Le Bal des Débutantes 2025

 

 

In which the daughters of celebrities mix with aristocrats and princesses at a traditional event. From Vogue:

Anticipation for this year’s Le Bal des Débutantes—known simply as Le Bal—had been mounting for weeks on TikTok, with no shortage of videos decoding what to expect. The renowned, invite-only debutante ball is akin to the Met Gala for haute couture-wearing teenagers, scions, heiresses, and royals, and the latest edition held at the Marie Antoinette-worthy Shangri-La Paris hotel on Saturday evening did not disappoint in the old world glamour stakes.

As per usual, the debs and their families landed in the city during Thanksgiving week in order to prepare for the event, practice their dancing, and select their diamond jewelry from V Muse. This year, Carolina Lansing—granddaughter of designer Carolina Herrera—made her debut with her little brother Magnus Lansing serving as her cavalier. For the big moment, she opted for a floor-length strapless black and white polka dot gown with a bell-shaped skirt, bow, and a matching sash designed by Wes Gordon, creative director of the Carolina Herrera label. Lansing revealed that she met with her grandmother for advice on the gown too. “We ended up paying homage to my grandmother’s first runway collection,” she told Vogue. “That collection featured a lot of polka dots, so we decided to do black and white with a low waist and ruching, and a big bow because it felt very ’Carolina.’ There’s a lot going on, but it is also very elegant and simple at the same time.” Lansing teamed the gown with a ribbon choker with an antique diamond and sapphire brooch. “The pin immediately reminded me of my grandfather when I saw it, and he just recently passed away in March,” she said. By the end of the night, her brother ended up jokingly wearing her bow as a supersized bowtie.

Attending Le Bal is an established tradition amongst celebrity offspring, with Lily Collins, Margaret Qualley, Apple Martin, Ava Philippe, and Scout Willis among those who have stepped out in the past. This time around, Bronwyn Golden Vance—whose parents are actors Angela Bassett and Courtney B. Vance—was ready for her close-up. The Harvard student helped kicked off the festivities in the rococo-style ballroom with an opening daughter-father dance. Vance glided across the dance floor in an ivory tulle confection with flecks of gilded details, designed by French haute couturier Stéphane Rolland. Like Lansing, she called upon her sibling to be her cavalier, with her twin brother Slater Vance taking up the task. “I think Le Bal is about being in a space with successful women who are around my age from all over the world–it’s very rare that you can share such a beautiful night with accomplished young girls who are slowly reaching adulthood,” Vance said ahead of the event. “It's a moment to cherish friendships with women who have similar aspirations in life. But yet we are all so different, so it’s a chance to blossom and meet a lot of new people, which I feel like a lot of people don’t get to do. I feel very blessed that I have this opportunity.” (Read more.)

 

Featured at Le Bal were the Churchill emeralds. From Tatler:

What does one wear to Le Bal des Débutantes in Paris when one’s father is the 12th Duke of Marlborough? Couture by Armani and a diamond necklace once worn by your ancestor to receive the Nobel Prize in Literature, of course. Few jewels possess the history or pedigree of the emerald-and-diamond piece adorning the neck of Tatler cover star Lady Araminta Spencer-Churchill.

For Lady Araminta, wearing the necklace – loaned from Le Bal jeweller V Muse – marks not only her debut into society but her place within the Churchill family history. Its appearance at Le Bal des Débutantes, held at the Shangri-La hotel in Paris, links her directly to generations of Spencer-Churchill women who wore the piece at pivotal moments in their own public lives. (Read more.)

Many tiaras could be seen. Also from Tatler:

Eulalia de Orleans-Borbón is the daughter of businessman Álvaro de Orleans-Borbón (himself a distant cousin of King Juan Carlos, who is Eulalia's godfather) and descends from several of Europe’s royal houses; her great-grandmother was Grand Duchess Maria Alexandrovna of Russia, daughter of the Tsar, who married Prince Alfred, Duke of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha, son of Queen Victoria.

Already an accomplished influencer with 13,000 followers, the 19-year-old is currently studying economics and finance at St Andrews in Fife – that favourite university of royals the world over – and speaks six languages. In the ultimate meeting of two grand royal houses, Eulalia was accompanied to Le Bal by Albert Windsor: the grandson of the Duke of Kent and late Duchess of Kent, who made his debut as the royal family's newest eligible bachelor when he was crowned the hottest young singleton in Britain in Tatler's annual Little Black Book in October.

Naturally, the Princess was the epitome of regal glamour in an embellished, haute couture gown by Lebanese designer Tony Ward, which featured a low neckline and a dramatic train. The perfect partner for such a dress? The sweeping lines of the Fleur-de-lys Tiara, made by Viennese jeweller Moritz Hübner in 1912, are inlaid with ancient diamonds that were originally set in the Order of the Holy Spirit, awarded by King Charles X of France.

Superbly presented, the three large, fleur-de-lys motifs can also be detached and worn separately as brooches. Passed down through the Bourbon family, this tiara once belonged to Princess Maria Anna of Parma and served as the ideal finishing touch for Princess Eulalia's look. (Read more.)

Read more HERE and HERE.

Share

Surrounded

 From Tierney's Real News:

I hear from so-called “conservatives” every day who call themselves “Libertarians” and they want me to hate Trump and hate Israel. Their latest narrative is to tell me how stupid it is that Trump is focusing on Venezuela. They say he’s clueless and needs to put America First.

Let me tell you why focusing on Venezuela right now IS putting America First.

Where do conservative voters get these constant Never Trump narratives from? Primarily from Koch Libertarian RINO “influencers” who have large followings on X.

Many Soros-Koch Libertarian RINO influencers, like Jesse Kelly, MTG, Tucker, Emerald Robinson, Rand Paul, Thomas Massie, Michael Tracy, Candace Owens, etc., keep telling their followers on a daily basis that President Trump is letting America down.

They say he must focus on America First because Venezuela isn’t an important issue and voters don’t care. WRONG. Smart and informed voters DO care.

Here’s just a few examples of the garbage that Koch Libertarians spew on a daily basis - I could give you lots more but you can research their feeds yourself. Their constant Trump hate is documented if you just look. (Read more.)

Share

Be Very Careful About Letting AI Take the Place of Humans in Your Life

 From John Hawkins at Culturcidal:

However, you feel about this, from “Oooh, creepy,” to “Wow, I can’t wait,” I would tell you that AI is truly amazing, but you do not want to get emotionally entangled with it in any way, shape, or form.

