DavidRayDavenport1977

For me it started when I noticed Elon Musk’s bling.

Imagine for a moment that you’re Elon Musk, getting dressed to go to the Capital. You know you’re going to be photographed and those photos will be going all over the world. Rarely a snappy dresser, Musk tends to go with black tshirts advertising Tesla or SpaceX. For hats it’s either MAGA red or his own brand, Dark MAGA. Occasionally he’ll wear a pendant over the t-shirt, usually a SpaceX design. Now when you wear a pendant on the outside, it’s because you want people to notice it. On this occasion a couple weeks back I noticed a different one. I did a search for what it was, and what it turned up was symbolism from the Dark Enlightenment movement, which I hadn’t heard of. But I did notice the similarity of that term to Musk’s Dark MAGA concept, and so I looked it up.

The Dark Enlightenment, which goes by a few names, is a philosophical movement looking to restructure America, founded primarily by Curtis Yarvin. You should look it up too.

Here’s an explanation of the Dark Enlightenment by Michael Anton, who is our State Department Director of Policy Planning, and an adherent to the concept. He wrote that democratic governments are inefficient and wasteful and should be replaced with sovereign joint-stock corporations whose “shareholders” elect an executive with total power, but who must serve at their pleasure. The executive, unencumbered by liberal-democratic procedures, could rule efficiently much like a CEO-monarch.

Now this isn’t said in condemnation, but as a shared belief.

J.D. Vance, our Vice-President wrote, “There’s this guy Curtis Yarvin who’s written about some of these things. One has to basically accept that the whole thing is going to fall in on itself. … when the inevitable collapse comes you build back the country in a way that’s actually better.”

That sounded familiar. There was a town near where I lived in New York which hired Trump to build up their golf course. On the property was an historic building they wanted to preserve, and Trump wanted to tear down. Trump got the job, but the building was to stay. He tore it down anyway. When the city complained he gave them two choices. Let him do what he wants, or spend their whole budget rebuilding the torn down house.

That’s what he’s doing now to our country. Coincidence?

Yarvin wrote that Congress should be brought in line by mobilizing the base with primary threats to Republicans who oppose him. This is something Trump and Musk are both doing. Coincidence?

Yarvin proposes what he calls RAGE, which stands for retire all government employees. Then you replace them with your people, to eliminate dissent. Another coincidence?

Vance echoes that idea. “I think what Trump should do, Fire every single midlevel bureaucrat, every civil servant in the administrative state, and replace them with our people. And when the courts stop you, stand before the country and say, ‘The chief justice has made his ruling. Now let him enforce it.’”

In other words, break the third pillar of our government, the judiciary.

In the past week Trump has called for justices who oppose him to be impeached, the Republican house is working on ways to take away judicial power enshrined in the constitution, and Musk spent 20 million dollars buying a Wisconsin Supreme Court justice by buying him votes.

The Dark Enlightenment envisions breaking our school systems and replacing them with a program that teaches obedience, stifles dissent, and bears no trace of liberal thought. In two months Trump has threatened schools which don’t adhere to his guidelines with being shut down, students and faculty arrested and/or deported, slashed their funding and started dismantling the Department of Education.

Tesla is under attack, sometimes violently and Musk said “the real problem” is not the “crazy guy that fire bombs a Tesla dealership. It’s the people pushing the propaganda that caused that guy to do it. Those are the real villains here, and we’re going to go after them.”

The media in other words. The ones who yes, reported on people wreaking their vengeance on the company because of their hatred of Musk. But also reported on the problems with the company itself, and the embarrassing flop of the Tesla Truck.

The Dark Enlightenment calls for breaking the news media, ideally by the April following the inauguration, because the media is said to promote liberal ideas, rather than the values of the company. Trump and other officials have filed lawsuits against most major media outlets and even Disney, The Voice of America and Radio Free Europe will be disappearing, Republicans in congress this week called for defunding PBS and NPR, and also this week Trump ordered a purge of blacks, women and other liberal entries in the Smithsonian Institute. And blamed a reporter for being added to a text chain which violated U.S. security protocols, when it was Trump’s people that screwed up.

