BevoAbyss

Nice pic. Cool that you follow the Horns while hitchhiking. The wonders of mobile media.

Thanks for the insult, yet again. Looks like my atheism/existentialism is still bothering you. I normally don't reply to insults, but will this one time. After this, it is adios, JJ. ------- It should be easy to see how honoring one's "oath" can be bent, twisted, and weaponized via propaganda/social media to serve MAGA-Trump-GQP agenda and "Save America" and "Do God's Will" (etc etc) after a close, contentious election. That's happened throughout fascist-communist-authoritarian history. Hell, the current Supreme Court is violating oaths, logic, reason, precdent, etc. Alito and Dobbs showed us that. Hunt bought Thomas. Oaths? Lulz. Facts and reality do not matter in such regimes and eras, except when bent to serve political goals of domination, control, power, etc. Orwell showed how that would work in 1984. It's called "doublethink" and it permeates 21st century American consciousness. I'm also wondering; did all those virtuous, patriotic, freedom loving soldiers think they were honoring their "oath" when they were waterboarding prisoners, deploying torture methods in the Middle East, violating the Geneva Convention, following the orders of Bush-Cheney-Rumsfeld (all three war criminals) to invade and bomb Iraq based on propaganda of "weapons of mass destruction." The majority of Americans favored using torture, like 55-60%. What about the "oath" those moments? Oaths were weaponized in service to patriotism, religion, and political barbarism. And thus the oaths were worthless.

Agree, this is quite possible. It is utterly naive and dangerous to think the military is immune to -- or outside of -- the dominant beliefs ideologies in our culture. I bet there are tons of "patriotic" soldiers who are MAGA-GQP, wouldn't surprise me if military MAGA is close to the percent of the population supporting Trump: about 45%. If the soldiers have a smart phone and internet connection, they can slide down into the Q rabbit hole and right into fascist Team USA. And be roused to violence by Trump, Bannon, and their fascist lackies. That's a powder keg waiting to explode in the days after a contentious, close election.

Nope. With all due respect. Not even close. MAGA-GQP fascism/theocracy has been building for decades, long before Trump arrived on the scene. From Reagan-Falwell >>> to Perot-United We Stand >>> Bush-Cheney-Rumsfeld war criminals >>> to Tea Party >>> Trump-MAGA-GQP. Republicans have been moving into fascism/theocracy since Reagan era. That's a fact. And the fascism/theocracy will continue after Trump is gone. Count on it.

I like Sark. I want him to win titles. Sark's overall coaching record at UT is 22-13 (35 games). Texas has blown (or almost blown) leads of 2-3 scores in 7 games. That's 20% of all games Sark coached across three years. Sark has a 3-4 record in these games. Granted, Sark has won the last three games, barely, all this year. But, is blowing such leads sustainable while trying to win titles? Especially in the SEC? 2021 OU -- Led 41-23 with 3:31 left in 3Q -- Outscored 32-7 to close out game -- Lost game 55-48 2021 Okie State -- Led 24-13 with 11:43 in 3Q -- Outscored 19-0 to close out game -- Lost game 32-24 If Sark closes out these two games, UT is 7-5 for season, not 5-7. 2022 Tech -- Led 31-17 with 4:27 left in 3Q -- Outscored 20-3 to close out game -- Lost game 37-34 2022 Okie State -- Led 34-24 with 2:10 left in 3Q -- Outscored 17-0 to close out game -- Lost game 41-34 If Sark closes out these two games, UT finishes 10-3, not 8-5 2023 Houston -- Led 21-0 with 12:49 left in 1Q -- Outscored 24-10 to close out game -- Hung on for 31-24 win (Adios Cougar High!) 2023 K-State -- Led 27-7 in final seconds of 3Q -- Outscored 23-6 to close out game -- Won 33-30 in OT. (Thanks Klieman!) 2023 TCU -- Led 26-6 heading into 4Q -- Outscored 20-3 to close out game -- Hung on to win 29-26 (Thanks Sark for taking the 3 points due to illegal procedure on UT guy) It's great that Sark and UT hung on to win these three games! But, Texas has been outscored 155-29 to close out these "blown lead" games -- Surely, someone (CDC?) at UT can see this pattern and discuss it with Sark. Friends, we should all enjoy the 9-1 record. But, unless Sark figures out how to not blow leads, 2023 might be the only time Sark is 9-1.