As a starting point, it’s not human, and therefore, it can’t scratch that itch we all have for companionship like another person. Worse yet, even if you assume that it generally has good “motives” (and we really can’t do that), we’re talking about products here. You know how you sell products and keep your customers coming back for more? You please the consumer by telling them what they want to hear.

AI grandma may tell you that it’s fine that you’re losing your teeth because you’re using meth, but real grandma is probably going to cry and beg you not to do that to yourself. Your AI girlfriend is going to cater to you and what you want all the time, while your real girlfriend is going to be in a bad mood sometimes, wants to go to a restaurant you don’t like, and complains because you have week-old dishes in the sink. AI Jake Paul will probably… well, they both may give terrible advice to their great grandkids, so that may be more of a wash.

Still, the point is that it’s not healthy to be catered to, told what you want to hear, and to live life on easy street ALL THE TIME. So many of the most worthwhile things in life, like relationships, kids, learning, and skill building, require a lot of discomfort, pain, and boredom. The more you lean on AI EMOTIONALLY, the more it’s going to limit your ability to connect with other people and your life. In the short term, it may seem fun, but long term, it will cripple you emotionally. (Read more.)

Share

The Tree of Jesse in Sacred Art

 From The Liturgical Arts Journal:

The season of Advent is synonymous with many things; Advent wreaths, Advent hymns and so on, but another symbol that is strongly associated with this liturgical season is that of the Tree of Jesse. This is manifest in the scriptural readings associated to this period of liturgical time, and it is also manifest in the O antiphon, O Radix Jesse. To understand what "Tree of Jesse" intends to refer to, we need to back up and consider the following passages from sacred scripture:

"There shall be a root of Jesse; and He that shall rise up to rule the Gentiles, in Him the Gentiles shall hope." (Romans 15: 11-13)

"On that day, a shoot shall sprout from the stump of Jesse, and from his roots a bud shall blossom. The spirit of the Lord shall rest upon him; a spirit of wisdom and of understanding, a spirit of counsel and of strength; a spirit of knowledge and of fear of the Lord, and his delight shall be in the fear of the Lord. Not by appearance shall he judge, nor by hearsay shall he decide, but he shall judge the poor with justice, and decide aright for the land's afflicted. He shall strike the ruthless with the rod of his mouth, and with the breath of his lips he shall slay the wicked. Justice shall be the band around his waist, and faithfulness the belt upon his hips. Then the wolf shall best a guest of the lamb, and the leopard shall lie down with the kid; the calf the young shall browse together, with a little child to guide them. The cow and the bear shall be neighbours, together their young shall rest... There shall be no harm or ruin on all my holy mountain; for the earth shall be filled with the knowledge of the Lord, as water covers the sea. On that day, the root of Jesse, set up as a signal for the nations, the Gentiles shall seek out, for his dwelling shall be glorious." (Isaiah 11: 1-10)

In essence then, the image of the tree relates to a family tree; that is to say, the genealogy of Christ coming from the line of David and born in Bethlehem. It is within this context that we can understand why there is an association between the "Tree of Jesse" and the season of Advent which leads us up to the birth of Christ.

The Tree of Jesse is something we have frequently seen depicted within sacred art. It shows Christ and the Virgin at the top of this tree (or in some instances, the Virgin holding the Christ-child) with Jesse reclining at the bottom and trunk proceeding forth from his side; proceeding upward to Christ are various Old Testament figures, including King David and often King Solomon. This imagery has appeared in various forms through the course of two millennia, from stained glass to manuscripts, icons, murals, sculptured carvings and more. (Read more.)

Share

America’s Child Crisis

 From Splice Today:

The child problem is simple. Fewer people are having children because the conditions required to raise them have collapsed. The supports that made family life possible for previous generations no longer exist. Stability, affordability, healthcare, childcare, time, and margin have eroded to the point that adding a child feels like stepping off a cliff. This is a system failure, not a spiritual one.

From a family’s perspective, none of this is abstract. You feel the pressure in grocery bills, rent, medical premiums, childcare costs, and the constant guesswork of whether one sick day or one broken car will throw everything off. The margins are thin. Friends delay having kids because they can barely afford themselves. Couples who want children fight over numbers, not values. This isn’t about faith. This is about a country that stopped making space for families to survive.

Men are told to provide, be steady, be responsible, and lead their households. At the same time wages have flattened, job stability has evaporated, housing has priced out entire generations, healthcare bills can wipe out a savings account in one night, and childcare costs more than rent. Men get blamed for not stepping up while the tools they need to do that have been stripped away piece by piece. It’s not a moral failure. It’s economic sabotage dressed up as personal weakness. (Read more.)

Share

Remembering Jean Raspail

 From Chronicles:

Like many writers and artists, Jean Raspail eludes easy typecasting. He’s most famous for The Camp of the Saints, a novel that careless readers interpret as a xenophobic screed. Yet he made his reputation as a writer of travel stories, recounting the plights of vanishing aboriginal peoples around the world, in a tenor akin to other postcolonial writers. He was certainly a Catholic traditionalist, but he drew insights from other religions. Because he was never involved in politics and his books aren’t really about politics, it’s hard to classify him as a man of the political right. “I’m a novelist,” he wrote in an earlier preface for The Camp of the Saints. “I don’t have a theory and I don’t have a system or ideology to offer or to defend.” 

Nevertheless, Raspail’s works do evince “metapolitics,” what Joseph de Maistre called the “metaphysics of politics.” They show the intuitions and insights required to grasp deeper realities, or at the very least, identify the ones that are missing from the present. For the first time in a generation, English speakers can discover Raspail’s metapolitics for themselves. His most famous novel, The Camp of the Saints, is now back in print, with a fresh new English translation by Ethan Rundell published by Vauban Books. Read alongside Raspail’s other works, it captures his determination to preserve and pass on the best of Western civilization, especially during moments of catastrophe.

Jean Raspail was born in 1925 in Chemillé-sur-Dême, a town in the Loire Valley. The youngest of four children, he was a solitary child: by the time he was eight, his siblings had married and left the house. His family, bourgeois and Catholic, was well-connected to Parisian commercial and civic life, and so he grew up in the city’s affluent 16^th arrondissement, attending the best Catholic schools. 

