ALAN writes:

I know exactly how Paul A. feels.  [“Hardships of the Single Life, cont.”, Sept. 2 ] He is only 50. I am 20 years older and intimately acquainted with the kind of life he describes.

“Everything is far away,” he wrote. And that is true. But I remember a time when it wasn’t true.  Cities once consisted of self-sufficient neighborhoods where everything was not far away.  Older men and women in St. Louis have written about how, during their childhood years, everything their family needed could be found within walking distance.  That was true for us in the 1950s.

Then came a variety of factors to explode that arrangement:  Motor vehicles, highways, the development of mass marketing, the invention of the teenager and then the youth subculture, the destruction of neighborhoods, and the surrender of local power and law to distant places, among others.  Alan Ehrenhalt discussed many of these factors in his 1995 book The Lost City: Discovering the Forgotten Virtues of Community in the Chicago of the 1950s, which I recommend.

I once knew an older man who lived alone for 50 years. He and his wife had separated and neither ever remarried.  In some ways, he told me, it was a terrible way to live, and it could be terribly lonely.  He was right.  I learned it, too, from long experience. (more…)

  LIGHTHOUSES are romantic vestiges of a less sophisticated time. Many historic American lighthouses have been destroyed, which is a shame, because the lonely vigilance of their resident lighthouse keepers and the stories of the lives they have protected make old lighthouses objects of fascination. My husband and I visited the Saugerties Lighthouse on the Hudson River this summer. The Hudson is one of the most beautiful rivers in the world and here, 110 miles north of New York City, where it wends its way through the Catskill Mountains, the river is surrounded by charming, low hills and lush foliage. The lighthouse is not far from where Henry Hudson stopped in Turkey Point in 1609 during his explorations along the mighty river. The first Saugerties lighthouse was constructed in 1834 at the mouth of the Esopus Creek off a swampy shore on land donated by Robert Livingston. The much larger existing lighthouse, completed in 1869, sits on a stone pier on 65-foot pilings in the water. The lights were initially illuminated by whale oil, later replaced by mineral oil and eventually electricity in 1947. Its oil lens was visible from ten nautical miles away. It was one of nine lighthouses from Albany to New York when the Hudson was a main commercial artery in the nineteenth century, providing transportation for passengers and essential goods with its direct connection to the Atlantic Ocean. Sailboats owned by the great estates that sprang…

  GOOD TIMES are good. Fun is very fun. Joy and happiness are necessary. But so is sorrow. Sorrow is necessary too. He who can not shed tears is lacking in compassion. For sickness, disappointment, loneliness, enmity, and death are always nearby. Sorrow opens our hearts to the truth of the human condition and to the mystical importance of the soul. Some are chosen to feel more sorrow. This is an undeniable fact. Equality in the department of suffering does not exist. (If you are hanging out with people who cannot give a plausible explanation for this disturbing inequality, you are hanging out with the superficial.) In this increasingly impersonal, alienated and artificial world, some may feel such intense sorrow, such a heavy load of sadness, that physical heart disease seems minor in comparison to this spiritual heart disease. Sorrow of this kind is a grace from God, who draws the sorrowful closer to Him. He appoints to them the office of grief for a reason. At the Foot of the Cross the second Eve fulfilled her destiny. She who had lived in human intimacy with God experienced complete sorrow, greater than any other, sorrow being a counterpart of love. This sorrow is the source of her great compassion, which is why millions of people have found consolation in suffering with her and appealing to her compassion. But why? Why this inner suffering? "What is the reason of all this suffering…

FELIX Kjellberg, the Swedish Youtube sensation who goes by the name PewDiePie (I’ve never heard of him before today), is the subject of a major news story.

Under pressure from his fans, PewDiePie, who reportedly has the largest Youtube audience in the world, rescinded a $50,000 donation to the Anti-Defamation League, which many of his followers claim is the country’s leading instigator of thought control and censorship. This is a big story because no one in popular culture publicly stands up to the ADL. But Kjellberg not only canceled the gift, he also apologized to his followers for even considering it. According to E. Michael Jones, this decision represents a “revolution in consciousness.” That may be an overstatement but it is true more and more people know that the ADL is a vicious organization that spies on Americans and ruins people’s lives when they express opinions the ADL doesn’t like. The ADL is a defamation league (not an anti-defamation league) deceptively operating under the mask of respectability, militantly supportive of Jewish nationalism while condemning nationalism for Americans, connected with organized crime, supported by political leaders of both parties and reminiscent of the Bolshevik Cheka, the secret police that terrorized Russians. The ADL terrorizes not just its opponents, but ordinary Jews too with scenarios of “hate” that cause paranoia and hysteria. The ADL is a major force behind censorship on the Internet, which is, again, why so many of PewDiePie’s fans were angered by his planned donation. The Internet has been purged in the last year of, among other things the ADL considers unacceptable, thousands of videos that explain and provide evidence for recent false flag mass shootings.

