Memorial Day 2026: Wars & Luxuries

From my apartment, safe from bombs and bullets, I'm able to disapprove of America's current military involvement against Iran. But the men and women who volunteer for service in the United States Armed Forces don't have such luxuries - neither the luxury of safety, nor the luxury of opting out of a conflict that doesn't align with their personal views, and maybe fighting in a later one that does. 

It would be ridiculous to think the soldiers who serve in America's wars have no opinions or feelings about the merits of these operations, positive or negative. This is one of the things that makes the job they've taken so difficult: they carry out their duties regardless of their own sociopolitical stances on the who, what, where and how - and especially the why - of any given mission.

They don't have the luxury I do, but protecting my luxury was among the things they vowed to do when they enlisted in the US military. Whether the current operation against Iran is of any consequence to my freedom is up to you and I to debate - which is, again, a luxury you and I have that the soldiers who fight these wars don't.

This Memorial Day it seems proper to list - and remember - the names of the thirteen known casualties of this current conflict. May they rest in peace. Their duty is done. Our duty now - we who debate and decide if it was all raving madness or righteous might - is to remember them, to never let their memory be obscured by battles of words.

Capt. Cody A. Khork, 35

Sgt. 1st Class Noah L. Tietjens, 42 

Sgt. 1st Class Nicole M. Amor, 39

Sgt. Declan J. Coady, 20

Maj. Jeffrey O'Brien, 45

Chief Warrant Officer Robert M. Marzan, 54

Sgt. Benjamin N. Pennington, 26

Maj. John A. Klinner, 33

Capt. Ariana G. Savino, 31

Tech. Sgt. Ashley B. Pruitt, 34

Capt. Seth R. Koval, 38

Capt. Curtis J. Angst, 30

Tech. Sgt. Tyler H. Simmons, 28

Photo by Elizabeth Fraser

Israel & End-Time Prophecy: A Word of Caution

There's a tendency among Christians of a certain demographic to fall into a state of panic or joyous delirium (or a mixture of the two) every time a major conflict erupts in the Middle East - which, by the way, is all the time - especially one concerning Israel - which, by the way, is all the time. Many believers have a knee-jerk reaction to any developments in this area of the world, citing them as a sign of the beginning of the end-times and the Second Coming of Jesus. 

A word of caution: if you are a Christian, no matter what you believe concerning eschatology, or the role, if any, Israel as a nation will play in the end of days, one thing you must remember: God will never require you to approve of wrongdoing. This includes unprovoked attacks on other countries, the bombing or degrading of civilians and children, or the misuse and exploitation of the faith by political leaders of any country, be they Israeli or American, to justify - and seemingly be drunk on - going to war. 

There are many different views of the end-times within Christianity. Those that involve some role played by, or in, the Biblical holy land must keep in mind that prophecy does not work thusly: Christians have to do something, to take some action - be it politically, militarily or otherwise - to precipitate Jesus' return, or else He won't come back. This is not prophecy, but a strange attempt to force the return of Christ according to our own schedule.

In the meantime, until the heavens roll away like a scroll and Jesus does indeed return, another exhortation to my fellow believers - opposing Benjamin Netanyahu doesn't make you a bad Christian. The meaning of Genesis 12:3 is not "implicitly support the modern-day nation state of Israel." In the days recorded in Scripture, God's prophets fervently rebuked Israel's leaders for their wrongs. Support of a specific political power is not obedience to God: it's an idol. 

You're not disobeying Him by not sharing an I Stand With Israel post.

Until the end does come, focus on showing kindness, mercy, love, and sacrifice to those around you, to show them the love of our Savior.

Thoughts, re: ICE / The Shootings of Alex Pretti & Renee Good

1. If you can be shot dead for lawfully carrying a holstered gun, you do not have "the right to bear arms."

2. Kyle Rittenhouse, a civilian, crossed state lines with a semi-automatic rifle and shot three people during a bout of civil unrest, and was hailed as a hero by the far-right. He even got to meet Donald Trump.

