Some of the worst sinners in history have been people with the authority to make excuses or change the rules in their favor.

Example: Pope Alexander VI, one of the most controversial of the Renaissance popes, partly because he acknowledged fathering several children by his mistresses.

“Green” in spanish is “Verde”
“Truth” in spanish is “Verdad”
So green sounds like truth in Spanish.

Green here refers to money, which is not the truth in the language Brer speaks.

NOT a reference to Operation Fast and Furious, in which the Justice Department literally gave some guns to a Mexican drug cartel. This scandal was more recent than the release of the song, although it captures the message.

Instead, this line references the US’s past relationship with the Mujahideen during the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan. We provided them with training and arms.

That relationship eventually came back to bite the U.S. in the ass, as the Wahabbist Mujahideen leaders eventually went on to form Al Qaeda.

Simon Williams is an actor known mainly for playing upper-class characters in movies and television. Jonny mentions him (or his characters) as a representative of the “masters” who hold the whips and chains.

Simon Williams is also a Marvel superhero known as Wonder Man, commonly associated with the Avengers. Flobots are playing off both the actor while referencing the hero in the same line, hence, “I wonder, man”.

In ancient Rome, slaves commonly wore collars of solid metal. They were hard to remove, hindering escape attempts, and also made it easy to tell who the slave belonged to if they were sent out on their master’s business.

Yasiin has been a Muslim for a long time. Since Black on Both Sides, he’s said: Bismillah arRahman arRaheem at the beginning of every album he’s made (In the name of God the Merciful and the Beneficent – in Arabic).

He had an official name change a couple of years ago, changing his name to Yasiin. Last year, he decided to merge his real life with his performer life and use his real name on stage.

“My bruised and battered body washes up upon the shore”

The lyrics describe the songwriters struggle through life as it leaves him “bruised and battered” as well as “washed up” suggesting that he has no where left to go, once something is pushed to shore (in this case the writer), it can no longer travel on the ocean’s currents which represents the flow of life.

“Sins flee from wounds leaking wounds like rats from sinking ships”

As the writer lays washed up on shore with no where left to go in life, his sins and mistakes become known. He compares this feeling to seeing rats abandon a sinking ship because, like secrets, rats are typically stealthy and would hide within the many nooks and crannies of the ship (ourselves), but as the ship inevitably begins to sink (life inevitably ends) the rats (our secrets) come out of hiding and are finally realized by the writer.

“As I float off to forever with these words these words upon my lips”

As the writer ‘dies’ those secrets he kept hidden within him and all the words he never got to say die with him never to be heard by anyone ever again, emphasizing regret on how he lived his life.

Comic books have obscenely complicated backstories as a result of generations of writers trying to keep continuity with each other.
Other dimensions than our own are a common plot device to explain unlikely plot twists.

Old people sometimes talk over each other without noticing, because of their bad hearing and comprehension skills.