Raspail, however, never felt at home in this milieu. A restless student, he found his summer vacations spent outside the city far more formative. They nourished his provincial roots and his imaginative connections to the distant past. Legend had it that the family was descended from Visigoths vanquished by the Frankish armies of Clovis in 507. Tall, blue-eyed, and fair-haired, Raspail seemed to embody that ancient heritage that endured long after defeat.

Scoutisme, the French Scouting movement, played a particularly important role in forming his character. Now best known for teaching leadership and appreciation for the outdoors, Robert Baden-Powell’s scouting movement was, in fact, founded upon Christian virtues and practice. Unlike many other scouting movements, French scouting embraced Baden-Powell’s explicitly spiritual outlook. The Scouts de France was founded in 1920 by the Jesuit priest Fr. Jacques Sevin, who was later beatified. It blended the precepts of scouting, Catholicism, and the nation’s oldest chivalric customs. Properly done, scoutisme was meant to turn fidgety boys into self-disciplined men, whose love of adventure and pursuit of the noble are coupled with a mission to help others discover their roots and origins. Whereas French schooling failed to shape Raspail, scoutisme did. (Read more.)

Share

Melusine

 

From Justine Brown at The Writing Desk:

Her story was written down by the French poet Jean d’Arras in the 14th century. It goes something like this: over the English Channel and faraway, in a deep well at the edge of the town of Lusignan, near Poitiers, there swims a beautiful two-tailed water sprite named Melusine. 

The daughter of the fairy Pressine and the King of Albany—Scotland-- Melusine is born in human form and grows into a graceful maiden. One day, however, she mistreats her royal father; as punishment, her enchantress mother condemns Melusine to metamorphose into a freshwater mermaid each Saturday. 

One day, riding in the forest, Melusine stops to water her horse at a cool fountain. There she encounters the noble Raymondin; they instantly fall in love.  He asks for her hand, and she agrees to marry him—on a single condition. One day out of seven, each Saturday, he may not see her at all. 

If he so much as glimpses her, he will lose her forever. Raymondin asks no questions, but hastens to accept. Now Melusine makes him blissfully contented. Not only does she adore him, she pulls riches out of thin air for him. She magicks him up a church, where they marry; and a castle, where they live happily together. Day after day, month after month, everything is perfect. She gives him many sons. Together the couple found the noble House of Lusignan. 

But the idyll is disrupted when an ill-wisher convinces Raymondin to spy on his wife, claiming that Melusine is entertaining a lover on Saturdays. Peering through the keyhole, Raymondin sees her in her bath, her great green tail flopping out. 

He emits a gasp. Melusine, realising what has happened, rebukes him. Transforming into a dragon, she wheels three times around the chateau, crying aloud, and flies away. Melusine has abandoned the castle, cathedral and village to her people, but she herself vanishes from sight. Returning to mermaid form, Melusine returns to her watery home. She can sometimes be heard keening to announce the death of a family member. But that is all. (Read more.)

Share

Murder & Mayhem in Minnesota

 From Tierney's Real News:

Almost 500 employees of the Minnesota Department of Human Services (DHS) publicly accused Democrat Governor Tim Walz on X of being responsible for facilitating and covering up the massive fraud in Minnesota committed by Somalis. I was one of the first to report on this fraud long ago!

Tim Walz (referred to by MAGA as Tampon Tim) is a proud member of TEAM ILHAN in Minnesota - along with AG Keith Ellison, Senator Amy Klobuchar and Senator Tina Smith - and a card-carrying Communist aligned with the CCP.

Trust me, it’s not just Walz - it’s ALL of Team Ilhan and their co-conspirators in the Koch Libertarian party in Minnesota!  

A statement was posted from an account called “Minnesota Department of Human Service Employees” on X, which claimed to represent more than 480 current DHS staff members.

The post claimed that Governor Tim Walz was “100% responsible for massive fraud in Minnesota,” asserting that employees repeatedly raised concerns about fraudulent activity within DHS programs but were met with “monitoring, threats, repression,” and efforts to discredit internal reports.

That account was created in 2023 and had nearly 17,000 followers. (Read more.)

Share

The High Cost of Being Experienced

 From Of Home and Womanhood:

Sex was once regarded as something that could bind two souls with a permanence stronger than any contract written on paper. Because that is what sexual intimacy really is. Our ancestors were mocked for treating sex with reverence. “How prudish,” we said, “that they believed the body had anything to do with the soul.” And with arrogant pride, we declared ourselves free. Free from shame, free from limits, free from the old insistent truth that deep pleasures require deep commitments.

We are modern men, and women, after all. We don’t need the old fashioned ways of our grandparents. We know better. We are better. Much of modern day suffering, I believe, is really due to our rejection of what was just common sense for most of human history. Children need their parents. Marriage is more than just romance. Discipline builds character. (Read more.)

Share

Inside Choctaw Hall

 

 

From Victoria:

Few would guess the white orbs topping the lower posts on each side of the graceful ascent to Choctaw Hall’s entrance are actually cannonballs. Excavated from the grounds following a Civil War skirmish and encased in stucco, the accents are just one of many character-rich details waiting to be discovered in a dwelling lauded for its architectural appeal, sumptuous interiors, and almost two centuries of history.

 Constructed between 1830 and 1836 for Joseph Neibert, the Natchez mansion passed through several hands before being purchased by David Paul Garner Jr. and Lee Glover in 2014. Lee, who serves as operations manager, and David, the self-ascribed “avant gardener,” immediately set about restoring the structure with fresh plaster and paint as well as repairs to the roof and exterior. “Thank goodness we started out with good bones,” says Lee.

 Desirous of extending the grounds, the new owners also purchased adjoining property, where David cultivates gardens lush with camellias, azaleas, and other blooms. Indoors, elegant furnishings and antiques abound, but one of the most exquisite items in the trove is a grand assemblage of Jacob Petit Paris porcelain. So extensive is the collection that in 2023, a curator from the Louvre came to behold its charm. (Read more.)

Share

Globalist Secret Societies & World War

 

Share

How Carpenters Built Medieval England

 From Medievalists:

One of the strongest insights from Dyer’s article is the sheer ubiquity of carpenters in medieval England. They appear in villages, small market towns, major urban centres, and forested regions where timber was abundant. Using evidence from the 1379–1381 poll taxes, Dyer estimates more than 10,000 carpenters were active around 1380 — or about one in every 270 people was employed in the craft. Their presence spans every kind of medieval settlement, demonstrating that carpentry was a cornerstone trade, not a marginal or urban-only occupation.

