Samurai Forever

"Kusunoki has revealed himself: his heart is cold. He's a man who whistles in hell."

Stunned villagers gasped as Kusunoki solemnly sauntered down the middle of the road holding the head of his former liege-lord Tadahashi. Notices of the Imperial bounty on Tadahashi's head unavoidably covered the province ensuring even the lowliest of peasants knew of the reward. Apparently, Kusunoki had decided to cash in.

"He was Tadahashi's most trusted and able deputy - and now look at him! He has lost all honor."

As a crowd began to follow in Kusunoki's wake, six of Tadahashi's remaining retainers came out to block the road, demanding that Kusunoki explain himself. It was a hollowed man who answered.

"Our lord asked me to do this."

"You lie! Lord Tadahashi would never quit! You try to justify your evil deed. Are you not now taking his head to the emperor's palace for reward?"

"Yes, I am," replied a matter-of-fact Kusunoki. "Ware tada shiru taru."

This only inflamed the retainers with outrage, threatening to take his life, their only hesitation was Kusunoki's previous reputation being above reproach.

As ruler of the Izumu province, Tadahashi was much beloved and revered. He was a man of great insight whose mind was "worth 10,000 soldiers." When he determined the imperial taxes levied from Kyoto had become too burdensome to pay, Tadahashi was undefeated in turning back forces sent against him. In fact, his reputation reached such heights he was co-opted by the emperor, naming him Captain of the Left Division. It was the only way to stop further disgrace at the hands of the smaller yet more unified forces of Tadahashi.

But as water seeks to find and fill every crevice in a rock, so does the poison of politics worm its way into the weakness of every heart. Moronao, a Shogunate Regent, envied not only Tadahashi's growing reputation in the royal court, but also his famously lovely wife. Through back channels he sent her several messages but to no avail. So using his influence and position, Moronao was able to convince the Shogun that Tadahashi was planning a full blown rebellion, not satisfied with the awards he'd been given. Serving a god other than truth, the Shogun did not bother to check the veracity of Moronao's claims.

Having been labeled an outlaw, Tadahashi was then forced to act like an outlaw to survive. (Moronao then used this as "proof" to the Shogun.) Having only a small band of retainers with him at the time of the royal decree, he went on the run into the deepest parts of the Kai mountains. Separated from his family, he gave orders for them also to flee but tragedy ensued. Though having been given orders to keep Tadahashi's wife alive, the soldiers bungled their job, the entire family dead by the emperor's forces. Next thing anyone knew Kusunoki was walking through the village carrying Tadahashi's head.

The loyal retainers could barely contain their rage watching Kusunoki prepare provisions for his long trip to Kyoto. "We should kill him," snarled one, saying it more as a decision than a statement.

"No," said a Zen priest who was part of the inner circle. "It's none of our business."

"You say that only because you are his friend!"

"I say it because it's the truth. If he does wrong then he alone carries it on his head. What is it to you?"

"It is our duty!"

"Did not our lord always say to stand with the truth? We must cleanse our hearts and let all-knowing Nature take its course. That is our duty. That is being strong."

"If we let the Shogun get away this, the whole nation is in danger. I don't care what they said about our lord, we knew him to be honest and true. We must mount a campaign so everyone will know this!"

"The truth remains the same with or without our efforts. Let us speak what's in our grieving hearts as our protest - then move on. Life awaits us, we cannot be distracted from that with wasted efforts. Let it go."

"We cannot let this go!"

"You must! Or be expelled forever from the clan."

"And just who is going to expel me, priest?" hissed the retainers' leader.

"You will," answered the priest with dead certainty.

Realizing they were helpless to shape the world as they saw fit, the retainers separated into their own private grumblings - except for the leader whose heart stayed clinched in the name of justice. He chased down Kusunoki on the road by the end of the evening, calling out to him from the darkness.

"Traitor, stop! You know what you're doing is wrong. I have justice on my side and I will strike you down."

Kusunoki was unruffled. "You don't have justice on your side. You're a mere busybody who needs to tend to his own life, not mine."

The words were like soothing water on a fire but the fact his rage was melting only made the leader more fearful he had no integrity. It was his time to choose between life and death. Later, his body was found dead on the road, his confused mind chopped down by Kusunoki's clear mind.

Hearing of the lead retainer's death had a calming effect on the village, a seed of doubt planted in their outrage. The ever-flowing pull to life - encouraged by the Zen priest - eventually brought them into a state immune from criticism, just as Kusunoki had become. Some believed it was "too good to be true" a just fate could come out of letting things be. Surrounding provinces began to whisper of cowardice and dishonor of the Izumu province, turning into open mockery in the following days.

But like a flip of the switch, the world reversed.

"He's dead! He's dead!" hailed a runner into the village.

"Who's dead? Kusunoki? Did he get his just desserts after all?"

