Where is Benjamin Franklin when you need to talk to him? - UPDATE

I wrote this in 2017. Now this article from Wapo gives more substance to my alarm:

The U.S. says humans will always be in control of AI weapons. But the age of autonomous war is already here.

The Pentagon says a ban on AI weapons isn’t necessary. But missiles, guns and drones that think for themselves are already killing people in combat, and have been for years.\

Democracy is two wolves and a lamb voting on what to have for lunch. Liberty is a well-armed lamb contesting the vote. - Benjamin Franklin 

Congress is not at all interested in what the American people want. And they have no plans to give us anything we want. That becomes more obvious by the day and the event. 

And the government (yours and mine) is working on robot soldiers to kill a lot of us when:

Scott Olsen - Getty Images

1. climate change produces riots because of famine and liack of potable water everywhere or 
2. there is an "American Spring." Mass civil rights demonstrations and food riots are so messy. 

Governments are planning to kill you and me only if necessary, of course. And they have the machines to do us now in great numbers. Right now. And they are working on improving them. And they have secret courts.

So stop with the "lizard people" and "they coming to take our guns, RickyBoy" conspiracy theories and wake up. Just because you are paranoid does not mean no one is following you. Wake the fuck up, World. We all have a big problem. A problem not amenable to retaliatory force. And we cannot solve it if we do not help each other.


UPDATE: Nobody read this much. Most folks probably dismissed my concern because they think I am a crackpot.

I am a crackpot. So the only argument I can extend is continuing to provide information. Talk me down. I am scared.

Progress on developing armed robot soldiers is continuing. As this article from WIRED asserts. I do not know what Franklin's concept of "well-armed" could be when we are confronted with such golems.

Killer Robots With Automatic Rifles Could Be on the Battlefield in 5 Years

• BY ALLEN MCDUFFEE
 

“They’re not just tools, but members of the squad. That’s the goal,” Lt. Col. Willie Smith, chief of Unmanned Ground Vehicles at Fort Benning told Computerworld. “A robot becoming a member of the squad, we see that as a matter of training.”

Darpa Robotics Challenge

UPDATE 2: 

Military Researchers Develop Corpse-Eating Robots

• BY JOHN SCOTT LEWINSKI  
 

From the file marked “Evidently, many scientists have never seen even one scary sci-fi movie”: The Defense Department is funding research into battlefield robots that power themselves by eating human corpses. What could possibly go wrong?

UPDATE 3:
If the Atlantic is writing about robots, robot weaponry and other golems, I guess I am not crazy paranoid after all.

If the Robots Kill Us, It's Because It's Their Job

Don't kill us, guys.

PATRICK TUCKER

UPDATE 4:
Is this a mosquito? 

No. It's an insect spy drone for urban areas, already in production, funded by the US Government. It can be remotely controlled and is equipped with a camera and a microphone. It can land on you, and it may have the potential to take a DNA sample or leave RFID tracking nanotechnology on your skin. It can fly through an open window, or it can attach to your clothing until you take it in your home. 

Read more At http://www.snopes.com/photos/technology/insectdrone.asp#pQ6D2qlAHs9yrW0o.99

Happy Juneteenth!

• 
  

  

  Homage to Ben Shahn

  Annee Robson

  Scarborough Art Gallery

  
  
  
  

Nonviolence means avoiding not only external physical violence but also internal violence of spirit. You not only refuse to shoot a man, but you refuse to hate him. - Martin Luther King Jr. 

 

LOOSIES - Update - What say you DOJ?

It is the 8th anniversary of the choke hold death of Eric Garner. The DOJ has done nothing. Rand Paul has not forgotten. Nor have I.

I hate it when I get anywhere near to agreeing with Rand Paul. Guy always looks like he has been sleeping off a three day drunk in his car. Bear with me, please.

It is true that cigarette taxes are bad law as Rand Paul asserts. We disagree about why these taxes are bad law.

Cigarette taxes are bad law for ordinary folks - never mind "dangerous" for the police. Fuck the police. 

Eric Garner was a small business owner. A old school capitalist. He sold single cigarettes, called loosies in the 'Hood, for profit.

A pack of cigarettes is so expensive due to taxes. Your basic working person and everyday street person cannot afford a whole pack at one time or has to make one pack last a week. Sometimes you just have to have a cigarette. And there on the corner stood Eric Garner ready, willing and not all that able. Eric Garner was murdered for selling a cigarette. 

