July 22, 2013
MANUEL VALLS, the French Minister of the Interior, is pictured here observing the end of the Ramadan fast at the Grand Mosque of Paris last week. A day later, French police were busy subduing riots of Muslims in Trappe in the Versailles region. The riots began after police attempted to fine a woman for wearing a full burqa.
July 22, 2013
KARL D. writes:
A British columnist for the Daily Mail named Liz Jones gives her opinion on why Kate Middleton, who is reportedly in labor the hospital today, should not have a child. In one short article, Jones reveals herself to be the anti-human leftist and feminist that she is.
July 22, 2013
DON VINCENZO writes:
Much to my surprise, the extent of the continuing decline of the traditional, nuclear family has now become a fact of life in a place that I thought it would not happen as quickly: Italy. In an article in the Italian national newspaper, Corriere della Sera (July 10, 2013), the Italian government reported that the number of children born to non-married couples has increased steadily. As a national average, from 8.1 percent in 1995, 20.4 percent in 2009, it now has reached 24.5 percent in 2011.
The north led the way with the area of the Alto Adige reaching nearly 42 percent, and the lowest in the southern region of Basilicata at 10.3 percent. Read More »
July 22, 2013
A READER from Croatia writes:
I am your faithful reader for two years now, but this is the first time that I’m writing to you. Excuse my grammar. I haven’t written a letter in English for some time. I’m from Europe — Croatia to be exact. I study law but in my spare time have many interests one of which is frequent visits to your blog. Please receive my admiration for your activity.
I think Alexander Solzhenitsyn said in his Harvard address that nothing is forbidden in the West, but there is a fine mechanism which separates fashionable ideas from the ones which are not fashionable. From that time, this mechanism has gotten a little uglier. Read More »
July 20, 2013
Photo by Kidist P. Asrat
KIDIST P. ASRAT, at Reclaiming Beauty, writes about the linden tree here and here. The linden is of the Tilia genus of trees and is also commonly called the lime tree or basswood. It has heart-shaped leaves and yellowish-green, fragrant flowers.
When I think of lindens I think of Tolstoy, who grew up among lime trees at his estate Yasnaya Polyana and mentions them in his books, including in this scene from Anna Karenina in which Levin and his wife Kitty, who is with their baby son, get caught in a thunder storm:
July 20, 2013
PAUL writes:
If you don’t like the status of your porcelain johns or other crusty deposits around the sink, consider CLR (calcium, lime, rust). It is amazing stuff that I rarely use but is a miracle cleaning agent. It is a highly effective acid but won’t burn you unless you leave it on your skin for minutes or more.
July 20, 2013
IN HIS remarks yesterday about the Trayvon Martin case, Obama spoke of the times he has been profiled as a black man. The New York Times reports:
But in the most expansive remarks he has made about race since becoming president, Mr. Obama offered three examples of the humiliations borne by young black men in America: being followed while shopping in a department store, hearing the click of car doors locking as they cross a street, or watching as women clutch their purses nervously when they step onto an elevator. The first two experiences, he said, had happened to him.
“Those sets of experiences inform how the African-American community interprets what happened one night in Florida,” Mr. Obama said. “And it’s inescapable for people to bring those experiences to bear.” Read More »
July 19, 2013
IN a rambling, convoluted and contradictory statement meant to address the “pain” felt by the “African American community,” Obama today blamed the Zimmerman verdict once again on racism, stating, “Trayvon Martin could have been me 35 years ago.” He said whites — a word he never uses but that is implicit in his message — use the facts of black violence as an “excuse” to treat blacks differently. So much for the president’s respect for the verdict of a jury.
Was the president saying that 35 years ago, he was the sort of person who would have said these things to his friends and pummeled a man who stopped him so hard that he broke his nose and left gashes in his head? No, Obama doesn’t mean that. He was playing on widespread denial of the facts. Obama blamed whites for the high rates of black criminal convictions by referring to the “history of racial disparity in the application of our criminal laws.” He said:
The African American community is also knowledgeable that there is a history of racial disparities in the application of our criminal laws — everything from the death penalty to enforcement of our drug laws. And that ends up having an impact in terms of how people interpret the case.
Notice the way he attributes something that he believes to “the African American community” so that he can comfortably make the outrageous assertion that our judicial system is corrupt and blacks are often unjustly convicted of crimes and unjustly executed. Imagine being told by your president that you and your people are being sent to jail and killed for no reason. His wording next is very clever as he seems to contradict himself and back away from this assertion but in the end he returns to his basic point that blacks are not responsible for their criminality: Read More »
July 19, 2013
MY OLDER SISTER, Clare, is an extremely talented cook. This has been true for a long, long time. Many years ago, when I was 12 or so, she made the batter for a Lady Baltimore layer cake in my bedroom late at night. The cake was for a boyfriend’s birthday and she hid the baking bowls under my bed. I never tasted it, but it looked delicious. Then there was the time years later when she created a stunning red pepper tart. She placed it on the front seat of the car in transit to some important event. When she braked suddenly it flew off the seat and somehow landed on her braking foot. As she had to accelerate, the tart was smashed underfoot.