3. If an agency is recruiting on Facebook, using a still of Mel Gibson in "The Patriot" (no, really), and those agents aren't required to have even half the training of actual police, it shouldn't be a surprise when they fire panicky bullets at civilians. (It shouldn't be a surprise, but it should always be an outrage.) "We've lowered our standards." -John Sandweg, former director of ICE 

4. I'm ashamed of myself for not speaking out this vehemently until white people were being killed. I should have wrote or said more when the immigration crackdown eliminated due process, something which in itself is a galling injustice. Rest in peace, Keith Porter, Parady La, Heber Sanchaz Dominguez, Victor Manuel Diaz, Luis Beltran Yanez-Cruz, Luis Gustavo Nunez Caceres, and Geraldo Lunas Campos. Come home - to America - soon, Kilmar Abrego Garcia.

5. The fact that there are, at the time of writing, more ICE agents in Minnesota than states that have thousands more undocumented immigrants tells me this was never about protecting people or upholding laws, but about Trump's feud with Governor Tim Walz. Attorney General Pam Bondi's extortionate letter sent to Walz, suggesting federal presence could be decreased if Walz turns over the state's voter database and other information, solidifies this. 

6. Far-right Christian interpretation of Romans 13:1 - "Let every soul be subject to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except from God, and the authorities that exist are appointed by God." - is, "if my guy/party makes a law, you're wrong for opposing it." If the meaning of this verse was "don't question authority even if it imposes unjust laws," it would be a sin for Christians to protest abortion in states where it's legal, and Christians would have no right to lament the imprisonment of our brothers and sisters caught smuggling Bibles into countries where there are laws against it. 

photo by Nicole Neri

Poem: "Franklin Pierce & Me"

 I would give anything to spend an evening

with President Franklin Pierce

A room in the White House

stained with tobacco

Talking at midnight

The hour great men die

But not President Pierce and me

We were not great men

We died at 4:30 in the morning

or 3 in the afternoon

Great men have great last words, like

"Tis well," or, "I'm a broken machine."

Our last words were

"I'm in something wet."

An hour with President Franklin Pierce

We could talk about the things we could not do

the things we would not do

the things we did that were not enough

We could compare stories

like soldiers compared scars at Buena Vista

He let Kansas and Nebraska go to hell

without thinking of the bonny blue Union

I let Babylon and Sodom go to hell

without telling them about heaven

I would give anything for one dusky hour

to talk to President Pierce

I would give anything

for my hand to clasp his in prayer

Those suddenly sober prayers

where it stuns your heart to know God is listening

and breaks your heart to know He knows

I would give anything

for President Pierce's hand in mine

The Potomac cannot wash them

these clenched and haunted hands of ours

But my hand in his, and his in mine

would do wonders for hands which wrought failures

originally published in Smells To High Heaven: Poems and Prose (2019)

Charlie Kirk's Racism & Antisemitism - In Context

In the small degree of backlash I received from last week's blog concerning the death of Charlie Kirk, the one common objection was that I hadn't put his words "in context." Though in that blog I provided links that expounded on the things he said, including videos, this wasn't enough context for Mr. Kirk's apologists - some of whom I'm convinced are not quite sure how context works. Nonetheless, I thought it only fair to address the context in which those objectors wished to frame his more questionable remarks.

1. The Civil Rights Act was "a huge mistake." For more on this, click here.

The counterpoint I was offered by apologists was that when Mr. Kirk said these, he wasn't saying minorities shouldn't have civil rights. What he was saying, rather, was that the legislation was being used as an anti-white weapon. Click here for even more context affirming this was his view. This trope has often been used by white supremacists over the years who saw minorities becoming successful and, being insecure, decided it must have been the result of a conspiratorial legislation to keep white people down.

