THIS piece by the composer John Williams was written for the movie The Patriot,  a film which I have never seen and will probably never see. This music, performed here so beautifully by the U.S. Air Force Heritage of America Band, expresses to me the hopefulness of patriotic America at its best, and I post it today on Veterans' Day in respectful memory of all those who have died fighting in wars, but also that it may inspire you to believe that this country can someday embrace true freedom, something it has never truly possessed. True freedom is the freedom to follow God's will as the creatures we are. Patriotism is a love of this distinctive search for nobility.

“ANONAMOUSE” writes:

Well, someone had his phone at the ready [in Thousand Hoax, California]. We’re supposed to believe the mass killer posted on Instagram whilst shooting his victims.

Also not to be missed — the grieving Christine Leinonen-esque mother.

This is becoming tedious, and I don’t really know what to think anymore.

Laura writes:

Please send her your prayers and thoughts. (more…)

ALAN writes:

This photograph was taken in 1950 by Philip J. Hasser for a magazine published in St. Louis. It shows a savvy customer at Ed’s Ice Cream Parlor on Chippewa Street in south St. Louis.

Observe the metaphysical essence in this photograph: The little girl grasping the cup in anticipation of a delicious treat, handed to her by a Catholic high school student who worked there; the dress on the girl and the blouse and skirt on the woman at left, perhaps her mother (no pants, no blue jeans); and the cleanliness of the storefront.  And then imagine the metaphysical setting—the context of cultural rules, standards, and manners—within which countless scenes like this one were once common in American towns and cities.

A woman who grew up one block from there in the 1930s-‘40s wrote:

 “Ed’s Ice Cream Parlor was ‘the’ place to go after a movie or a date.  It was home-made ice cream and 5 cents for a large scoop.  The sodas and sundaes were delicious….  These memories are very vivid to me and I feel very fortunate to have been a child in those less stressful times.”

                       [Louise Workman McDonald, Letter to the Editor, South Side Journal, Jan. 23, 2000]

From 1958 to 1962, I lived within walking distance from the corner where that ice cream parlor had been.  A small movie house was across the street from Ed’s Confectionary (he lived upstairs).  Another movie house was two blocks away. People did not drive to those places; they walked there.  Another ice cream parlor was four blocks away. A store that sold electric trains was one block away (the owner lived upstairs). There were barbershops and corner taverns along Chippewa Street. (more…)

  REST YOUR weary mind with French composer Gabriel Fauré's Pavane (1845-1924), which evokes the Spanish court dance of the same name.

MANY of the commenters on Youtube are suspicious of this report about an alleged shooting at a bar in Thousand Oaks, California. Isn’t it nice to see that many people have caught on? They note that the two women in a pink blanket seem like actors. Judge for yourself. One of them managed to count the number of shots (18-20) in the rounds of the semi-automatic weapon while she was supposedly standing in the crowd under heavy gunfire. She also says “they” were throwing smoke bombs during the shooting. Who is the “they?” The women appear to be almost laughing.

Here is another report from CBS. Many commenters are not buying the strangely calm reaction and very specific details of these alleged heroes. These two will never get a crisis actor award. They’re the bottom of the barrel. No tears, no bodies. No “utter chaos.” The cell phone cameras that are everywhere in America manage to miraculously disappear when it comes to mass shootings. Another day, another psy-op.

(more…)

GAVIN NEWSOM, the newly elected governor of California, helped his mother commit suicide in 2002. The story was initially reported by The New Yorker, which interviewed Newsom about it, and most recently by National Review. His mother was suffering from breast cancer and her son was apparently not enthusiastic about caring for her. According to The New Yorker:

Newsom’s sister, Hilary, said that when their mother had breast cancer, in her fifties, he was difficult to reach. “Gavin had trouble explaining to me how hard for him it was to be with her when she was dying, and I had trouble explaining to him how much I needed him,” she said. “Back then, he seemed like the kind of guy who would never change a diaper.”

In May, 2002, his mother decided to end her life through assisted suicide. Newsom recalled, “She left me a message, because I was too busy: ‘Hope you’re well. Next Wednesday will be the last day for me. Hope you can make it.’

I saved the cassette with the message on it, that’s how sick I am.” He crossed his arms and jammed his hands into his armpits. “I have P.T.S.D., and this is bringing it all back,” he said. “The night before we gave her the drugs, I cooked her dinner, hard-boiled eggs, and she told me, ‘Get out of politics.’ She was worried about the stress on me.”