"Moronao is dead! Kusunoki lunged with a hidden dagger after he was given the gold reward. It was Moronao who betrayed our lord, spreading lies and forcing him to run. Master Kusunoki told me this the night before: Lord Tadahashi instructed him to take his head to Kyoto, he had nothing left to live for with his family dead, and to keep secret his plans for justice. The palace guards descended on Kusunoki after he stabbed Moronao, instantly killing him. I escaped with the gold to help rebuild the clan as was our lord's final wish." The runner dropped to his knees, overwhelmed with tears.

The Izumu province (whose symbol was changed to 賢い) became renowned for its wisdom, the many who had mocked them became the mocked. The truth had set them free instead of into a self-destructive rage. The Shogunate, having been exposed for its lack of honesty and integrity, rotted in decay in the ensuing years giving birth to chaos and the Era of Warring States, the final battle for unification and control of Japan.

I Have A (Trumptard) Dream!

I have a dream this picture is used every time they refer to Der Furor

I am happy to join with you today in what has gone down in history as the greatest demonstration for freedom of white power in the history of our nation.

I have a twisted dream! I have a dream that 100 years from now no non-whites will be in office so that the lower races remain in economic chains to serve us in perpetuity.

I have a twisted dream! I have a dream that whites are forever owed the right to rule this land in order that we have the liberty to pursue our happiness at the expense of all others.

I have a twisted dream! I have a dream that business as usual is the business of keeping whites rich and non-whites poor.

I have a twisted dream! I have a dream that every white drinks from the cup of violence and bitterness if he is ever denied his life of rank and privilege.

I have a twisted dream! I have a dream that every police officer has the freedom to inflict unspeakable brutality on any non-whites.

I have a twisted dream! I have a dream that my children be judged by the color of their skin and NOT by the content of their character.

I have a twisted dream! I have a dream that non-whites forever wallow in the valley of despair. This is our hope. This is the faith I take back to my limousine.

I have a twisted dream! I have a dream that justice be defined by making life good for every white, that we own every mountaintop and every molehill.

I have a twisted dream! I have a dream that whites rule every city and every hamlet, every state and every corporation, and we'll be able to sing out: "Free at last! Free at at last! Thank God a-Mighty, free at last to fuck every non-white in the world!"


REAL VERSION:

I am happy to join with you today in what will go down in history as the greatest demonstration for freedom in the history of our nation.

Five score years ago a great American in whose symbolic shadow we stand today signed the Emancipation Proclamation. This momentous decree is a great beacon light of hope to millions of Negro slaves who had been seared in the flames of withering injustice. It came as a joyous daybreak to end the long night of their captivity. But 100 years later the Negro still is not free. One hundred years later the life of the Negro is still badly crippled by the manacles of segregation and the chains of discrimination. One hundred years later the Negro lives on a lonely island and of poverty in the midst of a vast ocean of material prosperity. One hundred years later the Negro is still languished in the corners of American society and finds himself in exile in his own land. So we've come here today to dramatize a shameful condition.

In a sense we've come to our nation's capital to cash a check. When the architects of our Republic wrote the magnificent words of the Constitution and the Declaration of Independence, they were signing a promissory note to which every American was to fall heir. This note was a promise that all men - yes, black men as well as white men - would he guaranteed the unalienable rights of life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. It is obvious today that America has defaulted on this promissory note insofar as her citizens of color are concerned. Instead of honoring this sacred obligation, America has given the Negro people a bad check, a check which has come back marked "insufficient funds."

But we refuse to believe that the bank of justice is bankrupt. We refuse to believe that there are insufficient funds in the great vaults of opportunity of this nation. So we've come to cash this check, a check that will give us upon demand the riches of freedom and the security of justice.

We have also come to this hallowed spot to remind America of the fierce urgency of now. This is no time to engage in the luxury of cooling off or to take the tranquilizing drug of gradualism. Now is the time to make real the promise of democracy. Now is the time to rise from the dark and desolate valley of segregation to the sunlit path of racial justice. Now is the time to lift our nation from the quicksands of racial injustice to the solid rock of brotherhood.

Now is the time to make justice a reality for all of God's children. It would be fatal for the nation to overlook the urgency of the moment. This sweltering summer of the Negro's legitimate discontent will not pass until there is an invigorating autumn of freedom and equality - 1963 is not an end but a beginning. Those who hope that the Negro needed to blow off steam and will now be content will have a rude awakening if the nation returns to business as usual.

There will be neither rest nor tranquility in America until the Negro is granted his citizenship rights. The whirlwinds of revolt will continue to shake the foundations of our nation until the bright days of justice emerge. And that is something that I must say to my people who stand on the worn threshold which leads into the palace of justice. In the process of gaining our rightful place we must not he guilty of wrongful deeds. Let us not seek to satisfy our thirst for freedom by drinking from the cup of bitterness and hatred.

