers Against Mayhem, or MAM. Yes, Mam! Who will argue that we need stricter gun laws or gun control if you will? And on the other side of the issue is Peter Steele, vice president of the National Rifle Association.
And now, let’s meet our panel for another rousing edition of Point-Counterpoint. Leading off our debate tonight will be Peter Steele.
Lights fade on Fred and come up on Jane and Peter who are positioned center stage in chairs facing each other.
PETER
Thank you, Fred. I would just like to say at the outset that our position over at the National Rifle
Association is that the right to keep and bear arms is protected and enshrined by the Second Amendment of the United States Constitution and that every American, every American! Should own and carry a firearm. Our motto is that God created man and Samuel Colt made him equal. I will give up my gun when you pry it from my cold dead hands.
JANE
Well, that’s a good place to start, Peter, because a close reading of the Second Amendment references the right to keep and bear arms in order to maintain a well-regulated militia. Emphasis on “well regulated.” It doesn’t say a thing about arming all Americans.
PETER
Well, Jane, you are obviously not well-versed in the law because if you were you would remember the case of Heller, in District of Columbia v. Heller. In 2008, the conservative majority of the Supreme Court, in an opinion written by arch-conservative Justice Antonin Scalia, decided that “a well-regulated Militia” was merely “prefatory” language.
JANE
Yes, I am familiar with that case. Justice John Paul Stevens, who dissented, called it “unquestionably the most clearly incorrect decision” of his lifetime.
PETER
Well, we’re going to have to agree to disagree on that one, Janey, because in our view it was rightly decided and is the law of the land.
JANE
I could disagree with you more, but I don’t see how. The Supreme Court has made us all a little less safe with that ruling. The problem, dear Peter, is that there are too many guns in the hands of Americans. Did you know that the leading cause of death of children in this country is gun violence? Not drowning, not car accidents, but gun violence! And don’t call me Janey.
PETER
Ok, Jane, or Miss Draper, or whatever you prefer to be called. The Second Amendment not only gives Americans the right to bear arms, but it also creates equality for women! Guns are the great equalizer. What do you think about that? Why, I would dare say guns give women more equality than the entire feminist movement.
JANE
You can call me Jane, but I wish you would keep your condescension down to a dull roar. We are both adults here and I would appreciate being treated with a little respect.
PETER
I will treat you with the respect you deserve, Jane!
JANE
Well, that’s just ridiculous! The Second Amendment doesn’t make women equal. That would be the Equal Rights Amendment. That is what we need. Let’s replace the Second Amendment with the ERA. Burn bras, not bridges!
PETER
Don’t get carried away, there, Jane. Let’s put things into perspective, shall we? It’s not guns that kill people. It’s people who kill people. A gun is just an object. A tool for use. It is private property. And we all have the right to own private property, don’t we? We shouldn’t infringe on law-abiding citizens’ rights to own property. It’s a delicate balance we have to strike as we dance between safety and individual freedom. Man has a God-given right to defend himself!
JANE
Let’s get back on topic, shall we? I think it’s sad we live in a world where we have not outgrown our need for guns to settle our differences. Why haven’t we outgrown that? Why haven’t we outgrown our dependency on guns? Maybe we just need to exercise a little common sense. What we need are common-sense gun laws. Look! Nobody is talking about taking away your guns. You act as if you are being emasculated or something.
PETER
There you go again. Listen, Joe Biden’s constant efforts to gut the Second Amendment will not usher in safety for Americans. Instead, it will only embolden criminals. Criminals are not going to obey the law. That’s why they are called criminals! The NRA will continue our fight for self-defense laws. Rest assured, we will never bow down, we will never retreat, and we will never apologize for championing the selfdefense rights of law-abiding Americans.
JANE
In any given year in the United States, more than 120,000 Americans are shot in murders, assaults, suicides, and suicide attempts. Unintentional shootings, or police actions. Of these, 35,00 result in deaths. Over 17,000 of those injured or killed are children and teens. On average, 34 people in America are murdered on account of gun violence every day.
The United States is a global outlier when it comes to gun violence. The number of firearms available to Americans is estimated to be about 310 million. Americans own nearly half of the 650 million civilians owned guns in the world today. Americans own the most guns per person in the world. The number 2 country is Yemen. Yemen for Christ’s sake! They have 54 guns per 100. We are at 88 guns owned per 100. We have 5 percent of the world’s population but hold 31 percent of global mass shootings. Gun homicide rates are 25 times higher in the United States than in any other developed country. The United States has one of the highest rates of death by firearms in the developed world. Americans are 51 times more likely to be killed by gunfire than people in the United Kingdom.
PETER
Look, Jane, guns are needed for self-defense. If you took away all the guns only criminals would have guns. Criminals and the police. Lord help you if you ever needed a policeman in a life-and-death situation. When seconds count a policeman is only minutes away. We have the right to stand our ground! And having a gun is our only means of self-protection.
JANE
We love our guns more than we love our children in this country. The Second Amendment is cherished more than public safety. It makes no sense! We have 352 million guns in circulation in this country. More guns than people. More guns than common sense. Your so-called “stand your ground” laws are a license to kill. What happened to due process? What gives you the right to be a judge, jury, and executioner?
