Taking a Knee

By John Jankowski

There may be nothing more alien to Americans than the notion of becoming and then being humble. Where once we fell prostrate in humble obedience to a Truth far greater than our own; we now instead mock and humiliate those whose quest for justice moved them to put but one knee to soil.

“If you are humble nothing will touch you, neither praise nor disgrace, because you know what you are.” — Mother Teresa

Humility

Mother Teresa

"Tomorrow, You're Homeless. Tonight, It's a Blast!"

 

“Tomorrow, You’re Homeless. Tonight, It’s a Blast!”

John Jankowski

1 min read

Trump and the non-ideological wing of the protesters have at least one thing in common: a lack of faith. And that lack of faith drives them to create their own particular and specific idea of utopia or heaven here on earth.

Trump has obtained his (wealth and power) by way of corruption, and aims to keep it — by any means necessary. Same for his most powerful and wealthiest of supporters.

Rioters have neither the means nor the same ends as the filthy rich; but their demands for “a better future” are as real and as essential as Trump’s grip on wealth and power. Trump’s Bible-debasing and hate speech are signifiers of his true and only heaven on earth. Violence and outrage are those of the weak, whose heaven may only amount to the desire for a few crumbs from the rich man’s table. Rioting renders the formerly invisible, visible. The weak, powerful.

As Malcolm X once quipped regarding violence during the previous Civil Rights Era, “The chickens have come home to roost.” They most certainly have. And Trump is no farmer.

Riot

Song by Dead Kennedys ‧ 1982

Source: LyricFind

Songwriters: D.H. Peligro / East Bay Ray / Jello Biafra / Klaus Flouride

Riot lyrics © Kobalt Music

Rioting, the unbeatable high

Adrenalin shoots your nerves to the sky

Everyone knows this town is gonna blow

And it's all

Gonna blow right now

Now you can smash all the windows that you want

All you really need are some friends and a rock

Throwing a brick never felt so damn good

Smash more glass

Scream with a laugh

And wallow with the crowds, watch them kicking peoples' ass

But you get to the place

Where the real slave-drivers live

It's walled off by the riot squad aiming guns right at your head

So you turn right around

And play right into their hands

And set your own neighborhood

Burning to the ground instead

Ah, ha-ha

Ah, ha-ha

Ah, ha-ha

Ah, ha-ha

Riot, the unbeatable high

Riot, shoots your nerves to the sky

Riot, playing right into their hands

Tomorrow you're homeless, tonight it's a blast

Get your kicks in quick

They're callin' the National Guard

Now could be your only chance to torch a police car

Climb the roof, kick the siren in and jump and yelp for joy

Quickly, dive back in the crowd, slip away, now don't get caught

Let's loot the spiffy hi-fi store, grab as much as you can hold

Pray your full arms don't fall off, here comes the owner with a gun

Ah, ha-ha

Ah, ha-ha

Ah, ha-ha

Ah, ha-ha

Riot, the unbeatable high

Riot, shoots your nerves to the sky

Riot, playing right into their hands

Tomorrow you're homeless, tonight it's a blast

Yee-ah!

Yee-ah!

Yee-ah!

Yee-ah!

Yee-ah!

Shit!

The barricades spring up from nowhere

Cops in helmets line the lines

Shotguns prod into your bellies

The trigger fingers want an excuse

Now!

The raging mob has lost its nerve

There's more of us but who goes first?

No one dares to cross the line

The cops know that they've won

It's all over but not quite, the pigs have just begun to fight

They club your heads, kick your teeth

Police can riot all that they please

Ah, ha-ha

Ah, ha-ha

Ah, ha-ha

Ah, ha-ha, yeah!

Riot, the unbeatable high

Riot, shoots your nerves to the sky

Riot, playing right into their hands

Tomorrow you're homeless, tonight it's a blast

Riot, the unbeatable high

Riot, shoots your nerves to the sky

Riot, playing right into their hands

Tomorrow you're homeless

Tonight it's a blast

Tomorrow you're homeless

Tonight it's a blast

Tomorrow you're homeless

Tonight it's a blast

Tomorrow you're homeless

Tonight it's a blast

Tomorrow you're homeless

Tonight it's a blast

Tomorrow you're homeless

Tonight it's a blast

Tomorrow you're homeless

Tonight it's a blast

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O69MTDdhHDk

Donald Trump

Black Lives Mater

American Left

Riots

Ideology

Confessions of a Peace-Monger By John Jankowski

 

