ON HIS second day in office, Trump unveils the coming digital prison and “cures” for all kinds of diseases — whether you like it or not.

I NEVER was fortunate enough to dine at the once venerable New York City restaurant, Lutèce, known in the words of a famous food critic as “impressively elegant and conspicuously expensive.” But I heard of it before it closed in 2004 after more than 40 years of operation.

Earlier this week, I picked up an old edition of the once-great, now-defunct magazine Gourmet and found in it a well-written and interesting article about André Soltner, the famous chef of Lutèce for 33 years, whom honestly I had never heard of before. He was apparently the reason why Lutèce was known far and wide.

I found this particular copy of the magazine on a residential curb with a stack of other Gourmet’s a few months ago. They were all from the magazine’s literary golden days in the early 90’s. I carried as many as I could lift in my arms home and I pick them up occasionally for the recipes, beautiful photographs and articles about amazing places I will never see.

Mr. Soltner was born in Alsace and was the son of a cabinetmaker. He decided to become a chef as a young man, trained in some of the most demanding kitchens in Europe and eventually ended up in New York with his wife. He was hired to make Lutèce a great French restaurant, with mostly classic recipes, and by all accounts he did.

Mr. Soltner said something in this article from more than 30 years ago that was especially impressive to me. He said no one becomes a truly great chef simply by mastering technique. There has to be an element of love or intense appreciation for those for whom one cooks. He also said something else memorable: he didn’t like the cult of the celebrity chef (even though he would become one). In this hedonistic age, chefs become gods and restaurants, temples. “I’m just a cook,” he said.

There was an appealing humility to this statement, given his great success. Cooking is not the most important thing in the world — and yet it’s important. I thought of that diminishing sphere of rigorous, backbreaking excellence known as French cuisine and could not help but admire his hard work in one of the most difficult fields and in a world of highly civilized, unapologetic refinement. To be a great restaurant chef, one needs the gifts of both a military commander and an inspired artist. He apparently took off from work, I later learned, only four extra days during his entire tenure at Lutèce, until he woke up one morning and realized he was ruining his wife’s life — and he sold the place for $3 million. It only declined from there.

I decided to find out whatever became of this interesting man and looked him up on the Internet. As fate would have it, Soltner died in Charlottesville, Virginia on January 18, just two days before I read about him. He had lived to the age of 93.

There is nothing more to say, but that I was destined by this strange coincidence to add a few words to his elegies.

“FAUCI, Milley & the Corrupt Congressman are attempting to have their cake and to eat it too. They want to accept the benefit of the phony ‘pardons’ protections WHILE at the same time continuing to proclaim their own innocence. This is a LEGAL impossibility. And if the Trump team doesn’t shut this down by bringing charges against all of them and forcing them to choose admission of guilt & the pardon protection, OR proclaimed innocence & defend in court, then the Trump team is just as complicit in this outrage. The Supreme Court has made it clear. You can’t ‘accept’ the benefits of a pardon AND simultaneously continue to proclaim you’re innocent. “A pardon, in our history, has been used as an act of grace, and its acceptance is an admission of guilt.” Burdick v. US (1915).”

— Legalman

“MAY you never be numbered among those whose house is peaceful, quiet and free from care; those on whom the Lord’s chastisement does not descend; those who live out their days in prosperity, and in the twinkling of an eye will go down to hell.”

— St. Raymond of Peñafort (d. 1275)

FROM 1981 comes this opening to Newsletter No. 54 by the late William Strojie, whose invaluable critiques of the Vatican II Revolution and its implications are still highly relevant:

In my second paper, “The Enemy Within The Catholic Church,” written for distribution by myself, I quote freely from the encyclical of Pope St. Pius X, Pascendi Dominici Gregis, of September 1908, on the Errors of the Modernists. In this paper | mentioned that Piux X called Modernism a “synthesis of all the heresies,” which as Vatican 2 and subsequent religious and intellectual chaos has shown, is the work of modern Gnostics, the devil’s own religionists. This “religion,” under the euphemistic ‘‘ecumenism,” moved into the Vatican itself in our time, taking over the papal chair in the person of John 23, whose first appointment to Cardinal was Montini, Archbishop of Milan. Montini, former Vatican functionary of sinister influence, became Paul 6 who announced a New Order of Religion, the totality in worship, doctrine and indiscipline we now see about us. What remains since the death of Montini are only a few outward Catholic forms, occasional lip service to Catholic orthodoxy by the Vatican 2 popes and bishops — ‘Don’t go too far too fast’ — and such of the old buildings the modernist reformers have not sold off. Of these buildings I will mention just one — the excellent large Jesuit noviate of Sheridan, Oregon, sold to “Scientologists.’’ Hundreds of other such large sellouts or giveaways could be cited. Significant too are the generally hideous new structures, especially in the United States, having the appearance of protestant churches, theosophist temples or synagogues.