Mobility was a key feature of the carpentry trade in medieval England. Using 158 cases where both a carpenter’s home and place of work can be identified, Dyer shows that carpenters travelled widely depending on the scale and prestige of the project. About a third stayed within their own town or village, especially in larger centres such as London or Oxford where work was plentiful. Another third travelled modest distances—up to 12 miles—for routine building tasks, moving between neighbouring communities for house repairs, timber framing, and small construction jobs. This mobility created a wide regional labour market in which both rural and urban carpenters crossed boundaries when opportunities arose. (Read more.)

Share

'Conditor Alme Siderum'

Creation of the Stars

 My favorite Advent hymn. From A Clerk of Oxford:

Among the Office Hymns for Advent is 'Conditor Alme Siderum', best known in translation today as 'Creator of the stars of night'. Intended to be sung in the evening, as the early dusk of a winter night descends, this hymn praises God as the creator of the stars - those stars which seem to shine so much more brightly in a cold and frosty sky. It draws a parallel between the darkness which envelops us each day and a yet deeper darkness, 'the world's evening hour', which Christ, bright as the sun, illuminates by his entry into the world.

 [...]

Creator of the stars of night,

Thy people’s everlasting light,

O Jesu, Saviour of us all,

Hear thou thy servants when they call.

Thou, grieving at the bitter cry

Of all creation doomed to die,

Didst come to save our ruined race

With healing gifts of heavenly grace.

Thou camest, Bridegroom of the bride,

As drew the world to evening-tide;

Proceeding from a virgin shrine,

The Son of Man, yet Lord divine.

At thy great name exalted now

All knees must bend, all hearts must bow;

And things in heaven and earth shall own

That thou art Lord and King alone.

To thee, O holy One, we pray

our judge in that tremendous day,

preserve us, while we dwell below,

from every onslaught of the foe.

All praise, eternal Son, to thee,

whose advent sets thy people free,

whom with the Father we adore,

and Spirit blest, for evermore.

The best-known translation today is from the 19th century, but the hymn was first rendered into English about 800 years before that. In an Anglo-Saxon hymnal from 11th-century Canterbury, the Latin hymn is accompanied by a version in English, not a poetic translation but a full word-by-word gloss. It begins 'Eala, ðu halga scyppend tungla' ('hail, thou holy creator of the stars') and contains some recognisable vocabulary, most notably in the third verse, where the hymn alludes to Psalm 18: Christ, like the sun, comes forth 'as a bridegroom coming out of the bridal chamber'. In Old English, this is 'brydguma of brydbure', 'bridegroom from bridal bower'. (Read more.)

Share

Aquinas, Islam, and Why Trump’s Immigration Reset Is Just

 From Amuse on X:

President Trump’s renewed halt on Islamic migration to the United States, alongside a policy of promoting remigration for certain Islamic refugees and migrants, is routinely denounced as xenophobic, unchristian, even fascist. The charges are serious. They are also philosophically sloppy and theologically uninformed. If we take St. Thomas Aquinas seriously, especially Summa Theologiae I–II, Question 105, Article 3, the picture looks very different. Aquinas offers a structured framework for thinking about immigration that is more charitable than contemporary slogans yet more realistic than contemporary wishful thinking. Within that framework, Trump’s policy is not only permissible, it is morally and prudentially justified.

 To see why, begin with Aquinas’s basic question in I–II, 105, 3. He asks whether the judicial precepts of the Old Law, including its rules about foreigners, are reasonable. Aquinas notes that the Israelite law distinguished carefully among different kinds of foreigners. Some were passing guests who deserved protection from harm. Others were resident sojourners who lived among the people but did not share full civic standing. Still others sought to be admitted fully into the community’s “fellowship and mode of worship.” For this last group, Aquinas stresses, the law imposed an order. They were not to be admitted to citizenship immediately. Admission typically came only after the third generation, and some hostile peoples were to be excluded altogether or held as “foes in perpetuity.” On Aquinas’s reading, these rules are not expressions of ethnic hatred, they are rational instruments for preserving the constitution, worship, and common good of the people. (Read more.)

Share

8,000-Year-Old Rock Art

 From Ancient Origins:

Archaeologists working in Central Anatolia have uncovered a collection of prehistoric petroglyphs near Mount Erciyes that fundamentally reshapes our understanding of symbolic expression in the region. The discovery in Kayseri's Develi district reveals engravings dating to approximately 6000 BC, millennia before the rise of the Hittite Empire that would later dominate these lands.Carved into dark volcanic rocks scattered across the southern foothills of Mount Erciyes, these ancient markings capture human and animal figures alongside geometric patterns. The discovery, currently awaiting official registration with Turkish cultural authorities, represents one of the most significant prehistoric finds in the region in decades. Early analysis dates the engravings to the Late Neolithic or Early Chalcolithic period, offering a rare glimpse into how early Anatolian communities expressed symbolic thought long before written language existed.

The petroglyphs discovered near Develi offer compelling evidence that organized symbolic expression flourished in Central Anatolia thousands of years before any known writing system reports ArkeoNews. Archaeologists involved in documenting the site described the volcanic rock surfaces as "among the earliest canvases of the human imagination," noting that every carved line—whether depicting animals, humans, or abstract shapes—reflects a symbolic consciousness that predates writing by millennia.

The site's strategic position near ancient water sources and migration routes suggests it may have functioned as a gathering or ritual area for early farming and herding communities. Researchers believe the engravings served purposes far beyond decoration, likely representing early expressions of belief, identity, and social connection. The figures of humans and animals, along with geometric motifs, provide insight into how prehistoric communities understood their world and their relationship to the natural environment surrounding them. (Read more.)

Share

A ‘Little Women’ Christmas Aesthetic

  

From Homes and Gardens:

There’s something inherently nostalgic about the holiday season – the return of old traditions, the warmth of homecomings, and the quiet joy of generosity and togetherness. It’s a feeling steeped in comfort and memory, one that the March family captures so beautifully in the iconic book and films of Little Women. The Little Women Christmas aesthetic brings this timeless sentiment to life, blending the charm and magic of family and celebration.