PETER
When seconds count you don’t have time for the due process. If I feel threatened, if my life is on the line or that of my family, I am going to stand my ground!
JANE
Don’t you realize your hostile, loudmouth, hyperventilating, knuckle-dragging posturing only reinforces negative stereotypes about gun owners? Can’t we reason together to come up with common-sense gun laws that will satisfy both sides?
PETER
Well, what do you have in mind, Jane? Do you have a proposal we can maybe talk about? Something we sink our teeth into?
JANE
Yeah! What about gun shows? Why can you buy a gun at a gun show without a background check? We need to close the “gun show loophole” to keep guns out of the hands of the wrong people.
PETER
Because you’re gullible, that’s why. There is no such thing as a “gun show loophole.” The dealer you’re buying a gun from at a gun show is running the same background check as he does in his shop. He is using the same form. There is no “gun show loophole,” Jane! And anybody who says any different is a goddamn liar!
JANE
Well, that’s a red herring, Peter! We are not talking about dealers. We are talking about private owners transferring weapons to each other.
PETER
Which they have every right to do!
JANE
I know! That is what I’m trying to get changed! 97 percent of Americans support background checks for all firearms sales. 70 percent back “red flag” laws.
PETER
What’s a “red flag” law?
JANE
Don’t play dumb with me. You know perfectly well what a “red flag” law is.
PETER
I know. I just wanted to see if you knew.
JANE
Red flag laws enable authorities to confiscate guns from people found to be a threat to public safety.
PETER
And just who is supposed to decide who is a threat to public safety?
JANE Doctors, psychiatrists…the mental health community.
PETER
That’s not good enough Jane! You can’t take guns out of the hands of law-abiding citizens without due process.
JANE
Oh, now you want to talk about due process! That’s just insane! I can cite you case after case of mass shootings in America, and some very recently, where the perpetrator had a history of mental illness.
PETER
That may be so, but that just goes to prove the point that people are to blame for mass shootings, not guns! Your radical gun control agenda will do nothing to prevent attacks by demented and disturbed individuals.
JANE
There’s nothing radical about common sense gun laws, background checks, and closing loopholes. We can protect innocent Americans from senseless gun violence while still protecting the constitutional rights that citizens enjoy for hunting and self-defense.
PETER
Look! I have no problem with vigorous background checks when it comes to firearms if we do the same thing when it comes to immigration, Voter ID, and candidates running for office.
JANE
At last! Some common ground! And speaking of mass shootings, most are committed with a militarystyle assault rifle. We are talking about the AR-15, which we, The Mothers Against Mayhem are against. We want these weapons of mass destruction banned. No one needs a military assault rifle to defend themselves on the streets of America. It is absurd! You can’t hunt with them. Their only purpose is to kill human beings in the quickest most efficient and destructive way possible.
PETER
What ho! Now just hold on there a dog gone minute little missy! I beg to differ! I think that is a little bit small-minded of you.
JANE
Small minded?
PETER
Yes. Because without them ranchers would be completely defenseless against varmints. Blaming the gun for what’s happening in America is small-minded. In rural Colorado for instance an AR-15 is the gun of choice for killing raccoons before they get to our chickens. It is the gun of choice for killing a fox, it is a gun that you use to control predators on your ranch, on your farm, on your property. Preventing chicken deaths…That’s what I’m talking about!
JANE
Chicken deaths? What about the deaths of over 11,000 humans last year alone, including 400 teenagers and 71 children? Americans have the right to feel safe in their homes, on the street, in theaters, and at the grocery store. Children should be safe at school, which should be the safest place of all instead of having to participate in active shooter drills. In Dayton Ohio, 10 people were killed in a bar while in Texas a shooter killed 22 in a Walmart store. This is insanity and it must stop! We need stricter gun laws!
PETER
The number one city in America with the strictest gun laws is Chicago. And number one in murder and gang violence. If gun control actually worked, Chicago would look like Mayberry RFD. Democrats should ask themselves why every major city they’ve run for decades is plagued by violence despite having some of the most draconian gun laws in the nation.
JANE
Please learn some of the stats on Chicago before coming in here and just repeating your prepared talking points. Chicago’s massive gun violence is because all the guns are purchased legally in red states like Indiana and then brought across the border illegally into Chicago.
PETER
Please! That is a myth! The origin of most guns is untraceable.
JANE
Republicans are the first to pounce on crime spikes while never acknowledging that the dismantling of reasonable regulations is responsible for the spiraling spikes in the first fucking place. And hundreds of millions of gun sales later, gun deaths have reached an all-time high.
The Supreme Court decided long ago that your right to free expression stops at the tip of the other guy’s nose. You have the right to own a car but you don’t have the right to drive it a hundred miles an hour on the wrong side of the road. You have the right to own a gun, but just as the state requires you to have a license to drive a car, to be of a certain age, and to demonstrate competency with driving skills and regard for public safety, the state can place reasonable limits on ownership of guns.
Only some kind of fascist would regard gun ownership as a higher priority than public safety. Can’t we have a reasonable conversation on what we can do to prevent the next mass shooting?
