The Irish in Frederick County

Where I grew up. From History Shark Productions:

Frederick (city and county) can thank an Irishman for their existence.  The founder hailed from Queen’s County in the Emerald Isle, coming to America in 1703. When Irishman Daniel Dulany laid out Frederick Town in 1745, he made provisions for two principal streets. The main north-south corridor was named Market Street as the market house and adjacent space would be located here. The main east-west corridor was called St. Patrick’s Street in honor of the founder’s Irish heritage, and this was originally intended by Dulany to be the principal street of town.  Its importance would grow as it became part of the important turnpike used for transporting wheat and other products to Ellicott Mills and thus to the Port at Baltimore.  It would also become part of the National Road, the first major interior road to the Ohio River Valley and would make travel better for settlers heading west, and travelers heading east. You will find early deeds of Frederick with references to St. Patrick’s Street.

[...]

In 1723, Charles Carroll the Settler (1660-1720) had this 17,000-acre manor surveyed.  It takes up a majority of the lower Frederick Valley below the City of Frederick stretching to the Potomac River.  Charles Carroll emigrated from Ireland and the County Offally where his family lost much of their land and wealth in the English Civil War (1642-1651) against Great Britain. Unable to serve in local politics because he was Catholic, Carroll gained power and prestige through land acquisition. Multiple heirs would own this parcel which Carroll the Settler claimed was bought originally from the rightful owners, a subgroup of the Tusacarora Indian tribe that had previously lived here from about 1713-1723. This is why we fittingly have Tuscarora High School today in the vicinity. And ironically, the school’s colors include green.

 The land conveyed to Charles Carroll the Settler’s son, Charles Carroll of Annapolis (1703-1783), and finally to his son, another Charles Carroll (1737-1832), who took on the place name to differentiate himself from other Charles Carroll’s.  It was this “Charles Carroll of Carrollton” who eventually signed the Declaration of Independence, and became a significant leader throughout the American Revolution. Years later, his family built St. Josephs on Carrollton Manor Church and Cemetery in close proximity to their Tuscarora manor house.  One tombstone in the churchyard exclaims that it marks a mass grave of over 100 Irish Catholics who perished while constructing the Chesapeake & Ohio Canal and Baltimore & Ohio Railroad. In the early 1820’s & 1830’s the area experienced a calamitous outbreak of Asiatic Cholera which sent many of the Irish workers to their grave. The Irish were plentiful in the creation of both the C&O and B&O. (Read more.)

Old St. Joseph's Church on Carrollton Manor, where I was confirmed.

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The End of the Road

From Two Sparrows Farm and Dairy:

A few days ago, we were running low on round bales for our cows – our next semi load wasn’t supposed to be in for a few more days. So, I thought I’d run down the road through Lakeview farm country and knock on doors at any of the small farms I saw with hay bales stacked up. Having recently moved to the area, buying hay is always a good way to connect with neighbors, local farmers and create community.

Not one person was home. The barn roofs sagged in the middle as the ridge beams rotted away. The tractors, mostly over 40 years old, sat rusting in barely standing equipment sheds. The old fence posts looked more like Woodpecker feeders, and the barbed wire fences that once controlled livestock now swung limply in wind.  Paint peeled from the siding, and shingles were missing from the roofs, and no one was home.

Despite all their hard work, those farmers still couldn’t afford to make ends meet without a towny job. In a few more years, after that farmer has worked until his last day, those tractors will be wrapped in weeds, the barns will be piles of rotted wood and twisted nails, and the houses will sit vacant – too poorly maintained and outdated to even sell. Eventually, some mega farm will come burn the collapsed barn, bulldoze the house, and try to squeeze out a few more bushels of corn over-top the tomb of some other farmer’s dreams, until they eventually succumb to the same fate.

I don’t say this to be pessimistic. It’s the truth. (Read more.)

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Something Must Be Done

From The Independent:

Earlier this month, UN Secretary General ​António Guterres in releasing the 2016 UN annual review said that there were 145 cases of sexual exploitation and abuse involving troops and civilians across all UN peace missions in 2016 alone. The United Nations Secretary General is talking about his own organisation. These 145 cases involved 311 victims and even the UN recognises that this is the tip of the iceberg. Many of the victims, by the UN’s own admission, are children. UN Peacekeepers and staff raping children is not a right-wing conspiracy or fake news, it is admitted by the UN itself. But is the UN repeating the mistakes of the Catholic Church by obfuscation and minimisation of the problem, not talking it head on and stamping it out? (Read more.)

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Amorality on Campus

From The Washington Times:

Everyone thought it was scary because, as someone inevitably said, ‘The characters seem just like regular people — you know, like us!’”

“The story always impressed the class with the insight that I felt the author had intended: the danger of just ‘going along’ with something habitually, without examining its rationale and value. In spite of the changes that I had witnessed over the years in anthologies and in students’ writing, Jackson’s message about blind conformity always spoke to my students’ sense of right and wrong.”

Then in the 1990s, something started to change dramatically in how her students responded to the sobering tale. Rather than being horrified by it, some claimed they were bored by it, while others thought the ending was “neat.”

When Ms. Haugaard pressed them for more of their thoughts, she was appalled to discover that not one student in the class was willing to say the practice of human sacrifice was morally wrong! She describes one interaction with a student, whom she calls Beth:

“‘Are you asking me if I believe in human sacrifice?’ Beth responded thoughtfully, as though seriously considering all aspects of the question. ‘Well, yes,’ I managed to say. ‘Do you think that the author approved or disapproved of this ritual?’

“I was stunned: This was the [young] woman who wrote so passionately of saving the whales, of concern for the rain forests, of her rescue and tender care of a stray dog. ‘I really don’t know,’ said Beth; ‘If it was a religion of long standing, [who are we to judge]?’”

“For a moment, I couldn’t even respond,” reports Ms. Haugaard. “This woman actually couldn’t seem to bring herself to say plainly that she was against human sacrifice. My classes of a few years before would have burst into nervous giggles at the suggestion. This class was calmly considering it.” (Read more.)

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Why Didn't Communism Have Its Nuremburg?

From Dissident:

Everyone is familiar with the Nuremberg Trials that were convened in 1945 to prosecute the crimes of Nazi Germany. The trials served as a final day of reckoning for the violent and destructive Nazi ideology that had wreaked havoc on Europe for more than a decade. Considering how deadly the ideology of communism proved to be in Eastern Europe, Russia, and elsewhere, why has there never been a similar trial for the crimes committed by the communist regime in the Soviet Union? This was the question raised by Vladimir Bukovsky.