Based on Louisa May Alcott's 1868 novel and its various film adaptations, the Little Women Christmas aesthetic embraces the simplicity of the holiday season by means of charming and evocative home decor. This Christmas decorating theme leans into 'nostalgia-core', or a yearning for the peace, comfort, and childlike joy of Christmases past. It's no surprise that this aesthetic is such a popular trend this year, as it 'captures what people are craving right now: more warmth, more color, more character,' interior designer Terri Brien explains. 'It’s sentimental and layered, with a feeling of nostalgia and comfort that is just perfect for the holidays.'

Unlike other holiday trends that might only speak to certain personalities or interior design styles, there's something universal about the Little Women Christmas aesthetic. It embodies the essence of the Christmas holiday itself, not only through its colors and its decorations, but through the feeling it establishes within individuals. (Read more.)

 

And here is a "Little Women" Christmas Brunch from Victoria!

 

Share

William F. Buckley at 100

 From Mark Judge at Hot Air:

 This year marks the 100th anniversary of William F. Buckley’s birth and the 70th anniversary of National Review, the magazine he founded.  There have been several tributes to the godfather of modern conservatism. It’s also a proper occasion to note that Buckley would have loved the Anti-Communist Film Festival. I’m working out the details to hold the event next year. Buckley would have loved the in-your-face-ness of the festival, as well as the powerful cultural component. We are taking on Hollywood on its own turf, renting out a theater in Washington, D.C., and showing some classic anti-communist films.

    This is a different and more powerful approach to changing the culture than delivering a white paper at a think tank. William F. Buckley would know this because Buckley was not just an erudite and brilliant thinker, but a fighter. This was pointed out by Daniel J. Flynn recently in The Imaginative Conservative. In researching Buckley, Flynn noted that “the aspect of his personality that surprised most pertained to his capacity to morph into Bill ‘the Brawler’ Buckley when the situation called for it.” (Read more.)

Share

How One Myth Changed Empires

 From The Greek Reporter:

The myth of Persephone, or Proserpina, a daughter who disappears underground and rises again, has long helped people make sense of time. In Greece, the story of Persephone explained why the world shifts from growth to barrenness and then returns to life. In Rome, the same story—told as Proserpina—was woven into the city’s calendar and used to structure public life. What began as a tale about the seasons became, in Roman hands, a way to organize fields, markets, courts, and elections.

In the Greek version, Hades seizes Persephone, and her mother Demeter grieves so deeply that the earth withers. A compromise brings Persephone back for part of each year, but the pomegranate seeds she has eaten bind her to return below when the cycle turns. The meaning is straightforward: winter reflects her absence, and spring announces her return.

Greek communities lived this rhythm through ritual. At the Eleusinian Mysteries, initiates experienced a drama of loss and hope. In Athens, the women’s festival of the Thesmophoria paused everyday life to reflect on fertility, reciprocity, and restraint. Even farming followed signs that made nature the ultimate master clock. (Read more.)

Share

Holiday Etiquette Tips

From Kitchn:

When to arrive at a party?

If you live by the motto that it’s “better late than never,” you may be on to something. Although Martha doesn’t suggest showing up to parties two hours late, she does say that not showing up at the time it is scheduled to start is just fine. “A little past call time is always nice for the host because they’re never quite ready,” Martha suggested.

How long you should wait for a tardy guest before serving dinner?

“Not too long,” said Martha. “Just leave the plates — actually, push their plates to the end of the table.” (Note to self: Do not arrive late to Martha’s party.)

If you can move place cards if you don’t like the person you’re seated next to?

“No,” warned Martha. “You’re not allowed to. On Thanksgiving, my daughter moved all the place cards without my knowledge. That didn’t go over so well.” Check out the full segment below, along with Martha’s recipe for molasses-ginger crisps. We think they make a thoughtful gift, even if the eggs you use come from the grocery store. (Read more.)

 

More tips, HERE.

 

The comfort of scruffy hospitality, from Treehugger:

My friends Dana and John perfectly practice what the Rev. Jack King referred to as "scruffy hospitality." Their kitchen is small. The wood cabinets are dark and a few decades old. Spices and jars for sugar and flour line the countertops because there's nowhere else to put them. A tall, round table shoved in a corner has mismatched bar stools crammed around it.

The sliding glass doors in the kitchen lead to a back deck with a well-used chiminea, an outdoor table and a large variety of chairs and cushions, many of them bought at yard sales. We circle the chairs around the chiminea on weekend nights during all four seasons, whenever Dana and John put out a simple call out through text or Facebook that says, "Fire tonight!"

There will always be food, but like the bar stools and deck chairs, the food is mismatched. Our hosts provide some food; John may have the urge to make jalapeño poppers or Dana may put together some version of salsa with whatever's fresh from the garden, but there's not a formally prepared meal. Everyone just brings something. It's perfectly acceptable — encouraged even — to bring odds and ends of foods that need to get used up. I often bring wedges of cheese that have already been cut into or half a baguette to slice up and toast to dip in hummus. Everyone brings a little something to drink. And it's a glorious feast.

This kitchen and deck won't be featured in Better Homes and Gardens anytime soon, but maybe they should be. They are two of the most hospitable spaces I know. By opening up their home as-is, Dana and John are the most gracious hosts I know. I almost wrote "by opening up their home with its imperfections," but that's not accurate. Their home is perfect — just like it is. (Read more.)

Share

Another Jihadi

 Specialist Sarah Beckstrom has since passed away. RIP. From Tierney's Real News:

We all know what happened in Washington, DC - close to the White House - the night before Thanksgiving. Please pray for the victims and pray that Americans wake up to what’s really going on before it’s too late. Somehow we’ve all forgotten about what happened on 9/11.

Spc. Sarah Beckstrom, 20, is dying right now because a Jihadi shot her in the head in DC the night before Thanksgiving. Her dad says she’s not expected to survive. He’s holding her hand right now. 

[...]

Stephen Miller CONFIRMED that even “asylum seekers” and “refugees” are now FAIR GAME for DEPORTATION after today’s shooting:

“ENOUGH ALREADY! We’ve NEVER faced a threat like this. 20 million people brought into our country from the most failed societies on earth under Biden. There was no vetting, no conditions, no rules, For four straight years, they deluged this country — and now, more blood is being spilled as a result. No one else has to DIE because of what Democrats have done to this country. Trump will ACCELERATE efforts to review EVERY person added over the last 4 years, all 20 million. If you’re illegal, you’re out automatically! But everyone else, WHATEVER status, if you don’t love this country we’re gonna SEND YOU OUT! (Read more.)