More coincidences?

Yarvin also calls for a sharp and sudden concentration of police powers. “It means the president is basically taking direct control over all law enforcement authorities, a state of emergency in basically every state.” Trump has said that “one real rough, nasty and violent day of unrestrained policing would end crime. One rough hour – and I mean real rough – the word will get out and it will end immediately, you know?”

All you have to do is suspend the constitution.

I realize people can hold weird beliefs and still follow a leader who believes in something else. What I needed to believe in a conspiracy theory was a connection between the parties.,

Peter Thiel.

He’s one of the nation’s top venture capitalists, making inroads into defense companies and was the first outside investor in Facebook. In a 2009 essay he wrote “I no longer believe that freedom and democracy are compatible.” Two of his biggest beefs are with minorities (low IQs) and women (too emotional).

Curtis Yarvin counts Thiel as a disciple, and has called him his best connection to Washington.

Thiel has invested heavily in Musk’s businesses, and was one of Trump’s top financial supporters. He took an interest in an up and coming investment guy some years back, J.D. Vance, and hired him. When Vance wrote his book and became popular, Thiel helped propel him into politics. Vance was notoriously anti-Trump, but last year accompanied Thiel to Mar A Largo to meet with Trump, kiss the ring and pledge eternal fealty. And became vice-president.

In a 2021 conversation, our new Director of Policy Planning Michael Anton said Yarvin was arguing that a president could “gain power lawfully through an election, and then exercise it unlawfully.” Yarvin replied, “It wouldn’t be unlawful. You’d simply declare a state of emergency in your inaugural address.”

Trump signed his first order declaring a state of emergency the night of his inauguration, and has several times since.

How many coincidences do you need before you call “bullshit?”

It was a year ago, September
a day I well remember
I was walking up and down
in drunken pride

when my knees began to flutter
and I fell down in the gutter
and a pig came by and lay down by my side

As I lay there in the gutter
thinking thoughts I could not utter
I thought I heard a passing lady say,

“You can tell a man who boozes
by the company he chooses…”
And with that, the pig got up and walked away

That’s an Irish poem of indeterminate origin. Trump is of course, famous for being a teetotaler, but it’s possible to get drunk on things other than alcohol. Power is after all, the world’s strongest beverage. These are the people that Trump chooses as he slurps from the presidential cup of power.

So far he’s following the Dark concept to the letter. Let’s hope the pig gets up while we still have a constitution.

When people ask me now if I’m a Christian I hesitate. I still hold the same beliefs, morals and values I learned in church as a child. But over the past two months, when I’ve seen what so many Christians stand for, and won’t stand for, I’m less inclined to be counted among them.

It’s not denying Jesus, just what is currently being done in his name.

I’ve increasingly been told that speaking out against the current administration is against God. I’ve read several Christians pointing to Romans 13:1-7 as a reason why they believe we should support the president.

“Let everyone be subject to the governing authorities, for there is no authority except that which God has established. The authorities that exist have been established by God. Consequently, whoever rebels against the authority is rebelling against what God has instituted, and those who do so will bring judgment on themselves.”

There’s one problem with this interpretation and it can be summed up In one word. Hitler. In fact, this was the scripture used to convince the Germans that it was their duty to follow the Fuhrer.

So there has to be exceptions to the scripture. This is from Liberty College, home of Jerry Falwell, who has never been accused of being overly liberal. Liberty’s stance is this … “Obedience to a just and fair government is not optional. Additionally, the passage does not appear to demand unquestioning obedience to evil governments as these governments would not fit the description of the authorities listed here.”

So the duty of Christians is to decide whether Trump’s government is in fact, in their eyes, evil.