We must forever conduct our struggle on the high plane of dignity and discipline. We must not allow our creative protests to degenerate into physical violence. Again and again we must rise to the majestic heights of meeting physical force with soul force. The marvelous new militancy which has engulfed the Negro community must not lead us to distrust all white people, for many of our white brothers, as evidenced by their presence here today, have come to realize that their destiny is tied up with our destiny.

They have come to realize that their freedom is inextricably bound to our freedom. We cannot walk alone. And as we walk we must make the pledge that we shall always march ahead. We cannot turn back. There are those who are asking the devotees of civil rights, "When will you be satisfied?" We can never be satisfied as long as the Negro is the victim of the unspeakable horrors of police brutality.

We can never be satisfied as long as our bodies, heavy with the fatigue of travel, cannot gain lodging in the motels of the highways and the hotels of the cities.

We cannot be satisfied as long as the Negro's basic mobility is from a smaller ghetto to a larger one. We can never be satisfied as long as our children are stripped of their adulthood and robbed of their dignity by signs stating "For Whites Only."

We cannot be satisfied as long as the Negro in Mississippi cannot vote and the Negro in New York believes he has nothing for which to vote.

No, no, we are not satisfied, and we will not be satisfied until justice rolls down like waters and righteousness like a mighty stream.

I am not unmindful that some of you have come here out of great trials and tribulation. Some of you have come fresh from narrow jail cells. Some of you have come from areas where your quest for freedom left you battered by the storms of persecution and staggered by the winds of police brutality. You have been the veterans of creative suffering.

Continue to work with the faith that unearned suffering is redemptive. Go hack to Mississippi, go back to Alabama, go back to South Carolina, go back to Georgia, go hack to Louisiana, go back to the slums and ghettos of our northern cities, knowing that somehow this situation can and will be changed. Let us not wallow in the valley of despair.

I say to you today, my friends, though, even though we face the difficulties of today and tomorrow, I still have a dream. It is a dream deeply rooted in the American dream. I have a dream that one day this nation will rise up, live out the true meaning of its creed: "We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal."

I have a dream that one day on the red hills of Georgia sons of former slaves and the sons of former slave-owners will be able to sit down together at the table of brotherhood. I have a dream that one day even the state of Mississippi, a state sweltering with the heat of injustice, sweltering with the heat of oppression, will be transformed into an oasis of freedom and justice.

I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character. I have a dream... I have a dream that one day in Alabama, with its vicious racists, with its governor having his lips dripping with the words of interposition and nullification, one day right there in Alabama little black boys and black girls will he able to join hands with little white boy's and white girls as sisters and brothers.

I have a dream today... I have a dream that one day every valley shall be exalted, every hill and mountain shall be made low. The rough places will be made plain, and the crooked places will be made straight. And the glory of the Lord shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together. This is our hope. This is the faith that I go back to the South with. With this faith we will be able to hew out of the mountain of despair a stone of hope. With this faith we will he able to transform the jangling discords of our nation into a beautiful symphony of brotherhood. With this faith we will be able to work together, to pray together, to struggle together, to go to jail together, to stand up for freedom together, knowing that we will be free one day.

This will be the day when all of God's children will be able to sing with new meaning. "My country, 'tis of thee, sweet land of liberty, of thee I sing. Land where my fathers died, land of the pilgrim's pride, from every mountain side, let freedom ring." And if America is to be a great nation, this must become true. So let freedom ring from the prodigious hilltops of New Hampshire. Let freedom ring from the mighty mountains of New York. Let freedom ring from the heightening Alleghenies of Pennsylvania. Let freedom ring from the snowcapped Rockies of Colorado. Let freedom ring from the curvaceous slopes of California.

But not only that. Let freedom ring from Stone Mountain of Georgia. Let freedom ring from Lookout Mountain of Tennessee. Let freedom ring from every hill and molehill of Mississippi, from every mountain side. Let freedom ring...

When we allow freedom to ring - when we let it ring from every city and every hamlet, from every state and every city, we will be able to speed up that day when all of God's children, black men and white men, Jews and gentiles, Protestants and Catholics, will be able to join hands and sing in the words of the old Negro spiritual, "Free at last, Free at last, Great God a-mighty, We are free at last."

Quotes Snatched From The Crystalline Wind

"Turns out things actually don't get better with time. They just get buried."

"Turns out shame is the most unbreakable of prisons."

"Go ahead. Say it," I urged.

"Ain't sayin' nothin'." He crossed his arms in futile defiance.

"I'm only asking you to agree with yourself!"

"Not gonna to do it so shut the hell up!"

"You just said you don't think the President is Jesus. Now you're telling me you can't say it. So that tells me you really do think that."

"I hate you."

She was not amused by my response. "I'm sorry, Mr. Homeless, you can't put down 'Grieving' as an occupation."

"OK. How about 'Hypocrite'?"

She was even less amused then.

Of him she said: "He just wants to use me, to make up for his deficiencies and inadequacies. I won't stand for it! He has to get his own life and stand on his own two feet. I can't be wasting my time!"

