ALAN writes:

If an astronomer looked up one evening and saw that a bright star that had been there for ages is no longer there, he might say, “The universe has changed.”

That was approximately how I felt at the moment last week after I walked into a branch library in St. Louis and paused to look at an exhibit of railroad photographs in a display case.  One of the staff members came over to where I was standing and said he had something to tell me.  What he said was the last thing in the world I would have expected to hear: “Mary passed away…..”

It was one of those moments when you stand there, stunned, and want so much not to believe what you have just been told. Those few words caused my universe to change.

Mary had worked in that library for 28 years.  She died from natural causes at age 53, and her death, wholly unexpected, came as a shock to everyone who knew her.

In this age of outrageous excess and overstatement, the word friend is greatly overused and misused.  Mary and I were friends, in the proper sense of the word, for all those years. Read More »

THOUGHTS on ordinary singing by Webster Young:

An important part of the joy of song is that we use our own voice to make it. We need no machines– only our solitary voice, which no one can take away from us. This is part of the joy – the difference between one’s own voice, so natural and a part of us, and the juggernaut of modern industrial technology. When all the batteries have run dead, all the transistors and resistors worn out, when all the radios in the world are ruined and thrown away, you will still have your voice, the perfect human answer to oppressive technology.

If we find our own song, one that really uplifts us, we have a very effective weapon against the trials and tribulations of life.

NASIM AGHDAM, the woman allegedly involved in what appeared to be a comically staged shooting at Youtube headquarters, does squats joyfully and energetically before her national flag, and to the tune of “Hava Nagila,” in this video. Miss Aghdam is probably on an island beach somewhere right now resting up from her “suicide.”

“Hava de guns, Hava de guns, Hava de guns and we be happy.”

Family in Landscape, Franz Hals; 1648

AND as regards contraceptives, there is a paradoxical, negative sense in which all possible future generations are the patients or subjects of a power wielded by those already alive. By contraception simply, they are denied existence; by contraception used as a means of selective breeding, they are, without their concurring voice, made to be what one generation, for its own reasons, may choose to prefer. From this point of view, what we call Man’s power over Nature turns out to be a power exercised by some men over other men with Nature as its instrument.

It is, of course, a commonplace to complain that men have hitherto used badly, and against their fellows, the powers that science has given them. But that is not the point I am trying to make. I am not speaking of particular corruptions and abuses which an increase of moral virtue would cure: I am considering what the thing called ‘Man’s power over Nature’ must always and essentially be. No doubt, the picture could be modified by public ownership of raw materials and factories and public control of scientific research. But unless we have a world state this will still mean the power of one nation over others. And even within the world state or the nation it will mean (in principle) the power of majorities over minorities, and {in the concrete} of a government over the people. And all long-term exercises of power, especially in breeding, must mean the power of earlier generations over later ones.

— C.S. Lewis, The Abolition of Man

The Statue of Liberty, or the Statue of Oppression?

Is the cult of liberty the desire to free man from the excesses of government in regulating the lives of the citizens?

No, because the facts of history tell us otherwise. The world has never known more oppressive governments or bigger governments than those which profess the cult of liberty. No governments have meddled more in the lives of their citizens. Since the abolition of the monarchies and the rise of democracies, the common man, the family and business have been subject to tyrannical oppression, emaciating taxation, as well as economic and social “engineering” which affects every aspect of life. The democracies of the past two hundred years make the most dictatorial monarchical regimes look like liberty fests. With democracy have come both liberalism and socialism, two sources of oppression for hundreds of millions of people, if not billions, over the past two hundred years.

 This fact tells us that the liberty which the cult of liberty seeks is not the freedom of the common man from big, oppressive, and tyrannical governments. It is a freedom from something else which the cult of liberty seeks.

— “The Cult of Liberty,” The Most Rev. Donald J. Sanborn

ALEX WITOSLAWSKI responds to recent commentary by Jordan Peterson on Jewish influence and success in America. This is an excellent rejoinder to Peterson, who seriously damaged his intellectual integrity on this issue. Witoslawski writes:

I’ll be the first to admit that I’m a fan of Dr. Jordan Peterson. His message about “cleaning your room” is spot on—everyone should seek to get their personal lives in order before they focus too heavily on activism. What he said about the power of speaking the truth helped forever change my life—it led me to embrace more radical ideas and advocate for them at great personal cost. And despite Peterson’s unverified claims about how he turned “thousands” of young men away from the alt-right, I know of several friends who followed a similar path from Peterson to more dissident right-wing ideas—and none who went the other way.

