TODAY, the Feast of the Purification of the Blessed Virgin, or Candlemas, is the last day of the liturgical Christmas season.

The angel-lights of Christmas morn,
Which shot across the sky,
Away they pass at Candlemas,
They sparkle and they die.

Comfort of earth is brief at best,
Although it be divine;
Like funeral lights for Christmas gone,
Old Simeon’s tapers shine. (Source)

Above is one more beautiful carol for the season.

It is based on the story of King Cnut, also known as Canute, and his visit to Ely Abbey on Candlemas in the eleventh century. Canute, of Denmark, was famous for his brutality in his invasion of England. “He came as an invader and ruthless destroyer, and by a change of temperament as remarkable as it was far-reaching in its effects, remained to rule, in justice and peace, a people whose part he wholly espoused. ” (Source)

The Clerk of Oxford tells the story:

“King Cnut was making his way to Ely by boat, accompanied by Emma, his queen, and the nobles of the kingdom, desiring to celebrate solemnly there, in accordance with custom, the Purification of St Mary, starting from which date the abbots of Ely are accustomed to hold, in their turn, their position of service in the royal court. When they were approaching the land, the king rose up in the middle of his men and directed the boatmen to make for the little port at full speed, and then ordered them to pull the boat forward more slowly as it came in. As he turned his eyes towards the church which stood out at a distance, situated as it was at the top of a rocky eminence, he heard the sound of sweet music echoing on all sides, and, with ears alert, began to drink in the melody more fully the closer he approached. For he realised that it was the monks singing psalms in the monastery and chanting clearly the Divine Hours. He urged the others who were present in the boats to come round about him and sing, joining him in jubilation. Expressing with his own mouth his joyfulness of heart, he composed aloud a song in English the beginning of which runs as follows: (more…)

ANOTHER excerpt from Confessions of a Medical Heretic (Contemporary Books, 1979) by Robert S. Mendelsohn M.D. (read online for free): When hospitals started relaxing visiting hours, they didn't do it because they realized that people should be allowed to be with their family. They did it because pediatrics was dying and the beds in the pediatric wards were empty. They would have done anything to get children in there -- let mothers, fathers, siblings, cats, or dogs in for a visit! Obstetrics is dying, too. People want to have their babies at home, not in the hospital. So today they'll let anybody in the delivery room, husband, sister, mother, boyfriend ... anybody! As long as they get the revenue. What they're counting on is that people will be lulled into feeling that the hospital really is the place for them, that the Temple really can save them. Of course, it can't. The Temple has nothing to do with health. There are no facilities in hospitals for health or for any of the things commonly recognized as contributing to health. The food is as bad as you'd find in the [138] worst fast food drive-in. There are no facilities for exercise. All the personal factors that can make you well or keep you healthy are removed -- family, friends, and sense of self. In no uncertain terms, when you walk into a hospital, you are surrendering -- "Here | am, totally unable to help…

ROBERT S. Mendelsohn M.D. was a practicing physician for over 25 years. He was Chairman of the Medical Licensing Committee for the State of Illinois, Associate Professor of Preventive Medicine and Community Health in the School of Medicine of the University of Illinois, and received awards for excellence in medicine and medical instruction.

In his 1979 book, Confessions of a Medical Heretic, he denounced his profession and said modern medicine is religion, not science:

I believe that Modern Medicine’s treatments for disease are seldom effective, and that they’re often more dangerous than the diseases they’re designed to treat.

I believe the dangers are compounded by the widespread use of dangerous procedures for non-diseases.

I believe that more than ninety percent of Modern Medicine could disappear from the face of the earth — doctors, hospitals, drugs, and equipment — and the effect on our health would be immediate and beneficial.

I believe that Modern Medicine has gone too far, by using in everyday situations extreme treatments designed for critical conditions.

Every minute of every day Modern Medicine goes too far, because Modern Medicine prides itself on going too far. A recent article, “Cleveland’s Marvelous Medical Factory,” boasted of then Cleveland Clinic’s “accomplishments last year: 2,980 open-heart operations, 1.3 million laboratory tests, 73,320 electrocardiograms, 7,770 full-body x-ray scans, 24,368 surgical procedures.” (more…)

DO not be vexed at the contradictions you meet in ordinary intercourse, for they give an opportunity to practice the most precious and amiable virtues, which Our Lord has recommended to us. Believe me that true virtue is no more reared in outward repose, than good fish in the stagnant water of a swamp. How shall we prove our love for God, who has suffered so much for us, if not among contradictions and repugnances? ----  St. Francis de Sales  

FROM The Broad Stone of Honour; or, Rules for the Gentlemen of England by Kenelm Henry Digby (Rivington, London; 1823): No man will be so hardy or so insensible as to deny the genius and the inimitable humour evinced by the author of Don Quixote, but with respect to the moral tendency of that work as affecting the ordinary class of mankind, in this or in any age, there will arise quite a legitimate subject for discussion. Many are the men of reflection who think with me that it is a book never to be read without receiving melancholy impressions, without feelings of deep commiseration for the weakness and for the lot of human nature.   What is the character of the hero in this history? It is that of a man possessing genius, virtue, imagination and sensibility, all the generous qualities which distinguish an elevated soul, with all the amiable features of a disinterested and affectionate heart. Brave, equal to all that history has recorded of the most valiant warriors: loyal and faithful, never hesitating on the fulfilment of his promise; disinterested as he is brave, he contends but for virtue and for glory; if he desires to win kingdoms it is only to bestow them upon Sancho Panza; a faithful lover, a humane and generous warrior, a kind and affectionate master,  a gallant and accomplished gentleman — and this is the man whom Cervantes has represented as the…