This is SarkWorld. Blowing leads for three years.

Hey dudes, toss out all ad hominems you want about atheists, keep up with evasions and apologia. Seen it for decades, especially in the free speech area (next to the Union Bldg) at UT in the 1980s and 1990s. All across America, too. But, you have no idea about me, how I got my atheist beliefs, or how I talk in public to anyone, or anything else. You see, I was lucky, just damn lucky. Raised in a middle class secular household in Texas that placed a premium on education, honesty, and hard work to get ahead. And a trust in relying on evidence and logic to make a point or have position on something. And a trust in basic science, medical and otherwise. Oh sure, my mom (grew up on a farm) believed in the Bible, but never went to church because she thought preachers were scammers and con men. My dad was an agnostic, served in the Navy in Korean War, saw the lunacy of war, went to UT on the GI Bill and never set foot in a church. So, I escaped all the religious brainwashing that happens to the youth of Texas and America and the world. Damn lucky, I was. Just pure luck. -- On the other hand, my cousins were brainwashed by my mom's highly religious brothers and sisters and those cousins are all MAGA-GQP, as far as I know. I avoid them. I've been atheist for 40+ years, at least my first years of college. Since I started grasping all the BS hypocrisies in religion and in reading existentialist writings, especially Sartre. Plus, Carl Sagan and many other scientists and many philosophers. Took philosophy courses at UT while getting my PhD in something else. Not a TED Talk atheist. Authored numerous books and articles, so I don't feel the need to spout off about atheism at the cocktail parties. Last time I looked, America was packed with churches -- tiny churches in strip malls to suburban megachurches to urban cathedrals. Looks more like the Sky Daddy fans can't stop talking about their beliefs ... and ramming them down everyone's throats and inside women's bodies. As for posting about atheism in Surly, it's because America is descending into a violent fascist theocracy, led by Texas and Abbott, the most disgraceful UT alum I know of. A freaking fascist and theocrat making women with unwanted pregnancies fear for their lives. And for some deep-seated reason, I still care about UT and its alums. I guess because my did did, too. That's probably why i post here. Totally futile gestures, for sure.

Spot on. Image 1: Texas light pollution 2012. Image 2:Texas light pollution 2022. The Big Bend National Park is home to the last realm of Texas darkness being erased. The McDonald Observatory would be rendered useless for optical telescopes, unless the Greater Big Bend International Dark Sky Reserve can reign it in. (See my post on previous page.) -- Note huge light pollution from the fracking fields north of the Big Bend and west of Odessa Midland. We are literally erasing the night sky from human consciousness. It's madness driven by consumerism and the narcissistic belief that we humans, individually and collectively, are the center of all value, meaning, and purpose on Planet Earth and the entire freaking universe. But hey, we got plenty of juice for selfies at ACL and SXSW.