Regardless, the point here is that I have great respect for Jordan Peterson. But my respect for him did make his recent blog post about the Jewish Question so much more disappointing to me. Not because I disagree with Peterson on this issue—I can handle disagreement with others just fine, and to be honest I expect him to hold the views that he does because if he didn’t, he’d almost certainly get kicked off of Google, Twitter, YouTube, Facebook, and every credit card payment processor, lose positive coverage from Fox News, and probably get prosecuted for some kind of “hate speech” in Canada. In short, I don’t expect everyone to agree on the Jewish Question, and I don’t expect those who do to publicly come out and discuss it, because the personal cost of doing so is often too great.

No, it wasn’t my disagreement with Dr. Peterson that I found disappointing, but rather the unfair and, quite frankly, emotionally unhinged way that he covered the Jewish Question. Instead of giving his views in a fair and respectful manner, he was quick to poison the well by implying that anyone who disagrees with him is an evil pathological loser who believes in crazy conspiracy theories. Nothing could be further from the truth. [cont.]

(Disclaimer: As with all links at this website, this is not a blanket endorsement of content at the linked site.) Read More »

PHILIP GIRALDI writes for Unz Review:

If you want to understand what the “special relationship” between Israel and the United States really means consider the fact that Israeli Army snipers shot dead seventeen unarmed and largely peaceful Gazan demonstrators on Good Friday without a squeak coming out of the White House or State Department. Some of the protesters were shot in the back while running away, while another 1,000 Palestinians were wounded, an estimated 750 by gunfire, the remainder injured by rubber bullets and tear gas.

The offense committed by the Gazan protesters that has earned them a death sentence was coming too close to the Israeli containment fence that has turned the Gaza strip into the world’s largest outdoor prison. President Donald Trump’s chief Middle East negotiator David Greenblatt described the protest as “a hostile march on the Israel-Gaza border…inciting violence against Israel.” And Nikki Haley at the U.N. has also used the U.S. veto to block any independent inquiry into the violence, demonstrating once again that the White House team is little more than Israel’s echo chamber. America’s enabling of the brutal reality that is today’s Israel makes it fully complicit in the war crimes carried out against the helpless and hapless Palestinian people.

Pro-Israel spin

So where was the outrage in the American media about the massacre of civilians? Characteristically, Israel portrays itself as somehow a victim and the U.S. media, when it bothers to report about dead Palestinians at all, picks up on that line.  Read More »

THE CANADIAN author Michael O’Brien is an eloquent critic of the occult influences on children today, especially through fantasy literature. O’Brien is author of A Landscape With Dragons: The Battle for Your Child’s Mind (Ignatius) and Harry Potter and the Paganization of Culture (Fides et Traditio) . In a 2001 interview with Zenit.org, he summarized his objections to J.K. Rowling’s works. His points are relevant to much of popular culture:

Q: Many are critical of the Harry Potter books because they claim it is dangerous to expose children to witchcraft and the occult. What is your reaction to this?

O’Brien: I have read the four volumes of the Harry Potter series three times, and with each reading the serious defects of the novels appear in clearer light.

The most obvious problem, of course, is the author’s use of the symbol-world of the occult as her primary metaphor, and occultic activities as the dramatic engine of the plots. It presents these to the child reader through attractive role models, such as Harry and Hermione, who are students of witchcraft and sorcery. This has the potential of lowering a child’s guard—both subconscious and spiritual—to actual occult activity, which is everywhere and growing.

Rationally, children know that the fantasy element in the books is not “real.” But emotionally and subconsciously the young reader absorbs it as real. This is further complicated by the fact that in the world around us there are many opportunities for young people to enter the occult subcultures, where some of Harry’s powers are indeed offered as real.

Q: Critics of Harry Potter see a big difference between authors such as Tolkien and C.S. Lewis, who, they argue, use magical elements in a Christian way, and the books of J.K. Rowling, where magic is presented in a Gnostic and pagan fashion.

O’Brien: The differences are great, I would say absolute. The resemblance between the works of Christian fantasy writers and Rowling is only superficial. Yes, there is “magic” in both. Yet Tolkien and Lewis repeatedly warn about the danger of magic throughout their novels. Read More »

Resurrection (detail), Andrea del Castagno; 1447

EASTER
— George Herbert

Rise heart; thy Lord is risen. Sing his praise
Without delayes,
Who takes thee by the hand, that thou likewise
With him mayst rise:
That, as his death calcined thee to dust,
His life may make thee gold, and much more, just.