Taxes run government. The Suits decided to tax the shit out of cigarettes and thereby tax the shit out of addicts and working folks rather than tax the pusher Corpos and Wall Street. Naturally the nanny Progressives cheered. All that second hand smoke irritated their eyes, no doubt.

The working classes as a whole who smoke are being farmed for money to run government services just like Ferguson was being farmed for tax money to run government. Every man a profit center. 

I think there is plenty of blame to go around for the death of Eric Garner, right and left.

Selling loosies is not a capital offense. It is an interracial occupation in Philly. Whole damn murder was a matter of CLASS not race. This time. On second thought, it is a race and a class and a poverty thing.

CLICK ME !

"If Eric Garner had been selling naked credit default swaps instead of cigarettes – if in other words he'd set up a bookmaking operation in which passersby could bet on whether people made their home mortgage payments or companies paid off their bonds – the police by virtue of a federal law called the Commodity Futures Modernization Act would have been barred from even approaching him."
Matt Taibbi

I love it when the real world agrees with me. Agreement tells me I am sane. These days I need all the reassurance I can get.

Michigan makes up for its budget shortfall after cutting corporate taxes by taxing people who smoke and drink more! Chad Livengood reports:

Revenue from so-called sin taxes on tobacco, beer, wine and liquor totaled $290.5 million in the 2014 fiscal year, more than twice the $137.6 million net income taxes paid by Michigan businesses after receiving $768.8 million in refunds from tax credits, a Detroit News analysis of tax data shows.

Since Gov. Rick Snyder and lawmakers delivered sweeping tax relief for businesses in 2011, net business income taxes dropped 90 percent, depleting the state's main operating fund of $1.33 billion, according to state revenue data.

"It is a character issue."

I look forward to the year and the day I can stop typing this:

Good Cops cover for Bad Cops. Therefore there are no Good Cops. 

Political Sign of the Month - UPDATE - ALAN GRAYSON RETURNS!

UPDATE:
This is an old post (2013) that now contains good news. Alan is back and running for Marco Rubio's Senate seat.

The poster below is from his opposition. I think calling Grayson 'nasty' seems a silly and weak response from Republicans given the reign of Trump. I think Alan Grayson scares Republicans. I like that in a Senator. Grayson named "most effective legislator" by Slate Magazine.

I heart you, Alan Grayson. I want you to have my babies. Here are a couple of Alan Grayson's Greatest Hits. You choose - stupid sanctimonious suckup Marco Rubio or a speak truth to power mensch like Alan Grayson. Take your choice, Florida. 

One of Alan Grayson's Bill Amendments:

Petition: "I don't want the Government looking at my e-mails, my telephone records, my website records, or my GPS records. I cherish my freedom and my privacy. I am not a terrorist, and I won't let my government treat me like one. Therefore, I support Congressman Alan Grayson's 'Mind Your Own Business Act.'"

AMENDMENT TO THE RULES COMMITTEE PRINT
OF H.R. 1960
OFFERED BY MR. GRAYSON OF FLORIDA

Page 432, after line 21, insert the following:

1 SEC. 1065. LIMITATION ON AVAILABILITY OF FUNDS FOR 
2 INFORMATION GATHERING ON CITIZENS OF 
3 THE UNITED STATES WHILE LOCATED IN THE 
4 UNITED STATES WITHOUT PROBABLE CAUSE. 
5 (a) PROHIBITION.—None of the funds authorized to 
6 be appropriated or otherwise made available to the De-
7 partment of Defense for fiscal year 2014 or any suc-
8 ceeding fiscal year may be used to collect any information 
9 generated by a citizen of the United States while located 
10 in the United States, including telephone records, internet 
11 records, and physical location information, without prob-
12 able cause of a terrorism offense or an offense within the 
13 jurisdiction of the Uniform Code of Military Justice re-
14 lated to action or conduct by that citizen. 
15 (b) UNITED STATES.—In this section, the term 
16 ‘‘United States’’ means the several States of the United 
17 States, the District of Columbia, and the commonwealths, 
18 territories, and possessions of the United States. 

Flying on Thanksgiving? Shave your legs. - with Updates below the Flower Colophon

UPDATES BELOW: There is a new change in procedure at TSA since I wrote this seven years ago. Groping has gotten more sincere. Time to try my solution? Illustration from Second Story Window.

