ALAN writes:

This essay began as a reminiscence I wrote for my 8^th-grade classmates.

There was grey overcast with light rain in St. Louis on that Friday in November 1963. My classmates and I were seated in our classroom on the second floor of the “new” St. Anthony of Padua school building, just down the street from Behrmann’s Tavern. It was early afternoon when our teacher, Sister Rita Bernard, told us something we never imagined we would hear.

At that same time, my mother was shopping at the Sears-Roebuck department store, less than a mile away. She was on the second floor when she saw people walking over to the area where television sets were on display. So she followed them to find out why so many people were congregating there. That is how she learned that President Kennedy had been shot.

Those who fawned over the Kennedy Family and those who demonized them left me equally unimpressed. Had I been old enough in those years to understand such things, I would have opposed certain ideas and policies promoted by the Kennedy administration. But that does not alter the horror of that weekend or its effect on American life. Regardless of one’s estimate of John Kennedy, his family, or his administration, a political murder had been committed, in response to which the federal government staged a pretend “investigation” and the “independent, watchdog press” revealed an astounding degree of incuriosity. (more…)

  FOR BETTER OR WORSE, much of this practical advice from a 19th-century housewife is outdated, but the spirit of frugality and domestic care it represents remain as important as ever. IF you would avoid waste in your family, attend to the following rules, and do not despise them because they appear so unimportant: 'many a little makes a mickle.'  

ROGER DEVLIN has written a piece about Our Borders, Ourselves: America in the Age of Multiculturalism by the late Lawrence Auster. You can find it at VDare. Devlin's thoughtful summary of the book is well worth reading. (One correction: There were small publishers interested in this book. Their ideological positions were too incompatible with Mr. Auster's.) Revolutionary regimes define themselves by endlessly demonizing the regime they have deposed. Under its Communist government, China used to stage lavish theatrical productions in which the stock figure of the piggish capitalist landlord served as a hate object that legitimized the regime. The landlords played this important symbolic role even though they no longer existed, having all been exterminated. In a similar fashion, we can expect that multicultural America will continue to demonize the white man and his works long after whites have been pushed aside. -- Lawrence Auster, Our Borders, Ourselves: America in the Age of Multiculturalism    

I'VE never been to the Dahlia Bakery in Seattle, but I have the cookbook produced by Tom Douglas, the owner. The recipes are mostly versions of traditional American cakes, pies and cookies -- and the ones I have tried are all very good. The recipe for Hot Buttered Rum Apple Pie is especially good and it is a great option for Thanksgiving. You can find it online here. This is one of the best recipes I have ever made.   This recipe is definitely more work than ordinary apple pies. The apples are cooked ahead of time on top of the stove in two separate pans so it not only takes more time, it creates more dirty dishes. The crust calls for pastry flour and all-purpose flour. "Cake flour" is basically the same thing. If you use lard instead of the shortening called for in the recipe, the crust will be even better tasting, but this is already a very rich pie and it obviously will not be healthier to use lard. Making pies can be frustrating. The recipe is often not an accurate guide to how much water you should use in the crust. The dough should be wet enough to come together throughout while remaining just on the verge of crumbling apart. It should not be so wet that it becomes a solid chunk. The flakiness depends on the right quantity of water and how much you handle…

  "A COMPREHENSIVE Examination of Conscience based on Twelve Virtues" by Rev. Donald F. Miller C.SS.R, is a very helpful and systematic list of mortal and venial sins, along with reflections and prayers. It's not easy to get to heaven. But it sure beats the alternative. Please read the introduction first. (There's an especial warning there for people who are scrupulous and doubt God's mercy and love. Those who fall into despair or obsessive regret over their sins are lacking in confidence in God.)  

THE often-reported increase in bullying by children, especially on social media, is connected to their sexualization at an early age. Pauly Fongemie makes this brilliant observation in a 2014 article titled “Empathy: the Destruction of the Latency Period in Children and the Rise of Bullying.”

Fongemie contends exposure to sexual topics — the sort of exposure that is common in most schools today — “short-circuits” development of the higher faculties in a child, particularly the faculty of empathy. Children cannot easily grow in compassion and understanding of others when their attention is diverted to sex:

A lack of empathy or a reduced sense of compassion is always accompanied by a loss of innocence that is magnified by sexualization, even prior to engaging in acts that belong only in marriage.