Awake, my lute, and struggle for thy part
With all thy art.
The crosse taught all wood to resound his name,
Who bore the same.
His stretched sinews taught all strings, what key
Is best to celebrate this most high day. Read More »

“THE Passion of Christ is the most important act in the history of the world. It is the axis on which the world turns, spiritually. Everything before it looked forward to it and everything after it looks back toward it. Humanity is now defined by its relationship, good or bad, to the Passion of Christ.”

— Bishop Donald Sanborn, Passion Sunday sermon, 2018

IN 1885, excavation of a building site on the Quirinal Hill in Rome uncovered an extraordinary remnant of the past. It was the Boxer at Rest, a life-size bronze statue from Ancient Greece, probably dating to the late fourth century, depicting a boxer resting between bouts. You can see him in this photo sitting on the earth at the excavation site and looking very much alive.

It was common then to uncover artifacts of antiquity underground — and any significant discoveries automatically belonged to the city of Rome — but this was far different from the typical find. One of the archaeologists working on the site recalled the amazing discovery:

“I have witnessed, in my long career in the active field of archaeology, many discoveries; I have experienced surprise after surprise; I have sometimes and most unexpectedly met with real masterpieces; but I have never felt such an extraordinary impression as the one created by the sight of this magnificent specimen of a semi-barbaric athlete, coming slowly out of the ground, as if awakening from a long repose after his gallant fights.”

I was fortunate to see this masterpiece when I went to the Palazzo Massimo museum in Rome this winter. I can attest to Rodolfo Lanciani’s impression. This is one of the most powerful and unforgettable of sculptures. When walking into the room in which it is displayed, one can’t help but be taken aback, as if one is in the presence of a living person, though from 2,400 years ago. The boxer, with blood on his head and leg, one eye bruised, is seated with his arms resting on his knees and his head tilted upward, as athletes who have just been through some great exertion often do to catch their breath. The statue probably once included eyes in stone but they are now gone. As the Metropolitan Museum of Art described it:

The boxer is represented just after a match. His muscular body and full beard are those of a mature athlete, and his thick neck, lanky legs, and long arms are well suited to the sport. His face exhibits bruises and cuts. His lips are sunken as though his teeth have been pushed in or knocked out. His broken nose and cauliflower ears are common conditions of boxers, probably the result of previous fights, but the way he is breathing through his mouth and the bloody cuts to his ears and face make clear the damage inflicted by his most recent opponent. The muscles of his arms and legs are tense as though, despite the exhaustion of competition, he is ready to spring up and face the next combatant.

The way he is sitting — as if poised to jump up again — suggests resilience, determination and intense preparation. Judging from his exhaustion, whomever this boxer’s opponent was, he wasn’t going to give up easily either. And that is what is inspiring — this boxer will continue until he has nothing left. He has given everything for this revered ancient sport and it isn’t just a game.

I thought of this sculpture today when visiting the grave of the writer Lawrence Auster, friend and colleague who died of pancreatic cancer five years ago today, in the early morning hours of Good Friday, 2013 and is buried at Sts. Peter and Paul Cemetery in Springfield, Pennsylvania. I thought of it not just because Mr. Auster admired Ancient Greek culture and would probably have liked this statue very much, but because he too was a tireless fighter. He could certainly throw a punch, not in the boxing ring but in the arena of cultural warfare, and he could get up again, even after he was beaten. Years of intense study had prepared him for battle.

That preparation is over. He too is now a boxer at rest.

But we can still appreciate, and participate in, the fight. Mr. Auster’s work is available as always at his website, View from the Right, much of it as timely as ever, and will be published in book form soon.

I hope others will be inspired by his combativeness for many years to come.

May his friends never forget his efforts. And may his soul, through the mercy of God, rest in peace.

Read More »

Arrest of Christ, ivory and traces of gilt; 1320

“[A]S NO one can handle flour without carrying some of it about with her, so no one can meditate devoutly and assiduously on the Passion without deriving great fruit therefrom.”