Of another she said: "He needs me and I have purpose. This is what true love is all about. My devotion is endless because it's so pure. I lead a righteous life and need never change."

The first one loved her, the second one used her.

"Film everything. Life is always happening - even when making a movie. John Lennon wrote 'Strawberry Fields' while waiting around the set of 'How I Won The War'. Would have been a much better use of film to have filmed that than the mediocre movie he was in."

"That boy gonna kill hisself. He got too many "hurrys" in his life."

"When you lie you die."

["I love you...and I don't."]

- The Lower Plateau

Every day I wake up trying to find a reason not to kill myself. And every day I fail.

"Alan Dershowitz is someone whom the minute he found out he had a soul couldn't wait to sell it."

"Mankind is never so terrifyingly chilling as when we call ourselves Just."

"It is known but not admitted: one can be factual but not truthful, and one can be truthful but not factual."

"There are no conservatives. Only repressed liberals."

"Hey, Harry, I hear you's running for office??"

"I is!"

"You got a slogan or sumpthin'?"

"I does! 'Fuck the niggers! Fuck the spics! No more welfare!'"

"Wow!! You should get a lotta votes with that!"

"Yep. I'll get the rural retards, the rednecks, the racists, and the religious right."

"That's pert near everyone in Texas! And here I thought you was a commie pinko faggot librul."

"Oh, but I am!"

"Wot?? Then what ya doin' with a slogan like that fer??"

"Like you said, I want all the Texas votes. Once elected, I plan on promoting justice, equity, and humanity above all."

"You bastard! You can't trick folks like that! What a nightmare that you is!"

"I don't know how life is supposed to have meaning when God doesn't stand up for the truth."

"In America, what people say about socialism is actually how they feel about capitalism."

"Bitter to the end, he is. Unbelievable."

"What do you expect? He's Russian."

"What do you mean 'He's Russian'? Like that explains anything."

"Russians equate trying with failure. That's how they turn failure into a virtue and Vodka into a national staple. To a Russian, to betray you is to 'save' you."

"Ah, that's horseshit."

"If it's horseshit then why ya complaining, ya fuckhead!"

"Trust me, there's no amount of military might that can make greedy hearts safe."

"That wot I been sayin! That wot I been sayin' all along, ya jack ass. Ya jess can't haves too big a military, no sir! We jess gotta keep makin' more. It life and death!"

"You're going to have to give up your beloved politics and realize the world is just so much chattel beneath your feet. To do otherwise is to engage in self-pity. The sky is darkening."

It was with mixed emotions she reacted to being touted as a "talented prostitute."

"Si! Si! Yo se! Yo se! It has to happen here and now. Sometimes you compare, sometimes you contrast."

"But it's so jarring from everything up to that point in the film."

"Yes, exactly! That's the point. At the very moment his life is the most complicated and convoluted, the simplicity of his childhood kicks in. All your childhood dreams are real. 'What is too painful to remember we simply choose to forget.' But we can't forget. There's no way forward but through those dreams. However inconvenient, that's the law. That's the love."

Earlier that day she rebuked: "God, no! Get the hell away from me. I don't want to see you now or ever again. Do what you want, just don't do it around me. I don't want to see or hear anything about you. Just blow away and die! Please, somebody, help!"

Later that day he rebuked: "Hey, Harry, what you need is a woman of your own. You ain't never gonna be anything but miserable without one."

How to explain the nightmare of my life?

"She committed suicide."

"Who? That fat chick you told me about?"

"Yeah."

"Same one you sent that note to her parents asking why their daughter so fat?"

"Yeah..."

"Dude! What is wrong with you? You did nothing but dog her ass all them years. I can't believe what a shitfaced asshole you are."

"I don't understand it, either. I just couldn't stop myself."

"That no reason! No wonder you can't sleep no more."

"It was like, I just couldn't conceive how anyone could care so much about anything I had to say. I just kept pushing and pushing, figuring she'd wake up and move on. Never crossed my mind this could happen."

"Crossing or not, it did happen."

"So what does it mean someone took what I said so much to heart she kills herself? I'm nothing, a big zero. Far as I could tell she never wanted anything to do with me socially. I just can't figure it out."

"Sounds to me like you better figure something out or your ass'll be in even bigger sling than it is now!"

"Jose has hit the bottle, man."

"What?? You're kidding."

"Yeah, he's basically wasted half the time."

"You're supposed to be happy to get out of prison."

"What can I say? Says he doesn't know what to do with himself..."

"Yeah, well, I can see that. Just another invisible tragedy of the world."

"The advantage President Liar has is that there's no one as dedicated to telling the truth as he is to lying."

"Doesn't really matter how much we sanction, whitewash, or deify our greed, it's still fatal in the end. Lots of people are going to die and it's going to be way funny watching their capitalistic greed pried from their cold, dead hands."

"Everything outside of the truth is religion."

"I basically live my life in a state of controlled panic."

"Better stay away from that chick, man. She'll eat your eyeballs out."

