ClOUDS are cheap. We don't pay a dime for them. We take them for granted or, even worse, misunderstand them. They entertain and enshadow, magnifying to immense proportions the proposition that life is ever-varying shades of grey. Boredom is just a state of mind -- not reality -- when clouds are in the sky. The plumes, puffs, phantasms and pillows parade across the local heavens. Few days are completely bereft of clouds in May and June, at least where I live. Brides keep planning their weddings as if thousands of June weddings hadn’t been obscured and dampened by banks of Cumulonimbus. This is cloud-denial, a common psychological condition. Cloud deniers always act surprised when spring is cloudy. They have a fixed, illusory image of a cloud-free spring --- a delusion resistant to all past experience. Spring propagandists, including many poets, have spread this myth. May skies are sometimes so overcast we turn on the lights during the middle of the day. Cumulus clouds are to June what snow is to January. They accumulate in the lower atmosphere and sometimes extend in massive, vaporous monuments upward into the stratosphere. Cumulus mediocris look like shredded cotton balls. Cumulus humilis are more reminiscent of clotted cream. Cumulus congestus create muscular heros, suggestive of so many shapes it is not surprising Zeus was believed to create the image of his wife, Hera, out of a cloud. (The cloud was violated and Centaurus was conceived.) Each Cumulus cloud is “the…

“THE child needs father and mother; but it does not need them only as some think, alternately, now the father’s influence and then the mother’s or in some things the father’s influence and in other things the mother’s. The child needs the father’s masculine influence and the mother’s feminine influence always together, the two streams uniting to pour their fructifying influence through the child’s life into the life of humanity.”    ---- Felix Adler, Marriage and Divorce, 1915  

  

ALAN writes:

A million tomorrows shall all pass away, Ere I forget all the joy that is mine today.

More than twenty thousand tomorrows have now faded away since I first heard the lovely song with those words in 1964. But I have not forgotten all the joy that was mine in years long ago — because my mother made it possible.

Which is not to say that those years were filled only with joy. Far from it.

When I was a boy, my mother gave me everything a boy could hope for, and those were years of countless joys.  But there was one thing she didn’t give me, because she couldn’t. That was paternal authority. She tried her best to provide something equivalent, but it was ersatz authority and largely ineffectual.  She gave me chores to do around the house, but they were pseudo-responsibilities, not real responsibilities like those that she and her brother learned by necessity in their childhood home in the 1920s-’30s.  Checks and balances were generally in place in my boyhood home, but were not always enforced as firmly and consistently as they might have been.

The problem with my childhood was not that it was too hard but that it was too easy. (more…)

KATHY G. writes in this entry about outdoors activities being "racist": This whole narrative makes no sense. Non-white people must be made to feel "welcomed" to the outdoors? Who welcomed whites? There was no one handing out boots and backpacks. The people pushing this nonsense have made no secret of their hatred of white people. So why are they trying to make non-whites act and value what white people do? Taking a boombox into a rural/park area to blare a particular music is an aggressive behavior, designed to intrude on the solitude and peace of nature, and is simple attention-seeking. I suspect that is really the agenda, to deprive white people of another tradition/activity that they enjoy, insinuating that there is something hateful about it. The hatred is projected, is actually against whites, and the extent of it is incomprehensible to logical, right-thinking, moral people.  

JUST a quick, visual reminder here that the inflation you are seeing today is no accident nor was it caused by some economic force of nature. I'm no economist, but I know enough to say Operation Covid is ongoing. Image source  

ALAN writes:

When everyone around you is claiming that two and two equal five, it requires both an independent mind and a good deal of moral courage to disagree and speak the truth.

It takes even more moral courage to stand confident in opposition to “public opinion”, “Liberals”, Feminists, Communists, Fabian change agents, anarchists, Do-Gooders, “innovators”, “new ideas”, “new approaches”, ad hominem attacks by trolls, character assassination by those who resent achievement and hate the good for being the good, racketeers who call themselves “The Law” and “The Government”, and last but not least, the “mass media”, who are — as Dr. Bruce Charlton wrote ever so correctly — our “enemy headquarters”.

To oppose all such adversaries and persist in thinking for oneself is seemingly a simple act but actually a heroic act, according to George Orwell, when assumed in an age of monumental decadence and lies officially called truth.

