"Render therefore unto Caesar the things which are Caesar's; and unto God the things that are God's."

These are words spoken by Jesus in Matthew 22:21 about the relationship between God and earthly authority. The common interpretation is "pay your taxes". My interpretation is "divest yourself of that which renders you servile to men". Or as stated in Matthew 6:24 "No one can serve two masters. Either you will hate the one and love the other, or you will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and money."

Why I bring this up is because of this news story where Netflix has recently decided to crackdown on password sharing as well as possibly adding commercials. I find it hilarious because I have a DVD player but no Netflix account. That means no commercials, no accounts or passwords, no monthly payments, no movies pulled arbitrarily. There is no indentured servitude.

Coming soon to Netflix

This is only a small part of my "rebellion" against technological modernization. I try to avoid subscription services when at all possible. It was part of the reason I chose to change my diet and lose weight rather than go on Accutane. It's why I refuse to get a smartphone or a new car. It's part of the reason I refuse all drug use. It's why I've become obsessed with gardening and growing my own food. It's all tied in together.

Freedom from technological modernity

You can serve tech corporations or you can serve yourself and, by extension, God. Being free from technological slavery is a wonderful feeling.

Bonus Photo(s) of the Week: Mandates for thee, not for me.

    That seems to be the philosophy of California governor Gavin Newsom, San Francisco mayor London Breed, and Los Angeles mayor Eric Garcetti. All three have been more than happy to institute lockdowns and mask mandates and all three have been more than happy to routinely violate them. Newsom ignored his own orders in order to vacation in Mexico for Thanksgiving, a full year after ignoring his own orders in order to attend a party at the French Laundry restaurant. Meanwhile the day after Newsom's party, mayor London Breed attended her own party at that same restaurant. Like Newsom, a full year after attending a party at the French Laundry, she was caught clubbing mask-less in defiance of her own mandate. Garcetti does not seem to be as flippant as Newsom or Breed.

    Now our intrepid trio have all been caught, once again, violating their own masking orders while attending the NFC Championship game between the Los Angeles Rams and the San Francisco 49ers. Will they be held accountable? Time will tell.

Security Theater

     I'll cut to the chase; on Friday, October 22nd we were notified at work that we would have to get fully vaccinated for Covid by February 15, 2022 or be put on unpaid leave until March 17, 2022 at which point we would be fired. We are allowed to seek medical or religious exemptions but there is no chance of that happening in a Godless country like the United States. Frankly I think the entire thing is horseshit.

    Iowa never locked down. In the event it did my employer got themselves labeled as an "essential" company. Did I get hazard pay? No. Did I get additional sick leave? No. What I got instead was news in January that my department was being relocated to another state. This, obviously, pissed a bunch of people off and they all quit. When that finally caught up to us by mid-April we were put on permanent overtime varying between 48 and 57 hours per week. We've also been masked since May 11, 2020. I have not worn a mask anywhere outside of work since at least June of this year. And now they're telling us that if we are not fully vaccinated after two goddamned years of this shit we'll be fired.

    It's not all bad though. I've been thinking about looking for a new job recently, preferably one with minimal overtime or least a job I enjoy so the OT is bearable. I guess what they say is true, "When God closes a door, He opens a window".

The Role of Monarchy as a Stabilizing Force

    On August 15, 2021 the nation of Afghanistan fell to Taliban forces unopposed, nearly twenty years after being deposed in the wake of the 9/11 attacks. Modern Afghanistan's problems can be traced back to the 1973 coup d'état that saw Mohammed Daoud Khan overthrow his cousin King Mohammed Zahir Shah and the Kingdom of Afghanistan. In five short years Khan himself would be overthrown and killed during the communist Saur Revolution. The following year communist Afghanistan, along with the Soviet Union, would find themselves embroiled in a nine-ear long war against rural, Islamist insurgents that saw the Soviets withdraw by 1989 and the communist Afghan government collapse in 1992. After a civil war throughout the 1990's the Taliban established themselves as the new government before being overthrown by U.S. forces in 2001.

American helicopter evacuating embassy personnel in August 2021

    From the Cromwellian atrocities in Ireland during the Commonwealth period to the Reign of Terror in 1790's France. From the Russian Civil War and the Red Terror of the Soviet Union to the Weimar Republic and Nazi Germany. And finally the fall of the Afghan monarchy was the beginning of 50 years of unending chaos and violence for the country. It's clear that the replacement of monarchy with the inherent instability of republicanism leads to violence and political extremism. I leave you with this quote by Winston Churchill:

"This war would never have come unless, under American and modernizing pressure, we had driven the Habsburgs out of Austria and Hungary and the Hohenzollerns out of Germany. By making these vacuums we gave the opening for the Hitlerite monster to crawl out of its sewer on to the vacant thrones."

Reject republicanism, return to monarchy.