2. The "is this black pilot qualified?" remark. For more context, click here.

This was not mentioned in my previous blog, but people who took exception somehow found it necessary to bring it up, citing it as an example of his words being taken out of context, so I'll address it here. In this case, however, adding more context does not help the claim that racism was not the intent. Mr. Kirk once said, alluding to DEI, that if he sees a black pilot he's immediately going to wonder if that pilot is qualified, or if they were only hired because of the color of their skin and the pressure to hire minorities. He elaborated on such thinking, by saying, "that's not who I am. That's not what I believe." Rather, he claimed that DEI "invites unwholesome thinking." 

Charlie Kirk was saying, with a straight face, that his racist thoughts were the fault of DEI. This is the equivalent of blaming laws against theft for your temptation to shoplift. Instead of seeing "a pilot," Charlie Kirk admitted he saw a black man whose credentials immediately concerned him, because of his skin color, and blamed this on DEI. If America has become a "race-obsessed" country, viewpoints like Charlie Kirk's are part of that problem.

3. The claim that Jews are using money to undermine American culture and propagate Marxist ideology. For more on his claim, click here.

The counterpoint I received was: "Charlie Kirk was pro-Israel."

This doesn't make one immune from antisemitism. Many Christians are staunch supporters of the modern day nation of Israel because of an eschatological theology that teaches the Holy Land must be in possession of Jews before Christ can return (I am not one of those Christians). This support for Israel's military and political actions comes not necessarily from a support for a historically oppressed people - and it's worth noting not all Israelis are Jews - but support for the doctrine mentioned (a doctrine, it should be noted, many Christians don't subscribe to).

Citing Mr. Kirk's support of the modern day nation state of Israel does not negate his conspiratorial remarks about Jews' alleged scheme to bring about a Marxist America. You can't be an advocate for a people group while simultaneously claiming they're conspiring against you.

Re: The Murder of Charlie Kirk

I first became aware of Charlie Kirk last year when a pro-life organization in my city announced he would be speaking at a private dinner. Having no idea who he was, I looked him up only to find a trove of controversial statements he's made, including the claim that the Civil Rights Act was "a huge mistake." 

It's worth noting the pro-life organization at which he spoke does a wealth of positive things for new and frightened mothers - and fathers, even - in rough places, making them truly pro-life and not simply anti-abortion. This made it all the more disappointing that they would welcome Charlie Kirk, who unrepentantly made such claims as implying Jews are using money to plot a Marxist cultural coup (click here for more context), or that deaths by gun violence are "worth it" for the sake of the 2nd Amendment (click here for more context). These are not pro-life beliefs, and it was a bad look for the organization to be associated with this person.

When I found out about Kirk's murder the day before yesterday, I felt a heavy heart for his family, and for the fact that sociopolitical violence has claimed another life. But that heavy heart soon lightened as I fell prey to making my typical morbid jokes (my dark sense of humor being a coping mechanism for...well, everything) and laughing at memes that made fun of Charlie Kirk's murder. My reasoning was, "I'm still sad for his family, and he was a bigot, so it's kind of okay for me to laugh." Which, of course, is wrong.

Then, God reminded me - not audibly, but you know what I mean - of two other influential racists in American history: Jefferson Davis and Robert E. Lee. 

God moved me to think of these two men - who were so racist they tried to start their own country based on the principle of slave ownership being a divine right - and their reactions to the assassination of Abraham Lincoln. When the President was shot, widespread outrage gripped the nation, North and South. Jefferson Davis denounced the assassination and felt "it could not be regarded otherwise than as a great misfortune for the South," knowing Lincoln's policy of reconciliation rather than hangings for treason made him the best friend a defeated Confederacy could have at the time.

Robert E. Lee's reaction was more emotional. A cohort who was with the General at the time the news came stated that Lee "covered his face and refused to listen to details of the murder." Lee used a word to describe the assassination that recently became a buzzword in American politics - "deplorable."