Trump is our first president that I know of claiming to have been selected by divine right. Trump says he was spared by God to be president, which means God steered that bullet from Trump and into the body of an innocent person. What makes more sense is what the kid’s shooting instructor said … he was kicked off the team for being a bad shot.

The images above are from a video Trump shared regarding his dream for Gaza. It has Elon Musk, eating and dancing on the beach while money rains down on him. Trump dances with an exotic woman in a see through dress, has cocktails with Netanyahu on the beach, and how can you describe the gigantic statue without using the words “golden idol?”

How can you see a golden gate emblazoned with the word Trump and not see that as the sin of pride?

To turn Gaza into the wealthy’s paradise, all you have to do is remove the people who currently live there from their homeland. Sort of like The Exodus in reverse. This weekend Israel, with our blessing cut off all food and humanitarian aid to the 2 million people living there, literally leaving the population to starve if they don’t accept the new terms Israel is imposing on the peace process. Where in Christ’s teaching does he make mass starvation, sickness and death in the name of ethnic cleansing okay?

Feeding the poor and fighting diseases overseas … What would Jesus do? Help the poor and the needy, as best we can. By halting nearly all U.S. aid overseas, Trump has literally left millions to starve and vulnerable to disease. As Christians, we’re invited to tithe 15%. As a country, less than 1% of our tax dollars go towards helping others, unless you count militarily. Are we really so impoverished that the $50 that the average taxpayers pays each year is too much? Most of us pay far less than that, and pay far more than that each month for entertainment.

In the election, Trump called Harris a bitch, an ad for Trump released by Musk called her a c*** five times, his minister called her the antichrist and all her followers doing the work of the devil. Trump embraced the idea. Does Harris have any of the Biblical prerequisites to be the antiChrist? Of course not. Where were Christians when they were demonizing Harris? Standing and cheering. Where is the Christ in that?

Jesus told us to welcome the stranger in our lands. We’re throwing out people who have lived here for decades, paid taxes and yes, work for less than we do. Nobody is against removing criminals, but we’re turning away people who came here legally, but had no path to citizenship. We’re sending people back to places where their lives will be in danger. Where they face starvation, disease and death. Where is the Christ in that?

But If you’ve got six million bucks to spare, Trump wants to sell you citizenship.

Jesus told us to go into the prisons and minister to the fallen. We’ll be sending more people to prison and Trump wants them treated harshly, and to kill more of them. Is that what Christ said to do?

When the Ukraine became a free country, In exchange for weakening their security, we pledged along with other nations to provide security. Under Biden we did that. Trump has decided that Russia was right to invade the Ukraine, that we owe no obligation to our promises and is demanding that they surrender. We alone are asking for payback for our past support, and when their popular, democratically elected president asked for security guarantees in return, Trump threw him out of the White House is now calling for his removal from office. As Russia said last week, we are now firmly aligned with them, and with North Korea and China.

As Trump has said, when it come to those countries who don’t pay as much as he thinks they should, he would invite Putin to invade them. What happened to the meek inheriting the Earth? Where does the Bible say to empower those who wage war on weaker countries?

We have threatened Canada with economic war to take away their sovereignty. The same for Greenland. Panama we won’t rule out actual war. We’re trying to cripple Mexico and Europe economically, to make us richer, more powerful so countries are forced to do our bidding. Where in the hell is Christ in that?

We’re slashing domestic programs which help to keep us healthy, safe and free from being ruled by the business interests in this country. We’re cutting jobs for people who predict natural disasters, who are seeking cures for cancer and other diseases, who protect us from unscrupulous business interests to create a country run like a business. The problem is, a country isn’t a business. The government is there to do the bidding of the people. Less than half of the voters voted for Trump, far less than half support his proposals, and yet he’s taking the guardrails off our democracy to give himself unchecked power.

Mike Pence … he and I disagree on some issues, but the man is a good Christian. I have no doubt of that. Did you ever wonder why he’s no longer our Vice President? When Trump went against Romans 13:1-7 and tried to overthrow the rightful winner of the election, Pence stood up to him. When Trump was told that the rioters were looking for Pence in the capital to hang him, Trump’s response was “so what?”