Newsom, who claims to be Catholic (but not in “an indoctrinated way,”) supports abortion, same-sex “marriage” and physician-assisted suicide  murder. At the time of his mother’s death in San Francisco, assisted suicide was a felony. Newsom’s parents divorced when he was two. He also is divorced, and has “remarried.” (more…)

SOME analysis from Michael Hoffman: Here (below) we reprint two brief analyses of the election. The first, by Gerald Seib, demonstrates that the nation, despite the mass media being biased against the GOP with a malice seldom witnessed since the days of yellow journalism, did not abandon or repudiate Trump. The base stood by him despite a hellstorm of media calumny and the Deep State’s last inning “October surprise” in the form of the dreadful Pittsburg synagogue massacre, and fake “mail bombs” sent to Democrats. The second takeaway is from the New York Times and shows the degree to which the Democrats are depending on the replacement of us with a population transfer from the Third World in order to gain power. We conclude with a few ominous words from Patrick J. Buchanan illuminating an unstated fact — that in the final analysis it may be true that what killed our American dream was our collective refusal to have the three children per couple that is the bare minimum necessary to continue our existence as a people. The fault is ours. No politician, including Trump, has placed the blame where it truly belongs.[cont.] Mr, Hoffman has made an especially good point in the last paragraph. If Americans had continued to have children and not embraced the mortal sin of contraception, we would not face this disaster because open borders would have been rejected in the early stages.

We believe that there is a place called purgatory, in which the souls who depart this life without being perfectly cleansed from all imperfections are detained and must suffer until they have fully satisfied the justice of God. This faith is founded upon Scripture, tradition, and reason.  Read more here.

“GRATEFUL READER” writes:

“Catharsis on the Mall–Waking from the American Dream” is a public event that will take place on the National Mall in Washington, D.C. this upcoming Veteran’s Day Weekend. The event appears to be three days of resentment, pornography, yoga, other occult activities and scapegoating, with “Avant-Garde art,” a “Graphic Sex Project,” a “Healing Earth Altar” and the burning of an enormous, lifelike statue of a naked woman.

It’s an annual “quasi-religious retreat… in the spirit of communal and individual healing.” Beware the web-page photographs, some are ghastly. Read more here. (more…)

  IF democracy is so great, how come politicians don't talk about some of the most important issues? Here's a documentary that I hope will keep you balanced on Election Day. If voting really made a difference, it would be illegal.

JOHN TAYLOR GATTO, the public school teacher who waged war against public schools, died at the age of 82 on October, 25, 2018.

I enjoyed Gatto’s writings when I discovered them many years ago, especially his books, Weapons of Mass Instruction and Dumbing Us Down: The Hidden Agenda of Compulsory Schooling.

This is an excerpt from his essay, “Against School:”

I taught for thirty years in some of the worst schools in Manhattan, and in some of the best, and during that time I became an expert in boredom. Boredom was everywhere in my world, and if you asked the kids, as I often did, why they felt so bored, they always gave the same answers: They said the work was stupid, that it made no sense, that they already knew it. They said they wanted to be doing something real, not just sitting around. They said teachers didn’t seem to know much about their subjects and clearly weren’t interested in learning more. And the kids were right: their teachers were every bit as bored as they were. (more…)

ALAN writes:

I would suggest….that Western society today [ 1973 ], deluded into complacency by its technological sophistication and neglectful of the things of the spirit, is in the condition of a blind man tottering precariously on the edge of a cliff:  In such a situation, it is wisdom itself to counsel an immediate halt, then a step backward….

“Great literature is that which over centuries has sustained and elevated….  Such art involves a prodigious effort and concentration on the part of its creator and demands a cultivated response from its audience.  As such it is exclusive, in terms of both those who create it and those who can appreciate it.  It necessarily constitutes a minority culture and is therefore to be detested and feared by most contemporary artists and writers, with their egalitarian aims and allegiance, reinforced by the financial rewards of catering to an undiscriminating mass market…..

— Professor Duncan Williams, “The Liberty of Privacy,” National Review, Dec. 21, 1973, p. 1408

Imagine what he would say if he were here today and could see the extent to which modern Americans have ignored his thoughtful and sensible advice. (more…)

HALLOWEEN offers a vision of the damned. The Feast of All Saints offers a vision of heaven.

