Colcannon

A staple in my novel The Paradise Tree. From Irish Central:

Colcannon with its unique and simple recipe has become popular around the world. It normally includes chopped kale or green cabbage mixed with hot, floury mashed potatoes. This simple recipe is an ideal one to make with the kids. The word colcannon is from the Gaelic "cal ceannann," which literally means "white-headed cabbage."

In the past, charms were mixed in with the colcannon. Depending on what charm you found it was seen as a portent for the future. A button meant you would remain a bachelor and a thimble meant you would remain a spinster for the coming year. A ring meant you would get married and a coin meant you would come into wealth. Others filled their socks with colcannon and hung them from the handle of the front door in the belief that the first man through the door would be their future husband. (Read more.)

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Without The Save Act, We are Living in a Slave State

 From Welcome to Absurdistan:

Did John Thune get a clench in his noble behind when eye-patch-pretend-pirate-guy lost his primary? Added to Trump’s relentless pressure Thune has, grindingly, consented to refer the Save Act to a vote, possibly next week.

Thune is, like most elected Republicans, pretendian MAGA counting the days when he can go back to playing defence and lining his pockets. The fact that voter fraud has deprived the Republicans of a clear unbreakable majority for THREE election cycles is clearly beyond him. He is functionally retarded. Or a shark committing treason.

John Solomon on Wednesday:

John Thune has scheduled a potential vote as early as next Thursday for the Save America Act…and it will be a flesh-it-out sort of moment for whomever is on board with a proposition that’s 85 percent popular in America… it’s really a roll call so that the grassroots efforts can then begin for the White House to target the people that should be in favor of this and aren’t.” Episode 5207, Bannon’s War Room, 3.11.26

Thanks to the 2020 steal, the grass roots is woken all the way up and targeting RINOs is their next step. They will enjoy it.

Therein lies the threat to established order. The obvious theft of 2020 and the Covid lying/bullying/cheating/stealing scam, the latter deliciously revealed by the White House on Thursday, activated the adults out in the Great Flyover. People who know the way the world actually works, saw how badly it wasn’t working. For decades they have been experiencing an almost imperceptible decline, where their lives and most particularly their childrens’ lives were being foreshortened by crooks. As is clear from the estimated $1 trillion a year stolen from all of us. (Read more.)

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Bards

It has always fascinated me how the telling of stories was held in high regard in Irish culture. Here is a little history:

In medieval Ireland, bards were one of two distinct groups of poets, the other being the fili. According to the Early Irish law text on status, Uraicecht Becc, bards were a lesser class of poets, not eligible for higher poetic roles as described above. However, it has also been argued that the distinction between filid (pl. of fili) and bards was a creation of Christian Ireland, and that the filid are were more associated with the church.^[3]

Irish bards formed a professional hereditary caste of highly trained, learned poets. The bards were steeped in the history and traditions of clan and country, as well as in the technical requirements of a verse technique that was syllabic and used assonance, half rhyme and alliteration, among other conventions. As officials of the court of king or chieftain, they performed a number of official roles. They were chroniclers and satirists whose job it was to praise their employers and damn those who crossed them. It was believed that a well-aimed bardic satire, glam dicenn, could raise boils on the face of its target.

The bardic schools were extinct by the mid 17th century in Ireland and by the early 18th century in Scotland.

The bards played an important role in preserving the traditions and legends of the Irish people, as well as their genealogical connections. Stories were passed on through poems, songs, ballads and the loricas. According to one article:

Bards are found in Celtic cultures (Ireland, Scotland, Wales, Manx and Brittany) and a rough equivalent can be found in Norse culture, too, where they were known as "scops."

There is no real equivalent to the Celtic Bard in Anglo-Saxon England, however.

In Ireland and Scotland, the use of the word "Bard" apparently fell into some disrepute, as the records we have show that the Bard was simply a minor poet, while the "filidh" (seer) or the "ollave" (master poet) occupied the former status and functions of the Bard....