How was the ADL started? An adjunct of the international Jewish fraternal order and secret society (non-Jews excluded), B’nai B’rith, the ADL was started for the express purpose of defending murderer Leo Frank, who in 1913 [was accused of having] molested and brutally killed a 13-year-old girl, Mary Phagan, who worked in his factory. Frank [actually it was Frank’s defense team] then blamed it on a poor black janitor and cried “anti-semitism.” Ever since that time, the ADL has been doing the same, protecting Jewish criminals and smearing innocent Americans. Good for PewDiePie. Unfortunately, he too can certainly expect retaliation. It may happen now or it may happen later. But Jewish supremacists never forget. And they never forgive. (more…)

A LONGTIME reader sends an alternative scenario to the tragic life of Shakespeare’s Prince Hamlet. He wonders whether things would have worked out better if Hamlet had had a good therapist.  I’m not convinced, but it’s something for you to consider very seriously.

Cast: King Claudius, Queen Gertrude, Therapist, Hamlet (dual role with King)

Setting: Therapist’s office, three chairs, table. Therapist seated. Enter King Claudius and Queen Gertrude.

Therapist: The patient’s name?

Queen: Hamlet.

T: Please spell that.

Q: H-a-m-l-e-t.

T: First name?

Q: Prince.

T: Biological male?

Q: Oh, yes.

T: Health care provider?

Q: Denmark health-care system. (more…)

FROM THE comments on this Brother Nathanael video:

“Lucky” Larry Silverstein, a strip club owner and indicted drug smuggler, “felt a compelling urge to own them” and so it was he came to obtain a 99 year lease on the entire world trade center [sic] complex on 24th July, 2001 for just $114 million, despite the WTC complex no longer being economically viable and in need of a cripplingly expensive demolition, being filled with asbestos, but the costs of doing this legally were prohibitive.

“Lucky” Larry admitted on camera that he began planning to build an entirely new World Trade Center 7 (WTC-7) building one year before the 9/11 attacks had occurred.

Despite “Lucky” Larry being a mere leaseholder of the buildings, he was the sole beneficiary of the insurance payouts. He increased the insurance policies, when he signed the lease two months before the attack happened. The insurance was for 3.6 billion dollars, but he found an obscure clause in the insurance policy which enabled him to claim twice, one for each “attack!” Larry Silverstein scored more than $4.5 Billion in insurance money as a result of the destruction of his complex.

“Lucky” Larry usually had breakfast in “Windows on the World” restaurant (107th Floor North Tower) every single morning – except for one – Larry was absent from this routine meeting on the morning of September the 11th. (more…)

  ON THIS the 18th anniversary of 9/11, I join with all who remember that sad day, mourn those who died then and in its violent aftermath, and those who call attention to the discrepancies between the scientific evidence and the official story. Good can come from catastrophe. God would not let it happen otherwise. Start by learning more. Download an informative booklet on the science of 9/11 here.    

  S.K. ORR of Steeple Tea writes: I enjoyed the recent post "One Man's Break From Porn," and the link to E. Michael Jones' related book. I thought I would draw your attention to a novel about this topic, written by a man living in Hungary. The book is The City of Earthly Desire, and it takes place during the political upheaval in Eastern Europe in the late 20th Century. The author, Francis Berger, uses the novel as a scalpel to slice into the horrific world of pornography and the effect it has upon nations and individuals. I have never met Mr. Berger, but I consider him a personal friend as we regularly correspond. If you're interested, he blogs here. I have long believed that this novel deserves a wide audience. It is a brave book; it is not for the squeamish. But I see The City of Earthly Desire as a sort of lighthouse, standing above the treacherous waves and warning those who choose to see its beacon. May the good Lord bless and keep you, and may your guardian angel protect you during these dark times. Please keep up the good work on your blog.  

  WHENEVER I see a woman working as a highway flagger or as a policewoman or a security guard, I always think a stupid, outdated thought: Can't a man do that? Most of the traditionally male jobs women take are the easier ones. You never see women on the tops of roofs applying shingles or pruning trees 40 feet above the ground or at the tippy top of telephone poles. But even so, I still wonder, Can't a man do that? Recently, I met a female tow truck driver for the first time. She loves her job, of course. I asked her if she didn't have trouble getting 4,000 pounds of metal on a truck. "The machinery does most of the work," she said, and she was right. I watched as she hoisted our car onto her flatbed. I was very impressed. Still I wondered, Can't a man do that? I am reminded of the writer Taylor Caldwell's words about a woman who could never conceivably have been a tow truck driver --- her Aunt Pollie: "Aunt Pollie, clothed exquisitely and smelling delightfully of perfume, would go with her redoubtable Mama to twice-weekly matinees, then come home to prepare fragrant tea and bake luscious scones to be eaten with homemade strawberry jam. Though she had no modern washing-machine and used flat irons and hung out her laundry and had no vacuum cleaner and other "aids," she managed to look serene and…

THE MODERN WORLD hates innocence. It especially hates the innocence and serious limitations of Down Syndrome children, most of whom are now eliminated in the womb because they are seen as having no purpose in a hyper-careerist society. I mean, what’s the point in them living when they can’t go to college?