Share

The Coronation of Elizabeth of York

 From Nathan Amin:

1487 had been a tough year for the fledgling Tudor Dynasty, a year of revolt in which the king, Henry VII, had been forced to defend the crown, one he himself had usurped two years earlier, in battle. His forces had been victorious at the Battle of Stoke Field, defeating an army nominally led by a child it was later revealed was Lambert Simnel, supposedly impersonating Edward, Earl of Warwick, the senior Yorkist claimant. You can read all about that campaign in my bestselling book ‘Henry VII and the Tudor Pretenders: Simnel, Warbeck and Warwick’, available worldwide here

This, however, had proven an anxious episode for the Tudor regime, and on a different day, perhaps inclement weather or a timely defection could have swung the day the other way, as had happened throughout the Wars of the Roses.

But Henry had emerged victorious. The first significant challenge to his reign had been overcome, his enemies scattered if not killed, and the crown remaining atop his head. He did, however, hear the message loud and clear. It was time to have his popular wife, the mother of his heir and through whom many considered his claim to kingship rested, crowned.

When Henry had become king, he very quickly made sure he himself was crowned, taking his seat upon the throne in Westminster Abbey on 30 October 1485. This was before he had married Elizabeth, and before even, his first parliament assembled. Henry ensured there was no doubt whatsoever that he owed his crown to anyone other than God him (or her?) self. (Read more.)

Share

The Pumpkin

Oh, greenly and fair in the lands of the sun,
The vines of the gourd and the rich melon run,
And the rock and the tree and the cottage enfold,
With broad leaves all greenness and blossoms all gold,
Like that which o'er Nineveh's prophet once grew,
While he waited to know that his warning was true,
And longed for the storm-cloud, and listened in vain
For the rush of the whirlwind and red fire-rain.

On the banks of the Xenil the dark Spanish maiden
Comes up with the fruit of the tangled vine laden;
And the Creole of Cuba laughs out to behold
Through orange-leaves shining the broad spheres of gold;
Yet with dearer delight from his home in the North,
On the fields of his harvest the Yankee looks forth,
Where crook-necks are coiling and yellow fruit shines,
And the sun of September melts down on his vines.

Ah! on Thanksgiving day, when from East and from West,
From North and from South come the pilgrim and guest,
When the gray-haired New Englander sees round his board
The old broken links of affection restored,
When the care-wearied man seeks his mother once more,
And the worn matron smiles where the girl smiled before,
What moistens the lip and what brightens the eye?
What calls back the past, like the rich Pumpkin pie?

Oh, fruit loved of boyhood! the old days recalling,
When wood-grapes were purpling and brown nuts were falling!
When wild, ugly faces we carved in its skin,
Glaring out through the dark with a candle within!
When we laughed round the corn-heap, with hearts all in tune,
Our chair a broad pumpkin,--our lantern the moon,
Telling tales of the fairy who travelled like steam,
In a pumpkin-shell coach, with two rats for her team!

Then thanks for thy present! none sweeter or better
E'er smoked from an oven or circled a platter!
Fairer hands never wrought at a pastry more fine,
Brighter eyes never watched o'er its baking, than thine!
And the prayer, which my mouth is too full to express,
Swells my heart that thy shadow may never be less,
That the days of thy lot may be lengthened below,
And the fame of thy worth like a pumpkin-vine grow,
And thy life be as sweet, and its last sunset sky
Golden-tinted and fair as thy own pumpkin pie!
By John Greenleaf Whittier (Via Recta Ratio)

Share

Just How Closely Did Biden’s DOJ Rely on the SPLC?

 From The Daily Signal:

The Department of Justice under President Joe Biden consulted with the Southern Poverty Law Center, a leftist activist group notorious for comparing mainstream conservatives and Christians to the Ku Klux Klan, and Rep. Jim Jordan, chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, formally asked Attorney General Pam Bondi for all related documents.

“The committee is continuing to investigate the Biden-Harris Department of Justice’s and Federal Bureau of Investigation’s weaponization of federal law-enforcement resources against conservative Americans,” Jordan wrote in the Tuesday letter exclusively provided to The Daily Signal.

The Ohio Republican congressman noted that “the DOJ, during Attorney General Merrick Garland’s tenure, colluded with the radical, left-wing Southern Poverty Law Center on matters relating to federal civil rights enforcement.” (Read more.)

Share

Mountains Underground?

 From Daily Galaxy:

Something vast is lurking beneath our feet—so immense and anomalous that scientists are rethinking what qualifies as the tallest “mountains” on Earth. A new study published in Nature reveals the existence of two colossal subterranean structures stretching from the core-mantle boundary deep within the planet. Towering up to 1,000 kilometers (620 miles) high—nearly 100 times taller than Mount Everest—these features sit beneath Africa and the central Pacific Ocean. They’re not made of rock in the conventional sense, but their scale makes them the largest identified features inside Earth. The discovery not only redefines Earth’s internal landscape—it introduces a powerful new tool for exploring planetary evolution. These dense regions may be billions of years old, preserving chemical signatures from early Earth and potentially influencing surface phenomena like volcano formation, plate tectonics, and mantle convection. (Read more.)

Share

Alix and Nicky: The Passion of the Last Tsar and Tsarina

 

 

On the wedding anniversary of Nicholas and Alexandra I thought I would revive this old review:

 In Alix and Nicky: The Passion of the Last Tsar and Tsarina Virginia Rounding offers a fresh look at the relationship of Tsar Nicholas II and Alexandra (Alix) his Empress, their accomplishments and fatal flaws, in this intriguing biographical study. For those not familiar with the Romanovs, there is enough background not to get lost. For those who are familiar with the topic, Rounding provides unique insights focusing on aspects of the imperial marriage and political policies too often ignored.