But this Letter is not about buildings, old or new, or the vandalism of the Vatican 2 bishops who have destroyed more of art and architecture, and burned more Catholic books, than all the other vandals who ever lived. It is, in a rambling way, about the religious syncretism as it shows its many-headed form today. Read More »

KARL RADL writes:

The Council on Foreign Relations (hereafter CFR) has often been argued to be one of the most important forums for the determination of the foreign policy of the United States. This simplistic view has come in for some judicious and well-deserved criticism from scholars of the subject. (1)

While I don’t hold to the view that the CFR has relatively little influence other than as talking shop as suggested by Schulzinger. (2) I also think it is important not to overstate it, but rather to see the CFR as one of an interlocking sequence of complementary and competing foreign policy think tanks jockeying for prominence and influence in the North American political landscape.

I think we can reasonably suggest however that the CFR is one of the more important and successful of these organizations given the prominence of its senior membership and sheer staying power in the arena of intellectual debate on the subject.

Therefore it is of great interest to us to ascertain the extent of jewish and Zionist influence within the CFR.

[cont.]

FROM James Perloff’s article “Trump Rebranding Globalism as Nationalism“:

Trump’s ambition to expand America is nothing more than a repackaging of an old satanic plan to establish world government through regional stepping stones.

To research my first book The Shadows of Power (1988), a study of the globalist power brokers at the Council on Foreign Relations (CFR), I went through every issue of Foreign Affairs, the CFR’s flagship journal, going back to its first issue in 1922. There was no Internet then, no search engines. All facts had to be gleaned from hard-copy documents.

In going through Foreign Affairs, I recognized that the CFR had abandoned the idea of, in one swoop, unifying the planet under a world government. Instead, they reasoned, they could gradually bring about global governance by first organizing regional alliances. This would be a “stepping stone” approach (also known as “boiling the frog”) to the ultimate goal of an all-powerful one-world government. [cont.] Read More »

IMAGINE going to someone else’s country and complaining that they aren’t accepting enough of you.

Like it’s their responsibility to accept and cater to you in their own country.

…. It’s not being a communist or a conservative or an anarchist.

It’s not listening to punk rock or rap.

It’s not being gay or putting on a dress or being weird.

The only true form of rebellion against this system is to be a White racist.

— Apolitical

Saint Sebastian Cured by Irene, Luca Giordano; 1665

“ALAS! We let everything frighten and discourage us; and oftentimes we are enemies of the Cross, even while professing we love it. We too easily forget that we cannot be companions of the martyrs, unless our hearts have the generosity of the martyrs.”

— Dom Prosper Guéranger, “Saint Sebastian,” The Liturgical Year

Video link

THE Great Stair Hall at the Philadelphia Art Museum, reminiscent of the interior of a majestic classical temple, is presided over by a gilded, 14-foot-high sculpture of the goddess Diana, holding a bow and arrow,  originally designed by the sculptor Augustus Saint-Gaudens as a weather vane for Madison Square Garden.

In past years at Christmastime, the stair hall was decorated with lighted Christmas trees and poinsettias.

Last year, Diana was surrounded by artificial spring flowers in pink, green and yellow. You could practically hear the curatorial committee that sat around mulling over this innovation, its most inspired members struggling to come up with something that would be as dissimilar to evergreens and red bows as possible.

This year was much farther down the merry lane of anti-Christmas.

An enormous screen was set up in front of Diana and a seven-minute film allegedly directed by Steve McQueen played in a continuous loop on the screen scenes of the Statue of Liberty from a helicopter. The deafening soundtrack of this deeply profound “work of art,” appropriately titled “Static,” consisted of the roar of chopper blades.

According to the museum’s new curator of contemporary “art,” who came to Philadelphia recently from the Barbican Museum in London, where she industriously played her role in the ongoing hoax of purveying ugly abstract art as beautiful and meaningful, the film was supposed to convey in this setting a message about “political fatigue,” (i.e., emotional meltdown over election of the Great Nazi) and, of all things, silence.

“What makes it very moving is that when those chopper blades, that kind of thunderous sound, subsides there’s this incredible serenity to the piece,” [Eleanor] Nairne said. [Source]

This frightening cacophony was about as “moving” as the sound of a machine gun and its pause did not bring serenity but anxious relief before the next bout of noise began.

McQueen shot the Statue of Liberty in 2009, just after the Obama administration reopened it to the public after having been closed since the 9/11 attacks. Because of that unspoken context, “Static” becomes a meditation on American ideals of liberty in an era of global terrorism.

It was about as meditative as punch in the nose.

The effect of this film, suggesting as it did police surveillance from the air, in this context at Christmastime, when many people visit the museum with their families, was not to calm a populace in the grip of “political fatigue,” i.e., emotional meltdown over the election of the Great Nazi, but precisely to terrorize them in the name of “art.”