God invoked these images to make this point: here were two men so brazenly racist that they saw black people as inferior to whites, mourning - genuinely - for a man of compassion, one who believed in the principle that "all men are created equal." So, if these two could be so deeply grieved for a good man, what does it say about me when I can't show as much empathy as literal slaveowners?

I made excuses for my empty mourning. I was frustrated and disappointed at fellow Christians who were praising Charlie Kirk as a pillar of righteousness, when he espoused such terrible things against Jews, minorities, and victims of gun violence. That, somehow, made it less sinful for me to delight in memes that minimized the taking of a life. Charlie Kirk was, as we all are, made in the image of God. 

I must mourn for a life snuffed out, and that a life was used to promote hideous ideologies. I must mourn that someone was so filled with hopeless rage that they took it upon themselves to kill. I must mourn that Charlie Kirk's family has been deprived of their husband and father. I must mourn that so many of my fellow believers in Christ are lionizing a man who represented the values of Christ no more than the Ku Klux Klan. And I must mourn that our President, aware of Charlie Kirk's beliefs, nonetheless called him "the most eloquent truth-teller" in recent times.

I'll mourn for all of this, with genuine grief, and will eschew the memes and morbid jokes I've made concerning Charlie Kirk's murder. These words of Jesus have floated in my head since the day of Kirk's death: "by your words you will be justified, and by your words you will be condemned."

-Matthew 12:37

[Edit, 9-13-25: It occurs to me I should add a few words addressing the incredibly lopsided grief of conservatives, both in politics and private citizens, when it comes to victims of gun violence. Donald Trump did not order flags to be flown at half-staff after the murders of Democratic politician Melissa Hortman and her husband Mark in June - but did so for Charlie Kirk, whose qualification for such an honor was saying things Trump likes. Just two weeks before Kirk's death, a shooting at Annunciation Catholic Church in Minneapolis, which killed two children, Fletcher Merkel and Harper Moyski, was met by Republicans with a fraction of the grief and shock for Kirk, the usual "thoughts and prayers" cliche, which has now become little more than a meme. This lack of outrage is absolutely disgusting. And perhaps it's just as disgusting that I didn't go for my blog when these tragedies occurred.]

Photo courtesy WTSP

Schfifty Five: A Lesson in Creative Freedom

My friend Kirsten recently showed me a YouTube video from the platform's formative years. Like human formative years, YouTube's were quite bizarre and surreal compared to what the site would become. It's a crudely animated music video for a song called Schfifty Five, posted in 2006. At first, I was puzzled by what I was watching. I was even annoyed by how weird it was. It reminded me of why, in the early days of YouTube, I showed little interest in watching the videos there, because so many of them seemed like no more than inane, random messes made by people wasting precious time ("The Llama Song" stands out as one of the videos that turned me away from YouTube until the early 2010s). 

But in the present day, watching Schfifty Five, a video so old if it was a human it could vote and go to war, I inexplicably became entranced. At first I dismissed it as the novelty of such a stupid song, the way you might listen to "Safety Dance" on repeat when no one's around. But there was something more to this dumb video that I found so striking. It wasn't until my friend Kirsten pointed out how this video came from a golden age of YouTube (my paraphrasing, not her exact words), a time before the site was, at the risk of sounding like a tree-hugging socialist commie hippie, a passionless factory for empty-hearted content driven by cold corporate lust for ad revenue. The creative spirit that went into Schfifty Five was, in a word, pure.

This made me think of my own creative endeavors. My name will never be found on a bestseller list. Not even the Top 100 North-Central Croatian Independent Books list. But the lack of monetary focus has loosened my thinking from the fetters of "content." I have complete creative freedom, not being under the gloomy umbrella of billion-dollar industries. I'm so free I can't even be canceled for using the R-word in my latest book, which you can buy here.

I'm glad my friend shared with me the deranged and beautiful genius that is Schfifty Five. I hope with my writing I can, among other foolish things, maintain the spirit of YouTube's old, insane era of creative purity and freedom.