O Christ, Thy guilty people spare!
Lo, bending at Thy gracious throne,
Thy Virgin Mother pours her prayer,
Imploring pardon for her own.

Ye Angels, happy evermore!
Who in your circles nine ascend,
As ye have guarded us before,
So still from harm our steps defend.

Ye Prophets and Apostles high!
Behold our penitential tears;
And plead for us when death is nigh,
And our all-searching Judge appears.

Ye Martyrs all! a purple band,
And Confessors, a white-robed train;
Oh, call us to our native land,
From this our exile, back again. (more…)

FROM The Anti-New York Times:

What … “The Editorial Board” of The Anti-New York Times would like to specifically address in today’s rebuttal is the use of the word “stuns” in the headline — “Growing Anti-Semitism Stuns American Jews.” And we truly do believe that many of the self-chosenites are indeed “stunned.” (more…)

THE excesses of Halloween — both its commercialism and occult grotesqueries — have led some Americans to reject the day altogether. It’s no wonder. Even normal days are creepy and horror-filled — with people walking around with purple hair and fish hooks in their faces. Halloween has likewise become so extreme in some places it seems like a trip to a super-commercialized corner of hell.

A Protestant writer has turned his back on Halloween:

“Even little girls as young as three years old are being dressed up in sexually provocative costumes. What kind of message does this send to them?”

His concerns are valid. But he then claims a scriptural basis for totally condemning Halloween celebrations:

The Scriptures are very clear about this sort of thing.  Deuteronomy 18:9-13 says the following: “When you enter the land the Lord your God is giving you, do not learn to imitate the detestable ways of the nations there. Let no one be found among you who sacrifices his son or daughter in the fire, who practices divination or sorcery, interprets omens, engages in witchcraft, or casts spells, or who is a medium or spiritist or who consults with the dead. Anyone who does these things is detestable to the Lord”.

Is a child who dresses up as a princess, monster or ghost really engaging in witchcraft and sorcery?

Some Catholics also are eschewing Halloween and opting for All Saints Day parties instead. Children dress up as saints instead of witches or ghosts.

But let’s face it. It’s just not as much fun to dress up as a saint as it is to dress up as a sinner. For this day, it should be okay to be a swashbuckling pirate or a princess with excess jewelry. That isn’t the same thing as endorsing piracy or vanity. It isn’t Catholic to condemn fun or categorically ban images of demonic evil — think of all the hideous gargoyles on medieval cathedrals.

Halloween, though secularized, has Christian meaning. One of the purposes of the day is to remind us of hell. And hell is scary.

Fish Eaters offers some history:

The Vigil of, or evening before, All Hallows’ (“Hallows’ Eve,” or “Hallowe’en”) came, in Irish popular piety, to be a day of remembering the dead who are neither in Purgatory or Heaven, but are damned, and these customs spread to many parts of the world. Thus we have the popular focus of Hallowe’en as the reality of Hell, hence its scary character and focus on evil and how to avoid it, the sad fate of the souls of the damned, etc. (more…)

  SEQUELS to this video here.

FROM Chuck Baldwin: To know whether a politician—especially a President—is in the pocket of the Deep State, look no further than the way he or she wages war. And anyone who is even halfway objective and awake can see that Donald Trump has become one of the Deep State’s most effective servants. I’ll say it straight out: The Deep State doesn’t hate or fear Donald Trump; it loves Donald Trump, because Donald Trump is the warmonger’s warmonger. Donald Trump is on a pace to drop more bombs and kill more innocent people during his first four years in office than Barack Obama did during eight years in office. In fact, Trump is dropping a bomb somewhere in the world every 12 minutes. 

CAROLYN F. writes:

I was surprised by your answer to H.F. (possibly because of this post). To me this is a no-brainer. She should stop studying to be a doctor. Even though she says it was her decision to study medicine, and not the decision of her parents, their expectations of her to “earn a professional degree” likely have played a role in the career path she’s chosen. Also, who knows the degree to which our feminist-run society has also influenced her to have a demanding career and put marriage and motherhood on the back burner.

Why should she set herself up for the problem of the “mutual exclusiveness” of being a homeschooling mom and a physician, if she does meet someone to marry and has children (despite her thoughts about the nobility of celibacy)?  (more…)