The Thinking Housewife is one such courageous voice.  For 15 years now, Mrs. Laura Wood has presented independent thought, dissenting ideas, and views on current events that are sharply at odds with the Official Truth proclaimed by the Occupation Government and it’s innumerable fronts. (more…)

From a sermon, “The Ascension of Our Lord,” by the Rev. William Graham:

In the beautiful panorama of hill country that unrolls to the eye of a pilgrim looking eastward from Jerusalem there is no point of view so picturesque or at the same time so rich in sacred memories, as Mount Olivet. Rough and narrow is the stony path winding to its summit, but its many associations more than repay the cost of ascent. On its lower slopes lies the Garden of Olives, lovingly tended by the Franciscan Fathers, who point out the spots in and around where Christ’s agony and prayer began and ended. The brook Cedron that He crossed with His disciples on the sad night of His betrayal He must also have passed in His risen body on His way to the hill, whence while they looked on He was raised up. Alas! a Mohammedan mosque now crowns the spot, and the followers of the prophet point out by favor a stone bearing the imprint of a foot, which, piety suggests, was left by the ascending Christ. Even they, however, reverence the spot consecrated by the last steps on earth of the great prophet Issa. (more…)

FROM a meditation on the Ascension of Jesus Christ from an Old English poem, Christ I, posted by Eleanor Parker at the wonderful blog on medieval England, Clerk of Oxford:

Then suddenly a loud clamour
was heard on high: a throng of heaven’s angels,
a brightly shining band, heralds of glory,
came in a company. Our king passed
through the temple roof while they gazed,
they who remained behind the dear one still
in that meeting-place, the chosen thegns.
They saw the Lord ascend on high,
God’s Son from the ground.
Their minds were sorrowful,
hot at heart, mourning in spirit,
because they would no longer see
the dear one beneath the heavens. The celestial heralds
raised up a song, praised the Prince,
extolled the Source of life, rejoiced in the light
which shone from the Saviour’s head.
They saw two bright angels
beautifully gleaming with adornments around the First-begotten,
the glory of kings. (more…)

“[T]HE famous Fitzwilliam Museum in Cambridge has issued a warning to viewers of this John Constable painting of Hampstead Heath.

“It has a “darker side” because it implies that ‘only those with a historical tie to the land have a right to belong [in Britain].’ This painting is from around 1820. I guess Constable should have included some Pakistanis.

“This ridiculous ‘warning’ is part of a ridiculous fashion of claiming that the British countryside ‘excludes’ non-whites.” (Source)

(Ridiculous? I would call it despicable and dangerous agitprop with the intention of dehumanizing an entire race of people.) (more…)

ANNE Kirkpatrick was sworn in last fall as as New Orleans police chief. She apparently is a skilled and industrious administrator with a long resume and a reputation as as “reformer.”

But whenever I see a woman in a police uniform, especially in the role of police chief, I see a person in costume. Nothing more. The 64-year-old Kirkpatrick in appearance, if you can disregard the uniform, reminds me of the older women who staff the annual herb sale nearby. (You can see her in action here and here.) Doesn’t New Orleans have some tough neighborhoods? If you were head of a criminal gang would she inspire fear? But then as a female mayor once put it, police departments are repulsive when they have a “toxic, macho culture.”

To me, a woman police chief is a case of social transgenderism and make-believe. Someday the world will be filled with enlightened people who think otherwise, who think it’s normal for women to command what is essentially a military operation in a crime-ridden city, but in the meantime, sick reactionaries like me exist.

A police officer, clearly of the “toxic, macho culture” type, once wrote to me:

Female sensibilities being applied to police work is the biggest reason that criminals are not scared of the police anymore. There should be a feeling among the criminal element that they might be physically hurt if they want to cross a certain line or if they want to fight a police officer. That feeling is largely absent now, due to misguided liberal policies and female sentimentality guiding policy.

That was back in 2010. Today, there are 300 women police chiefs and many thousands in the ranks.

Kirkpatrick was previously police chief of Oakland, California for some two-and-a-half years.

In addition to executive leadership experience, Kirkpatrick is a National Instructor for the FBI’s Law Enforcement Executive Association’s Leadership Training Program, where she instructs on topics including, but not limited to, Bias and Diversity, Emotional Intelligence and Leading Generations. (Source)

“Emotional Intelligence?” Not the kind of expertise you expect in a police chief. It’s the kind of expertise you expect in a government nanny. (more…)

 HAVE both sides joined together to rebuild Gaza with American tax dollars? "They're going to make it a nice Mediterranean beach area," says Fakenukes Phil, who has been documenting suspicious deaths and injuries in Gaza war. Video link. (This is not a blanket endorsement of Fakenukes.) The incited campus protests have their own benefits, fueling Communist-style unrest and raising the specter of anti-semitism, which is ever-profitable for Jewish organizations.  