PETER
Well, yes, we could do that, but I take exception to the premise of your statement. Using the word fascist the way you did clearly shows you don’t know what you are talking about! Because in fascism, public safety outweighs the rights of the individuals. Mass shootings are caused by criminals who disregard the law. All you want to do is create more laws but offer no real solutions that will be effective legally speaking.
JANE
Gun laws alone cannot solve the problem. But gun laws will make a difference. There may be no single answer, but we must do what we can. Sitting on the sidelines is not an option when our children are being killed daily. We are facing public health crises of monumental proportions and attention must be JANE (CONT.)
paid! We need to act now to enact sensible common sense gun laws. The definition of insanity is to keep doing the same over again and expecting a different result. Failure to act will result in a failure to protect the innocent lives of countless Americans! For, God’s sake, how much more carnage are we willing to accept? How many more innocent American lives must be taken before we say, “Enough is enough!”
PETER
We already have plenty of gun laws on the books. They need to be enforced. We have mandatory minimum sentences for criminals using guns and many states allow sentencing enhancements for crimes involving firearms. These laws need to be enforced! If you want to pass a law how about one that will allow those with concealed carry permits be allowed to carry their weapons into other states? If you want to prevent school shootings why not arm teachers and give them training? The best way to stop a bad guy with a gun is with a good guy with a gun. Why do you want to trample on my rights and leave me defenseless? If I give up my guns, do you think the bloods and crips will give up theirs?
JANE
Calm down there Peter, you are liable to have a stroke.
PETER
You cannot imagine the enormity of the fucks I do not give!
JANE
You know, I’d like to challenge you to a battle of wits, but I see that you are unarmed.
PETER
Unarmed? Unarmed? Why, I’ll show you who’s unarmed.
JANE
Peter, you pathetic little man!
PETER
Jane, you ignorant slut!
PETER reaches for his firearm holstered under his arm. At the same time, JANE reaches inside her purse and pulls out a .25 automatic. They both point and shoot simultaneously. There is an explosion of sound and the acrid smell of cordite.
Blackout.
The end.
Disqualified!
Donald Trump is disqualified from taking office by the plain language of the Constitution which reads as follows:
Section 3 of the 14th Amendment: “No person shall be a Senator or Representative in Congress, or elector of President and Vice-President, or hold any office, civil or military, under the United States, or under any State, who, having previously taken an oath, as a member of Congress, or as an officer of the United States, or as a member of any State legislature, or as an executive or judicial officer of any State, to support the Constitution of the United States, shall have engaged in insurrection or rebellion against the same, or given aid or comfort to the enemies thereof. But Congress may by a vote of two-thirds of each House, remove such disability.”
The clause is self-executing and needs no conviction to take effect. One jurisdiction has adjudicated the fact that Trump engaged in an insurrection and at least one secretary of state has found that Trump has engaged in an insurrection. That is enough.
Now that the Supreme Court has taken up the matter it will be interesting to see what weasel words the right-leaning SCOTUS will come up with to keep Trump on the ballot.
Reverend Billy Bob Weatherspoon
Of the Space Chapel of Life
Meet the Reverend!
Lightghts up to dim. There are two chairs located center stage. Rev. Billy and Jimmy Joe Starter are sitting in the chairs in silhouette.)
ANNOUNCER: (Disembodied voice) Good evening, ladies, and gentlemen, and welcome to MEET THE REVEREND! A thirty-minute question and answer show where issues of national importance are discussed with prominent individuals from our society and the world at large.
Our guest this evening will be former president, Jimmy Joe Starter from Monkey’s Eyebrows, Kentucky…and to start the questioning will be the host of our show- Reverend Billy Bob Weatherspoon of the Space Chapel of Life.
Reverend Billy…
(Lights up full)
REV. BILLY: (Rises from his chair and crosses down center to address the audience directly) Thank you, Fred. Friends, I want to welcome y’all here to my new weekly show, MEET THE REVEREND! I’m sure y’all are going to enjoy it. I know I am. And be sure to tell all your friends and relatives to tune in too and just keep those contributions rolling in…cause ya know, it cost so much money to appear on TV and it cost so much money to spread the word…and friends you all know how much I like to spread the word.
And now…I’d like to welcome our guest, President Jimmy Joe Starter! (Crosse back to centers and resumes sitting across from Jimmy Joe Starter).
President Starter…
JIMMY JOE: Please…call me Jimmy Joe.
REV. BILLY: Why I’d be happy to Jimmy Joe…and you can call me Rev. Billy.
JIMMY JOE: Okay Reverend Billy. Ya know, I’ve got a brother named Billy. He’s kind of the black sheep of the family. Of course, when we were growing up back in Monkey’s Eyebrows, we always used to call him the goat. You know Billy Goat…that’s because he’d eat anything he’d put his hands on. I’d be going, “Now Billy, don’t be going putting your hand on that. Well, as you can imagine it got pretty embarrassing sometimes. (Big smile)
REV. BILLY: Monkey’s Eyebrows…Now that’s a strange name for a town. I wonder…I wonder if you could shed some light on that for us, Jimy Joe. Just why do they call your town Monkey’s Eyebrows?