After the fall of the Soviet Union, Bukovsky, a former dissident from Russia, decided to attempt the impossible: to convene a trial that would sue not the individuals as was the case in Nuremberg but rather the system of the communist regime. “For me, it seems like we have a moral responsibility to humanity,” he remarks in the documentary Le Nuremberg du communisme.

When Mikhail Gorbachev’s policies of Perestroika and Glasnost were introduced in the mid-1980s, people started to believe that the crimes of the communist regime would be punished someday and that justice would prevail. With communism on its way out, anything seemed possible. But sooner or later, that hope vanished from their minds. Historians have noted that while the Soviet regime had failed, the KGB were still active and the former nomenklatura, the communist-era elite, still retained power and influence, making it impossible to achieve justice for the victims of Soviet communism. Vladimir Bukovsky wanted to force the country to deal with its communist past and prevent the regime from gaining power again. (Read more.)

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The Growing Attack on Boys

From The National Review:

In short, in our culture, International Women’s Day was pretty much like any other day. In America, cheers for women abound. Girls are often praised, in fact, just for being girls. They’ve been long oppressed, we’re told; we need to eternally shore them up. “Girls today are told that they can do anything, be anyone,” actor Michael Ian Black recently wrote in a much-discussed New York Times op-ed.

They’ve absorbed the message: They’re outperforming boys in school at every level. But it isn’t just about performance. To be a girl today is to be the beneficiary of decades of conversation about the complexities of womanhood, its many forms and expressions.

For boys, it’s a dramatically different story. The title of Black’s op-ed, in case you’re wondering, is “The Boys Are Not All Right.” If you’re a parent to multiple boys in this day and age, perhaps you know the drill: Every once in a while, a friendly-yet-awestruck stranger will approach and publicly note the apparently terrifying gender of your children. It happens more often than you might think. On planes. In restaurants. At Target. “Oh, my goodness! You have all boys? ALL BOYS? I’m so sorry!” Insert a pause, a dramatic gasp, and a knowing/troubled look here. The weirdest part comes when they stand and wait for you to agree. “Boys are fantastic,” I usually say, moving right along. Alas, not everyone thinks so. (Read more.)

An older article on the Feminization of Everything, HERE.
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The Farnese Blue

The Farnese Blue

Archduchess Maria Anna of Austria, Princess of Bourbon-Parma and the Farnese Blue

Marie-Thérèse de France

 From The Antiques Trade Gazette:

The 6.16 carat pear-shaped fancy dark grey-blue diamond, known as The Farnese Blue has passed down through the Dukes of Parma. Kept secretly in a casket, as its owners negotiated the War of the Spanish succession and the fall of the Habsburg empire, few knew of its existence. It will be offered in Sotheby’s sale of Magnificent Jewels and Noble Jewels in Geneva on May 15 with an estimate of SFr3.5-5m.

Originating in the Golconda diamond mines of India, the stone was originally given to Elisabeth Farnese, the queen of Spain, following her wedding to King Philip V of Spain in Parma in 1714. It then passed through four European royal dynasties - its full history of ownership detailed in an inventory of the family jewels compiled by Maria Anna von Habsburg (1882-1940), Archduchess of Austria. For much of its life it was mounted on a diamond diadem which had belonged Marie-Thérèse de France (1778-1851), the first child of Louis XVI (1754-1793) and Marie-Antoinette (1755-1793) and the only one of their children to survive the French Revolution. (Read more.)

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Should the Military Build the Wall?

Yes. It is a matter of national security. From Town Hall:

Today, President Donald J. Trump offered a new way possible for America to build the border wall, even after the omnibus spending bill signed on Friday left many wondering if construction will ever start. His suggestion? Have the military build it. Early Sunday morning, President Trump pointed out the fact that the border wall is a matter of national security. America therefore should simply have the Department of Defense over see the project in order to keep out drugs and enemy combatants, according to the commander in chief. (Read more.)

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The Trump World Order

From American Consequences:

If there is a fundamental organizing principle for the Trump administration, this is it. More commonly referred to as “America First,” this is where Trump unabashedly breaks away from the philosophy of his predecessor. The Obama administration always favored a multilateral, U.N.-style consensus-building approach to security challenges. In Trump’s vision, the American government should always prioritize the interests of the American people. Trump’s full-throated embrace of security policy that recognizes the primary obligation of the U.S. to its own people is a needed course correction. It is also a rejection of the delusional cosmopolitanism that has seized the Democratic party and infected much of the GOP establishment as well. (Read more.)

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The Restoration of Holyrood House

From the BBC:

Royal Collection Trust will develop the upper floors into holiday apartments, bringing the historic buildings back into full use. The learning centre will provide spaces for school groups, families and adults to explore the history of the Palace of Holyroodhouse and the Royal Collection. It is part of Future Programme, a £10m investment by Royal Collection Trust to enhance the visitor experience at the palace. Other projects due for completion over the next few years include the creation of a public garden behind the Abbey Strand buildings, inspired by the lost 17th-century physic garden at the palace, a new ticketing space, and new displays of works of art from the Royal Collection. (Read more.)

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Easter Brunch

From Southern Lady:

Host an alfresco Easter luncheon full of garden-fresh dishes with this easy, breezy version of elegance. A spring day outdoors is absolutely divine! Make decorating a breeze by setting up an entertaining area amid blossoms and boughs. Personal touches such as place cards and mini nests bring a feeling of thoughtfulness and gratitude. Neutral tones and natural accents work together to form the foundation of this gathering designed with rejoicing in mind. Heirloom linens with cheery embroidery pair with mix-and-match dinnerware in pale blue. Farm-fresh eggs in ceramic containers scattered about the table serve as subtle nods to Easter traditions. (Read more.)

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The Spirituality of Fasting

From The USCCB:

In the early Church and, to a lesser extent still today, there were two fasts. There was the "total fast" that preceded all major feasts or sacramental events.  The ancient name for this fast was "statio" from the verb "sto, stare" to stand watch, on guard or in vigil.  The second fast was a fast of abstinence from certain foods, e.g., meats or fats.  This was more an act of self-discipline and self-control.  The statio fast was total and a means of watching and waiting…i.e. for something.  The fast of abstinence was more general and personal, to help oneself be more disciplined or self-controlled.  The total fast is still kept today prior to reception of Holy Communion.  Following Holy Communion, the total fast ceases because Jesus had explicitly stated that we don't fast when the bridegroom is here, in other words, what we're keeping vigil for has arrived, the wait is over.  On the other hand, the fast of abstinence was allowed on Sundays because the continuity of abstinence can be important for it to be effective.