Religion is entirely to blame. Completely. Utterly. 100%. Why? 1) It teaches people to believe in evidence-free, non-existent Sky Daddies. -- Genesis 1, Verse 1 is the starting point for the destruction of reason, logic, rationality, evidence, general cognitive sanity, etc. -- FYI: Sartre destroyed all such fallacies in Being and Nothingness, as have many others in various works. 2) Genesis 1, Verse 1 and religion is the ground for all conspiracy theory, with the unseen Creator (the good guy) supposedly running the show on Planet Earth, but in a deadly battle with the unseen Devil (the evil dude) and his machinations. Unseen forces controlling the world against the supposed "good guys," that's conspiracy theory in a nutshell. 3) It teaches people to believe that agrarian era farmers and current era preachers/ministers (from the two-bit Bible school or high brow Ivy League tower) know more about the universe and human origins than: -- the hundreds thousands of scientists who have confirmed Darwin's evolution. It ain't a theory. It's true. -- the medical scientists who cure diseases that once wiped out millions, drawing from that very evolutionary biology the religious people deny. -- the scientists who now know that all human bodies and brains are made of the most common elements of the cosmos, namely oxygen, carbon, hydrogen, nitrogen, and various trace elements. And we humans all share 99.5% of the same DNA. We are one single, evolutionary species, made of the elements from which our solar system evolved. There are no privileged peoples. We are all starstuff. -- NASA and the world's astronomers who know that the observable universe contains 2 trillion galaxies, 3 sextillion stars, trillions of black holes, untold numbers of planets and lifeforms, in an expanding universe stretching across 100 billion light years. Yeah, we are tiny little specks, though we're pretty good with science/technology/curiosity to figure all this out. -- And we're supposed to believe Mr. Sky Daddy is running the show for every atom in the NASA-scientific universe? Laughable. -- Just imagine, in this universe of two trillion galaxies, Sky Daddy loves me and has an special divine plan so I can live forever, perhaps the most narcissistic belief ever made. Yeah, religion are narcissistic cults. Oh, sure, you can cherry pick a few phrases ("Jesus said ...") from the Bible ignore all the other violence and idiocy in the verses, myths, and superstitions. But it is all nonsense... and thus dangerous. 4) All of the above is why Sky Daddy (aka Mr. Good Guy) does absolutely nothing to prevent war, disease, famine, destruction, etc. Oh, but "He works in strange ways." Lulz. TLDR Bottom line, religion teaches people to believe in crap that is utterly false. Religion does violence to facts, reason, and logic. No wonder religion ends up being so violent across the millennia.

Nope. They are not fake. What is fact is that Christianity (and almost all world religions) has never been about "peace and love" for everyone. Christianity and its non-existent Sky Daddy have brainwashed 250-300 million Americans (and so many otherwise smart posters on this site). Christians are about peace only after they have colonized, conquered, and converted. Then some temporary "peace." It's always the three C's. Colonize, conquer, convert. Just ask the native and indigenous peoples across North, Central and South America about how peaceful the Christians were. It was a freaking genocide committed by the God worshipping Euro Christians across three continents, with the support of the US government and many farmers, miners, and businesses ready to size the land. And their Sky Daddy did nothing to stop it. What we are seeing with MAGA-Christians in America is the historical norm, not the exception. Christian violence is coming to America again. What else is the Dobbs opinion about other than imposing medical violence against women? What else was January 6 about? What else are all those AR-15s for?

Sorry, no applause. Nope, None, Nada. Where were Liz Cheney and Lincoln Project people when: -- W was committing post-9/11 war crimes on an epic scale in Afghanistan and Iraq? When W was approving CIA/Pentagon torture regimes? All in clear violation of Geneva Convention. W is a flat-out war criminal. -- When W was interjecting evangelicalism into government with his "faith based" initiatives? All in clear violation of the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment (no splitting legal hairs, it is what it is, a violation of separation of church-state), thus opening for MAGA theocratic goals. Sorry, the Republican Party has been moving in ONE DIRECTION for four decades since Reagan and Falwell took over >>>> American fascism and theocracy, ruled by the gun-worshipping, religious lunacy, anti-science, idiot world of MAGA-GQP.

Yep. The MAGA-GQP goal is a fascist theocracy. 40-45% of Americans want this. MAGA-GQP are not mere "extremists," they are not "hard right," they are not "ultra conservative." They are fascists and theocrats, who will trample asunder facts, evidence, logic, reason, science, medicine, freedoms, and human rights to impose a violent theocracy and terror state. It should be obvious to anyone paying attention (since Reagan), but far too many Dems and almost all media are: 1) in willful denial because "it can't happen here" exceptionalism, precisely as is happening right before our eyes. 2) brainwashed by religion into believing the Bible is The Truth and the foundation for the Constitution/Bill of Rights. 3) simply naive or just don't give a shit because they have other stuff to worry about, such as keeping job, paying bills, raising family, watching Sark blow 2nd half leads time and again...

Don't forget, Notre Dame also lost! Texas winning and OU, ND, and aggy losing in single day is awesome.