JIMMY JOE: (Blank stare) Ya know…I don’t rightly know…but I’ll be glad to look that up for you and get back to you sometime next week.
REV. BILLY: No, that won’t be necessary Jimmy Joe. Now, Jimmy Joe, what would you say was the biggest surprise of your administration? Was it anything as surprising as the Iran/Contra affair or Ollie North and Fawn Hill? Or what about the current fiasco with Donald Trump and the Big Lie? Not to Mention January 6th?
JIMMY JOE: Well, Billy, I’d say the biggest surprise was that the job was going to be as hard as it turned out to be. Ya know, when I first took office back in ’76, 1976, not 1776, (Big Smile) I thought the presidency was going to be a snap, but I soon learned that it was going to be more of a Zbigniew Brezenski. Then things sort of went on the Fritz after I gave America the Lance-thank God for Vance- he was a real credit to the arms race. So, I’d have to say that my biggest surprise was that it was going to be so hard.
REV. BILLY: Have there been any other surprises?
JIMMY JOE: Well, yes. Another surprise was that there were so many bathrooms in the Whitehouse.
REV. BILLY: Bathrooms?
JIMMY JOE: Yes, Billy. There are some 46 of them, and all of them are inside too! I never did get around to using all of them, but I did commission a white paper…or was that toilet paper… No, it was a white paper, on how one could accomplish this task during one administration. I’ll be glad to get back to you later with the results of that study if you like.
REV. BILLY: No, that won’t be necessary. Tell me, Jimmy Joe, what do you think of the current situation in Ukraine with the Russian invasion and all in light of your own SALT II Treaty which you negotiated with the Ruskies?
JIMMY JOE: Yes…I’m proud of my record on SALT. The most significant part of that agreement was to trade Amarillo, Texas for Leningrad in the event of a first strike situation involving nuclear weapons.
REV BILLY: Would you gentlemen have seriously considered offering a Russian an Amarillo?
JIMMY JOE: Yes…We believed that using this small Texas town as a bargaining chip would be in the best interest of the country.
REV. BILLY: Do you hold out any hopes of stopping or at least curbing nuclear proliferation?
JIMMY JOE: Yes…What I plan to do is…
REV. BILLY (interrupting) Before you answer that question, let me break way for a message of vital importance…
(WINGES SERAPHS COMMERCIAL. Crosses stage right to a prop table where the book is staged. Light fades on center stage as a spot comes up on Reverend Billy at the table where he delivers his commercial speech)
REV: BILLY: Hello friends. Rev. Billy Bob Weatherspoon here for the Space Chapel of Life…
Ya know…just how many times have ya wondered how many angels could dance on the top of a Bic Butane Lighter?
Have ya ever wondered where ya could find a Guardian Angel when ya really needed one?
And what about Charlies Angels?
…The answers to these and many more important questions may be found in my latest book—
WINGED SERAPHS I HAVE KNOWN
This book is available in both the hard and soft editions. Also, available is the leather-bound edition which comes suspended from a chain.
So ya don’t forget, send now to
SPACE CHAPEL OF LIFE
BOX 666
ANAHEIM, CALIFORNIA
$8.96 RECORDS
$9.96 TAPES
And now, back to the show…
(Crosses back to the center and resumes sitting across from Jimmy Joe Starter. Light fades out at right and comes up center).
Okay, Jimmy Joe, now we can continue the fascinating conversation about the wonderful world of weapons.
JIMMY JOE: Yes, as I was saying, I support the introduction of legislation by congress that would make it a federal crime to own a nuclear weapon if you are a convicted felon, drug addict, or legally insane. Also, we hope to register all nuclear weapons. In this way, we will know who has them and we will have additional control over who gets them.
In addition, I am proposing an outright ban on the most insidious nuclear device of them all, the Saturday Night Special. These small, concealable radiation-enhanced devices are capable of taking out small targets such as single-family dwellings with little or no blast damage to the surrounding area. These weapons are, however, a very “dirty weapon,” spreading deadly radiation for many square blocks killing all life forms within the size of oh, say, Fort Knox. These devices would make the riots of the 60s look like pep rallies. (Big smile.)
REV. BILLY: Well, Jimmy Joe, you certainly paint a grim picture. What are your feelings about the peaceful use of nuclear energy, say as an alternative energy source?
JIMMY JOE: Well, Billy…I feel that nuclear power will most likely be the energy source of the future, along with solar power and wind. Eventually, we will run out of coal. We are going to run out of oil, but according to leading experts, we won’t run out of matter for several thousand years…and being a nuclear physicist myself, I ain’t just whistling Dixie (Big Smile).
REV. BILLY: As a scientist, I wonder if you could comment on the recent UFO controversy.
Jimmy Joe: Yes, Billy, I have myself, seen a UFO…it was a close encounter of the weird kind.
Rev. Billy: You have??!! Well, Jimmy Joe…that’s truly an amazing statement. Would you care to elaborate?
JIMMY JOE: Sure. You see, I was on my farm back in Kentucky, plowing a field on a tractor when all of a sudden, a shadow fell over me and I looked up and there was this strange craft hovering overhead.
REV. BILLY: Wow! Was it big?
