FROM “Free Market Follies” by Oliver Heydorn:

Lately I have been reflecting on the views of the conventional economic ‘right-wing’, as represented by ‘neo-liberals’, adherents of the Austrian school of economics, ‘capitalists’, economic libertarians, and so forth. It seems that whenever someone suggests that radical changes need to be made to the reigning financial or economic model – a suggestion which, in essence, must be a plea for some kind of intervention on the part of the public authority – those who are more or less satisfied with the existing system and find themselves on the ‘right’ of the economic spectrum regard the suggestion quite reflexively as an intolerable attack on the free market and an affirmation of ‘socialism.’ I have found this attitude, and the rhetoric which often accompanies it, curious for four major reasons, reasons which I will want to outline in this article. (more…)

FROM “A Conspiracy Against the Catholic Church? The True Popes Speak” at Novus Ordo Watch:

In 1994, former member of the Vatican’s honor guard Franco Bellegrandi caused quite a stir when he published his book Nikita Roncalli: Counterlife of a Pope (free PDF here). Bellegrandi had worked in the Vatican from the late 1950s to the mid-1960s, that is, during the entire reign of “Pope” John XXIII. Later he became a correspondent for the Vatican’s own in-house newspaper, L’Osservatore Romano(more here). In his explosive book, Bellegrandi revealed, among other things, that the election of Angelo Roncalli (John XXIII) and later Giovanni Montini (Paul VI) had been pre-arranged by Marxist-Masonic forces behind the scenes:

In the Vatican’s high spheres it was indeed no secret that after Pius XII, the coming Conclave would elect Venice’s patriarch Roncalli, who, in turn, would “bring” on the See of Peter Giovanni Battista Montini. From Milan, the Brescian bishop with the owl-gaze, whom in Rome they nicknamed “Hamlet,” or the “Cat,” was pulling the strings of a colossal game, with the precious help of a group of powerful prelates among which distinguished themselves Belgian cardinal Leo Jozef Suenens, Dutch Bernard Jan Alfrinck, and German Agostino Bea, with the secretive support of international Marxism. That colossal game that would upturn the contents and the aspect of the Church, of Italy, of Europe, and of the whole world with all its established checks and balances, needed, to get in motion and develop, a formidable “battering ram.” (more…)

  THIS 2005 documentary by Clifford Carnicom covers the case for "chemtrails," or the deliberate aerosal spraying of particulate matter by jets deployed to combat "global warming." Here is a definition of chemtrails from Global Skywatch: "Chemtrails" is the name given to plumes emitted by aircraft in the sky. "Geoengineering" is the name used to define the intentional process of altering - or "engineering" - the Earth's atmosphere. A rapidly-growing number of people and organizations in numerous industrialized countries now believe chemtrails are visible artifacts of current geoengineering programs. In November 2010, the U.N. attempted to regulate them. Mounting evidence suggests that the millions-of-tons of aluminum and barium particulates purportedly used in geoengineering programs explains the dramatically-increasing aluminum and barium levels in sampled water and soil tests. Scientists in several countries have linked recent plant and animal die-offs to aluminum and/or barium toxicity drawing even more attention to global geoengineering programs. Although scientists and activists are calling chemtrails "The issue of the century", mainstream news has only brushed upon this subject leaving the public generally unaware of - what is now called - "The world's largest aerial operation in history". If you look at the skies where you live, you may find compelling evidence for this secretive spraying program. The Carnicom Institute states: "Aircraft are now repeatedly dispersing materials into the upper atmosphere at flight altitude, roughly from 35,000 to 40,000 feet. These materials expand rather than evaporate and they usually transform into an unsightful haze that over the recent years…

BILL SARDI catalogues some of the purely social costs of feminism. No nation has ever survived this type of disintegration for long.

Certainly it is odd, a “hard saying,” that Jesus rose by His own power into the sky — the Ascension celebrated today — and was bodily assumed into heaven. You can imagine the oddness of it by gazing at the faces in this great painting. But is a miracle any odder, really, than the existence of everything?