"Yeah, I know. I've got it under control."

"Not with those legs you don't! Ouch!"

"Don't worry. Nothing's going to happen. She'll lose interest when she finds out I don't have what she wants."

"Money?"

"A lack of self-respect."

"Well, what did she say??"

"She asked me what I wanted."

"No shit!? You said she'd never talk to you again."

"The total tonnage of what I don't know would fill a library."

"So what did you answer?"

"I told her I wanted to dream with her."

Though fruitless in her efforts to date, she continued to waterboard him with silence.

She'd talk on warm summer nights of the dreams she'd lived, walking among the stars as only two can do. Her motives had been pure and her decisions directed by God. She spoke as one who'd surely suffered the wounds of envious beings who couldn't hope to scale the heights she so often visited. Many did she put under her spell with this. If only you could have been there!

Yes, yes. She loved weaving the tale of the way we weren't.

She stood with arms firmly folded in the living room of her house palace, the queen observing her disloyal subject: me. I was boiling in the blaze of her fury, melting, suffering unbearable internal itching to be free of her gaze but bound to her presence as one who had mortally sinned. Words were coming like exploding lava from a volcano. I could only hope against hope.

"Well, what do you have to say for yourself?"

Oh, dear God Jesus, I was trapped. To say nothing was to get my head rightfully bitten off. To say something was to get my head rightfully bitten off. What do you say after committing an unspeakable act to someone who showed you overflowing kindness? Time to die.

Then I spotted a pen and paper on a coffee table. Maybe, just maybe. I walked over, eyeing her for approval as I went. Using the best handwriting I was able to muster, I wrote what I could and stepped back for her judgment.

I felt a softening as she put down the paper. She gave me her you-can-go-now look and I dutifully obeyed as one who owes more than can be repaid. I do not know if that was my final sentence or only a delay. I'll have to face that another day. As I departed through the front door I caught her glancing at the words once more:

"Lorem Ipsum Dolor"

I don't miss you. I miss what you were. That's the price of silence all those years."

Love is the only success.

"That was now, this is then."

This will become apparent when it's too late. Nobody faces anything.

"People can't wait to get all in your face about how the world works never once admitting how life works trumps everything in the end."

"Suddenly, being clever isn't so clever anymore." On a hill on the distant horizon, the pale horse whinnied as the rider looked my way.


"You're going to die anyway. Why not fly?"

Steve and Morty peered over the chasm of a thousand foot cliff. To make the leap was never to return. To make matters worse, as they hesitated in the mud, they sank ever deeper. Morty smiled. Then, with a triple somersault half pike twist, he leapt. He urged Steve to do the same with a wave of his arm.

"Are you nuts? I can't make that leap!"

"No, you can!"

Morty being his usual confounding self, Steve looked behind him at the countless crosses of the self-crucified. They cried out to him in dire warning.

"Don't believe him! There's no future over there! Life is only on the cross!"

"You must stay at all costs! Leap and your whole life is wasted! No decision could be more tragic."

"The one who speaks to you is the devil! He lives only to betray! Trust no one - especially yourself!"

The voices spoke with clear and present authority, doubtless of their words. But as Steve scanned their mud-streaked faces, he saw eternal fear in their eyes, inwardly dead. But when his eyes reached the final voice he saw something else: the devil himself, crucified and smiling. He winked to Steve. "Let me lead you to salvation."

"You're the kindest person I know. You're alone and you don't have to be. You can't blame that on the Trumptard."

"Oh, don't worry about him. He's not the first to mistake reality for philosophy and philosophy for reality."

"The world is doomed - but I am saved," I declared to the room. But when I looked around, every eye was staring at me with hate.

["Once you open your door to one person, anyone can come in."]

And the reverse is true too...

He spoke in what he thought was his 'smart ass' country voice. "See that guy in the corner overs there? He-uns thinks the sky is purple! Whatcha gotta say to that, huh??" He took my silence for vindication. "Yeah, that's right! Got nothin' to say, do ya? That cuz you knows he-uns is right! Haha, I knew it!"

I could only sigh and walk away. "Why the hell do I have to live with people like that?"

"No, no, you don't understand!" he said, waving away doubts with his smug cigar. "It's different for me. I only engage in ethical corruption."

"Hey, you! Think you're a real smart ass, don't you?"

I never know how to answer that question. My oversized neighbor was storming across his yard into mine. Apparently he did not care for my new yard sign stating, "We back the fuchsia" whereas his posted sign stated, "We back the blue."

"Oh, don't get your yard on," I unhelpfully replied.

"Listen," he demanded, finally reaching my space, "you make think it's funny mocking the police but we are here to support law and order. For disrespecting those who put their lives on the line for you each and every day I oughtta rip out that sign and tear it to shreds."

"Oh, I don't think you'll do that." I didn't really feel like explaining I wasn't mocking the police, only his subservient devotion. Regardless, he felt emboldened by my reply.