But this sort of mishap never deters her. Clare owns a restaurant today and she continues her brilliant cooking adventures. One of the best recipes she has ever given me is for corn salad, which I have made many times in the summer. It requires cutting fresh corn from six to eight ears and then boiling or steaming it until it is just done. Then add lots of chopped fresh basil, cut-up fresh tomatoes, scallions, chopped onions (preferably sweet) and salt and pepper. Make a dressing by slowly adding in a steady stream ½ cup olive or vegetable oil (I prefer corn oil) to ¼ cup cider vinegar mixed with two teaspoons Dijon mustard, one tablespoon lemon juice and salt and pepper. Mix it all together and refrigerate.
July 19, 2013
HENRY McCULLOCH writes:
In a letter Thursday to House Speaker John Boehner and Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, some 93 Catholic presidents and several professors urged passage of a bill “that includes a road to earned citizenship,” according to the National Catholic Reporter.
Can anyone recall the last time U.S. Catholic college presidents as a group pressured any politicians about abortion? [Laura writes: Or about same-sex “marriage,” divorce, contraception laws and affirmative action?] I can’t. Read More »
July 19, 2013
GALLIAWATCH reports that the recent derailment of a train near Paris, which caused the death of six passengers, was the work of criminals who damaged the tracks. People were seen throwing rocks at the train after it derailed and attempting to loot the bodies. [A reader below says it has not yet been determined that the damage was deliberate.]
July 19, 2013
Eve Offering Adam the Apple, Lucas Cranach the Elder
JOHN writes:
What you wrote here about the myth of “balance” for women is so good that I just wanted to write and thank you for it. You have the courage to state truths that others are afraid to say, even those others who to some extent support traditional roles. I wish I had something witty or brilliant to tack on to what you said, but I really don’t have anything more to add except “Wow!” and “Thank you”!
July 19, 2013
DAN R. writes:
Liz Cheney to the rescue of the Republican Party!
Despite declaring her support for “the family as the fundamental building block of society,” her father came out in favor of “gay marriage” several years ago upon the very public knowledge that her sister is lesbian. Lynn Cheney, her mother, wrote a novel from way back which even included a lesbian love scene or two. Any bets where she might tilt? In her announcement that she will run for the U.S. Senate in Wyoming, Liz Cheney pays tribute to her grandmother who became the first female sheriff in her Wyoming county. Cheney has five children, the youngest of whom isn’t even in school, and here she is, the very model of a major feminist politico. Who says feminism is the exclusive province of the Democrat Party? Read More »
July 18, 2013
HERE is one of the most chilling articles I have ever read. The New York Times reports that a seven-month old boy was kidnapped by his own mother, who reportedly has “a history of mental illness.” The child was being held at a “child welfare” agency when the mother walked away with him. Never once in the report by Winnie Hu and J. David Goodman do the journalists question the official description of the mother or the idea that a child can be a possession of the state. An alert message was sent out on cellphone networks to hundreds of thousands of New Yorkers at 4 a.m. Wednesday. The mother was on the run in a city of government-controlled automatons. Needless to say, she was “located” a short time later.
From the article: Read More »
July 18, 2013
KAY writes:
I have quietly read your blog for awhile. I have found many stories that resonate with me and have helped me to realize that I am not some weird throwback to a different time. I would like to share a very long story about two girls raised in the same family. The first girl is regularly told about white privilege and how lucky she is. The second girl is told her problems are a result of racism. They are even told these things by the same members of the family they share. Neither is told her place in the world was dictated by the choices she has made and even the choices of her parents.
July 17, 2013
Maj. Sarah Armstrong in men’s dress blues (The Army Times)
N.W. writes:
I’ve thought of writing a couple times recently, but every time I thought to write about some new assault on our freedom or some new disgrace it just felt like one more inevitable beat upon the tiresome drum of progress.
I thought to mention the article about sexual mores at Penn State where having anything more than a one-night stand is passé. I also thought about sending a post from Ms. about how the new tween girl cartoon “Monster High” rehashes all the same outdated ideas about femininity. I figured you’d already seen how mass murdering Islamic jihadists are the new cool, per Rolling Stone, and heard about the Tsaernevs’ teen and tweenie fan club.
As I said, I just didn’t see much point in writing to you concerning all of that tiresome agitprop.
However, I came across one piece today that was so predictable, and yet so amusingly original that I figured I’d pass it on: the United States Marines are looking for a few good “gender neutral” uniforms. Read More »