Those well-meaning professionals who want to see an end to bullying, for instance, will cite the social media, etc. Rather than the cause, these communication outlets are more easily used to corrupt because a priori the lack of a good conscience is already absent or so malformed, that the person is predisposed to play the bully. Social media makes bullying more enticing and available, but it is not the cause in of itself. The focus on “sex education” between the years of 7 and 12, rather than defuse childhood sensuality and its perils, stirs them up because at this age the child is only starting to develop competence and self-mastery which includes conscience and empathy.  [emphasis added]

Adults wonder at the rise of feral behavior and expect children to be civilized and kind to their peers. At the same time, they think nothing of children being exposed to loud, sexually explicit songs in every retail store. (more…)

STEVE writes:

This article by James Barrett most definitely has a liberal bias, which I obviously don’t agree with, but it does make an excellent observation about mighty-rightie, tighty-whitey, right-whingers, in their obsession with Nietzschean ubermenschness, especially their mistaken, arrogant belief that they can will (or, more accurately, conjure) something into existence.. They emphatically cannot.

The only true ubermensch is the Lord Jesus Christ. (more…)

“SOCIALISM was never meant to be a system to ‘help the people’. It is, from its inception, a system of mass management of populations, on behalf of a self-appointed governing class, the “intelligentsia”. It’s a system by which that governing class uses the powers of the state to take control over (and from then on, manage) each and every aspect of society, according to its own particular whims.

“It was born out of the 19th century ideologies of “scientific/rationalist management of society”, under which individual liberty could not be tolerated, and social life had to be entirely regimented, and planned, by the ruling class. That meant *everything* would ultimately be defined by the state: economics, social creeds (including religion), politics, social habits, and even population size and composition, through the practice of population control and state-run eugenics, among certain groups (abortion, sterilization, euthanasia).

“The endgame of socialism is to have a system where the individual will “only be allowed to exist in order to serve the state (as was stated by top socialists like Trotsky, GB Shaw or HG Wells). That is, under full-fledged socialism you will only be allowed to exist if you willingly serve the ruling class that sets up and manages the all-powerful state on its own behalf.

“So, the big lie here is that socialism is ‘meant to help the people’. No, it’s not. It’s a crafty way of regimenting the people to work and be slaves for a system, on behalf of a top intelligentsia.

“That is why, throughout history, socialist systems only go after personal independence and the middle classes. They rarely ever hunt down the big banking and mercantile interests.” Source

PART 2 here (more…)

  [WARNING: Do not watch this commercial with children in the room.] IN THIS ad from Coca Cola, mothers (and one father) prepare their sons for a pride parade. With the right lighting, the right acting, the right cinematic skill, and the right emotions, anything can be made to look good.

THE FEMALE OF THE SPECIES
— Rudyard Kipling

When the Himalayan peasant meets the he-bear in his pride,
He shouts to scare the monster, who will often turn aside.
But the she-bear thus accosted rends the peasant tooth and nail.
For the female of the species is more deadly than the male.

When Nag the basking cobra hears the careless foot of man,
He will sometimes wriggle sideways and avoid it if he can.
But his mate makes no such motion where she camps beside the trail.
For the female of the species is more deadly than the male.

When the early Jesuit fathers preached to Hurons and Choctaws,
They prayed to be delivered from the vengeance of the squaws.
‘Twas the women, not the warriors, turned those stark enthusiasts pale.
For the female of the species is more deadly than the male. (more…)

AMERICA is a wasteland of political junkies.

Every morning, or as often as possible, Democrats inject hatred of Trump into their veins. Ooh! Aah! Without that, they wouldn’t feel alive. Republicans toss needles to the ground after a fresh dose of hatred of Trump haters.

The impeachment effort is perfect for all involved. It gets everybody high.

Trump, the crude and blasphemous egomaniac who didn’t make things new, was losing support from his base. The impeachment process has possibly saved him for another term. Now he’s anti-establishment again!

As for Democrats, they are tantalizingly close to maximum revenge. The street price of a high hasn’t been this low in years.

Despite all this sectarian fervor, the difference between the country we would get with a Democrat and the country we would get with a Republican is very small. I know a lot of others have said this and it seems hard to believe, but it’s true. The cards are stacked against all of us. No matter who wins, millions of children will still go to schools where they are taught to be political junkies rather than to think. The economy will still be based on debt. We will be just as materialistic and conformist, utterly frightened by the prospect of being different or “kooky.” Our elections will still be controlled. We will have big government and high immigration and the abortion industry and fake news and a total absence of leisure and war and drag queens at the library either way.

The impeachment is theater, something to watch and to feed the cravings of addicts. It’s drugs, not democracy.

So what can you do?