The word "Bard," in Wales, denoted a master-poet. In Ireland it meant a poet who was not an Ollave, one who had not taken all the formal training. Apparently even the lower-status Irish Bard was on a level with the Welsh Bard in knowledge and poetic education, however, and these were what I have termed "hedge-bards," above.

In the Celtic cultures, the Bard/Filidh/Ollave was inviolate. He could travel anywhere, say anything, and perform when and where he pleased. The reason for this was, of course, that he was the bearer of news and the carrier of messages, and, if he was harmed, then nobody found out what was happening over the next hill. In addition, he carried the Custom of the country as memorized verses...he could be consulted in cases of Customary (Common) Law. He was, therefore, quite a valuble repository of cultural information, news, and entertainment.

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Feminism vs. Feminine Mystery in Film

 

 I first saw Jessie Buckley in War and Peace as Princess Maria, whom she portrayed with depth and sincerity. And she has done well in other things I have seen her in, I have been really impressed. Such a shame she chose this vile film; she is probably being poorly advised. From Mark Judge at Chronicles:

Take the rage of modern feminism, the scourge of pornography, and add classic Hollywood movie musical and horror elements, overlap with an insane storyline, sew them all together, give the resulting monster a jolt of pointless modern violence, and you’ve got the new movie The Bride! It is, quite possibly, the worst film I’ve ever seen.

Here’s the plot—and no, this is not a joke. The Bride! is set in 1930s Chicago. Frankenstein’s monster (Christian Bale), or “Frank,” is living in the Windy City. Suffering from loneliness, he visits Dr. Euphronious (Annette Bening), a surgeon who specializes in reanimating the dead. Frank is matched with a recently murdered woman named Ida (Jessie Buckley). Ida, it turns out, was murdered shortly after she was possessed by the spirit of Mary Shelly, the original author of the novel Frankenstein. The resuscitated couple go on a Bonnie and Clyde-style road trip, committing crimes that attract the attention of Detective Jake Wiles (Peter Sarsgaard) and his assistant, Myrna Mallow (Penelope Cruz). The couple gets caught, shot down—and then reanimated …  again. The Bride! is the kind of film where you sit in the theater, incredulous both about what you are watching and the fact that you are bothering to watch it.

The film is directed by Maggie Gyllenhaal, who, through this film, may be signaling that she needs professional help. The point of the movie, as far as I can tell, is that patriarchal society abuses women, kills them, and drives them mad. The only way to cope is to become a kind of punk rock mercenary (Buckley’s makeup and electroshock blonde hair is pure 1980s LA). The only acceptable male companion is an obedient monster who, like you, is an outsider—or “a non-compliant,” as Dr. Euphonious puts it. Gyllenhaal is a Hollywood A-Lister, so she was able to attract the best actors for her movie. Jessie Buckley switches between Ida, who has a Yonkers accent, to Mary Shelley, who was British, to the Bride, who falls somewhere in between. Buckley gives the performance her all. It’s just sad that her dynamic energy wasn’t put to use for something that makes sense. Ditto for Christian Bale.

There is something deeply disturbing at the heart of The Bride!, but it has nothing to do with the so-called patriarchy. It is more about the corrosive effects of our porn culture.

Every male character in the film has, in some way, abused a woman. The men in the 1930s nightclub at the beginning of the film are not the mannerly companions one might expect from that era, but leering, aggressive abusers with dirty minds and dirty mouths. The dialogue is pure 2026—I don’t think anyone during the Great Depression, for example, regularly used phrases like, “What the actual [expletive]!” Frank is a huge fan of the movie star Ronnie Reed (Jake Gyllenhaal), but even Reed turns out to be a jerk. When Reed dismisses an emotional Frank with a quip about the monster “not being my type,” Frank implodes, crashing a chandelier and helping the Bride escape after she shoots a cop. Did I mention that this might be the worst film I have ever seen? 