— St. Gertrude

Crucifixion, Alonso Cano; 1636

“THE WORLD IS A MYSTERY. Life, time, death, doubt, good and evil, and the uncertainty which hangs about our eternal lot, are all mysteries. They lie burning on the heart at times. But the Crucifix is the meaning of them, the solution of them all. It puts the question, and answers it as well. It is the reading of all riddles, the certainty of all doubts, and the centre of all faiths, the fountain of all hopes, the symbol of all loves. It reveals man to himself, and God to man. It holds a light to time that it may look into eternity and be reassured. It is a sweet sight to look upon in our times of joy; for it makes the joy tender without reproving it, and elevates without straining it. In sorrow, there is no sight like it. It draws forth our tears and makes them fall faster, and so softly that they become sweeter than very smiles. It gives light in the darkness, and the silence of its preaching is always eloquent, and death is life in the face of that grave earnest of eternal life. The Crucifix is always the same, yet ever varying its expression so as to be to us in all our moods just what we most want and it is best for us to have. No wonder saints have hung over their Crucifixes in such trances of contented love.”

— The Foot of the Cross, Frederick William Faber, D.D.

R. HOUCK at Countercurrents looks at the push for interracial couples by major advertisers. You see these ads everywhere. (WARNING: Immodest ads.) A political agenda, not simply a response to cultural change, is at work here. Houck calls it “anti-white,” but it is anti-black and anti-Asian too. Just ask ordinary black women who can’t easily find a husband, or Asian men who see more Asian women marry whites, how they feel about it. Houck’s right though: the goal is to weaken traditional American culture. The result is not good for white women as interracial relationships rise in number:

A 2015 study examined the outcomes of women that have children with black men, the results were staggering. Currently, 70% of black children are born out of wedlock, however when the mother is white and the father black, the rate jumps to 97%. 98% of white mothers studied reported the father does not support their children financially, 97% report the father is not in the child’s life, and 97% of the women have used welfare to help support themselves and their children. Only 10% of women that have children with black men out of wedlock end up marrying. The vast majority of white women that have children with black men live far below the poverty line.

As Houck notes, the advertising industry is largely in Jewish hands. This is widely acknowledged by Jews themselves. According to a prominent Jewish source:

In few modern industries have Jews had greater influence than in advertising, and this applies particularly in America. It has even been suggested that Jewish advertising men are responsible for the wide scope and shape of the modern advertising agency.

The promotion of interracial couplings is part of the Jewish war against the natural social order and organic society, in favor of an easily manipulated, globalist mass society. Interracial advertising is part of a longstanding psychological war. Read More »

WRATH OF GNON made this lovely meme and posted it at his Twitter feed, which I highly recommend. Thank you, Wrath!

With the Sheep, Samuel S. Carr

WILLIAMS SONOMA gives this recipe for Roast Leg of Lamb with Herbes de Provence and Potatoes. I have tried it and it makes a great Easter meal. It is not difficult and it is very good. I found the recipe in this beautiful book which I bought for $1 at a book sale.
 

“Hippies throughout the 1960s and 1970s continually protested and spoke out against the Vietnam war.  Many hippies did not like President Johnson or President Nixon, because of their active role in sending thousands of troops into Vietnam and Cambodia.  Hippies and other student movements and activists would protest and march in the streets with signs that said things such as, “Make Love, Not War” or “U.S. Troops Get Out Of Vietnam” or simply hold up peace signs.  They would also chant and sing through the streets and play music that promoted peace.” [Source.]

But why after 15 years of the destructive and ongoing War on Terror in multiple countries, why when there is even talk of war with Russia, is the leftist peace movement nowhere to be seen? Where are the hand-made signs and the crowds in the streets? Where are the rousing folk songs?

The answer is blowin’ in the wind: The Hippies made love. The left was co-opted by the Sexual Revolution.

It will not rise up against the pro-war Democratic Party because the Party is the only force that keeps them from moral panic. All that love created havoc and guilt. The Party says it’s progress. The Hippies and their descendants now live very complicated lives.

Hippie, peace-loving, anti-war women became corporate slaves with hippie sexual mores. They don’t have the time or energy to care. They even take their cues from Big Brother on TV — that’s how thin the old anti-establishment rhetoric turned out to be. The Hippies sold out themselves and they sold out their country.

It’s not a choice between love and war after all.

IN THIS MUST-SEE interview, Adam Green interviews 9/11 journalist and anti-war activist Christopher Bollyn. Some quotes:

“I have to tell you it’s very painful for me to see the suffering in America today. I see a lot of suffering. I see a lot of poverty. I see a kind of spiritual poverty because this is a nation that’s been deceived and abused. And you can’t be a happy people when your reality is based on deception….

The War on Terror is a two-edged sword. Of course we’re causing incredible harm in countries like Syria, Iraq and Afghanistan. But the other side of the sword is, it’s cutting us. It’s hurting America very, very badly…..

It’s essential that Americans wake up from this nightmare.”