Trump violated that verse under Obama, when he declared him to be president illegally, knowing full well that was crap. When he lost the election, he again refused to accept the president that verse says God put in place. And by bypassing Congress and the will of the majority of the people, and threatening to ignore the courts, he’s doing it still.

And yet you feel as a Christian you’re obliged to support him?

Trump literally portrayed himself as a golden idol in that video. If you want to overturn the tables in the temple today, you’ll find them in the White House, set up like they were in the Bible, for the love of money.

I could go on and on. But you get the drift. People, including religious leaders say I’m not a Christian for being against greed, corruption, eliminating aid to those less fortunate than myself, to want to live in a world where our leaders rule with compassion, rather than by instilling fear? I’m less of a Christian for believing in the founding principles of our country? I’m doing the devil’s work for following the actual teachings of Jesus?

I can live with people believing that. The word Christian is just that, a word. The beliefs behind it can’t be usurped by those looking for blind obedience to a government which is in fact, growing more evil by the day.

Trump is the first to admit that Christians got him where he is today, and that you support all of this. Do you as Christians truly support what’s being done in your name? Sometimes denial requires no words. It only requires silence. The cock is crowing …

Each answer equals 2.75 points. Let’s play!

Elections

Zelensky – Won by capturing 73% of the vote

Trump – Won by capturing just under 50% of the vote.

Support of the people

Zelensky – 57% despite suffering through three years of a Russian invasion. Numbers are again rising thanks to Donald Trump’s insults.

Trump – 44% and going down after two months in office

Reason for still being in office

Zelensky – The Ukrainian constitution forbids election during times of war (did I mention the Russian invasion?), as it would be impossible to hold democratic elections.

Trump – Is in office rather than prison because he stacked the courts with loyalists during his first term. Tried to bypass the constitution when he lost before, led a mob on Congress to try to block our democratic process.

Standing in the world …

Zelensky – 45 sovereign nations have offered military and/or financial support for the Ukraine to fight off Russia, including the U.S. prior to Trump taking office.

Trump – Has called for handing over Ukrainian territory to Russia, aligning the U.S. with a handful of countries such as Russia, North Korea, Iran, Cuba and others with weak democracies or operating as dictatorships.

Aggression towards other countries …

Zelensky – Too busy at the moment as he’s fighting off one of the world’s super powers, and countering threats from another, which would be us.

Trump – Has threatened Canada, Mexico, Panama, Greenland, Denmark with either economic or military warfare. Is abandoning alliances with countries we’ve called allies since the Second World War.

Response to wars in his own country …

Zelensky – targeted by Russian missiles and bombs, regularly visits the front lines.

Trump – had to miss out on Vietnam because of bone spurs, but suffered through his own “personal Vietnam” trying to avoid catching V.D. in the seventies and eighties. Surprisingly, you can’t make this stuff up.

Attitudes toward Russia …

Zelensky – Would really, really like it if Russia was to stop bombing his country and killing its citizens.

Trump – Wants to hand over part of the Ukraine to Russia, normalize relations with Russia for economic gain, and punish any country which doesn’t do the same.

Attitude towards each other’s country …

Zelensky – would likely kiss the ass of every American in gratitude for their support over the last three years.

Trump – wants control over the Ukraine’s natural resources for past military assistance (despite the fact the assistance was arms, which American companies and workers profited from). If they refuse, he’s threatened that Zelensky will “no longer have a country.”

Method of Ruling …

Zelensky – steadfast resolve in the face of an overwhelming enemy

Trump – wants the U.S. to develop the reputation of being an overwhelming enemy in order to secure the support of countries which aren’t as powerful. Adheres to Nixon’s strategy of convincing other leaders that he’s a madman and should be feared. Instead, the world and half of his own country fear that rather than a madman, he’s simply nuts and his incompetence could bring about the end of the world as we know it.