He hitched up his britches. "Oh, yeah? What makes you so sure of that!"

"Because I'll call the police..."

"Alright, jackass, laugh now - laugh all you want. But just you wait! Distant karma's gonna get you!"

The Man was on a rant. "The more I know the less I like it! So the answer must be..."

"To know less!"

UnReAliTy wins the day. "I keep having to pretend the meaningless is meaningful and the meaningful is meaningless."

After her horrified sight of me: "There's not much left of me. I was telling you... I hope one of us can forgive me."

Foxed News: "It's just terrible what those people are saying about those who do evil." We Report, You Deride.

The killer spoke on a day of his wreck-oning. "Staring at the chalk outline of our friendship, I'm wounded by the hugs we no longer share."

"She said I was caged by my own self-pity. So I did nothing."

"Literalism is just another way of avoiding the truth."

"Fiddlesticks and deviltry! I do NOT have to believe in anyone's idea of 'truth'. It only has to be true in my head."

Then he walked directly off a thousand foot cliff, the last of his species.

They looked back at me, eyes blinking in stunned silence. Then: "But we have to believe that - otherwise the whole world is a lie."

["Fairfax and Carter! Fairfax and Carter. They run the whole city."]

 "Our only connection was the writing. She didn't want to be friends."

"How serious was she about writing, then?"

"I was too afraid to find out. I just assumed she was doing it as a lark like anyone who isn't a professional and at some point I'd lose all connection. I lived in constant fear."

"You got your blood money request. You think I don't know what's going on but I do. All you fuckers are going down. Distant karma's going to get you! You think your thieving hands are safe but they are not. You'll pay! You'll pay in the worst ways possible, you bastards!!!"

After he stormed off someone asked, "What the hell happened to him?"

"They shorted him a McNugget."

"Unfortunately, given the state of the world today, it's the people unable to speak that have the stories to tell."

"The opposite of being useful is being used. Not wanting to be used is the opposite of being lazy."

"Yeah, I could do that - I just don't think I could fake that much interest."

"The Love you take is equal to the love you fake."

"The greatest trick the devil ever pulled was making liars think they're smart."

"People are angrier today than they were yesterday. Tomorrow, they'll be angrier still. There's a reason for that."

Redneck Rick stomped his foot and started to cry. "You gotta stop playin' that song. It's gay!" Then he hiked up his hula skirt and stormed off.

"There's lots of people in Hell with bridges and buildings and highways and statues named after them."

"Look, man, this is a serious story. I can't believe you're not interested in fixing it."

"I didn't say I wasn't interested in it. I just haven't figured out how to interject myself as the hero yet."

"Oh, OK, Elon."

"Hey...pssst...come over here. I want to smell your rot."

"Fuck off, asshole. Goddam, Jesus, I hate living on this planet."

Drinking is a point of pride with her. "Don't tell me you're tipsy again..."

"Noo - no...you must have me confusable with some one else's."

["Death is whimsical today."]
 
"Sez hear theirs mor an' mor corrupshun goin' on every day!"

"Aw, nobody gives a shit about that!"

"Dem peeples needs to bee put in jails!"

"Just don't get it, do ya? No one's going to do anything about it because we get more and more tired every day not facing that capitalism is corruption."

"I'm sorry, I don't see how Trump can be attacking Robert Mueller when Mueller even has a Purple Heart."

"That's nothing! If Trump had been in combat he'd have two or three Purple hearts - maybe more!"

"But Trump could have served. He just kept making up some excuse about bone spurs."

"He wanted to serve! The doctors wouldn't let him. They were holding him back no matter how hard he fought. He was bitter!"

"Oh, there's no way The Donald would ever let himself get wounded."

"Right! Getting wounded is for losers!"

"But you just said he'd have multiple Purple Hearts from getting wounded."

"There you go again, just like the lying media, using facts and logic to twist everything I say. Fucking bitch!"

"Always looking for love, aren't ya, Harry?"
"Yup - only surefire way of avoiding it."

"If you don't read the newspaper, you're uninformed. If you do read the newspaper, you're misinformed. If you read your heart you know the truth - and who's lying and who's not."

"Look, soldier, you don't have to tell me about suicide. I can't reverse any of the bad things I've done, either. Murder comes in many forms and after you've done it, you're horrified with yourself. You can't live with what you've become, you're constantly lying which is like being put in solitary confinement, and you can't imagine how anyone can ever love you. Even God can't stop the nightmares. So you see only one way out."

"Nothing I say, nothing I do, can bring those people back to life."

"I understand - completely. But here's the thing: if you want to die, then die. But you have to own it first. You have to tell the world those people died for no reason, you killed for no reason, and you were ordered to kill for no reason. You can't attach any meaning to it or any hope of meaning to it whatsoever."

"I can't do that..."

"And you have to tell mothers and fathers that their sons and daughters died not for their country, but for no reason. That's how you win, that's how you stop the waste, by coming clean."

