An unregistered rootbeer brown Mercedes-Benz pulled over at last night's protest so the Russian occupants (both of whom were dressed like gay escorts if you asked me) could flip us the bird, curse the "faggots", and make idle threats. I hate to pick on a given nationality, but the homophobic hatred expressed by immigrant Russians and Ukran in this country is alarming. I'm always impressed by small facts -- big facts are easy -- and, at the risk of sounding xenophobic, the small fact of Verity Baptist Church (and of the other four nodes in the cult network) is this: Many of these people, including Jimenez and including Anderson's hate-filled wife, Zsuzsanna, are foreign-born -- the vast majority of them Eastern European -- which means they interpret American values through the filter of the outsider. My family spent five years in a foreign country, and I know first-hand the truth about assimilation -- it requires effort and plain acceptance of local values and customs -- and most foreigners do not, in the first generation, assimilate. They resist. And this resistance has an effect on their children. The effect is an incomplete understanding -- an inaccurate interpretation -- a warping of culture. This five-node cult network represents a warping of American culture. None of these people are interested in the improvement of Western civilization -- they came here for creature comforts. None of these people appreciate diversity -- they are using our tolerance to spread their hate. Their definition of "religious freedom" is the absolute right to murder those with whom they disagree -- in the name of their god -- and, in this case, based upon a 17th Century translation of Bronze Age interpretations of ancient stories and rules for social living. A large percentage of this cult network's followers came to this country (per their own narratives, which echo the same lie) to escape "religious persecution" -- but really? They came here to persecute, most of them from countries where persecution is not uncommon. They were not forced to leave their homes because they were being persecuted -- they were forced to leave because they are virulently hateful psychopaths who pray for the deaths of those they dislike and who advocate government-sponsored murder of innocent civilians. What their home countries did was celebrate their departures. What these people are doing in America is unacceptable. And there is only one way to deal with bigots. Russian thugs making idle threats by the side of the road is becoming a norm, I suppose, but protests will continue.