Personal Life …

Zelensky … has been married to the same woman since 2003

Trump … The first American president to have been married three times. First wife, Ivana married an Austrian husband for citizenship, then divorced him. Moved to Canada under false pretenses and became a citizen after marrying Trump. In a deposition taken during the divorce, Ivana accused Trump of rape, who countered later that she didn’t mean rape when she said rape. She instigated the divorce when she found about his relationship with the woman who was to become his second wife. Trump divorced his second wife after reports appeared that she was cheating on him. His third wife and our current First Lady was also an immigrant, securing her visa via dubious means.

Finances …

Zelensky ran a successful entertainment business prior to entering politics and has a fortune estimated at approximately 1.5 million US dollars.

Trump – Made his fortune heading multiple companies, regularly declaring bankruptcy while engaging in shady or downright illegal business practices. Dollar amount not available as he refuses to release the numbers unlike every U.S. president has for decades, but he can tell you it’s a lot. A whole lot, certainly more than him.

SCORE:

Not necessary as there are no winners in this game. Zelensky certainly isn’t, and Trump isn’t a dictator. Just a dick.

We’ve been at war with Russia for three years now. We’ve provided arms to the Ukrainians in their fight against a Russian invasion. That money doesn’t go directly to the Ukraine, but to American defense contractors, which helps our economy. 45 other countries also provide weapons and support, and together we’ve imposed sanctions on Russia to cripple their economy.

Because the Russian invasion isn’t only a violation of international law and the Russian constitution, it’s a traditional American value. We learned in WWII what happens when aggression isn’t challenged in the beginning, before it has a chance to spread.

The Ukrainians have paid dearly with around a half million casualties, and closing in on 100,000 dead. Those people gave their lives fighting for their country. The Ukrainians still support the fight, as does our allies.

This week Trump bypassed the Ukraine and our allies and is working to strike a deal, which by all reports is favorable to Russia. In short, we surrendered on behalf of the Ukraine, which has no intention of surrendering. Which prompted Trump to not only accuse the Ukrainians of causing the invasion, but went as far as to call their democratically elected president a dictator.

It’s not often the United States surrenders, especially when it comes to Russia. So this is a moment worth lingering on.

I won’t pretend to know why Trump is so fond of the Russians, but this puts us at odds with our traditional allies, and lands us in bed with countries like Iran and North Korea which support the Russians.

I get it, it comes down to economics. We have to sacrifice a bit financially when we fight for freedom, but not as much as those who are actually dying for the cause.

Is it just me, or does this seem like the American values we were raised on, that our soldiers fought and died for, are now being tossed aside by a single person? Who once claimed he’d end the war the day he took office. The only question is, if all you’re doing is surrendering to the enemy, why does it take so damn long?

A very basic civics lesson …

Today we had the three most powerful people in our government, Trump, Musk and Vance attacking the judiciary branch. They claim falsely, that the courts have no right to rein in a president. Oddly enough, one of the sharpest barbs tossed at the courts is that they aren’t elected by the people. Therefore their interference is bypassing democracy.

Federal judges are appointed by the president, investigated by the FBI and approved by the Senate. As of December of 2024, Musk had no security clearance. There isn’t a single person in the United States that voted for Elon Musk. He now has full security clearance, granted without an investigation or apparently, or any formal process. Here’s a weird fact … the average American pays $38.30 a year via taxes to humanitarian aid across the globe. That’s what Musk dismantled last week. Meanwhile, the average American pays $12 a month to Musk’s companies in their tax bill.

Musk is working fast because he knows court cases would pile up. That’s the idea. Overwhelm the judiciary then use that as an excuse to bypass the judiciary. Which is exactly what Musk proposed today.

The day that happens, our constitution breaks. Think of it as a three legged stool. One leg is the president, another congress, the third the courts. What happens when you kick one of the legs out on a three legged stool?