["Just cuz you say it with conviction it don't mean shit to me!"]

"I don't want to hear your goddam commie shit, Harry. Say what you will, but Mankind is always going to be driven by the profit motive. That just human nature and not a damn thing you can do about it."

"I quite agree."

"Bullshit! All that 'greater good' crap is for the birds and will never happen ever."

"I never said the profit motive is going away. I'm only saying we're going to redefine the meaning of 'profit' - or rather, Nature will for us if we do not."

"Hey, lady, are you for real? Are you really a Trump supporter??"
"Yes. Not only that, I'm an absolute Trump supporter!"
"Awesome! Does that mean I get to grab your pussy?"

"I hear people questioning decisions like why are we enhancing the deficit to unsustainable levels? On the surface it doesn't seem rational but those who make (and agree and accept) those decisions do so because they believe there's no end game. It's all "Get and grab before it's gone". They are nihilists. They don't dare admit that, of course. They are too afraid everyone might wake up and the free ride will be over (while accusing everyone else of wanting a free ride!)."

He said right and wrong is only determined by what you can get away with. A true living monster.

"Life is what you make it!" scoffed the Republican woman to Jesus on the cross.

["But I am upset, Benjamin. Extremely upset."]

 "Oh, him. Yes, he knows everything - he does nothing."

"What happened? Simple. She was hopelessly cool. I was hopelessly not."

"Fuck your god of compromising, holding yourself up with 'holier than thou' bullshit! "Oh, I'm a moderate, I'm reasonable, not like those crazy radicals untethered to reality." One extremist says kill all the Jews and another says kill none and you look to compromise? Now THAT'S fucking radical! Quit demonizing those who can think. It won't save you and makes life worse for everyone else, Mr. Obama."

I don't want to say he's bitter but he spent five hours last weekend driving to his parent's grave just to spit on it.

"it's hard to be sumthin' when you're nothin..."
"...and it's hard to be nothin' when you're sumthin'"

He done read him some books! He so smart! Him smart guy now!

"Look, I'm clean. I got a regular job, regular life, don't do anything wrong. You guys want to make me do something wrong then - "

"See here!"

"Wait, wait - let me finish. you're going to want to hear this. I got nothin' in my life, nothin' to lose at all. You want to fuck me, that's just fine. But that will be the end of you, you ethnic motherfucker. Cop or no cop, that's how it goes down. So you can sit there and laugh all you want but you got a choice just like everyone: you can protect your life or you can protect your bullshit."

"Yeah, I saw that article, all 20,000 words of it, wondering why people aren't boinking like they used to, giving 85 different fucking reasons, all of them true and all of them not true. Sex is about vulnerability. The world is getting harder every day. People  feel less safe, that's all there is to it."

["News said it's raining in New York."]

"Let me see that!" she said grabbing the fortune cookie from my hand. "That's what I thought. It says 'Give love, get love', not 'Give love, get ignored'."

"I tried life with a man and that didn't work. I tried life with no man and that's no picnic, either. So you tell me what I'm supposed to do."

"Hey, sister, you're lyin' like no tomorrow. You were with the *wrong* man and it didn't work. Why you leavin' that part out?"

Sorry, but I cannot help you. I'm in no position to do that. I can't help you, you can't help me, she can't help him, he can't help her, nobody can help nobody! That's just the way it is and it can't be no other way. Otherwise, we'd all have to learn live together and you know that's not gonna happen.

Hate first. Make up a reason for it later. (facts need not apply)

There's a place for everyone in the universe. There's not a place for everyone in the world. That's why the world has no future.

I'm dying right before their eyes, but no one says a word.

Don't worry. I don't expect anyone, anywhere, anyhow not named Jesus to believe, understand or accept a single word I say.




At some point there's going to be nothing left to say: no point. We'll just be helplessly watching what's been set in motion to play out. Beware that day.

Haiku H2O

I fall from life's tree,

Float in precarious doom,

Dreams underwater.

Holocaust 2.0 Is Confirmed

Trust me, I know you don't see it. You don't know and you don't want to know. You just want to keep your eyes closed (except for the latest Kardashian thong) and hope for the best, and anyone or anything that forces your eyes open is simply labeled "troublemaking". When you read in a history book how disaster came upon a country and wonder how and why that happened, it's as simple as that. Let someone else run your life then you're pretty much forced to lie to yourself that the person you let take over is a good person. Problem is, a truly good person has no interest in running your life.

If you're in that position, you see why fear sells so very well.

The one good thing about the Trumptard monster being put in charge is that it finally brought the evil out into the open. There's no pretense of caring, just pure savagery and bestiality. That sets up a referendum on who we are as a country. And we failed that test. Yes, there was a measure of pushback but nothing even remotely close to what was required. Evil took a giant leap forward in 2016 but only a small step back, which makes for a large net gain.

Most people miss the overall. They myopically speak about how the
political pendulum swings back and forth in a "self-correcting manner"
while refusing to admit that's not relevant to the final direction.