You can carry your cross instead of trying to escape it. (more…)

FROM the desk of Daren Jonescu:

A follow-up on the story of Canada’s use of famous hockey commentator Don Cherry as their “Goldstein,” the enemy-of-convenience at whom everyone in Orwell’s Oceania is encouraged to shout invective for two minutes, just to purge all negative feelings by spewing them at an outsider, rather than fomenting anger against the oppressive State.

I see that Bobby Orr, whom Cherry coached during the final years of his career as a Boston Bruin, when he was arguably the best player in the NHL, has stepped up to defend his old coach and friend in an American radio interview.

He’s not a bigot and he’s not a racist. This guy is the most generous, caring guy that I know. What they’ve done to him up there is disgraceful, it really is. It’s a new world I guess. Freedom of speech doesn’t matter. (more…)

“THE advent of a Universal Republic, which is longed for by all the worst elements of disorder, and confidently expected by them, is an idea which is now ripe for execution. From this republic, based on the principles of absolute equality of men and community of possessions, would be banished all national distinctions, nor in it would the authority of the father over his children, or of the public power over the citizens, or of God over human society, be any longer acknowledged. If these ideas are put into practice, there will inevitably follow a reign of unheard-of terror.” --- Pope Benedict XV, July 25, 1920, Bonum Sane

THAT men make more aggressive rulers has been a frequent claim of feminists. Here is a study that suggests otherwise: A working paper by political scientists Oeindrila Dube, of the University of Chicago, and S. P. Harish, of McGill University, analyzed a selection of mostly European kings and queens who reigned between 1480 AD and 1913 which covered 193 rulers in 18 countries. A Daily Mail article says the 400 years of European history included female rulers such as Catherine the Great , who made Russia a waring nation in the 18th century, Britain's Elizabeth I , who defeated the Spanish Armada in 1588, and Isabella I of Castile , who led Spain to dominate the world in the 15th and 16th centuries. Over 193 reigns the researchers found that states ruled by queens were 39% more likely to wage war than those ruled by kings. Not only did the team of researchers find that states ruled by queens were more likely to fall into conflict and war than those led by kings, but females were also more likely to gain territory and were attacked more often. Co-author Oeindrila Dube told The Times that there’s this general stereotype that men are greatly responsible for wars and genocides and that women are natural peace-makers, but “our research turns this stereotype on its head”. [Read more] Is it possible that queens have resorted to military aggression more often in an effort to make up for the natural…

ALEXANDER BORODIN’S beautiful composition In the Steppes of Central Asia will help cleanse your mind of Russian drag queens. You can just see the wide open skies and exhilarating emptiness when listening to this. Why does great beauty make us want to cry? It makes us homesick, that’s why. We are made for a better world. And great music momentarily takes us there.

“In the Steppes of Central Asia had been intended to be presented as one of several tableaux vivants to celebrate the silver anniversary of the reign of Emperor Alexander II of Russia, who had done much to expand the Russian Empire eastward. The intended production never occurred, but the work has been a concert favorite since its first performance, on 20 April 1880 (8 April Old style) in St. Petersburg by the orchestra of the Russian Opera under the conductorship of Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov. [Source]

This was performed by the USSR Symphony Orchestra under the baton of Evgeny Svetlanov, proving that even Communists can’t resist great art. (more…)

ALEXANDER STEINBERG goes by the stage name of “Sasha Velour.” He is an extremely well-funded and extremely freakish “drag queen” who has gotten tons of free national publicity including a mention on Saturday Night Live. His rise at the age of 32 has been meteoric. This week he got more free national publicity when he was in the news with Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez. (See here). He is currently starring in his one-man show, Smoke and Mirrors. Big bucks have gone into this production.

Steinberg, who grew up in Connecticut, has an unusual background, having worked as a security guard at the most famous Russian museum, The Hermitage in St. Petersburg. He was also a Fulbright scholar in Moscow. How many supposedly self-made New York “artists” have such close ties with Russia? His mother was editor of The Slavic Review and his father is a Russian historian.

Below is an interview if you can bear to watch it. Not sure what ring of hell this comes from. Steinberg makes explicit references to Satan in his get-up and his skits. Drag queens have been around for eons. Their sudden widespread visibility and the constant promotion, however, suggest an orchestrated and well-funded campaign. One goal is to get people like you agitated and upset.

Let these drag queens drag on. What you do with your life is what matters.

(more…)

    [I REMOVED a link to a Twitter thread that was here. On revisiting the site, I realized it had nasty commentary. I apologize for including this link.]