                                       

Flying on Thanksgiving? Do not even think about it. Stay home, make some hot chocolate and get out the popcorn. There is going to be a big strike at airport security. The Transportation Security Administration folks are groping the genitals of adults and children.

I am for a major civil rights action. But I say: Do not opt out of the scanner and make them grope you to protest, even though it surely will mess things up bigtime.

Too tame for me. Too much chance you will make your fellow humans mad. Make them mad and they will not support your cause. I say, give the people you are going to inconvenience some bang for their buck.

Take off all your clothes when you get to the first scanner. Every stitch. Then bend over and spread your cheeks so everyone in the airport can see your Stuff. Revolve slowly while bent over so there is a 360 degree view for everyone. Be careful, it is easy to fall down while doing this. Go slowly. Give them the Full Monty.

If you have not been tazed and/or arrested at the end of your revolution (yes, this is a pun and I intentionally committed it), calmly stand in line and put your clothes back on. Make everybody wait. Let everyone take pictures.

I think we could pay people to do this, if we have to. I did it in high heels on New York City bars for money, so I know you will not have a problem finding personnel. Be sure to have the protesters revolve (revolt?...revolutionize?) in more than one airport.  Ask patriotic porn stars to do it pro bono. Everybody wants to make a contribution.

Problem solved. Probably take about three weeks for The Suits to construct a backdown narrative and get it out there to The Media. Be the best political caucus race and general circus you ever saw. Think of the jokes on late night TV. Problem solved. Maybe I will run for President.

I wrote the initial essay above about the Transportation Safety Authority in November 2010 when folks were considering a huge protest. It is seven years later. Maybe they have gotten worse? Maybe it is time to do it my way? More information at the links.

http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2012/10/10/dying-woman-tsa-wanted-to-check-under-my-bandages/

A woman who’s dying of leukemia says that agents with the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) at Sea-Tac Airport in Seattle forced her to lift up her shirt in front of a crowd so they could check underneath her bandages.

Disabled cancer patient slammed to the ground by TSA guards, lawsuit claims

Hannah Cohen, 18, was on her way home from St Jude’s Hospital when a scanner went off and led to incident that left her ‘physically and emotionally’ injured

Hands On with the TSA's New 'Enhanced' Pat-Down Procedure
The government goes for second-base. By JOHN MCCORMACK

I'm not a crazy ACLU-type. I've had no problem with body-scanners or previous TSA pat-downs. In 2009, a terrorist famously smuggled a bomb in his underwear aboard a U.S. flight. But an agent of the state should probably only touch a citizen's genitals seven or eight times if the agent has reasonable suspicion, and not because a machine is malfunctioning or calibrated, intentionally or unintentionally, to detect explosives on everyone who is tested.

I am a 'crazy ACLU type' and a rape survivor. I would announce before pat down 'Touch my genitals and I break your face.' Then do my best to break the face. I do not fly. 

Signs of the Month - September 2014 - FUCK THE POLICE !

Given what's going down, I thought it was time this came 'round. 
                          
This post has musical accompaniment. See below. 

Look sharp below for the graffiti poster's sign. It is not immediately evident. The guns kind of get in the way. 

Off the Pigs! 

I have not had occasion to say that since the 1968 Chicago riots. Feels good. Real good. 

Signs of Recovery

THE 7 STAGES OF TRUMP GRIEF: 

1. omg 

2. this is so bad 

3. yep still so bad 

4. we are going to die 

5. help 

6. somehow even worse today 

7. omg

 - Anonymous

I have stopped screaming at the television. I think maybe I can talk again.

This man speaks to our condition.

rod •

Ronald Reagan told us we cannot trust the government, and then to make sure we get the point, the GOP puts the biggest liar and ultimate bullshitter on the ticket. Because they have been conditioned to the point that they don't know who to believe, tons of people decided that since everyone in government lies, we might as well have the best liar available. We now have a government that is sheer dishonesty, starting at the top. Ass holes who will say anything for a buck, line up to defend a man whose credibility is absolutely zero. Fake news, fake president, fake everything. Welcome to the new America, land of bullshit.

Who am I to believe?

CIA did Abu Ghraib and made us war criminals. FBI gave us James Comey. Who gave us Snowden? Trumpus is a demented liar and a gift from Putin. Intelligence EPIC FAIL. Again. Potentially worse than 9/11 terrorism going down. Fascism going down.