That God can work miracles, cannot be denied. God has made the laws of nature, and at any time it pleases Him, He can suddenly suspend them, and that God has at times done so, we have more solid and undeniable proofs than we have for the most renowned and best authenticated facts of history; (more…)

As with the rest of Trump’s “conservative” rhetoric, his "pro-life" rhetoric is just that: rhetoric. When the rubber meets the road, Trump is ALL TALK. Oh, he cut $50 million from Planned Parenthood (PP). Big deal! That's only 10% of the federal budget for America's largest abortion provider. Under Trump, PP is still receiving $450 million of annual taxpayer funding. Trump and the GOP controlled Washington, D.C., for 2 whole years and did absolutely NOTHING to end legal abortions in this country. Coincidentally, G.W. Bush and the GOP completely controlled D.C. for 4.6 years, and they did absolutely NOTHING to end legal abortion, either. My, what a coincidence! But the State of Alabama passing pro-life legislation that criminalizes abortions in that State (including aborting babies conceived via rape and incest) is a direct challenge to the ignoble Roe v Wade decision legalizing abortion-on-demand and handed this “pro-life” President a golden opportunity to actually do something besides TALK. Now this “pro-life” President had an opportunity to truly support a law that directly challenges Roe—the murderous law Trump has repeatedly said he wants to overturn. So, Trump came out strongly in support of the Alabama law, right? WRONG! As noted, this “strongly pro-life" (Trump’s words) President came out in OPPOSITION to Alabama’s pro-life law, saying it went “too far. --- Chuck Baldwin

  IN HONOR of all Americans who have given their lives in war, here is the second movement of Antonin Dvořák's Symphony No. 9, also known as the New World Symphony, written when the Czech composer was living in this country. I hope you will be sorrowful but optimistic, like this famous music. Honor our dead by remembering their sacrifices and resisting wars of foreign intervention and aid to aggressive nations. Say no to war. Say no to the "War on Terror," which has lasted for more than 15 years. Bring Americans home.    

ALAN writes:

You quoted remarks by Allan Bloom on the vile noise called “rock music.”

More than 60 years ago, Frank Sinatra said rock and roll music is “the most brutal, ugly, degenerate, vicious form of expression it has been my displeasure to hear…..  It fosters almost totally negative and destructive reactions in young people.  It is sung, played, and written for the most part by cretinous goons and by means of its almost imbecilic reiterations and sly, lewd—in plain fact dirty—lyrics…..”

Forty years ago, Professor Dwight Murphey wrote:

        “…..the reality with regard to outdoor rock concerts is that they cater, at least in the cultural milieu of the past few years, to potential audiences that include to a significant degree an element of society that has very little respect for the rights of others, for authority, for the police, and indeed for the basic values that cement together a civilized community.”

      [Dwight D. Murphey, “No Outdoor Rock Concerts in Chisholm Creek Park.”]

All three men were right.

The most significant thing about “rock music” is not that it is vile, ugly, filthy noise, although it is; not that it represents anti-civilized values, although it does; and not that it is intended to promote degeneracy, although it is and does.  The most remarkable thing is that older generations of Americans agreed to accommodate it as easily as they did.

I can remember a time when Americans could shop in retail stores and markets, dine in restaurants, wait in doctor’s offices, do their banking, attend sporting events, and walk or ride along city streets without having the noise called “rock music” imposed on them.  That time is long past.  Nearly all such civilized settings are now shattered by the noise called “rock music.” (more…)

"[R]OCK music has one appeal only, a barbaric appeal, to sexual desire — not love ... but sexual desire undeveloped and untutored ... rock gives children, on a silver plate, with all the public authority of the entertainment industry, everything their parents always used to tell them they had to wait for until they grew up ... Young people know that rock has the beat of sexual intercourse ... Never was there such an art form directed so exclusively to children... The words implicitly and explicitly describe bodily acts that satisfy sexual desire and treat them as its only natural and routine culmination for children who do not yet have the slightest imagination of love, marriage or family. This has a much more powerful effect than does pornography on youngsters, who have no need to watch others do grossly what they can so easily do themselves. Voyeurism is for the old perverts; active sexual relations are for the young. All they need is encouragement."  -- Allan Bloom, Closing of the American Mind, pp. 73-74 [quoted here]

THE heavy metal rock musician Jon Bon Jovi is now an academic star of the Ivy League. On Monday he was awarded an honorary doctorate of music by the University of Pennsylvania, joining other famous scholars, such as Dolly Parton, Oprah Winfrey and Kanye West, who have all in recent years won advanced degrees from American universities or colleges. The university explains:

Since forming in 1983, Bon Jovi has sold more than 130 million albums, earning status as one of the world’s best-selling musical groups, and has performed in more than 50 countries for over 37 million fans.