These initial observations, then, teach us that the Eucharist is always the end of a preparation.  It is always the fulfillment of an expectation. In the Orthodox Church during Lent, they have Eucharist only on Saturday and Sunday. But because Wednesdays and Fridays are total fast days, those two days are also days for the Communion service (Liturgy of the PreSanctified) which are held in the evening, i.e., after the day of preparation.  Fasting is always preparatory. (Read more.)

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The Convergence of Feast Days in 2038

From The Five Beasts:

A number of Catholic prophecies identify a year in which will mark the reversal of a period of persecution the Church will undergo just prior to the time of the Antichrist. The prophecies suggest that at that time the persecution will have reached an apex, and through divine intervention, the Church will be ultimately liberated. The year isn’t named but will be characterized by the following:

“When the Feast of St. Mark (April 25) shall fall on Easter, the Feast of St. Anthony (June 13) on Pentecost, and that of St. John (June 24th) on Corpus Christi, the whole world shall cry, Woe!” (Ven. Magdalene Porzat, ca. 1850).

This confluence occurred in 1943 and will occur again in 2038, and then not until 2190. What makes this prophecy intriguing is that 2038 will likely be during St. Hildegard’s era of the Grey Wolf, the conclusion of which is represented by the sudden ending of a period of persecution and a glorious new beginning for the Church. (Read more.)

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Marie-Antoinette as Vesta

The Queen is depicted as the goddess of the hearth. Louis XVI kept a copy of this portrait on his desk in the Tuileries. The lilies symbolize France and purity. The rose is a symbol of Austria as well as of beauty. Louis XVI is shown on the urn.

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Ideas for Easter Entertaining

From Victoria:

Just before guests arrive, bring the essence of spring to the fore with a centerpiece of fresh-cut flowers. Fill a cachepot with floral foam soaked according to package directions. Cut stems at an angle, and insert in foam. For pleasing proportions, a general rule of thumb is that the dimensions of an arrangement can be one-and-a-half to two times greater than the container, though care should be taken to ensure that the bouquet does not inhibit views across the table. For our dazzling focal point, deep purple hydrangeas not only offer vivid color but also support the graceful bow of an array of tulips. (Read more.)

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The Omnibus Bill

From The Conservative Review:

“Where’s Mitch McConnell?” LevinTV host Mark Levin asked on his radio program after President Trump signed Congress’ $1.3 trillion omnibus spending bill on Friday. “Has anybody seen or heard from Mitch McConnell? I mean, he’s the guy behind the scenes. He’s the Svengali who put all this together. He’s the good-for-nothing, big-spending, deal-cutting, self-serving phony politician who put this all together behind closed doors and threatens his colleagues in the Senate should they dare to challenge him or question him.” Levin criticized McConnell, the rest of Congress, and the president for passing the omnibus and consigning future generations to bear the burden of massive, unsustainable, enslaving debt. (Read more.)

From Shastina Sandman:

 It’s not an official ‘Federal Budget’. It’s an Omnibus bill, not a Budget. Has Trump outsmarted them once again? Did Congress screw themselves by not passing a Budget? Per the Constitution, the President must adhere to a Budget set forth by Congress and direct the expenditures as provided therein. This is another one of those big Porkulus Bills like they gave Obama for 8 years. This is not a Budget. An Omnibus Spending Bill may have some ‘instructions’ as to how the money will be spent, but Obama ignored them. He spent the money or didn’t spend it, however, he wanted to. And Congress didn’t do a thing about it! Because they couldn’t.

I think our President observed how this happened, year after year. He is bound to realize that those ‘appropriations’ for different things in these Omnibus bills are mere ‘suggestions’. So like Obama, Pres Trump can spend this money on whatever he wants to. Or not spend it. Planned Parenthood? What if our President decided to tell the Treas Dept to ‘slow-walk’ that money to Planned Parenthood until the Senate gets off their ass and confirms his appointees? Sanctuary Cities? What if our President decided to ‘slow-walk’ that money too until those Sanctuary Cities assist ICE in rounding up criminal illegal aliens? What if the Democrats or the Mainstream Media speak out against the President? Well, the President could just say “What!? Congress should’ve passed a Budget.”

The President said “just give me money for the military and the wall and you can put anything else you want in it” and they did! In this case, as per above, he doesn’t have to spend a dime because it is not a budget and even if it was, as researched he could still spend as he pleases. Congress appropriates up to the President to spend it or not as he pleases. If anyone disagrees, I can go back and get the links and evidence, but if you just read yesterdays political thread from Wheatietoo and his team, you’ll see how this all breaks down.

Again, that is why Obama never had a Budget in his Presidency. Congress did continual Omnibus’s and he just took the money…for 8 years…and no one seems to know where it went….(Read more.)

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A Long Island Versailles

Not quite. But it has some wonderful interiors. From Mansion Global:

Maison des Jardins (which translates to house of gardens), a palatial house on Long Island, New York, that’s modeled after the Palace of Versailles in France, hit the market Thursday with an eye-popping price tag of $60 million. Owner Raphael Yakoby, an entrepreneur who created popular blue-color liqueur Hpnotiq and pink vodka Nuvo, developed a love for everything French when he started his business there, according to Eloise Halpern of Douglas Elliman, who’s handling the sale with colleague Patricia Bischoff. “It was always his dream to build a house like Versailles,” Ms. Halpern told Mansion Global. When he made his fortune after selling Hpnotiq for a reported $50 million in 2003, he forked out $3.25 million for a 8.4-acre land in Old Brookville in 2010 and began to build his dream house two years later, she said. (Read more.)

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Sheriff’s Daughter, but God’s First

St. Margaret Clitherow died on the original Lady Day, March 25. From Nobility:

Martyr, called the “Pearl of York”, born about 1556; died 25 March 1586. She was a daughter of Thomas Middleton, Sheriff of York (1564-5), a wax-chandler; married John Clitherow, a wealthy butcher and a chamberlain of the city, in St. Martin’s church, Coney St., 8 July, 1571, and lived in the Shambles, a street still unaltered. Converted to the Faith about three years later, she became most fervent, continually risking her life by harbouring and maintaining priests, was frequently imprisoned, sometimes for two years at a time, yet never daunted, and was a model of all virtues. Though her husband belonged to the Established Church, he had a brother a priest, and Margaret provided two chambers, one adjoining her house and a second in another part of the city, where she kept priests hidden and had Mass continually celebrated through the thick of the persecution. Some of her priests were martyred, and Margaret who desired the same grace above all things, used to make secret pilgrimages by night to York Tyburn to pray beneath the gibbet for this intention. (Read more.)