We have Russia or "some 400 lb. man sitting on a bed" playing 'see what we can hack' with American 'TV programs. Just a nasty joke, you say? Russia can hack the massive electrical grids. Given how much distrust they have created using stochastic terrorism among Americans, two weeks of no power = ZOMBIE APOCALYPSE. omg.

We need Revolution a la Groucho. Let us march on Boss Tweet utilizing Vuvuzelas and Kazoos.

We need to do a Puerto Rico on our Federal Government. Everybody start marching to DC. It will be the real Straight People Pride March to Rid DC of Crook-eds. Yes that is a pun and I committed it.

We call it the NOTHING IN OR OUT MARCH. I need help. Let us pick a date. Start at your front door and march to DC from wherever you are. Bring friends and snacks. Occupy the terrain.

Bring your dog, your vuvuzela, funny hats, kazoos and feather boas. We go in peace. We are not violent. We are firm. Firm and that is All.

We surround the White House and we let nothing go in or out until Boss Tweet goes back to his tower and stays there. General Strike. Let us find out if our government will fire on us. Time we knew, I say. American Spring. Bribe him with a pardon.

I got thrown off twitter for 'advocating violence.' I kept quoting John Adams President and Founding Father. Of course, I quoted him out of context. But I mean, they keep Donald Trump and his posts are violent. Time to clip wings of organizations creating and profiting from techno- feudalism.

The right of a nation to kill a tyrant in case of necessity can no more be doubted than to hang a robber, or kill a flea. - John Adams

If you want to know all of what he said about defending our Constitution read it here. 

Bodega Boycott in New York City

Stepping into his Brooklyn bodega, Mohammed Almuntaser recalled how his heart sank. Staring up at him from the entryway was a copy of The New York Post, with a picture of the World Trade Center in flames on the cover and a headline attacking a Muslim member of Congress, Ilhan Omar.
“It was disgusting. It was racist. I couldn’t believe this racist thing was sitting at my store,” said Mr. Almuntaser, 29, who owns four bodegas in the city. “The very next day, I told everyone who works at my stores not to accept the paper.”
He was not alone, and a boycott of The Post began.

Authoritarians are only about 25-30% of us. We just need to babysit them to make sure they do not hurt themselves or us. Takes person power. Yemeni Merchants believe in democracy and they know how to use it. I want such human beings as citizens. They have a twitter account.

My Grands were immigrants from Italy and Poland. I do not know if they were ever citizens. I spoke two languages when I was a child. I am too close to the immigrant experience to vote for any Republican as they now stand politically re immigration and immigrants.

God bless the Irish. They are a Warrior Folk. UPDATE.

Never pick a fight with an Irishman. They are brilliant wordsmiths and fearsome warriors. Men and women both. Check out Queen Maeve.

The drawing is Albrecht Durer's Three Kerns. Kern was adopted into English as a term for a Gaelic soldier in medieval Ireland.

“Fascism is capitalism plus murder.”
- Upton Sinclair

“The essence of fascism is to make laws forbidding everything and then enforce them selectively against your enemies.”
- John Lescroart, A Plague of Secrets

The American fascist would prefer not to use violence. His method is to poison the channels of public information. - Henry Wallace. 

Meet an ALT-Left Troll or Two

I hang at a "Progressive Website." The comments below are from a few regular posters who shall remain nameless.

Comments refer to Paula Duncan who appears in this video with Lawrence O'Donnell. Ms. Duncan was a juror in the Manafort trial. It is important to watch all the way through. Ms. Duncan, who is a Trump voter, is going to tell you why Trump has lost his war on America. We all, pro and con, know him better now.

COMMENTS IN QUESTION

Manny - No, you’re seeing the poorly educated in action. The fact that Dump hangs around all these convicted criminals means nothing to her. She just loved him on the Apprentice.

Mo - Her freaking eyeballs had a will of their own...bobbing about in their sockets...can't imagine speaking to her face to face....very disturbing and disquieting...

Jack - Agree. if she voted for President Stupidass, she's a stupidass and shouldn't be allowed to make any decisions.

Paula Duncan is an American Hero. She took a principled stand for the Rule of Law and simple civility. She did not allow her personal bias to affect her public duty. Praise her with great praise.