The depressing takeaway from The Bride! is a theme that conservatives have been warning against for decades. Namely, that we now have multiple generations of young people who are so emotionally fragile that the smallest criticism becomes a mental health crisis and turns them into raging monsters. Take Ronnie Reed’s innocuous line about Frank not being his type. Reed is not even rejecting Frank outright, just offering an innocent quip. Yet it is somehow portrayed as an excuse for monstrous behavior. 

If America’s pornography culture really has corroded sexual relationships and men to the degree portrayed in this film—where they cannot be with women in any social situation, or any situation at all, without acting like Patrick Bateman in American Psycho (Christian Bale’s true monster role)—then we do, indeed, have a crisis. But it’s worth noting that that crisis, like American Psycho itself, is about the gay culture’s hatred of women, and something that Hollywood will probably never confront honestly. If you want to see real toxic misogyny, gay Hollywood is where you’ll find it. (Read more.)

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Trump’s Epic Fury Strategy Is Working Even If Critics Cannot Yet See It

 From Amuse on X:

Public debate about military action often suffers from a simple problem. Many observers evaluate the present through the lens of the past. The United States fought long wars in Afghanistan and Iraq. Those wars produced exhaustion among American voters and deep skepticism toward any new military engagement. This skepticism is understandable. It is also sometimes misleading. When people assume that every use of American military power will automatically lead to a generation long occupation, they may fail to see when a different strategy is unfolding.

That is the background against which Operation Epic Fury must be understood. A joint US and Israeli campaign has conducted one of the most effective air offensives in modern history. In roughly ten days more than 5,000 major targets inside Iran have been struck. Entire layers of Iran’s military leadership have been eliminated. The infrastructure that sustains the regime’s ability to threaten its neighbors is being dismantled piece by piece. Analysts across the defense community describe the speed and scale of the campaign as unprecedented.

The operation has been driven by unusually deep coordination between two highly capable militaries. American and Israeli forces are not merely cooperating in the loose sense typical of coalition warfare. Their command structures have been integrated to a remarkable degree. A US three star general and full staff operate inside Israeli headquarters, while an Israeli general and staff work inside US Central Command. Intelligence flows continuously between the two commands. Targeting information is shared in real time. Decisions that once required slow diplomatic coordination now occur within a unified operational framework.

The results speak for themselves. Iranian missile launchers, drone factories, underground weapons depots, transportation networks that move missile units, and command and control facilities have been systematically targeted. Hardened underground facilities have been penetrated. Launch infrastructure has been destroyed. Communications networks that coordinate attacks across the region have been degraded or eliminated. According to current assessments, more than 90% of Iran’s ability to conduct large retaliatory missile attacks has already been destroyed.

To understand what that means, consider the opening phase of the conflict. Iranian planners attempted to launch massive missile salvos designed to overwhelm defensive systems. Early waves involved 25 to 50 missiles fired in coordinated strikes aimed at Israel, US bases, and allied facilities. Such attacks depend on volume. If enough missiles arrive simultaneously, some will inevitably slip through.

That strategy has collapsed. Today Iran is often able to launch only two to five missiles at a time. Occasionally a volley of 10 to 12 missiles occurs, but even those are well within the capacity of layered US and Israeli missile defenses to defeat. The offensive capacity of the Iranian regime has not merely been reduced. It has been structurally crippled. (Read more.)

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Lorrha Stories: Irish Monasticism

 From The Abbey of Misrule:

St Ruadhán was one of the ‘twelve apostles of Ireland’, a collective of significant early Irish saints who studied under the legendary St Finian of Clonard. Ruadhán (whose name is pronounced ‘Rowan’, and means ‘red-haired’) was, like his fellow apostles, a monk of the Celtic tradition, which later came into conflict with Rome over various issues, like the date of Easter, the correct form of tonsure and other such theological details. In reality though, these issues were secondary to the real one, which was how much power Rome should have over monasteries in distant lands.