When that innocence, however, can be used to make Down Syndrome individuals figures of fun and perversion — well, then, the world applauds and suddenly sees purpose in their otherwise useless lives.

Exploiting the natural love of Down Syndrome adults for music and dance, an arts organization funded by the British government is marketing a theater troupe of adults who perform in drag. The troupe has performed in Europe and Canada, and supposedly a Republican congressman from Michigan  is the first to object. He refused to allow them to perform in a venue he owns. The Communist, Jewish ACLU has filed a complaint against him, stating he has violated the actors civil rights. Seriously, how sick can it get?

From The New York Times:

Over the past year, a small troupe of drag performers with Down syndrome has taken the stage in London, Stockholm, Oslo and Montreal, adopting flashy alter egos and basking in the crowd’s applause. They call themselves Drag Syndrome. (more…)

IN E. MICHAEL JONES’S latest book, a young man describes how he was cured (or so it seems) of all desire to view pornography.

It came to him in a flash. He was being used and exploited. Powerful interests want ordinary people to be preoccupied with sex and weakened by sin. Lust is a tool of political control.

Here is a letter the man wrote to describe his experience:

Dr. Jones,

I am writing anonymously because of the topic. I’d rather not even write this, but the joy of Our Lord demands that I do.

I’m male, good Catholic family. When I was 13, nearly 14, I discovered self-gratification. At the time I pretty much thought I had found my calling in life with self-gratification. I had some idea that the act was shameful, but I had no idea. I had seen some pornography, but I had enough sense to tell that porn – at least – is wrong. Perhaps a year-and-a-half later, my parents probably caught on to my self-gratification, and my dad dropped hints about how it’s a mortal sin. (more…)

ALAN writes:

One night last week, a thug with a gun robbed customers in Behrmann’s Tavern in south St. Louis. In 2005, a newspaper reporter described the tavern as “a quintessential corner bar across from St. Anthony of Padua Church in the heart of Dutchtown.” Quite right.  It has been there since 1933. It was there when my classmates and I crossed that intersection every day during our school years more than half a century ago. In those years, a Catholic supplies store was next to the tavern, followed by a shoe repair shop, a bicycle shop, a Post Office, and a barber shop. Catholic nuns who taught in the school lived across the street.

For 25 years, customers in the tavern were entertained by a woman pianist who played classic old songs like “Paper Doll” and “It Had to Be You.”

The tavern was pictured in a newspaper article in 2002, in which the writer claimed the area “offers a touch of Mayberry,” referring to the town  in “The Andy Griffith Show” from the 1960s. As soon as I read the article, I knew the writer was an idiot.

The article quoted owners of small businesses near the tavern as saying they “feel safe” walking in that neighborhood.

That was a fine example of kindergarten “journalism”:  Tell readers how people “feel;” don’t tell them the facts; don’t print the crime statistics; don’t print a comparison of crime statistics from that neighborhood from one year to the next and one decade to the next.

The writer quoted one resident as saying, “There’s a lot of architecture here, old buildings with good architecture. It’s like a little Mayberry…”

Are you laughing as hard as I did when I read that line? You should be. Now we know that the fictional town of Mayberry had an extremely low crime rate. Selective quotation by this journalist led readers to think that “a touch of Mayberry” could be seen even in a real-life neighborhood that—unlike Mayberry—had been made “inclusive, diverse, and multicultural” by force of law. That is what he and the people who paid him to write such things wanted their readers to believe. But was it true? Let’s weigh and consider that idea: (more…)

TRUMP’S job is to play the role of the bumbling villain, to give Democrats and leftists something to rage about, to make the Federal Reserve and the banking elites look like the “good guys”, and to lure conservatives into denying reality on the economic crisis until it is too late.

— Brandon Smith

Thanks to Steve and Fitzpatrick Informer for the links.

[This video makes some good points, but the idea that the Catholic Church and the Jesuits are Masonic is absurd and false since no institution has issued more warnings against Freemasonry than the Catholic Church. More papal encyclicals have been written about Freemasonry than any other single issue, all of them strongly condemning it and warning Catholics that Masons face an eternity of suffering. Catholics are automatically excommunicated from the Church upon becoming Masons. There is Masonic infiltration in the Church, especially in the last 100 years, and that’s not surprising as the Church is Enemy No. 1 for the brotherhood. Also, I disagree that this was a deliberate revelation by Trump. He seems to have revealed that he is a Mason — as if we didn’t know with his constant, obvious Masonic hand signals — in a spontaneous way.] (more…)