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“Collusion against Trump” Timeline

From Sharyl Attkisson:

...Evidence has emerged in the past year that makes it clear there were organized efforts to collude against candidate Donald Trump–and then President Trump. For example:

• Anti-Russian Ukrainians allegedly helped coordinate and execute a campaign against Trump in partnership with the Democratic National Committee and news reporters.
• A Yemen-born ex-British spy reportedly delivered political opposition research against Trump to reporters, Sen. John McCain, and the FBI; the latter of which used the material–in part–to obtain wiretaps against one or more Trump-related associates.
• There were orchestrated leaks of anti-Trump information and allegations to the press, including by ex-FBI Director James Comey.
• The U.S. intel community allegedly engaged in questionable surveillance practices and politially-motivated “unmaskings” of U.S. citizens, including Trump officials.
• Alleged conflicts of interests have surfaced regarding FBI officials who cleared Hillary Clinton for mishandling classified information and who investigated Trump’s alleged Russia ties.

But it’s not so easy to find a timeline pertinent to the investigations into these events. Here’s a work in progress. (Read more.)

And in case anyone missed this Newsweek article last month:

 Moscow routed millions of dollars to the U.S. expecting the funds would benefit ex-President Bill Clinton’s charitable initiative while his wife, Hillary Clinton, worked to reset relations with Russia, an FBI informant in an Obama administration-era uranium deal stated. In a written statement to three congressional committees, informant Douglas Campbell said Russian nuclear executives told him that Moscow hired American lobbying firm APCO Worldwide to influence Hillary Clinton, then secretary of state, among others in the Obama administration, The Hill reported on Wednesday. Campbell said Russian nuclear officials expected APCO to apply its $3 million annual lobbying fee from Moscow toward the Clintons’ Global Initiative. The contract detailed four $750,000 payments over a year’s time.

“APCO was expected to give assistance free of charge to the Clinton Global Initiative as part of their effort to create a favorable environment to ensure the Obama administration made affirmative decisions on everything from Uranium One to the U.S.-Russia Civilian Nuclear Cooperation agreement,” Campbell stated. (Read more.)

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Mary, Mother of Church

From Vatican News:

Pope Francis has decreed that the ancient devotion to the Blessed Virgin Mary, under the title of Mother of the Church, be inserted into the Roman Calendar. The liturgical celebration, B. Mariæ Virginis, Ecclesiæ Matris, will be celebrated annually as a Memorial on the day after Pentecost. In a decree released on Saturday by the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments, Cardinal Robert Sarah, its Prefect, said the Pope’s decision took account of the tradition surrounding the devotion to Mary as Mother of the Church. (Read more.)

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A Cake for Easter

From Victoria:

Bring your Easter celebration to a fitting conclusion with the towering splendor of our luscious Coconut Cake. Velvety buttercream, enhanced with extracts of coconut, vanilla, and almond, envelops the three-layer dessert. To achieve a subtle, ruffled appearance along the sides after frosting, draw the blade of an icing spatula around the circumference–starting from the top and gradually moving the knife downward while pivoting the plate. A sprinkle of toasted coconut completes the simple yet stunning presentation. (Read more.)

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The Real Collusion

From last April in The American Spectator:

Seeking to retain his position as CIA director under Hillary, Brennan teamed up with British spies and Estonian spies to cripple Trump’s candidacy. He used their phony intelligence as a pretext for a multi-agency investigation into Trump, which led the FBI to probe a computer server connected to Trump Tower and gave cover to Susan Rice, among other Hillary supporters, to spy on Trump and his people.

John Brennan’s CIA operated like a branch office of the Hillary campaign, leaking out mentions of this bogus investigation to the press in the hopes of inflicting maximum political damage on Trump. An official in the intelligence community tells TAS that Brennan’s retinue of political radicals didn’t even bother to hide their activism, decorating offices with “Hillary for president cups” and other campaign paraphernalia.

A supporter of the American Communist Party at the height of the Cold War, Brennan brought into the CIA a raft of subversives and gave them plum positions from which to gather and leak political espionage on Trump. He bastardized standards so that these left-wing activists could burrow in and take career positions. Under the patina of that phony professionalism, they could then present their politicized judgments as “non-partisan.” (Read more.)

 From last summer in Investors Business Daily:

Then there's former CIA chief John Brennan, who has also stepped out of his supposedly apolitical role as a spymaster to make highly charged political comments about Trump. After Trump's comments about Charlottesville, Brennan ripped into Trump for making "dangerous" and "ugly" comments.

He's entitled to his opinion, of course. But it has long been a part of our tradition of government service that former officials serving in a nonpolitical capacity would leave the criticisms of other administrations to the elected politicians. To ignore this tradition runs the risk of tainting the professionalism of the agencies they once headed, and provides evidence that the heavily politicized, entrenched, progressive "deep state" that many Americans believe poses a danger to our republic really does exist.

By the way, Brennan in remarks made last July that can only be called highly questionable suggested that it's "obligation of some executive branch officials" to refuse to fire Robert Mueller, who is heading up the open-ended investigation into the Trump campaign's ties to Russia and its hacking of the 2016 election.

Let's be clear: Trump, should he want to do so, would be absolutely within his rights as president to seek Mueller's firing. Whether it would be politically wise to do so is a separate question. And Brennan's remarks are incredibly self-serving, since he is the one who initiated the investigation into the Trump campaign's ties to Russia last summer, in the heat of the campaign. The Obama loyalist did so, apparently, thinking it would fatally damage Trump's campaign.

"It was then-CIA Director John O. Brennan, a close confidant of Mr. Obama's, who provided the information — what he termed the 'basis' — for the FBI to start the counterintelligence investigation last summer," wrote Washington Times national security correspondent Rowan Scarborough last May. "Mr. Brennan served on the former president's 2008 presidential campaign and in his White House."

Brennan, by the way, also aided in making up the bogus talking points used by the Obama administration to lie about what happened in Benghazi, Libya, where four Americans, including U.S. Ambassador Christopher Stevens, were murdered. Whose interests was Brennan serving? (Read more.)

From a few days ago in The American Spectator:

It was the Russian revolutionary Leon Trotsky who coined the phrase the “dustbin of history.” To his political opponents, he sputtered, “You are pitiful, isolated individuals! You are bankrupts. Your role is played out. Go where you belong from now on — into the dustbin of history!”