Rounding explores Nicholas’ political achievements and his oft-demeaned temperament and Alix’s mysterious, incapacitating ailments. While her symptoms are usually claimed to be the result of hysteria, Rounding surmises that the Empress may have had some genuine health issues, together with emotional instability. The strange dynamic between the imperial couple and Alix’s friend Anna Vyrubova is scrutinized in detail. Alix’s belief in Rasputin is blamed for precipitating the catastrophes which followed, not so much what Rasputin did as what he was perceived to have done by the public. Most enlightening is the treatment of the spiritual lives of Nicky and Alix and how their faith flowed into their love for each other. As a stirring portrait of a marriage, this book is second to none.

  This review first appeared in the May 2012 edition of the Historical Novels Review. The book is available HERE.

(*NOTE: This book was sent to me by the Historical Novel Society in exchange for my honest opinion.)

Share

The Soviet Story

 From Tierney's Real News:

I had no idea how bad it really was and how much we’ve ALL been lied to by the KGB and the Islamo-Communist propaganda (RED-GREEN axis) that still controls our media today.

Everyone needs to watch this documentary. It was made some 20 years ago and includes footage of survivors and lots of real-time video from the 1930s. It’s hard to watch but if you want to know the truth about what could happen to us if we don’t stop them - and not some fairytale - it’s a must view.

I have read dozens of books on this topic and thousands of articles and written several newsletters about it - but I never understood what really happened UNTIL NOW. The documentary is only 90 minutes long but it contains the most truth per minute I’ve ever seen anywhere!

BOTH the socialist NAZIs AND the socialist SOVIETS called their CONSERVATIVE enemies FASCISTS (that’s the key) - just like the Islamo-Nazi-Communist Mamdani is calling Trump today. Same playbook.

The missing piece of the puzzle is that Stalin AND Hitler both admired Marx and believed that all “inferiors” and those who disagreed needed to be exterminated to PERFECT man. They perfected GENOCIDE as part of Marx’s socialist platform. Anyone who disagreed with the socialist genocidal strategy was deemed a FASCIST. (Read more.)

Share

Eleanor of Aquitaine in Rome

 From The Catholic Herald:

King Charles and his wife, Queen Camilla, may have been the first king and queen of England to visit the Vatican since the Reformation. But they were certainly not the first English rulers to do so; they were treading in what had once been a well-worn path. One of the more remarkable visits occurred in early April of 1191. The ruler in question was not a king, however, but a queen: the glamorous – and perhaps over-glamourised – Eleanor of Aquitaine.

She remains the only known queen of England to have made the journey to Rome on her own.

When she made the journey, Eleanor was almost seventy. She had outlived two husbands and two adult sons. The first of these husbands was Louis VII, king of France; they had separated in 1153. The second husband was perhaps the greatest ruler of his generation: Henry II, king of England, duke of Normandy, and count of Anjou.

A combination of single-minded ruthlessness and formidable good luck had endowed King Henry with a complex of lands that stretched from Hadrian’s Wall to the Pyrenees. But Eleanor had not only survived two husbands. She had also borne them a total of nine children. At a time when child birth claimed the lives of so many women, this in itself was no small achievement.

Eleanor clearly had a love for children. In an episode almost entirely neglected by her many modern biographers, Eleanor was celebrated for having rescued a baby boy left to die on the roadside. She took in the child and found him a well-appointed home with an episcopal friend. There was more to Eleanor than the ambitious power broker of The Lion in Winter.

And so it was that in the spring of 1191, she travelled to Rome on behalf of one of those children, her eldest surviving son, now King Richard I. Richard had succeeded his father in July 1189 and had immediately freed Eleanor from the luxurious captivity in which she had been held since her disastrous involvement in the rebellion of 1173-4.

The background to her trip lay in the seismic events surrounding Jerusalem. In 1187, the great Kurdish war leader Saladin had crushed the army of the kingdom of Jerusalem and then quickly seized the holy city itself. When news of these disasters reached the West, Richard had been the first prince to take a crusading vow.

Within a year of his coronation, true to his word, he had set off eastwards. Before doing so, he called upon his mother to assist him in his endeavour. Queen Eleanor rose to the challenge admirably. In the ten months before her arrival in Rome, she had journeyed from Chinon to Pamplona and, in the company of the king’s bride, from Pamplona to Sicily, crossing the Pyrenees twice, traversing the Alps in the midst of winter, and sailing back and forth to Sicily – a journey of more than 2,200 miles. (Read more.)

Share

Queen Henrietta Maria As Saint Catherine of Alexandria

Henrietta Maria as St. Catherine by Van Dyck

 It is St. Catherine's Day, the birthday of Henrietta of France, Queen of England, Scotland and Ireland, in 1609. It is the first time I have heard her hair described as  "reddish-blonde." From Academia:

Another example is the painting of Queen Henrietta Maria, the French wife of the English King Charles I, by Sir Anthony Van Dyck (Figure 20). A Catholic queen who attempted to convert her Protestant husband, she is portrayed by Van Dyck as St. Catherine. She wears a simple, but elegant red dress and a green overcoat, pearls and crown on top of her reddish-blonde curls. To solidify the imagery, she holds the wheel of torture. This portrait is an outlier from the rest of the paintings surveyed for this paper (it was painted in 1639), but it illuminates the interesting notion that the royalty themselves desire to be seen with this parallel to a saint. Queen Henrietta Maria herself probably wanted to be portrayed as St. Catherine because the image it would evoke concerning herself and her beliefs would benefit her personal goals. (Read more.)

More on St. Catherine, HERE. 

 

Here is a recent review of Generalissima:

The book is a delight to read. Very detailed but constantly moving, just as Henriette-Marie was throughout the 1640s when her husband's monarchy was under attack by a number of separate Protestant factions in his Three Kingdoms (and she was hunted and exposed to shots fired by the Puritan Enemies numerous times). This may sound trite but I could hardly put the book down. Henriette-Marie (known in the US as "Mary" because that was what HER eponymous state of Maryland is called (long story), fille de France and Queen/Queen Dowager/Queen Mother of England, France and Scotland, shows the gumption, resolve and faithfulness one would expect of a child of King Henri IV, le Vert Galant de France, and his wife, Queen Marie de Medici, from the ducal/papal Medici Family. The author's careful depiction of the hatred the Puritans felt and acted on in their quest to destroy Henriette-Marie was riveting. Her conduct as the commander of troops and supplies on her way back to her husband from her trip the Netherlands to drop off her daughter Mary to the "tender care" of her rigidly Protestant husband's family was new knowledge for me and added a new dimension to my respect for Henriette-Marie.