Oh my! He has millions of fan. Give that man a doctorate. He deserves it.

Bon Jovi once expressed his credo:

“I wanted to rebel against anything and everything, and it happened that I was able to do it by playing rock and roll in a band.” (Metal Edge, Aug. 1987, p. 12).

What a heady message for students who have just stepped off (perhaps) the treadmill of competitive education, where for more than 15 years they have toiled and finally won the privilege of saying, “I’m a graduate of Penn” (without ever finding out what life means.) And in all those years, they never could rebel against the demanding prerogatives of relentlessly competitive education, which strangely and consistently avoids answering the interesting question of what life means aside from “working hard and playing hard.” Thanks, Bon Jovi, for rebelling for us and making us feel like rebels when we’re not. Give that man a doctorate.

The more demanding, expensive and unforgiving Higher Ed becomes the more it celebrates empty gestures of rebellion and idols of nihilism like Bon Jovi. Interesting how Penn graduates tolerate this insult to intellectual accomplishment — don’t celebrities have enough awards of their own? But then they don’t teach too much strenuous thinking at Penn. Increasingly, to be a scholar is to be a propaganda artist, a political agitator or an entertainer.

Awarding a heavy metal musician an honorary doctorate in music is like awarding Satan an honorary doctorate in theology. Here is Bon Jovi engaged in heavy scholarship. But you have probably heard his achievements playing loudly on the speakers at your local pharmacy, supermarket, mall, gym or gas station. Corporate America loves to inject this rebel’s music into your veins! Perhaps you are even one of his 37 million rebels.

“I ain’t gonna do what I don’t want to,” says Bon Jovi in his song “Have a Nice Day.” Slaves like to think that too. (more…)

PEOPLE who are married and raising children sometimes look on those who live alone with feelings of envy or superiority. The single do not have the stresses they have. Boy, things must be easy for them! They don’t have to wake in the middle of the night to feed babies or drive children to all kinds of activities or do much laundry. They don’t have certain daily irritations that come with living with others. They don’t have to work to understand a spouse. Their bills are much smaller too. Why do they need to worry much about anything?

The single life is in some ways easier, but the single person who through choice or circumstance is single for many years or for life has hardships that are not often recognized. The loneliness is recognized but not other daily burdens.

The single have the hardship of worrying about everything themselves. Their future stretches before them and they alone are responsible for it. In a way, they never have time off because they can’t say to someone else, “You take care of it for now.”

They may have close friends with whom they share their thoughts, but will those close friends be there to make them soup when they are sick? A single person may live in a small apartment, but it is still a household that has to be maintained. And he can’t pass the burden on to someone else. There’s no one else to take the car to the shop or wait for the appliance repair man to show up.

I have noticed that people who are single for a long time are often very focused on the necessities of life and it’s understandable that they are. If they lost a job, it would matter even more. Sometime their friends may expect them to have lots of extra time to do things for them, and they may have the time. But the business of survival may be too consuming for that. If you have a single friend and sense a shadow of anxiety, this may be why. The independence of modern life is especially concentrated for them. If you feel as if you have no time off because you are busy raising children, remember that your friend has no time off from his own survival.

For 29 years, my husband and I have lived next door to a man who lives by himself. (Not voluntarily; his wife left him decades ago.) He’s now getting pretty old. These last few days I have noticed that his grass is uncut and he appears to be away because there are no lights on at night. His absence has made me marvel at all the years he has cut the grass himself and cleaned the gutters and paid the bills — and just survived on his own. He has always been pleasant and uncomplaining. He has never once invited pity.

No one has been a burden to him — but he has not been a burden to anyone.

And there’s something heroic in that. (more…)

  FOR thousands of years, music and drugs have been used to induce trance-like states, mob ecstasy and demonic experiences that are seen by the initiated as forms of higher consciousness. It started with tribal drumming. It has been reborn in rock and techno. Today music and drugs are channels for controlled rebellion. The Satanic forces in this world want you to hate your own soul.

  "WHAT we call death (separation of soul & body) is something temporary, i. e., until the resurrection at the Last Judgment. The real death is the death of the soul through mortal sin, a death that has no end if we happen to depart from the present life in such a state. The reason why grave sin is called 'mortal' is because it takes away the supernatural life of the soul. The greatest evil is sin. The only evil is sin. The consequences of sin are eternal." --- Fr. Nicolas Despósito