Duncan does not believe the MSMedia. She has no reason to respect them. First Trump was a star and now he is shyte? All this information coming out now was available when Trump was running. MSMedia pissed their pants from happiness over how exciting Trump was. They hung on his every word. We are 45th from the top in press freedom worldwide. Do you believe the Press? I am not fond of infotainment myself.

Paula Duncan has taught me to stop abusing the Trump voter. She renewed my respect for America and Americans.

Trolls come to play in social media. They are amateur and professional. They are Republican, Progressive, Russian, Marketing and/or Disinformation Specialists. They fly all flags and colors. Job #1 for these wankers is fomenting anger, division, and contempt among Americans.

What is the difference between the above Trolls and Donald Trump et al functionally? Not much. Not too damn much. And I smell hanky panky. One juror and one juror only who refused to convict on 10 counts. Old Man judge reduces the sentence and thereby makes the crimes look small. I smell Rat shyte.

Nobody died. Nobody got robbed. Not much of a crime says Ghouliani.

Last Sunday the 9th was my 75th birthday. I have been depressed and missing. I have been unable to write. All I was able to do was troll on social media. I just cannot figure out how to act. 

Between being sick for weeks and doctoring thereby, the ongoing mess in DC, and reaching this birthday, I was struck silent. I was so miserable my Muse left for more congenial circumstances. I never expected to live this long given the bipolar insanity. If you want to know what I mean, this video series explains it better than I can. This is the first of a 3 video series.:

I am back. It is clear I am not going to die for awhile, so that is good. Andiamo. Our POTUS is a crook. 

Generally, I ignore Rudy Giuliani. I cannot ignore this:

“Nobody got killed, nobody got robbed… This was not a big crime,” Giuliani told The Daily Beast on Wednesday. He added, sardonically, “I think in two weeks they’ll start with parking tickets that haven’t been paid.”

Yo Rudy, I got robbed of the sane experienced person I voted for being POTUS.

I got robbed of my national pride when my government kidnapped, caged and drugged children and caused them to be raped and/or die in custody. 

I got robbed of my peace of mind and dignity because I am a multiple rape survivor and I have been made to face the rape culture head on by REDpublicans daily and for years now.  Recall 'legitimate rape?' That was 2014. Remember the Republican Rape Advisory Chart?

We nearly got robbed of our Democracy, the system many Americans worked and died for over the centuries. I want to know who the Americans are who have accepted employment in American internment prison camps?

Reading Mark Twain makes me sane and gives me some perspective on the whole mess.:

“The government is merely a servant―merely a temporary servant; it cannot be its prerogative to determine what is right and what is wrong, and decide who is a patriot and who isn't. Its function is to obey orders, not originate them.” ― Mark Twain

We have a lot more firing to do. Lots more.

“If I am not for myself, who will be for me? If I am only for myself, what am I? If not now, when?” - Hillel the Elder.

A voice is heard in Ramah, mourning and great weeping, Rachel weeping for her children and refusing to be comforted, because they are no more (Jeremiah 31:15 NIV).

Shitholers R Us. You go, Mr. Mudd.

Not like the brazen giant of Greek fame,
With conquering limbs astride from land to land;
Here at our sea-washed, sunset gates shall stand
A mighty woman with a torch, whose flame
Is the imprisoned lightning, and her name
MOTHER OF EXILES. From her beacon-hand
Glows world-wide welcome; her mild eyes command
The air-bridged harbor that twin cities frame.
"Keep, ancient lands, your storied pomp!" cries she
With silent lips. "Give me your tired, your poor,
Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,
The wretched refuse of your teeming shore.
Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me,
I lift my lamp beside the golden door!"
- Emma Lazurus

Tale of Tampon Fairy, the Golden Knight, and the Magical Tampon Rite

I am repeating this story in solidarity with Sisters in Arizona prisons who cannot get tampons at all or more than 12 pads per month. They get fined for bleeding on their uniforms. I say GENERAL STRIKE. Nobody wear pads or tampons. Bleed the fuck all over the mofo's prison. We are as tough as British women, right? 

Once upon a time . . . 
Guns are okay but the tampons must go! 

State troopers are confiscating tampons, maxi pads and other potential projectiles from those who are entering the Texas capitol to watch the debate and vote on a controversial anti-abortion bill. Guns, however, which are typically permitted in the state capitol, are still being allowed. Several people tweeted that troopers were taking the objects before allowing entrance into the gallery:

Stand with Texas Women. 

s
God bless prochoice men. Bless them just standing there in their socks with a sign.