It is no coincidence that John Brennan, who supported the Soviet-controlled American Communist Party in the 1970s (he has acknowledged that he thought his vote for its presidential candidate Gus Hall threatened his prospects at the CIA; unfortunately, it didn’t), would borrow from Trotsky’s rhetoric in his fulminations against Donald Trump. His tweet last week, shortly after the firing of Andrew McCabe, reeked of Trotskyite revolutionary schlock: “When the full extent of your venality, moral turpitude, and political corruption becomes known, you will take your rightful place as a disgraced demagogue in the dustbin of history. You may scapegoat Andy McCabe, but you will not destroy America… America will triumph over you.”

America will triumph over a president it elected? That’s the raw language of coup, and of course it is not the first time Brennan has indulged it. In 2017, he was calling for members of the executive branch to defy the chief executive. They should “refuse to carry out” his lawful directives if they don’t agree with them, he said.

Trump has said that the Russians are “laughing their asses off” over the turmoil caused by Obamagate. No doubt many of the laughs come at the sight of Brennan, a supporter of Soviet stooges like Gus Hall, conducting a de facto coup from the top of the CIA and then continuing it after his ouster. Who needs Gus Hall when John Brennan is around? This time the Russians don’t even have to pay for the anti-American activity. (Read more.)

Meanwhile, Sara Carter reports on the Mueller investigation:

 Special Counsel Robert Mueller III and lead attorney in the Special Counsel’s Office Andrew Weissmann have been connected to one another throughout most of their careers, and both men moved quickly to the top tackling major crime syndicates and white-collar crime. Ironically, both men were also connected in two of the biggest corruption investigations in FBI history. But rarely are Weissmann and Mueller’s past cases discussed in the media. Their past is relevant because it gives a roadmap to the future — now that these two longtime colleagues are charged with one of the most controversial investigations into a president in recent history.

“The integrity of the 'investigation' and of the 'investigators' must be a paramount priority in our criminal justice system at all times,” said David Schoen, a civil rights and defense attorney, who has been outspoken on the special counsel investigation. “Certainly this fundamental guiding principle must be followed when it comes to an investigation of the duly elected President of the United States.  The outcome potentially affects every one of us in very real terms…There were many alternatives to Mr. Mueller and his team and all of their very troubling baggage.” (Read more.)

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Ending Abortion

From Life Site:

The pro-life movement must understand and defend the big picture war on the principles of Christianity to be able to win the abortion battle in front of them, said Wiker. “You can’t fix the little picture without fixing the big picture,” he told the pro-life gathering. The Senior Fellow at the Veritas Center for Ethics and Public Life and Professor of Political Science and Human Life Studies at Franciscan University in Steubenville, Ohio addressed attendees of the Bringing America back to Life convention presented Friday and Saturday by Cleveland Right to Life.

The convention, in its ninth year, centers on prayer, action, voting and education for the pro-life movement on the local, regional and increasingly the national level. Wiker also explained, as he says he does for his students, that the addressing the big picture issue entails fighting for life in areas normally considered to be outside the pro-life arena.

There is some serious intellectual work to be done along with front-line efforts, he said. Wiker said he works to help students understand how things went bad with the overall rejection of the sanctity of life. And he stresses to them that the pro-life movement can be defended in any discipline, including philosophy, biology, and mathematics, because of the overall influence those areas have on society.

He detailed contrasts between Christianity and the Epicurean Materialist philosophy for the conference, and how the two opposing philosophies play into the pro-life movement. Epicurean thought seeks to reject a higher power, rejecting with it the idea of human beings made in God’s image and thus the sanctity of life.

They are essentially two different views of reality, said Wiker. The Materialist philosophy of ancient pagan Greek philosopher Epicurus has come to saturate nearly every aspect of our culture, he said, including our way of life and thinking, and our views of law, science, rationality, and reality. (Read more.)

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A Vallayer-Coster Portrait of Marie-Antoinette

Part of the collection at the Walters Art Gallery in Baltimore, MD. The Queen appears to be wearing a pendant with a cameo portrait of her husband, Louis XVI. From Vive la Reine.

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The Real White House Scandal

From the Conservative Review:

The real problem with the story, Levin said, is that someone on the National Security Council went behind the president’s back to leak information to the press about how high-level White House aides urged Trump not to congratulate Putin prior to the call, and they need to be taken to task. “That skunk, that rat fink, needs to be found, exposed, humiliated, and kicked the hell out of their job, whoever he or she is,” Levin concluded. “You cannot have a leak right under the president’s nose like this. It can’t happen.” (Read more.)

From Sara A. Carter:

“The cards are printed outside National Security Advisor H.R. McMaster’s office and would be collected by his team before being handed off to the president,” said the former official, familiar with the process. “It would make sense that the people who handled the cards or the national security advisors who provided the feedback to the president.”

White House officials will investigate the leaks and a senior White House Official told this reporter in a statement, “If this story is accurate, that means someone leaked the President’s briefing papers. Leaking such information is a fireable offense and likely illegal.” NSC officials could not be immediately reached for comment. (Read more.)

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Benefits of Music Lessons

From Music Advisor:

One of the best benefits of learning music is the high impact it has on a child’s academics. Studies show that children who take music lessons are “likely to excel in all of their studies.” Music is a set of repetitive patterns. When children learn these patterns, they’re able to apply these types of skills to subjects such as mathematics. Memorizing music helps students then move on to memorizing math times tables and addition. It also functions as a way to help children improve their memories for subjects such as science. (Read more.)

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Charity of the Dauphine

From Vive la Reine:

Mme la Dauphine, who had returned, got out of her carriage, ran toward the woman, and held out some perfume to her nose, which made her come out of her faint. Mme la Dauphine gave her all the money she had with her, but what was even more admirable was the kind and consoling way in which HRH talked to the poor woman. Finally, Mme l'Archiduchesse, who was touched, shed tears and, at that moment, caused more than a hundred spectators to do the same….

Then, having called for her carriage, Mme la Dauphine gave orders that the peasant woman be taken in it back to her cottage which was in a neighboring hamlet.* Her Royal Highness waited right there for her carriage to return; she asked about the care of the wounded man … I cannot describe to Your Majesty the greatness or intensity of the sensation caused by the event, not only among the courtiers, but even more among the people of Fontainebleau….

The public in Paris [seems very moved;] whenever Mme la Dauphine’s name comes up, it evokes a universal cry of joy and admiration.
–Ambassador Mercy to Maria Theresa, 12 November 1773
(Read more.)

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The Anti-Trump Effort Backfires

From The National Review:

No one following the Russian-collusion and related dramas should be in any doubt about the steady flow of the balance of damaging evidence away from Trump and on to his accusers. It is clear that the hierarchy of the FBI and analogues in the Justice Department and intelligence services, horrified at the thought of a Trump victory though confident it would not occur, took liberties — in the soft treatment of Hillary Clinton’s email and uranium problems, and in abetting the Clinton campaign’s effort to smear Trump with the Russian-collusion argument.