"HUMAN society may be likened to two great circles, one revolving within the other. In the inner circle rules the woman. Here she breeds and trains the material for the outer circle, which exists only by and for her. That accident may throw her into this outer circle is, of course, true, but it is not her natural habitat. Nor is she fitted by Nature to live and circulate freely there. What it all amounts to is that the labor of the world is naturally divided between the two different beings that people the world. It is unfair to the woman that she be asked to do the work of the outer circle. The man can do that satisfactorily if she does her part, that is, if she prepares him the material. Certainly, he can never come into the inner circle and do her work." -- Ida Tarbell, investigative journalist and author  

FROM “Have We Lost Our Common Sense?” Dr. Jonathan Dolhenty, Ph. D:

“Our culture and society today are decidedly under the influence of a philosophy of Subjectivism, an unrealistic, and even anti-realistic, philosophy which is both relativistic and pragmatic. Subjectivism is the result of the intellectual battle which has waged between the philosophies of Idealism (actually Idea-ism) and Materialism (or Naturalism) for the past several centuries.

“According to Subjectivism (whether Idealist or Materialist), there is no such thing as objective truth (truth is relative) and there are no objectively defined, universally true principles of moral behavior (morality is relative). This has led to the current situation which is permeated with intellectual chaos, resulting in disastrous practical consequences for everyone.

“There is little doubt among knowledgeable observers that our present age is on the verge of conceptual collapse. If Subjectivism is valid, then all truth is relative, and the laws of physics and the laws of civil society are simply arbitrary. If Subjectivism is valid, then morality is merely a matter of opinion and personal taste, and personal responsibility is simply a figment of our collective imagination. Subjectivism also undermines empirical science, undermines the entire concept of jurisprudence, and undermines any attempt to promote a human and humane morality. We are all subject to the whims of the moment and are all victims of the latest public poll. (more…)

"IT is an advantage to all narrow wisdom and narrow morals, that their maxims have a plausible air, and on a cursory view appear equal to first principles. They are as light and portable; they are as current as copper coin, and about as valuable. They serve equally the first capacities and the lowest, and they are at least as useful to the worst men as to the best." -- Edmund Burke  

LOST DAYS ---- Dante Gabriel Rossetti The lost days of my life until to-day, What were they, could I see them on the street Lie as they fell? Would they be ears of wheat Sown once for food but trodden into clay? Or golden coins squandered and still to pay? Or drops of blood dabbling the guilty feet? Or such spilt water as in dreams must cheat The throats of men in Hell, who thirst alway? I do not see them here; but after death God knows I know the faces I shall see, Each one a murdered self, with low last breath. ‘I am thyself, — what hast thou done to me?’ ‘And I — and I — thyself,’ (lo! each one saith,) ‘And thou thyself to all eternity!’  

STEVE writes:

Americans, especially white, middle-aged con-servatives, have an insatiable appetite to be conned, deceived and betrayed! They are the utter personification … and perfection of ‘golem.’

A good example — but there are legions — is this article in Breitbart last September, urging conservatives to take the vax so they can “Own the Libs.” These controlled-opposition groups couldn’t possibly be any more blatant, and utterly pathetic. Yet so many keep falling for it.

Believe me, you can always “TPECT” con-servatives.

Operation Trust (операция “Трест”[1]) was a counterintelligence operation of the State Political Directorate (GPU) of the Soviet Union. The operation, which was set up by GPU’s predecessor Cheka, ran from 1921 to 1926, set up a fake anti-Bolshevik resistance organization, “Monarchist Union of Central Russia”, MUCR (Монархическое объединение Центральной России, МОЦР), in order to help the OGPU identify real monarchists and anti-Bolsheviks.[2] The created front company was called the Moscow Municipal Credit Association.[3] (more…)

ALAN writes: I've decided to partake of the World Economic Forum's "Fourth Industrial Revolution." I am now working from home. Here are two snapshots to prove it. In the first, you will see that I am hard at work in my unmentionables as I arrange books by the Dewey Decimal System.  Afterward I was exhausted from reading all those names and numbers.  So I took a nap. When I awoke, still in my jammies (second picture), I had a brilliant inspiration for my next work project:  A Deep Research essay on the Interdimensional Intersectionality of Higher Learning, Advanced Gullibility, and Modern Advertising Slogans when correlated with phases of the moon and the paramount question: How many times can Feminist TV Anchors say “Awesome!” in a single newscast?  An alternate idea that occurred to me is a study of correlations between Fauci's bank accounts, multiple levels of no-account bureaucrats, and the astronomical increase in Americans' gullibility over the last forty years. I aim to publish my Deep Research in the Journal of Psycholinguistic Imponderables or the Journal of Nescience, Nonsense, Non-Knowledge, and Non-Entities (whichever pays more). For breaks during working hours, I watch Looney Tunes. For even better laughs, I listen to Fauci-the-Carnival Barker’s latest medical advice in each day’s new episode of Follow the Flim-Flam Artist.    It is imperative for Comrades like us to pursue such Deep Drivel…..er, I mean Deep Research…..in opposition to Dissenters who must be Debunked, Demeaned, Defamed, Denounced, Derailed, Deplored, Deplatformed, Deconstructed,…

"WHAT we most need in our day are men conscientiously and invincibly attached to principle, — God-fearing, self-respecting, nobly independent while reverencing the rights of others, — incapable of betraying their conscience, their trust, or their honor; men uniting to the vigor of body inherited from chaste and temperate ancestors and sustained by personal virtue, to the strength of soul which true piety begets, that dignified and gentle courtesy which is only the flower and perfume of Christian charity." --- True Men as We Need Them: A Book of Instruction for Men in the World, Fr. Bernard O'Reilly, 1878