JIMMY JOE? Big? I’ll say!
REV. BILLY: Well, how big was it?
Jimmy Joe: It was big I tell ya! (Starts gesturing with his hands and arms) It was a hunnert foot, by a hunnert foot, by a hunnert foot, you know BIG!
REV. BILLY: (Interrupts for a commercial): Excuse me Jimmy Joe, but we need to fit in a break.
(YOU TOO CAN BECOME AN ORDAINED MINISTER COMMERCIAL. Rev Billy crosses to the prop table again to deliver the net commercial. Light fade center and come up on the table).
Friends! You too can become an ordained minister! Through the special powers invested in me…you can become an ordained minister in the Space Chapel of Life – think of it friends – for only $6.95 you can save souls – perform miracles – perform marriages – perform funeral services – and perhaps the best advantage of all – tax-exempt status – That’s right folks, you heard it here tax-exempt status! – so ya don’t forget, send $6.95 today for your credentials to: Space Chapel of Life, Box 666, in care of this Television station – Thank you so much!
(Crosses back center and resumes interview. Lights fade at the table and come up at center.)
…and now, please continue on with this alleged story about beings from outer space.
JIMMY JOE: Well like I was saying, there I was out there on God’s little acre, plowing my fields and minding my own business when there appeared up in the sky a giant alien spacecraft. It was just hovering overhead, and it let out a slight humming noise, and all of a sudden it emitted a beam of light and the light fell over me and bathed my entire body and the next thing I knew I was being pulled off my tractor up into that beam of light and heading towards the spacecraft… that’s the last thing I remember until the next day when I was returned to earth and there I was, as naked a Jaybird in my ‘backer field, singin’ my fool head off!
REV. BILLY: Yes, well isn’t that special. Well, Jimmy Joe, we are just about out of time, here, and as you know, time is money. I would however like to ask you just one more two-part question. Number one, are you really a born-again Christian? And part two, have you ever really had lust in your heart?
JIMMY JOE: Well Billy, I don’t really feel that these two are mutually exclusive – In answer to your first question. Yes, I am a Born-again Christian; and in answer to your second question, yes, I have had lust in my heart…but it was lust for another Christian.
REV. BILLY: Well, there you have it, friends! Right from the former president’s own mouth. I’d like to thank President Starter for taking time out of his busy schedule to be with us tonight, and I’d like to invite all of you to tune in next week to another exciting episode of, MEET THE REVEREND! My next week’s guest will be that silly old buffoon and darling of the media, Attorney Michael Cohen! Watch him drop a dime on his former boss, Donald J. Trump!
(Jimmy Joe exits. Rev. Billy crosses down center).
And now, my friends, comes a very special part of our show, the hour of power. During this period of the show, I would like to take a few moments to demonstrate the power of our Lord and say a few words and lay a few hands.
(Lights dim)
Announcer: And now, ladies and gentlemen, I present to you, Reverend Billy Bob Weatherspoon, in all his magnificent glory, preaching to you all on the word of the Lord coming to you straight from our studios here in the Space Chapel of Life. Reverend Billy!
(Lights up full)
REV.BILLY: Good evening, friends – This is Rev. Billy Bob Weatherspoon here and I want to welcome you all here to Space Chapel. It’s so good to see ya! I’m so glad ya could make it out this evening. Ya know, we are all brothers and sisters on this spaceship we call mother earth, hurtling through space at thousands of miles an hour – why, when you think about it, it’s quite a miracle. It’s a miracle we don’t all fall off!
Now, my friends, we are gathered here this evening to worship Jesus – Oh Sweet Jesus – praise the Lord! But I need your help.
Now, give me a “Praise the Lord!”
(Pause for the response)
Now give me a “Hallelujah!”
(Pause for the response)
Now give me an “Amen, brother!”
That’s wonderful! God is with us here tonight! Can you feel him my friends? Can you feel the power of the Lord?
Now, my friends, I’ve got so much to tell ya! I’ve got so much to tellya! I’m going to tell you about communism. It’s everywhere!
I’m, going to tell ya about fascism. It’s everywhere!
And friends, the worst evil of all, Socialism! Why, I’d rather be dead, than red!
Wouldn’t you?
And I’m going to tell ya bout Satan. Satan is an all-pervading evil force that lives right here in our very midst. It’s Satan that makes you go out on Saturday night and sow your wild oats. It’s Satan that makes ya come to church on Sunday morning and pray for crop failure. It’s Satan that makes us tell lies. Satan is the master of lies. And it is Satan that leads us into temptation. We have to tell Satan to get behind us. Say, “Get behind me Satan! Get Behind me Satan!” Why, I believe that is Satan behind me right now…He’s a sneaky little devil! He will creep up on ya when you least suspect it.
But mostly, I want to tell ya about our Sweet Jesus – and after the service is over, I’m going to ask you all to come forward and accept Jesus as your personal savior.
But before that, my favorite part of our service – We are going to play a little game that I think you will enjoy. It’s called “Stump the Choir.”
If any of you in the congregation can name a hymn our choir cannot sing, then you are going to win dinner for four at the Last Supper. Judas his Seven Piece of Silver will be playing for your listening enjoyment.