As the parallel investigations and diluvian leaking have unfolded, the anti-Trump Resistance has received a series of gradually suppurating mortal wounds. The Steele dossier was commissioned and paid for by the Clinton campaign; over a hundred FBI agents and Justice Department lawyers expected Hillary Clinton to be charged criminally, and President Trump was correct in saying conversations by his campaign officials had been tapped, a claim that was much ridiculed at the time. Deputy FBI director Andrew McCabe testified that the Steele dossier was essential to obtaining a FISA warrant on a junior Trump aide (Carter Page), and McCabe and former director James Comey’s rabidly partisan helper Peter Strzok, and his FBI girlfriend Lisa Page, texted suggestions for influencing the FISA judge in the case. The judge recused himself, voluntarily or otherwise, after granting the warrant. Mueller set up his “dream team” of entirely partisan Democrats; McCabe failed to identify to the Bureau his wife as a member and beneficiary of the Clinton entourage and political candidate in Virginia; and the fourth person in the Justice Department, Bruce Ohr, met with Steele, and Mrs. Ohr helped compose the Steele dossier. (Read more.)

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Anecdotes about the Court of Napoleon Bonaparte

From Geri Walton:

One day whilst he was breakfasting with the Empress, [Napoleon] asked one of the ladies-in-waiting, what might be the expense of a páte, which was upon the table. ‘Twelve francs to your majesty,’ replied the lady, good-humouredly, ‘and six francs to a citizen of Paris.’ ‘That is only saying I am imposed upon!’ returned Napoleon. ‘No Sire, it has always been customary for Sovereigns to pay more than their subjects.’ ‘I do not understand that,’ exclaimed the Emperor, emphatically, ‘I must inquire into this business.’ In short, he frequently entered into details of domestic economy, which are sometimes neglected by private individuals.

On another occasion, being in the Empress’s apartments, [Napoleon] found he had forgotten his handkerchief, and one belonging to Marie Louise, which was elegantly embroidered and trimmed with lace, was presented to him. He asked one of the ladies what it might cost: ‘Sire,’ said she, ‘it is worth between 80 and 90 francs.’ He made her repeat the words a second time, as though he had misunderstood her. ‘Well,’ said he, ‘if I were a lady in the service of the Empress, I would steal one of these handkerchiefs every day: why it would be worth all the emoluments of your situation!’ ‘It is fortunate, Sire,’ replied the lady, with a smile, ‘that her Majesty is surrounded by persons less disinterested than you seem to imagine.’ (Read more.)

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The Storming of Saint Denis

Louis XVI and Marie-Antoinette at the Basilica of Saint Denis

The resting place of the Kings and Queens of France in Paris was recently invaded by a mob intent upon disrupting the peace of the Basilica. From Breitbart: 

Far-left activists and illegal migrants invaded the Basilica of Saint-Denis on Sunday to protest the French government’s new asylum law before they were forcibly removed by police, resulting in evening mass being cancelled. Around 80 illegal migrants and far-left activists from the group Coordination des Sans-Papiers (CSP 75) protested the new law holding up banners, Le Parisien reports. After around an hour of occupying the Basilica, police were called and arrived to remove the protestors and illegal immigrants. The area was cleared by around 5:30 pm but evening mass was cancelled in case the protestors returned. Footage posted to Twitter by Gaullist politician Nicholas Dupont-Aignan shows police using force to remove the activists and migrants. (Read more.)

More HERE.

Is France becoming a Muslim country? From The Gatestone Institute:

• The French government and the French justice system claim to treat all religions equally, but they treat Islam as if it were "more equal than others" -- able to enjoy special privileges. Those who criticize Islam -- or who just show the results of Islamic terrorism -- are victims of fierce prosecution, while hate-filled, racist organizations are never touched.
  
• "Who has the right to say that in thirty to forty years, France will not be a Muslim country? No one in this country has the right to extinguish our right to hope for a society that is globally faithful to Islam ". — Marwan Muhammad, spokesman of the "Collective against Islamophobia in France". (Read more.)

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Mueller’s Deep State Witch Hunt of Trump

From the Gateway Pundit:

Our interview followed the news on Tuesday that the attorneys for the Seth Rich family sued Ed Butowsky and FOX News for alleged conspiracy theories over the murder of their son Seth Rich.

No one has ever been charged for this mysterious murder of the DNC staffer in Washington DC.

Sitting down with Butowsky, we discussed Rich’s $56 hard drive, lawsuits and legal threats, why the family doesn’t want to talk about WikiLeaks and much more. Later today Kim DotCom tweeted out the TGP-Butowsky interview and included this warning for the Deep State: Watch this in-depth interview with Ed Butowsky about the Seth Rich case. Why do Hillary Clinton, her lawyers and DNC invest so much energy to cover-up the truth? Because the fake Russia story and Muellers deep state witch hunt of Trump end with Seth Rich. (Read more.)

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Lenten Reflections on the Passion of Christ

From TFP:

The following Lenten reflections deal with suffering, in the truly Catholic sense of the word. It was by the Cross that our good Lord opened the gates of Heaven for us and it will be through the victory over suffering. Through suffering well accepted, that we will someday be able to enter those Heavenly gates. The Church is the Mystical Body of Christ. When Our Lord asked Saint Paul on the way to Damascus, “Saul, Saul, why do you persecute Me?” Our Lord was telling him that by persecuting the infant Church, Saul was persecuting Him, Christ. To persecute the Church is to persecute Jesus Christ, and if the Church is persecuted today, it is Christ that is persecuted. In a certain sense the Passion of Christ is being repeated in our days. (Read more.)

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Coconut Oil: Miracle Product or Beauty Fad?

From the Trianon Health and Beauty Blog:

Coconut oil is one of the main ingredients in my creams and in the cleanser. It fights aging by tightening the skin and helping it to stay firm. It helps to heal blemishes by increasing the collagen and by the antioxidant and antibacterial activity. (Read more.)

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Proper Lenten Fasting

From The Catholic Herald:

In his Physiology of Taste, Jean Anthelme Brillat-Savarin, that philosopher of the delicious, describes Lenten fasting during his youth in 18th-century France: “...Neither butter, eggs, nor anything animal was served at these collations. They had to be satisfied with salads, confitures and sweetmeats, a very unsatisfactory food to such appetites at that time. They went to bed, however, and lived in hope as long as the fast lasted.” Even as early as the 18th century, however, the custom was under assault, leading Pope Benedict XIV to write in a manner that should give us pause today:

The observance of Lent is the very badge of Christian warfare. By it we prove ourselves not to be enemies of Christ. By it we avert the scourges of divine justice. By it we gain strength against the princes of darkness, for it shields us with heavenly help. Should men grow remiss in their observance of Lent, it would be a detriment to God’s glory, a disgrace to the Catholic religion, and a danger to Christian souls. Neither can it be doubted that such negligence would become the source of misery to the world, of public calamity, and of private woe.