And now for the Magical Tampon Rite.

General Strike a la Groucho Advances on Mar a Lago

It is all over. Old ladies are marching on Mar a Lago. Some of them are armed with vuvuzelas. Not our Cheeto!

“The liberty of a democracy is not safe if the people tolerated the growth of private power to a point where it becomes stronger than the democratic state itself. That in its essence is fascism: ownership of government by an individual, by a group, or any controlling private power.”
― Franklin D. Roosevelt



Americans are moderates on the whole. General Strike is such a socialisty Frenchy thing to do. In France, it is everybody on the street for a day. Efficient and dramatic. American style is ongoing nearly daily march/strike over time. Both good.

I think it is time. Impeach before Trumpus starts killing Americans bigtime. So far his regime is just beating people up and killing them with rules.

Let us impress France. Revolution a la Groucho! Everybody out in the street for July the 4th. It is okay to punch a Fascist. Punch a Fascist for Jesus.

Vietnam Vet Gives Romney and the Rest of Us a Lesson in Civility and Reality

Mitt Romney is running for office again. This time running for Senator for Utah. 

What is there to say? Rmoney is an Asshat. Man is so damn awkward he makes me itch when I see him. Do you think Rmoney gets a facial every day? I would love to know who does his hair. 

Message to Advertisers and Websites. Up Your Giggy.

Here is the deal.

I never used an ad blocker until ads got so intrusive that it actually made me mad. Video ads that start at a loud volume automatically the moment you enter a website? Ads that pop up and obscure what you are trying to read?

If you are poor, you cannot read an article from New York Times. You go to NYT responding to a link from one of their authors and BANG you get a bill. I do not read the NYT. They are politically in the bag for the 1%.

I read the Guardian which asks politely to send a contribution. I contributed a small amount of my choosing.

Now sites (like Mother Jones and Weather Channel etc.) beg you to turn off your ad blocker. No way. Eat Shit and Die. As publications and marketers have sown, so they now reap.

My that rant felt good.

Let Them Eat Cake

I am running this again because the god damn cake war has started up anew. Now it is at the SCOTUS.

A gay Christian is so sad for the homophobe bakers he is running a fund raiser. I never thought when I started to blog I would be writing so much about CAKE

Cake is a metaphor for all the 'things' religious authoritarians want to save me from or for. Feel free to substitute the words 'birth control' or 'abortion' or 'big fat hard cock' for the word 'cake.' Maybe that will help with perspective on this mess.

The impetus for this rant was an article at The Atlantic entitled Is Evangelical Morality Still Acceptable in America?

I do not care if the Evangelical motivation for their political actions is sincere religious objection or bigotry if the result is the same - humiliation, punishment and/or deprivation for physical or social characteristics a customer cannot change or does not need to change - blackness, gayness, femaleness, muslimness, queerness.

When a baker refuses to do business with a person(s) because of perceived gayness, what is the purpose of that action?

Is it to shame/punish the person(s) for being gay? It certainly is not civil religious disobedience, also referred to as conscientious objection.

What is nonviolent civil or religious disobedience? Gandhi's definition is the clearest in my opinion:

"I have also called it love-force or soul-force. . . I discovered in the earliest stages that pursuit of truth did not admit of violence being inflicted on one’s opponent but that he must be weaned from error by patience and compassion. For what appears to be truth to the one may appear to be error to the other. And patience means self-suffering. So the doctrine came to mean vindication of truth, not by infliction of suffering on the opponent, but on oneself." - Mohandas Gandhi.

The conscientious objector must take upon him/her self the burden of conscientious objection. Transferring the burden of conscientious objection to the Other is not conscientious objection. It is assault. Which assault the Bible directs the religious to commit. Stone the Gay! If you cannot use a stone because it is 21st century America, use a cake.

Cakes or stones, both are punishments and not religious conscientious objection. Religious Authoritarians do not get to inflict religious punishment anymore on folks in the United States of America. No matter how many times they obfuscate and yell Jesus!

Let us face our history and look it dead in the crusade. Religious zealouts will disembowel you for Jesus while singing Onward Christian Soldiers. And feel real good about it.

"The people of Samaria must bear their guilt, because they have rebelled against their God. They will fall by the sword; their little ones will be dashed to the ground, their pregnant women ripped open." - Hosea 13:16