In early Ireland, Christianity was monastic, and it was Abbots rather than Bishops who called the shots. Irish monasticism had, for around 500 years, developed a specifically ‘Celtic’ character which seems to have been greatly influenced - and, I think, directly seeded - by Egyptian desert monks. This was the age of the round tower, the beehive hut and the small-scale, ascetic Christianity of the Wild Saints. It was the world of Patrick and Kevin, Colmcille and Bridget.

The Pontiff in Rome, however, wanted this scruffy, desert Christianity reined in under a hierarchy of Bishops answerable to him, and in Ireland, as in England a century before, the Normans would be his vessels. In 1066, the Norman king William the Conqueror (William the Bastard to his friends) had invaded England, killing its legitimate (and elected) King, Harold II, at the Battle of Hastings. He had done so under the Papal banner, which he had carried into battle, and on his victory he set about demolishing the old wooden Anglo-Saxon churches and building new, stone ‘Romanesque’ ones in their places. He also gave the green light to the continental monastic orders to move in and replace their indigenous counterparts. (Read more.)

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Pall Embroidered by Marie-Antoinette

From Sotheby's: "A silk chalice cover [pall] embroidered with gold and silver thread and beads; according to tradition it was embroidered by Marie Antoinette." The Sacred Heart of Jesus is shown with the Christogram IHS, symbolizing the Holy Name of Jesus. The color signifies it may have been used in the Mass of Laetare Sunday, or Rose Sunday,  that is, the 4th Sunday of Lent. Share

Accountability Is Not Dead—It’s Just Selective

 From Unlicensed Punditry:

One of the most common complaints about modern public life is the disappearance of accountability. Politicians are not accountable. The media is not accountable. Corporations are not accountable. Institutions that once claimed moral authority now seem able to operate without consequences.

The phrase “no one is ever held accountable anymore” has become almost a cliché.

We recently watched this play out in real time. Following an ISIS-inspired attempted bombing in New York, law enforcement reported that explosives had been thrown toward anti-Islam protesters during a confrontation near the mayor’s residence. Yet many “news” outlets quickly produced headlines and articles that gave the impression that there wasn’t really a terrorist attack at all—or that, if there was, it was somehow the fault of right-wing protesters.

At CNN, host Abby Phillip inaccurately described the attack as being directed at New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani. Phillip later acknowledged the mistake and issued a correction on air, saying she had incorrectly described the target and apologized for the error. In other words, she eventually did the minimum professional standards require—she corrected the record. (Read more.)

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Chastity is How We See God

From Pondus Meum Amor Meus:

Chastity is vital. This much is clear. But I want us to understand how important it is to all of us at all times, whether you’re single, celibate, married, old, or young.

Chastity is a virtue, which means it’s a positive, life-giving presence infused into us. Chastity is not limited to only mortification and penance against our bodies. It is not exclusively negative, or defined by what we are trying to escape from. Of course, the spiritual life is disciplined and includes penance, meaning we make every effort to flee from sin. We strive to maintain custody of the eyes, and modesty, and to reject disordered desires.

But we get chastity wrong if we think of it only as a lack. A Christian is not someone who withdraws, who cedes the world to evil, who escapes. Quite the opposite. We are here to redeem the world, to replant paradise, to build the City of God. We are for the world. Virtue is not emptiness. It is plenitude, a joyful happiness so overwhelming that we hardly know how it can fit into this world. It spills out of us as if over the lip of a chalice and we feast in the presence of our enemies.

If being unchaste is defined by turning people and things into objects of lust, and if it is the debasement of our senses, then chastity is the virtue whereby we heal the senses and, instead of objectifying and selfish use of the created world, our chastened senses deliver us through the threshold of beauty into wholeness. The senses are lifted up and transfigured, unveiling intelligible forms that lead into the unity of God. (Read more.)

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