Crass

Confessions of a Peace-Monger

By John Jankowski

I must confess: Even after 9/11, the waters of patriotism, wrung from the tears of a nation, never washed over me. Sure, I felt horrible for all of those killed and injured, along with the countless loved ones who were also affected; but I can’t claim to have felt even the slightest inclination to rally around the flag. That’s due only in part, by the way, to the identity of the buildings that had been targeted. Being a peace-monger, the attack on the Pentagon only brought tears for the wounded, mortally or otherwise, not for any structural damage incurred. Nothing screamed “chickens coming home to roost” than a shot at “War, Inc.” A shame that the insurance company didn’t just simply total the whole building out.

The words “World Trade Towers” don’t exactly smack of patriotism either. Tall buildings, to be sure, on, of course, American soil. But New York City is more a symbol of international capitalism or world finance than Americana, with the Twin Towers being its literal and de facto pinnacle. More George Soros than Uncle Sam; more scone and espresso than Apple Pie. The loss of life so much more important than loss of any sense of prestige that those two phallic columns of now molten steel represented. For us or to the rest of the world, dang nab it.

As a former Chicagoan, now Stocktonian, if I feel any sense of loyalty at all — beyond family, friends and my parish — it is to my urban birthplace, where remnants of family still reside. And perhaps gradually to my new rural home. I take great offense to suburbanites claiming to be urbanites, and sub- and urban- ites claiming to be hillbillies. Even those of us with fewer ideas than teeth don’t claim that ridiculous label here, so we sure as hell don’t appreciate “weekend warriors” latching on to it.

Dread Scott Tyler

Nationalism and patriotism in this country are abstractions, intangibles out of necessity. Our “nation” of fifty still largely disunited states, founded by a motley crew of disaffected European mutts and misfits, can’t possibly hold a so-called patriot’s attention — let alone his allegiance — for very long. This country is geographically too big; demographically, too diverse; and governmentally-speaking, far too bureaucratic to do so.

We pledge allegiance to a flag woven of propositions. Blood spilled not of loyalty to a people, but to the ideals upon which those people have chosen to identify with. Either by birth, chance or oath.

Wars and the rumors of wars then serve the purpose of resolving an identity crisis for us, as identifying enemies, real or imagined, often do. But with a nation as phantasmagorical as ours, that need is all the more pressing; particularly when, due to occasional economic downturns, our identities as consumers are bound to suffer lapses as well.

I pray that God will one day bless America…with an ability for its people to recognize that they were never any more blessed — or cursed — than other people living on our fragile planet; and if one most love a place, let it be the one closest to where you have chosen to rest eternally. Forever peaceably.

Patriotism

Nationalism

Anti War Activist

9 11 Attacks

Why the Hate?: The American Left vs. Donald Trump

 

Why the Hate? The American Left vs. Donald Trump

A recent article posted by the conservative magazine, Chronicles, addresses the long-festering issue of how and why the American left “hates” former Donald Trump so much, noting that “(t)he hatred goes beyond the man’s style, his mean words, and his policies. CNN’s Anderson Cooper provided a clue, when, on the evening of Jan. 6, he sarcastically suggested that the rally-goers would return that night to their Marriott hotels and their Olive Garden restaurants — the implication being that only low-class deplorables would dine at the Olive Garden.”

Wherever your politics dwell, it would be interesting, even edifying, to hear why you believe the left “hates” Trump as much as they seem to.

In terms of the presidency, I got the sense that many viewed Trump’s election win as a step backward in terms of historical progress, if you will, where electing a white male as seemingly regressive as Trump connoted an “epic u-turn” in terms of American identity. Especially when viewed from the context of the country having just previously voted in a young black man, which had been understood by at least the left as a “step in the right/progressive direction.” (Never mind the drone war escalation.)

As awful of a candidate as Hillary Clinton might have indeed been, her win would have at least kept the U.S. on the path of historical/political progress. With Trump, it’s believed, the country took leaps backward — which of course made the prospect of voting for Biden much more palatable, as the election of this old white dotard could be regarded as a step forward in the right/progressive direction. And just as Trump was regarded by the religious right as an “imperfect vessel” for the pro-life movement, Biden is the secular left’s “imperfect vessel” to implement socio-politico and economic change.

We’ll see about that….

Donald Trump

Progress

US Politics

Chronicles Magazine

Obama