But then we are well-trained by now to accept anything in the name of art, even choppers overhead and patronizingly dreary, political messages at Christmastime.

Political radicals have one thing going against them, and will always have one thing going against them: their hatred of beauty. They definitely can’t help it, which in the end is very good news. Read More »

THE RINGING of bells, a cannon salute, the Te Deum sung at an Episcopal church, a speech — and then dinner alone at the Presidential mansion.

The inauguration of George Washington had not the solemnity of royal coronations, but was a far cry from the vulgar pop spectacles of today.

The show is now so crude it seems to say, “The people deserve what they get.” Read More »

“MY parents were Baptists; but until the age of thirty-two, I was not a believer in the truth of Christianity. My own observation of men and things, as well as the arguments of others, at length satisfied me that the system was divine; and I at once acted upon my convictions, and joined myself to the Disciples, in 1840. In 1843 I removed with my family to Oregon. After my arrival, and while I was temporarily located at Fort Vancouver, I attended High Mass as a mere spectator, on Christmas, at midnight. Read More »

St. Peter holding the Keys of Heaven, Peter Paul Rubens

“TRADITIONALISTS argue that necessity knows no law and they can resort to epikeia to justify their ordinations and consecrations. This has been refuted here.  And as explained at length in a separate work, Pope Pius XII’s 1945 election constitution, Vacantis Apostolicae Sedis, (VAS) — which infallibly decrees what can and cannot be done during an interregnum — forbids any correction or change in the law during an interregnum. ‘The laws issued by Roman Pontiffs in no way can be corrected or changed by the assembly of Cardinals of the Roman Church while it is without a Pope, nor can anything be subtracted from them or added or dispensed in any way whatsoever with respect to said laws or any part of them… In truth, if anything adverse to this command should by chance happen to come about or be attempted, We declare it, by Our Supreme Authority, to be null and void.’

“Here we are talking both papal laws and Canon Law, which is largely taken from papal and conciliar law. Some may object that Can. 20 advises the use of epikeia, and to invoke it would not be a violation of the law.  But Can. 20 specifically states there must be no other provision in the case considered, and such provision was already laid down in VAS. It also recommends consulting the laws given in similar cases and the common and constant teaching of approved authors. Laws given in similar cases point to the summoning of the bishops to elect a pope (Council of Constance) and a good number of authors agree on this, namely St. Robert Bellarmine and those supporting his teaching. St. Bellarmine also recommends the calling of an imperfect council in the absence of a pope if the cardinals cannot elect. Finally, Can. 20 cannot be used in anything involving penalties. And VAS is a document levying several penalties.”

— Teresa Benns, Betrayed Catholics

Read More »

“WOMEN have become dominant in Twelfth Night and take the initiative. Malvolio lacks self-confidence and self-control and is weak, and with the exception of Antonio, the other men are passive. The women are the only people left who have any will, which is the sign of a decadent society.

Maria, in love with Sir Toby, tricks him into marrying her. Olivia starts wooing Cesario from the first moment she sees him, and Viola is a real man-chaser. All the ladies in this play get what they want.”

— W.H. Auden, Lectures on Shakespeare (Princeton University Press, 2000); p. 154

H. writes from Southern California:

Thanks for the Gender Inversion post by Kathy G. the other day. I’m finally convinced Taylor Swift is a man now. I remember you posting about it a year or so ago, but I wasn’t convinced at that time. I watched the Mr. E videos, the one where Swift is at an awards ceremony, wins, gets up from the chair, high fives or shakes a guys hand with a burst of masculine strength, Swift turns around and you see her exposed upper back. That particular video was the clincher, and now I can’t un-see it, as both you and Kathy G. remark. The guys in the video says she/it has to wear a lot of makeup/red lipstick because she’s just not pretty, (right!) which is why she’s always wearing make-up, to create the illusion. Read More »

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View of Thebes, Hugh William Williams (1819)

JONATHAN writes:

Here’s an interesting comment on infanticide from The World of Hesiod: A Study of the Greek Middle Ages, c. 900-700 B.C. by A.R. Burn:

At Thebes suicides were held in the deepest dishonour (a vivid contrast to that strain in Greek thought which led  towards Stoicism) and infanticide — or rather, according to  Greek practice, the exposure of surplus children — was  forbidden. Infants that could not be reared had to be brought to the magistrates, who sold them; and the buyers were bound to bring them up, though they might have them as slaves.

What’s interesting is now abortion is generally seen as distasteful but slavery as morally unacceptable under any conditions by both conservatives and liberals. While The Didache says abortion is forbidden but doesn’t mention slavery:

You shall not murder, you shall not commit adultery, you shall not commit pederasty, you shall not commit fornication, you shall not steal, you shall not practice magic, you shall not kill a child by abortion nor commit infanticide…

Read More »