This statement ranks as accurate papal prophecy – ranking up there with Paul VI’s exact prediction of the modern dating scene in Humanae Vitae. Brillat-Savarin later speaks of the gradual decline of fasting during the Age of Reason in a manner eerily parallel to Dom Guéranger’s account in his Liturgical Year. In the end, all was swept away in the French Revolution. Although the Catholic Revival of the 19th century saw a partial re-establishment of the practice (though most notably with two collations), even this was gradually done away with, until we reached the point we are at now. It cannot be said that the current conditions in church and state – to say nothing of the individual piety and happiness of Catholics – speak well for the results of the relaxation. (Read more.)

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Historical Evidence for Jesus

This is for the people who keep insisting that Jesus is a myth. There is more historical evidence for the existence of Jesus of Nazareth than there is for many Roman Emperors. From Reasonable Faith:

1. There was insufficient time for legendary influences to expunge the historical facts. The interval of time between the events themselves and recording of them in the gospels is too short to have allowed the memory of what had or had not actually happened to be erased.

2. The gospels are not analogous to folk tales or contemporary "urban legends." Tales like those of Paul Bunyan and Pecos Bill or contemporary urban legends like the "vanishing hitchhiker" rarely concern actual historical individuals and are thus not analogous to the gospel narratives.

3. The Jewish transmission of sacred traditions was highly developed and reliable. In an oral culture like that of first century Palestine the ability to memorize and retain large tracts of oral tradition was a highly prized and highly developed skill. From the earliest age children in the home, elementary school, and the synagogue were taught to memorize faithfully sacred tradition. The disciples would have exercised similar care with the teachings of Jesus.

4. There were significant restraints on the embellishment of traditions about Jesus, such as the presence of eyewitnesses and the apostles’ supervision. Since those who had seen and heard Jesus continued to live and the tradition about Jesus remained under the supervision of the apostles, these factors would act as a natural check on tendencies to elaborate the facts in a direction contrary to that preserved by those who had known Jesus.

5. The Gospel writers have a proven track record of historical reliability.
I don’t have enough time to talk about all of these. So let me say something about the first and the last points.

1. There was insufficient time for legendary influences to expunge the historical facts. No modern scholar thinks of the gospels as bald-faced lies, the result of a massive conspiracy. The only place you find such conspiracy theories of history is in sensationalist, popular literature or former propaganda from behind the Iron Curtain. When you read the pages of the New Testament, there’s no doubt that these people sincerely believed in the truth of what they proclaimed. Rather ever since the time of D. F. Strauss, sceptical scholars have explained away the gospels as legends. Like the child’s game of telephone, as the stories about Jesus were passed on over the decades, they got muddled and exaggerated and mythologized until the original facts were all but lost. The Jewish peasant sage was transformed into the divine Son of God.

One of the major problems with the legend hypothesis, however, which is almost never addressed by sceptical critics, is that the time between Jesus’s death and the writing of the gospels is just too short for this to happen. This point has been well-explained by A. N. Sherwin-White in his book Roman Society and Roman Law in the New Testament. [2] Professor Sherwin-White is not a theologian; he is a professional historian of times prior to and contemporaneous with Jesus. According to Sherwin-White, the sources for Roman and Greek history are usually biased and removed one or two generations or even centuries from the events they record. Yet, he says, historians reconstruct with confidence the course of Roman and Greek history. For example, the two earliest biographies of Alexander the Great were written by Arrian and Plutarch more than 400 years after Alexander’s death, and yet classical historians still consider them to be trustworthy. The fabulous legends about Alexander the Great did not develop until during the centuries after these two writers. According to Sherwin-White, the writings of Herodotus enable us to determine the rate at which legend accumulates, and the tests show that even two generations is too short a time span to allow legendary tendencies to wipe out the hard core of historical facts. When Professor Sherwin-White turns to the gospels, he states that for the gospels to be legends, the rate of legendary accumulation would have to be "unbelievable." More generations would be needed. (Read more.)

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Litany to the Holy Heart of St. Joseph

A rare litany to the Holy Heart of St. Joseph, in honor of his feast day. Share

McCabe and Comey

From The Hill:

McCabe is accused of misleading investigators about allegedly giving information to a former Wall Street Journal reporter about the investigation of Hillary Clinton and the Clinton family’s charitable foundation. McCabe asserts in his post-firing statement that he not only had authority to “share” that information to the media but did so with the knowledge of “the director.” The FBI director at the time was Comey.

 “I chose to share with a reporter through my public affairs officer and a legal counselor,” McCabe stated. “As deputy director, I was one of only a few people who had the authority to do that. It was not a secret, it took place over several days, and others, including the director, were aware of the interaction with the reporter.”

If the “interaction” means leaking the information, then McCabe’s statement would seem to directly contradict statements Comey made in a May 2017 congressional hearing. Asked if he had “ever been an anonymous source in news reports about matters relating to the Trump investigation or the Clinton investigation” or whether he had “ever authorized someone else at the FBI to be an anonymous source in news reports about the Trump investigation or the Clinton investigation,” Comey replied “never” and “no.” (Read more.)

Meanwhile, from The Federalist:

 Newly discovered text messages obtained by The Federalist reveal two key federal law enforcement officials conspired to meet with the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court (FISC) judge who presided over the federal case against Michael Flynn. The judge, Rudolph Contreras, was recused from handling the case just days after accepting the guilty plea of President Donald Trump’s former national security adviser who was charged with making false statements to federal investigators.

The text messages about Contreras between controversial Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) lawyer Lisa Page and Peter Strzok, the senior FBI counterintelligence official who was kicked off Robert Mueller’s special counsel team, were deliberately hidden from Congress, multiple congressional investigators told The Federalist. In the messages, Page and Strzok, who are rumored to have been engaged in an illicit romantic affair, discussed Strzok’s personal friendship with Contreras and how to leverage that relationship in ongoing counterintelligence matters. (Read more.)

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The Family and the Fight Against Obesity

From Return to Order:

A strong family life offers much needed order to the lives of children. Fathers and mothers can address not only avoiding unhealthy attachments to foods but also the culture’s call to pleasure through materialism and experiences. When we line up to purchase fast-food, junk food and snack food in abundance, we also, as a society, appear to feed our intellect, our spiritual and emotional lives with cheapened missives that emanate from the mass media marketing campaigns that drive our materialistic culture. That is why the family can be an essential shield against this culture. There are all sorts of ways in which parents can work against some of the influences that affect obesity among children.