Another delightful dimension to this historical novel is the portrait drawn of French Queen Marie de Medici. Mme. de Medici has had a rough after-life down here on Earth. The French Revolutionaries not only dragged her body out of the Basilica of St. Denis (along with the skeletons of several other kings and queens of France) but they horridly desecrated it back in the 1790s. That was only the start of her vilification. Since the Revolution, the Queen Mother Marie de Medicis has been painted in hateful colors, most notably in the 19th Century Three Musketeers, where she is as just as bad as Cardinal Richelieu while the more plebeian musketeers are the only good side in a three dimensional war in 1620s Paris. There clearly were struggles going on among those 3 factions, but they involve a very complicated set of interests, too big for this review, but I have always had an admiration for Marie de Medicis since first viewing the magnificent SALLE RUBENS at the West End of the Louvre's Grand Galerie. There is no question that Marie de Medicis had a big ego--imagine commissioning Peter Paul Rubens, one of the great painters of his day and of all time, to paint 21 separate paintings detailing one's own life--but the Vidal portrait of Mama Marie (who is present in England throughout a good deal of the first half of this book) also reveals a backbone of steel and a fierce love for her progeny. Rubens clearly cared for his subject because his family provided shelter for her after her exile from the French court due to Richelieu's better political skills. (Read more.)

My novels on Queen Henriette Maria are available, HERE and HERE.

Share

Global Money Laundering

 From Tierney's Real News:

The information in my original article still holds true. I’m going to share it with you again now. Much of what I wrote 7 years ago has been proven to be true. I bet most of you don’t even know the half of what I’m about to tell you because the fake news doesn’t tell us anything relevant - nor do they connect any dots back to the REAL players. They don’t want you to understand just how far reaching this goes.

I believe that ALL OF THESE MONEY LAUNDERING DEALS in Ukraine are currently being investigated by Bondi and Kash for the RICO case against the Globalist swamp and Epstein’s death is also tied to the money laundering in Ukraine.

Here’s what I wrote back then:

Romney, Kerry, Biden, McCain, Pelosi, Schiff, Mueller, Soros, Brennan, Obama and Clinton are all tied to Communist China’s sketchy Ukraine money laundering deals.

That’s why they need to take down President Trump.

Foreign aid is nothing more than “money laundering” for the Globalist elites - that’s how they get rich so fast! They launder our tax dollars and illegal foreign donations back to themselves in countries like Ukraine!

Mitt Romney’s top adviser, Joseph Cofer Black, joined the board of the Ukraine energy firm, Burisma, while Hunter Biden was also serving on the board. Cofer Black worked with Colin Powell in the State Department. (Read more.)

Share

Darker Shade of Pale

 From The Conversation:

When I started writing this book I was so ignorant about Jewish history. I often asked myself: why, as a Jewish scholar of South Africa, had I paid absolutely no attention to Jews? Why had my intellectual peers also not done so? I had never considered questions about how you write Jews into South African history.

So I had a steep learning curve too, reading as much as I could find, and spending lots of time in South African archives, to produce a social history intertwined with my grandfather’s story. I tried to make sense of him, and his individual Jewishness, as made and unmade by his wider society.

It started with life in the shtetl (the name for a small town with a predominantly Jewish population in eastern Europe). I deliberately started there because most migration stories start when people get off the ship, as day one of the new life. But what did they come with? What was the headspace? What were the psyches that landed, and how well equipped or not were they psychologically to cope?

And I must say that I found the world of the shtetl staggeringly unexpected. Even the smallest shtetl was status-obsessed; failure was deeply shameful, even there. (Read more.)

Share

Behind the Scenes at Mapperton House

 

From Discover Britain:

Luke Montagu took over the running of Mapperton in 2016, but it wasn’t until the Covid-19 pandemic hit that the reality kicked in for his wife Julie, who grew up in Illinois. “That’s when I realised, ‘Wow,’” she says. “This is a business but it’s a family business and it needs a lot of inner strength.” Luckily, she was excited by the prospect. “I have a real interest in the family’s history – probably because the history of the USA as we know it today pales in comparison to the thousands of years of history that Britain has.”

Mapperton, once dubbed the finest manor house in England, has belonged to the Montagu family since 1955, when Luke’s grandfather ‘Hinch’ Montagu downsized from the family’s Cambridgeshire home of Hinchingbrooke House. Begun in the 1540s, it was extended in the 17th and 18th centuries, giving what the art historian Nikolaus Pevsner described as an “enchanting” look about it – helped, naturally, by its position in a lovely Dorset valley with its 19th-century parkland and Italianate gardens laid out in the 1930s by its then-owner Ethel Labouchere. (Read more.)

Share

Jobs Report Shows Trump Clearly Catching Up

 From  Newsmax:

The unemployment rate ticked up to 4.4%, a reminder that the labor market is improving unevenly as higher borrowing costs keep some industries cautious.

Political consultant Dick Morris told Newsmax the delayed September jobs report showing 119,000 new positions is evidence that President Donald Trump is "clearly catching up" on growth while restraining price increases.

"I mean, this is good. 119,000 jobs. And on top of that, ever since Trump took office, the total combined inflation rate has been about 2.8%," Morris said Saturday during an appearance on Newsmax TV's "The Count."

"And in the Biden administration, they're 2 1/2, 3 1/2 years. The inflation rate was 24%. So Trump is achieving the miracle of good growth, job creation and not much inflation," Morris said.

Inflation remains the political and economic fault line of 2025.

Consumer prices have cooled from their post-pandemic highs, with year-over-year readings hovering around the high-2% range recently, though food costs have been stubborn and some categories — eggs and beef, in particular — have posted noticeable jumps this year.

Morris acknowledged that reality, arguing that the administration's policy moves take time to filter into grocery aisles.

"The inflation there is, is, for the most part, inflation. For example, we've taken major measures to lower beef prices by changing the way beef is slaughtered, increasing the number of packing houses and so on.

"But it takes a couple of years for [it] to get gestated and, and there's a couple of months for an egg to hatch in a poultry. And it takes a little while for those things to catch up," he said.

Morris' comments echo a broader White House push to highlight supply-side fixes, expanding processing capacity, encouraging domestic production and squeezing bottlenecks, rather than leaning solely on interest-rate policy to cool prices. (Read more.)

Share