Think you will be spared if you suck up to the monsters? Think again, fool! They love betraying your type the most. Sure, you'll be laughing and giggling as you watch migrant children officially and legally kidnapped and taken away for life. Then your turn comes and you act all surprised and blah, blah, blah. You people can't die quick enough to suit me. Nature needs to get on the stick.

I heard my man Ed Wallace say on the radio a while back that most people are moral and honest. Which in effect says, "The world is the way it is today because it's full of moral people." What a bunch of horseshit! I'm sure he'd rationalize it by saying a few bad apples are ruining it for everyone but no one's being misled who doesn't want to be. We all have ways of lying to ourselves to create some sort of hope for the future despite what our eyes are telling us. But I think Ed needs to listen to the guy who said, "By their fruits ye shall know them." That's the bottom line and as a businessman he should face that.

But don't worry, folks, I'll be your friend and lead you to your ruin with a smile and an entertaining story, as that's all you seek. Just a few laughs before heading off the cliff! After all, there's no other way, is there?

----------------------------------------------------------------------------

When you hear of wars and rumors of wars, do not be alarmed. These things must happen, but the end is still to come. Nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. There will be earthquakes in various places, as well as famines. These are the beginning of birth pains. So be on your guard. You will be handed over to the councils and beaten in the synagogues. On account of me you will stand before governors and kings as witnesses to them...Everyone will hate you because of me, but the ones who stand firm to the end will save themselves.

Some people say things because they think they are supposed to. Some people say things because they see it for themselves. The man with his mind closed cannot tell the difference - but he will end up in the refuse bin of history, as that was his choice.

Goupil Papers: First Shot Is The Best

[Editor's note: The following is translated from French, Goupil's native language. It is rare when he wrote of his craft but it's clear from this writing he took a certain pride in it and perhaps used his native language in order to be more precise. We can also only speculate as to his motive, but in his final days one sees a pattern of reflection and a search for meaning in a meaningless life; a desire to come clean.]

Many people tell you very angrily to make this your life.
None of them have this for a life, though.

You can ask what is an assassin's enemy. People will give many answers, mainly saying "getting caught". But that is only one of many logistics. No, the true enemy is Uncertainty. In the killing game, whomever has the most certainty wins. This I found out early on, before I became a true professional. It was a dirty hit job before I even left France. A guy needs another guy killed. I'm for hire. I didn't even ask if killing was really necessary. I just knew I had no place in this world.

Every assassin is different. Some scare me. One guy even had a wife and kids like he held down a regular job. He lasted for decades before getting caught. But he was bound to get caught wanting to keep one foot in life and one foot in the world. You have to choose. I guess, in the end, life is about choosing how you die. God blesses very few to live a life here. I never saw myself as one of those. God help me if I was wrong. Then I killed for no reason.

Every professional needs an edge. My edge was in finding a reason to kill my target - even if I had to lie to myself. I had to keep the illusion I was clean. It's true I often felt stupid doing that, but it's how I managed to get by until the one day I could get out. I always knew I was "on the clock" as the Americans say. This killing thing wears on you. Those who wouldn't face that always got caught or killed. That's because if you keep killing you start wanting to get killed yourself.

But first you must face the devil that is Uncertainty. What am I doing? How should I do it? Why should I do it? When should I do it? Everyone deals with this differently. Don't face this devil and you'll be sloppy and short-lived. Bottom life is you have to think it all the way through. (Though over-thinking is another way of not facing the devil). I know these things because, like everyone, I tried not facing the devil. So stupid.

"This is too easy." I still remember thinking that that night in that stinky back alley where I had perfect line of sight on my target lighting a cigarette. "It has to be more complicated than this." So I hesitated. And because of that, it really did get more complicated. Some guy steps out the door and stands next to him, lighting up his own cigarette. "Shit!" I realize I have two choices: I can quit or pay for my mistake and carry on. This was a Big Moment in my life, a turning point.

I fought through my mistake - I fought myself - and forced myself to wait for his next cigarette break. "If he comes out alone, take the shot. All anyone will find is a dead body, no chance of hearing the shot or seeing a muzzle flash. Just make sure your getaway is clear and you're golden." I was lucky to get the second chance when I look back. But the waiting was agony, a million thoughts running through my mind. I knew if I left that night I'd never come back to killing. I did not do what I wanted to do.

A man in this professions once said, "All that matters in the world is money." And that is very true. I figure no matter what I do for money it's something I don't want to do. I cannot be a waiter in a restaurant or closed in office worker or any other of these working creatures I see out there. Once you know how to face the Uncertainty devil, you start this journey where you feel superior to the world and tell yourself you're doing what everyone else is doing but then you hear laughter in the park and feel like the biggest loser in the world.

Innocence. Carefree. Honesty. I don't know these words, I lost them. I broke my own heart. This man who knows say I'm the most intelligent assassin he ever met. He does know what intelligent means. My name is Mystery.