Now, it’s time for a miracle – Praise the Lord! I feel the power of the lord coursing through my body. Who needs a miracle? Bring me you afflicted, bring me your sick, bring me your wounded. Let the Blood of Jesus make you whole again. Who needs the hand of the Lord? Who needs to be healed? Don’t be shy – come forward.
(Someone from the audience, the actor who played Jimmy Joe Starter, stumbles forward with his arms extended)
BLIND MAN: Rev. Billy! Rev. Billy! Can you help me? I cant’ see! I’ve been blind since birth!
REV. BILLY: Why yes! Come on up her young man! (Speaking in tongues, waving his arms about, placing his hand on the blind man’s shoulder.). Son, do you feel the power of the Lord? Do feel the power?
BLIND MAN: (Nods his assent)
REV. BILLY: There are none so blind as those who will not see! (Places his hand on the Blind man’s forehead. Pushes him away and throws his hands into the air)
BLIND MAN: (Drops his cane) I can see! I can see! It’s a miracle! (Runs off stage)
REV BILLY: All right young man. Go and sin no more. And while you are at it, go up to the bar and bring me back a drink. That was quite a miracle!
I’d like to finish tonight by singing along with the choir an old favorite of mine, “Save a Place in the Light Bulb For me.” This song has a lot of meaning to me. And while we sing along, I would like to ask for your generous contributions to the Space Chapel of Life so that we can continue our important work. Please be generous my friends, please be generous! And now, like I said, “Save a place in the light Bulb for Me.”
(The actor who played the Blind man now comes on stage to a microphone and plays acoustic guitar and sings the song: “Save a place in the Light Bulb for Me.”)
SINGER: (Singing) Save A SPACE IN THE Lightbulb For Me (Lyrics by Daniel Buddha Hildenbrandt)
Leave me room for my couch and tv
Well don’t worry about the weather
Just as long as we’re together
Save a space in the lightbulb for me
Weather started getting rough
Went to turn the gas on
Lit a match, stuck it in the hatch
Blew me to Saskatchawan
Save A SPACE IN THE Lightbulb for me
Leave me room for my couch and tv
Well don’t worry about the weather
Just as long as we’re together
Save a space in the lightbulb for me
Sheila’s such a pretty girl
Sure knows how to use it
If I get a hold of what she’s got
I’m afraid I might abuse it
Save A SPACE IN THE Lightbulb for me
Leave me room for my couch and tv
Well don’t worry about the weather
Just as long as we’re together
Save a space in the lightbulb
Don’t forget the right bulb
Save a space in the lightbulb for me
REV. Billy: This concludes this evening’s service…Thank you very much and may God bless!
(Lights fade to black.)
Finis
War and Rumors of War
Lessons from History
Once we are through with the 1619 project perhaps, we could move on to the Vietnam War Project.
While we are at it and are stressing over our fighting a proxy war with Russia and fearing the possibility of a nuclear confrontation let us remember that we (the USA) are the only country in history to drop an atomic bomb on another country. And it was we who let the nuclear genie out of the bottle in the first place. One can only hope that we don’t inherit the wind.
And let us not forget we fire-bombed Tokyo, another civilian target, nearly burning that city to the ground. Robert Macnamara, the Secretary of Defense at that time, is quoted as saying that if we had lost the war he would surely have been tried as a war criminal.
This is not to say that we should not condemn Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and its merciless targeting of civilians, but as the saying goes, let he who is without sin cast the first stone. There is a reason we are not signatories to the International Criminal Court.
We can do better and we are doing better I think, but let us not forget from whence we came for he who forgets the lessons of history is forever bound to repeat them. Rather, let us be a beacon of hope to those who love freedom and a keeper of the eternal flame of remembrance for those who have fought and died in war.
Fear and Loathing on the Way to Galveston
A trip to the heart of the American Dream
I drove the 117 miles to Owensboro and arrived at Buddha’s in the early afternoon. This was the first leg of our journey to the heart of the American Dream. I gassed up the White Whale, a 2011 gas guzzling Nissan Maxima, the day before, and put together a road trip mix to listen to on our way down to Galveston. We were going to Galveston to recapture our past and rekindle a friendship that had cooled off over the years.
We had both been to Galveston before and though we had separate memories we were both eager to see her pretty sea wall, hear the sea wind blowing, and see her dark eyes glowing.
I like to listen to the sounds of the 60s while on a road trip with nothing else on my mind but driving fast, grooving to the music, and avoiding the law if at all possible.
Daniel “Buddha” Hildenbrandt was one of my oldest friends and a spiritual adviser. He was also a teacher at the local community college. He taught communications and was fond of saying, “the main problem with communication is the illusion that it has taken place.”
We called him Buddha because of the pudgy nature of his physique. He just looked like a Buddha.
When I got to his place, we watched TV until about 5:30 pm when his daughter, Mara, arrived to fetch a key. After she left, we went out to get a bite to eat at Owensboro’s one and only Sushi place. I knew it was going to be a problem when I noticed the chefs behind the sushi bar were Mexican. I had the Hibachi Chicken. It was terrible.