Disconnecting the TV from the networks and reserving it for controlled DVDs with content that edifies the soul is one significant strategy. Parents might discourage those tight and unforgiving schedules that give way to pressures that are threatening our family structures, our own mental health and that of our children. They can keep out poor quality entertainment in the form of bad novels, violent and sensual video games, hyped-up movies and reality TV as a means towards depressurizing our lives.

All these things have made us ill by malnourishing our minds and spirits, leaving us spiritually ill, and emotionally empty, unable to find spiritual or emotional solace in our frantic preoccupations. Taking measures in these fields, will influence eating habits. It is interesting that the emptiness and dreariness of this generation’s outlook on life matches the colorless dinner plates they choose to consume. The family that is Christ-centered offers protection against society’s assault on hope. (Read more.)

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Helena Modjeska as Marie Antoinette, 1899

Helena Modjeska was a celebrated Polish-American actress. More about her HERE. Share

Who Will Banish the Madmen in Education?

From Return to Order:

The modern mantra is that all students need to attend university. Thus, young people continue to enter colleges in droves. As a result, they pile up massive amounts of debt, which they owe mainly to the federal government. Such student debt now stands at an astounding $1.4 trillion and growing. The problem is that more and more graduates fail to pay back their loans. Federal loan programs can only work on the assumption that they will be paid back. In fact, interest collected on these loans has always been more than enough to cover costs. For decades, the government has even shown a surplus — a rare feat these days from any government agency. But the federal loan programs are now projected to lose tens of billions of dollars. And young people are getting the blame. (Read more.)

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Brian Boru and the Battle of Clontarf

Battle of Clontarf, 1014

Brian Boru

 From Live Science:

The famous Irish king, Brian Boru, is widely credited with defeating the Vikings at the Battle of Clontarf more than 1,000 years ago. But not everyone heaps praise on the king. For the past 300 years, historians have cast doubt on whether Boru's main enemies were the Vikings, or his own countrymen. Perhaps, say these so-called revisionists, the Battle of Clontarf was actually a domestic feud — that is, a civil war — between different parts of Ireland.

To settle the matter, researchers analyzed a medieval text used by both traditionalists and revisionists to bolster their arguments. The results are a boon for Boru: The hostilities revealed in the text largely indicate that the Irish fought in an international war against the Vikings, although Irish-on-Irish conflict is also described in the manuscripts, according to the new study, published online today (Jan. 24) in the journal Royal Society Open Science. [Fierce Fighters: 7 Secrets of Viking Culture]

The medieval Irish text, known as Cogadh Gaedhel re Gallaibh ("The War of the Gaedhil with the Gaill"), describes how an army led by Boru challenged the Viking invaders, culminating in the Battle of Clontarf in 1014. The Vikings weren't new to Ireland. Viking raids against the Emerald Isle began in A.D. 795. In the decades that followed, the Vikings took over Dublin and built camps that evolved into the settlements of Cork, Limerick, Waterford and Wexford, said study lead author Ralph Kenna, a professor of theoretical physics at Coventry University, in the United Kingdom. But Boru wanted a unified Ireland, and the Vikings and various regional kingdoms stood in his way. Boru achieved his goal of unification in 1011, but merely a year later, the province of Leinster and Viking-controlled Dublin rose against him, leading to the Battle of Clontarf. (Boru's army defeated Leinster and the Vikings, but victory came at price for Boru, as he was killed at Clontarf.) (Read more.)

Brian Boru rallies the Irish

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We're All Fascists Now

It goes without saying that I completely disagree with characterizing Trump as a fascist. From The New York Times:

Why are so many demonstrably non-fascist people being accused of fascism? 

[...]

Partly, as the writer David French and others have pointed out, this ritual we keep witnessing of an in-group wielding its power against a perceived heretic seems to come from a deep human desire for a sense of belonging and purpose. Organized religion may be anathema on the political left, but the need for the things religion provides — moral fervor, meaning, a sense of community — are not. Partly, too, it is the result of a lack of political proportion and priority....

But it is also a concerted attempt to significantly redraw the bounds of acceptable thought and speech. By tossing people like Mary Beard and Christina Hoff Sommers into the slop bucket with the likes of Richard Spencer, they are attempting to place their reasonable ideas firmly outside the mainstream. They are trying to make criticism of identity politics, radical Islam and third-wave feminism, among various other subjects, verboten. For even the most minor transgressions, as in the case of Professor Beard, people are turned radioactive.

There are consequences to all this “fascism” — and not just the reputational damage to those who are smeared, though there is surely that. The main effect is that these endless accusations of “fascism” or “misogyny” or “alt-right” dull the effects of the words themselves. As they are stripped of meaning, they strip us of our sharpness — of our ability to react forcefully to real fascists and misogynists or members of the alt-right. (Read more.)

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Ireland’s Rise in Demonic Activity

The exorcists have been busy. No, it's not a joke. From Patti Armstrong:

One sign is the growing pro-abortion mood in Ireland. This May, the traditionally pro-life country, will have a referendum for the repeal of the Irish Constitution’s Eight Amendment which recognizes unborn babies as human beings. Ireland’s prime minister has declared he will campaign to have it repealed. The devil makes war on God’s creation through the wombs of mothers by influencing people to push for abortion.

The devil is both hidden and influencing people and harassing some of them. In The Irish Catholic, Fr. Pat Collins, a renowned exorcist, said that in recent years, demonic activity has risen exponentially. He has called on Church leaders to appoint a team of exorcists to cope with what he sees as a rising tide of evil in the country.

Father Collins reported that he is “inundated almost daily with desperate people seeking his help to deal with what they believe to be demonic possession and other evil goings on.” People are claiming to have ghostly encounters, being pulled from their beds, and even full-blown possession. (Read more.)

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A Well-Preserved Roman Villa

From The Daily Mail:

Sprawling ruins of the 2,000-year-old luxury villa of a Roman military commander have been unearthed during work to expand the Italian capital's subway system. Archaeologists working on Rome's Metro C line uncovered the second century AD residence, or domus, adjoining a military barracks excavated in 2016. The richly decorated dwelling is complete with a well-preserved geometric design mosaic, marble floors and frescoed walls. Government official Francesco Prosperetti, special superintendent for the Colosseum, the National Roman Museum and the archaeological area of ​​Rome, described the find as an 'astounding archaeological construction site.' (Read more.)

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