I get your take. But, I saw Mackovic era. Sark is Mackovic 2.0. He is Sarkovic!

In UT football history, few plays more glorious than Ricky breaking Dorsett's record with a 60-yard TD, to clinch the Heisman, in DKR ... vs. the Texas F*cking Aggies. Absolute greatness!

You left out the fascists, racists, theocrats, Q-believers, climate deniers, anti-science lunatics, and insurrectionist apologists. And leaving those groups out is the existential problem facing America: the inability or unwillingness to identify and call out the all-too-real threat those groups pose to democracy, human rights, the planetary ecology, and a generally sane world.

All those AK-47 killing machines are not to protect liberty and personal security ... but to enforce the fascist-theocratic tyranny of MAGA-GQP when they start overthrowing elections. And it's coming, sooner or later.

Gaetz depicted as an "anarchist" and the GOP going off a cliff -- perfect examples of how the media are ignorant or willfully blind about the MAGA ruled GQP. As of today, MAGA-GQP has their man as the speaker of the house, for Johnson is an election-denying, Bible-thumping, Fascist Theocrat. Same with the New York Times today calling Johnson a "hard-right conservative," a term that fits Reagan circa 1980s. Near complete denialism among 98% of the media. Centuries of Christianity has brainwashed the majority of Americans.

As long as MAGA is labeled as "far right crazies," then they will be misunderstood and continue to gain power. The long-term goal since the Reagan-Falwell merger has always been a Fascist Theocracy. Always! And implementing that requires controlling levers of power, which enables passing regressive laws, overturning elections, and backing it with violence. There is no "disarray." The long-term plan is moving forward. This country is in deep trouble and 40 years of conservatives, Christians, naive Democrats, and willfully blind media have enabled it.

When I was in grad school at UT in early 1990s, Alex Jones was fringe lunatic on a "community access" channel on local Austin TV, an ultra low-budget set-up with a handful of cult viewers. The local Marxists also had a show. I used to see him around UT and the Drag on occasion, looking for anyone to listen to his BS. Then something called the "internet" arrived and Jones was able to find a national and global audience for his unhinged conspiracy theories, InfoWars, etc. Eventually having Trump as a guest on his radio program, streamed online, if I recall. That, 25-30 years later, Alex F*cking Jones is advising Trump and leading a violent insurrection to overthrow democracy just shows how utterly deranged are a huge portion of Americans, 35-45%. A collapse of epic proportion as our basic education systems are being overwhelmed by the insanity of online conspiracy theories, anti-science BS, religious fanaticism, and cult worshipping. We're in big trouble!

These believers are the core of MAGA, the red hat idiots that worship the Orange Idiot and got him elected in 2016 (year of the survey). Paranoia and conspiracy beliefs are at the heart of fascism and all authoritarian ideologies, including theocratic believers, as history has shown. This is no longer fringe dudes at the library and in Dealey Plaza with flyers about JFK assassination. This is unhinged, mass madness.

The NASA/Deep State Fake Solar Eclipse Hoax will be on QAnon by the end of the day, if not already there. Q: Why does the total eclipse only last 4 minutes? A: Because NASA was afraid it would get caught if the fakery lasted longer. After all, the satellites blocking the sun with circular canopies can only do it so long...

Looks like the Christian fascist intellectuals are making inroads at UT, under the guise of free markets and free speech.

Abbott's border policies (and others) are exactly what 21st century fascism looks like. Thus, Abbott is a fascist. And Abbott rolls around on the UT football sidelines, hanging with Longhorn celebs. What a moral disgrace.

Sark, the football artiste, will be here 5-7 years from now. That's because he will recruit well and win enough (with plenty of cool well-designed plays, risky plays, and beautiful bombs to overcome the ugly WTF calls) to keep UT fans happy. After all, UT fans are desperate to get out of the wilderness, especially after the buffoonery of Strong and Herman. Wasn't that idiotic sledgehammer video in year 1 about all we needed to see from Tom? Talk about WTF bad aesthetic warnings! I hope Sark wins titles, but it is unlikely as CTJ's original post made clear. The best hope for UT fans is that Sark becomes Mack ... not Mackovic.