We went back to Buddha’s place for drinks and more TV. I lucked into a Harold Pinter play on YouTube I’ve been wanting to see: “The Birthday Party,” starring Harold Pinter himself and Joan Plowright, in a BBC production. It was pretty good, but you have to be into Pinter to enjoy it. Buddha wasn’t so he went to bed to read while I watched the rest of the play.
The next day was Friday, October 2. I woke to the news that Donald Trump and Melania Trump both have contracted the coronavirus. Is that karma or what?
We are living in strange times. I was thinking of love in the time of Coronavirus. 1,000,000 dead and Donald Trump was still president. This was before the insurrection at the nation’s capital and Moscow had yet to declare war on Ukraine. The best was yet to come.
We packed and loaded the car. We had to make a pit stop in Evansville so Buddha could see his psychiatrist and check up on his meds. Apparently, I am traveling with a madman. That’s OK. We’re all as mad as hatters here. All the best people are.
We finally got on the road and headed west. I figured to push as far into Arkansas as I possibly could before stopping for the night. We made it to Hope, which was in the first ring of hell. It wasn’t quite dark yet, but it was getting there. We crossed the river Acheron into the abyss. The dreams weren’t broken down there, but they were definitely walking with a limp.
We checked into the Best Western Motel. The maskless clerk behind the desk kept asking us if we wanted one bed or two.
“Two beds, dammit!” Buddha muttered, shaking his shaggy head.
“Do we get a discount?” I asked. “AAA? AARP?”
“Yeah, I’ll give you a discount alright,” the clerk snapped.
“Well, what’s the rate?”
“$75.00 including tax. Do you want one bed or two?”
“Two beds, dammit!”
“OK! Can I see your credit card?”
“Any restaurants in the area?”
“You can Google them and they will deliver.”
“OK. What room?”
“105. Right around the corner.”
Buddha was already heading out the door on his way to the room on foot. I drove around. We unlocked the door and unloaded the car, then took a moment to get settled. Buddha went to get ice.
I Googled the restaurants in the area and found a Pizza Hut and a Dominos. I called both but got put on hold at both places. Well, what could you expect in a little town called Hope, deep in the Arkansas interior? Bill Clinton territory as it were. The town sucked just like Monica Lewinski. Finally, Dominos answered.
“I’ll have a medium Supreme delivered to room 105 at the Best Western Motel, please. When will you deliver it? One hour? Wow! Well, go ahead. We will just have to wait.”
While waiting for the pizza to arrive we made the drinks.
We had picked up some liquor a few exits back. We got separate liquors because Buddha always buys cheap booze and I can’t stand the whiskey he usually gets, so I get something a little better. Turns out he got Ezra Brooks and I got Jack Daniels.
“Well, hell, if I’d a known you were getting Ezra Brooks, I would have drunk your booze. Ezra Brooks ain’t bad!”
“No, you wouldn’t! You’re not drinking my booze! You just drink your Jack Daniels!”
“What the hell Buddha? You don’t think I would have replaced your whiskey? You mean to tell me you wouldn’t have shared?”
“I don’t want to have this conversation right now!”
“Why not?”
“Just don’t.”
“OK.”
We drove the rest of the way in silence.
Meanwhile, back in the motel room, we decided to watch a little TV while waiting for the pizza. It was 9 pm EST and 8 pm Central. Buddha grabbed the remote and engaged the “on” button. TV said, “No Signal.”
“Call the front desk and tell them the TV doesn’t work,” I said.
Buddha grabbed the phone, listened intently, punched the dial hooks repeatedly, looked up wild-eyed.
“No dial-tone! Motherfucker don’t work!”
“Call him on your cell phone.”
Buddha stared at the black desk set and started stabbing the numbers into his cell phone.
“Hello? Yeah, this is Buddha in room 105. The phone don’t work…. I’m calling you on my cell phone…. OK…OK…Ok. That’s not why I’m calling you. The TV don’t work either…OK…. OK…Ok.”
He hung up.
“What’d he say?”
“He said he would come down and try to reboot it himself.”
“Well OK then.”
So, we waited a few minutes, freshened our drinks, and munched on some smoked almonds. Pretty soon there was a knock at the front door.
Buddha let in the night clerk who again was maskless, but he was at least pretty friendly. He took the remote and began trying to reboot the TV.
About that time, we got another knock at the door. It was Dominos. Buddha answered the door. He paid for the pizza, $20.00 including tip.
The smell of the pizza filled the room.
“Wow, if you are getting pizza, I’m getting hungry.” This from the maskless night clerk.
“You want a slice?” I asked.
“No. No.”
The clerk didn’t have any luck getting the TV to work either.
“Let’s see, the TV don’t work, and the phone don’t work. Don’t you think we should get another discount?” I asked.
“Yeah, I’ll give you another discount. I’ll give it to you right now.”
And with that, he left.
Buddha and I just looked at each other and shrugged. Then we devoured the pizza.
A little later on that night, the night clerk showed up with our receipt which included our discounts. All in all, an $85.00 room ended up costing us $65.00. Not bad.
We got up early the next morning and hit the road again right after breakfast. It was around Texarkana when the drugs started kicking in. It was only a matter of time before we would see the bats.