The founders knew there would be times when the president and congress would be in lock step, and unless there was a third branch, they could trample the constitution. Bypassing the courts is trampling the constitution. Once trampled, there’s no guarantee it can ever be restored.

Hank Maddox taught me that, almost fifty years ago. At times the constitution prevents something you want from becoming law. Sometimes it makes it possible. No single person gets to use it for their own gain. That’s why it’s worked for over two centuries.

It’s about to break.

For those on both sides who were shouting about an attack on our democracy, this is it. That should wake a person up, regardless of which political party you support. Now is when congress needs to step up and make sure the third pillar of our government is allowed to stand. Make no mistake, if it falls, our country as we’ve known it falls with it. Remember Humpty Dumpty.

Yesterday we got our asses handed to us on a plate.

I’m used to that. I’ve voted for the losing presidential candidate two thirds of the time. I’ve been a pinko commie panty waste libtard my whole life. You think it’s bad now? The night after Lincoln spoke at a rally here in Carmi for William Henry Harrison, a fan of his opponent was tarred and feathered on Main Street, almost to the point of death.

Biden set us on a bad course, talking about democracy being in danger. You don’t win when your main message is to fear each other. Because the argument works both ways. I moaned when I heard Harris’ campaign slogan … when we fight, we win. Who are we fighting? Our friends, family and neighbors. When we fight amongst ourselves, no matter who wins, we lose.

And before someone chimes in with “well Trump started it,” here’s a thought. Just because Trump did it doesn’t make it right. We should never intentionally stoke fears about each other, simply because someone believes, lives or loves differently than you do.

We fought, Democracy went without a hitch and we lost. You can’t sugar coat that.

Republicans voted on the economy, and as someone wrote today, “Democrats seem to believe that people care more about the opinions of Taylor Swift and Beyonce than the average person being able to afford groceries.” Being inclusive doesn’t just apply to gays, trans and other minorities. Being inclusive also applies to reaching out and helping the majority of Americans who currently don’t believe as we do. It’s not their fault they were a lot of them were born poor, white and sometimes, even male.

What I remember most about this cycle was the memes saying how a bear is safer for a woman than my race and gender. When you ostracize one of the largest voting blocs, you damned well better have all the others sewed up.

We backslid in almost every demographic, including women and minorities, despite having a minority female as a candidate. Following Trump’s divisive tone didn’t work.

Hopefully this is something people will think of when talking about our fellow Americans over the next four years. When Democrats ruthlessly mocked Trump we cemented his support among his base. Considering where he stood four years ago, can we really blame anyone for yesterday besides ourselves?

Trump’s message resonated with the richest of us as well as the poorest of us. More women, blacks, Hispanics and Asians voted for him this time than ever before. I might not agree with it, but bitching about it doesn’t do any good. You wanna win elections? Become better communicators, to all people.

I still can’t understand how a Christian could vote for him, nor a parent who wants to teach their children right from wrong. But my idea of right and wrong, and what a Christian is, obviously differs from mainstream America. I can live with that.

If you want to change the world, you’re not going to do it by dividing each other. You’re not going to do it by closing your ears and hearts to those who feel the system is passing them by. You have to convince people of the value of your beliefs, of your ideas and your solutions. We seem to think people should get that by osmosis, but that’s not the American way.

When I look at our country the way it was when I was born, and compare it to now, I see massive change for the better. More rights and opportunities for nearly everyone, minorities included. It’s not perfect, but we’re human. There is no perfection amongst our kind.

If I hope Trump fails, I’m no different than him and the Republicans who wanted Biden to fail. That would mean I care more about being right than I care about humanity. I hope Trump finds a way to bring people together and improve not just our country, but the world.

Remember, in his heart, Trump is a social liberal who wants nothing as much as to be loved, and seen as the Santa who saved America. Maybe if we remember the golden rule, it’ll rub off on him as well.

And if not? Well that’s why Governor Pritzker gave us legal weed.