FROM Dom Guéranger’s Liturgical Year:

Today, again, the great Litany, the Supplication, is heard in the House of the Lord: the solemn Procession re-appears in the streets of the city, and in the quiet lanes of the country. Let us take our share in this sacred rite; let us blend our voice with that of our Mother, and join the cry that pierces the clouds: Kyrie eleison! Lord have mercy on us! Let us think, for a moment, of the countless sins that are being committed, day and night; and let us sue for mercy. In the days of Noe, all flesh had corrupted its way; but men thought not of asking for mercy. The flood came, and destroyed them all, says our Savior. Had they prayed, had they begged God’s pardon, the hand of his justice would have been stayed, and the flood-gates of heaven would not have been opened. The day is to come, when, not water, as heretofore, but fire is suddenly to be enkindled by the Divine wrath, and is to burn the whole earth. It shall burn even the foundations of the mountains; it shall devour sinners, who will be resting then, as they were in the days of Noe, in a false security.

Persecuted by her enemies, decimated by the martyrdom of her children, afflicted by numerous apostasies from the faith, and deprived of every human aid, the Church will know that the terrible chastisement is at hand, for Prayer will then be as rare as Faith. Let us, therefore, pray; that thus the day of wrath may be put off, the Christian life regain something of its ancient vigor, and the end of the world not be in our times. (more…)

MONDAY, Tuesday, and Wednesday before Ascension Thursday are known as Rogation Days in the true Catholic Church — days of penance and prayer before the great feast marking Christ’s departure from earth.

Can we do better than participate in this ancient custom this week?

The goal of these days, the great 19th-century French monk Dom Prosper Guéranger explained, is “to appease the anger of God, and avert the chastisements which the sins of the world so justly deserve; moreover, to draw down the divine blessing on the fruits of the earth.”

Stern, old-fashioned language!

But really new compared to nature worship — and much more fulfilling. Guéranger continues:

The Monk of St. Gaul’s, who has left us so many interesting details regarding the life of Charlemagne, tells us that this holy Emperor used to join the Processions of these three Days, and walk bare-footed from his palace to the Stational Church. We find St. Elizabeth of Hungary, in the 14th century, setting the like example: during the Rogation Days, she used to mingle with the poorest women of the place, and walked bare-footed, wearing a dress of coarse stuff. St. Charles Borromeo, who restored in his Diocese of Milan so many ancient practices of piety, was sure not to be indifferent about the Rogation Days. He spared neither word nor example to reanimate this salutary devotion among his people. He ordered fasting to be observed during these three Days; he fasted himself on bread and water. (more…)

BRING FLOWERS OF THE RAREST

Bring flow’rs of the fairest,
Bring flow’rs of the rarest,
From garden and woodland
And hillside and vale;
Our full hearts are swelling,
Our glad voices telling
The praise of the loveliest
Rose of the vale.

Chorus:
O Mary! we crown thee with blossoms today,
Queen of the Angels, Queen of the May,
O Mary! we crown thee with blossoms today,
Queen of the Angels, Queen of the May. (more…)

Source

TRUMP made this country so much better. Millions accepted a loss of freedom they never would have accepted if a Dem had won. Lesson learned: It’s better to have natural rights abolished and billions paid out by your guy, than the other team’s guy. (more…)

“THIS documentary explores the highly controversial subject of the design of America’s capital. Was the city built to reflect the majesty of America’s newfound freedom? Or the hidden agenda of secret societies? With every major cornerstone laid by Freemasons, was the city built in a Masonic pattern? Embark upon this incredible journey as Riddles in Stone interviews experts on both sides of the heated debate. Watch as Freemason apologists defend some of the most direct and hard-hitting questions concerning the influence of Masonry in America, and its symbolism in Washington, D.C. Alongside them are leading researchers who maintain that occult architecture permeates the city, and conceals a secret agenda. Was D.C. laid out according to the pattern of the stars? Is there really a pentagram in the street layout north of the White House? Does a Masonic square and compass extend from the Capitol building to the Washington monument? And why is the city filled with zodiac symbols, mysterious faces, and various god and goddess images? If America was founded as a Christian nation only, where are the images of Jesus Christ? Or does Washington D.C. symbolize another Christ, the Masonic Christ?”

—Christian J. Pinto (more…)