As soon as we crossed the Texas state line the environment seemed to change. The horizon stretched out further, the roads became wider, and the countryside a lot brighter. You could see further in all directions. There were also a lot of Trump signs. We were definitely in Trump country. If there ever was time to be traveling armed, this was it.
Donald Trump. The 45th president of the United States of America was nothing more than a screaming hyena, a barking dog, a snake oil salesman, and a carnival barker. But he held a death grip on American politics for four years, and even though he was impeached twice and lost a fair and free election he still has a death grip on the GOP and a large number of the electorate. One-third of the country thinks the election was stolen and that Joe Biden is not the legitimate president. What a mess! But I digress.
There we were, driving along US Highway 59 with an open road in front of us and Ruby and the Romantics blaring on the radio and I couldn’t help but think that here we are, 20 years into the next century. I remember the 60s as being a beacon of hope when the culture hit a high watermark. If you look back and squint your eyes just right, you can almost see where the crest of the wave finally broke and rolled back. It’s been downhill pretty much ever since.
Next stop: Galveston!
THE REBEL
The Rebel – Albert Camus
I’m giving The Rebel another read, a book I read when I was in my 20s, written by a man who has shaped my views more than any other, Albert Camus. You might think that The Plague might be more in order given the current plague we are now living through. Well, I’ve read that one too and it is vividly etched in my brain. But no, for me, given the current political situation in the USA, The Rebel is far more relevant. At no time during my lifetime, with the possible exception of the Vietnam war, has the idea of “man in revolt” been more relevant or more important. Updates to follow. I’ll be reading with new eyes…
Posse Comitatus
Trump wants to mobilize active duty U.S. military to attack peaceful protestors. This action would be unconstitutional, unlawful, and unconscionable. It is the action of a dictator and tyrant and a further degradation of our democracy. What Trump really wants is a race war.
What makes this illegal is the Posse Comitatus Act which states: Whoever, except in cases and under circumstances expressly authorized by the Constitution or Act of Congress, willfully uses any part of the Army or the Air Force as a posse comitatus or otherwise to execute the laws shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than two years, or both. The exception to this law is the Insurrection Act. But to use this there has to be an insurrection, and what is happening is clearly not an insurrection.
The Attorney General for New York, Letitia James, has stated, “We will not allow Donald Trump to dominate New York.”
Defense Secretary Mark Esper publicly disagreed with President Trump’s threatened use of the 1807 Insurrection Act. Speaking to reports at a recent Pentagon briefing Esper said, “The option to use active duty forces in a law enforcement role should only be used as a matter of last resort, and only in the most urgent and dire of situations. We are not in one of those situations now. I do not support invoking the Insurrection Act.”
In my view, any soldier asked to deploy to an American city to fight protestors and enforce the law has a duty to disobey this unlawful order.
Failure of Leadership
Rant of the day
Vice President Mike Pence and Donald Trump’s recent refusal to wear masks (PPE) in violation of their own public health guidelines is a dangerous failure of leadership and a dereliction of duty. The first principle of leadership is to lead by example. When I worked in manufacturing this is a lesson, I repeatedly pounded home during out daily staff meetings and production meetings. Our employees were required to wear PPE on the factory floor to ensure their safety. If our supervisors and mangers wouldn’t wear the PPE, then neither would the rank and file employees. Lead by example! And if you can’t do that, then get out of the way. You have no business being in a position of leadership.
Concentration Camps
Representative Alexandria Occasion-Cortez, of New York, recently called the U.S. detention camps for migrants “concentration camps.” She caused quite a stir by so saying. I have been saying the same thing for months. I feel that it is a complete moral outrage for the American government to detain these men, women, and children in these camps.
Now we are arguing over the terminology. In my view a thing ought to be called what it is. And these camps are clearly concentration camps. The meet the technical definition. Historian Andrea Pitzer has made the same assertion in her piece in Esquire magazine: “The United States has created a concentration system.” She argues that mass detention of civilians without a trail was what made these concentration camps. The full text of AOC’s tweet reads as follows: “This administration has established concentration camps on the southern border of the United States, for immigrants, where they are being brutalized with dehumanizing conditions and dying. This is not hyperbole. It is the conclusion of expert analysis.”
Strange bedfellows Liz Cheney and Bill Maher condemned the remarks as being emotionally laden with memories and connotations of the holocaust. Masha Gessen, writing in the New Yorker, says this is a failure of imagination. We don’t’ want or cannot imagine a world where we as a people would be evil enough to place human beings in the same predicament as the Nazis did in WWII. Well, I agree with Green and I disagree with Bill Maher. Maher every once in a while, strikes a sour note and sings out of tune. It is surprising coming from a fellow who wears his political incorrectness on his sleeve like a red badge of courage.
These camps meet the technical definition of concentration camps, and so what if it brings up images and memories of the holocaust? It doesn’t devalue it. Rather, it shrieks out a warning, do not go there! It should be a warning that this is what we are capable of, the same thing the Nazis did in WWII. This what Hannah Arendt describes as the banality of evil.
We have to have the moral imagination to realize what we are doing is wrong and can lead to greater evil. We need to make a course correction now!
Ghost Dog 