Friday, January 31, 2025

Execution of Charles I



He conducted himself with composure and gave his cloak to Dr Juxon, the Bishop of London, saying,“I go from to corruptible to an incorruptible crown where no disturbance can be.” He lay full length, placed his head on a low block and with one strike the executioner severed his head from his body.When he died a great groan went through the crowd.“Such a groan by thousands then present, as I never heard before and I desire I may never hear again.” (Read more.)


More HERE

On Charles' widow, HERE. My novel on the royal couple, HERE.

 

Two podcasts by author Mark Turnbull on the the trial and death of the King.

 


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Masterclass

 From The Vigilant Fox:

Robert Kennedy Jr. just endured 3.5 hours of relentless grilling by Senate Democrats—but to their dismay, he responded with poise, deep knowledge, and an undeniable passion for tackling America’s chronic disease crisis.

In his opening statement, he expertly broke down the nation’s health catastrophe, exposing the alarming trends plaguing millions of Americans.

“Today, Americans’ overall health is in grievous condition. Over 70% of adults and a third of children are overweight or obese.”

“Diabetes is 10 times more prevalent than it was during the 1960s. Cancer among young people is rising by 1 or 2% a year. Autoimmune diseases, neurodevelopmental disorders, Alzheimer’s, asthma, ADHD, depression, addiction, and a host of other physical and mental health conditions are all on the rise, some of them exponentially.”

“The United States has worse health than any other developed nation. Yet we spend more on health care—at least double, and in some cases triple, what other countries spend. Last year, we spent $4.8 trillion, not counting the indirect cost of missed work.”

“A healthy person has a thousand dreams. A sick person has only one. Today, over half of our countrymen and women are chronically ill.” (Read more.)

 

Tulsi was grilled today. From The Daily Wire:

Director of National Intelligence designate Tulsi Gabbard torched her detractors during her opening statement to the Senate Intelligence Committee on Thursday, addressing their likely attacks before they even had a chance to deliver them.

Gabbard wrapped up her statement by predicting that Democrats on the committee — with whom she had previously shared party affiliation — would challenge her loyalty to the United States and question whether she was a “puppet” beholden to President Donald Trump, Russian President Vladimir Putin, or a host of others. (Read more.)

 

So was Kash. Also from The Daily Wire:

Senator Eric Schmitt (R-MO) used his time during Thursday’s Senate Judiciary Committee hearing to strike up a brief game of “Would You Rather?” with Kash Patel, President Donald Trump’s choice to lead the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI).

“I know Senator Willis has got the game of Bingo, I’d like to play a different game. Would you rather?” Schmitt began, prompting a laugh from Patel.

“Let’s have at it, sir,” Patel agreed.

Schmitt repurposed the game, which presents a dilemma in the form of an either-or choice to the player, to address real issues that a potential FBI director might have to assign personnel to investigate.

 “Would you rather the FBI prosecute and persecute parents who voice legitimate concerns at school board meetings, or should it investigate domestic terrorists who commit school shootings and threaten the lives of American children?” Schmitt asked. (Read more.)

 

From The Last Refuge:

 The Intelligence Community and Big Corporate Interests Control Government.  That’s the inescapable conclusion for anyone who watched the grand pantomimes being displayed in the past 24 hours.

There’s a debate amid the newly awakened and many who do not want to believe it; but there is no denying that Trump 2.0 is revealing even more layers of how far astray the Republic has gone.

Institutional Democrats hate Trump, and institutional Republicans are lukewarm, at best, in defending Trump.  Both wings of the DC UniParty fear Trump.  Extreme efforts at control are always a reaction to fear.  I make my case not on supposition, but on empirical reference points that most should understand. (Read more.)



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Eggs vs. Oatmeal: Which Breakfast Option Fuels Your Body Better?

 From Health:

Eggs, from the protein group, naturally contain more protein, fewer carbohydrates, and no fiber compared to oatmeal, which is a carbohydrate. A single hard-boiled egg is rich in selenium, providing 28% of the Daily Value (DV), which is important for reproductive health and thyroid function.314

Eggs also contain 27% of the DV for choline, which helps regulate memory, mood, and muscle control.54 Egg yolks contain lutein and zeaxanthin, antioxidants that help protect your eyes and reduce the risk of age-related eye diseases like macular degeneration.6

Oatmeal is high in iron, covering 77% of the DV. Iron is needed for healthy red blood cells. It's also rich in folate, which is essential for making DNA and especially important during pregnancy. A deficiency in either nutrient can lead to anemia. National Institutes of Health: Office of Dietary Supplements. Iron: Fact sheet for consumers. Lastly, oatmeal provides 34% of the DV for vitamin A, which is essential for vision and immune health.

Both eggs and oatmeal are high in selenium and riboflavin, which helps turn food into energy. Eggs provide 20% of the DV for riboflavin, while oatmeal provides 39%.4. (Read more.)

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Thursday, January 30, 2025

Louvre Couture

 a Balenciaga ready to wear look at the Louvre

 From the Louvre:

Although we have known since the days of Paul Cézanne that ‘the Louvre is the book from which we learn to read’, this inexhaustible wellspring of inspiration has also nourished one of contemporary art’s liveliest domains: the world of fashion. More and more, research and monographs dedicated to the greats of fashion have boldly begun to trace aesthetic family trees, establishing these figures in a historical and artistic context. The pattern is not merely one of disruptions, with various degrees of radical innovation, or of seasonal changes, but also one of echoes and evocations. The threads weaving their way between the work of great fashion figures and the world of art are almost endless, and the history of art as expressed by the Musée du Louvre, in the depth of its collections and in the ways it reflects the tastes of days gone by, is an equally vast terrain of influences and sources.
 
In consideration of the Louvre’s encyclopaedic immensity, this exhibition follows a methodological approach geared towards exploring the history of decorative styles, art professions and ornamentation through the galleries of the Department of Decorative Arts, where textiles are omnipresent – though generally in tapestries and other décor items rather than in articles of clothing.

Over a nearly 9,000-square-metre space, 65 designs are displayed, along with a number of accessories, newly illuminating the close historical dialogue that continues to take place between the world of fashion and the department’s greatest masterpieces, from Byzantium to the Second Empire. Each of these garments and accessories is on special loan from the most iconic fashion houses, both long-standing and recent, in Paris and throughout the world. (Read more.)

 

From W Magazine:

"The impression that I would like people to take from this exhibition is the fact that museums are very free and contemporary places,” says Olivier Gabet, the Louvre’s senior heritage curator and director of the Department of Decorative Arts. “I wanted to show that what can seem at first sight like a dusty collection, can be absolutely modern in terms of inspiration.” Gabet brings a deep knowledge of fashion from the blockbuster fashion shows like Christian Dior: Couturier du Rêves that he organized at Musée des Arts Décoratifs, where he previously served as director before joining the Louvre in 2022. In his estimation, the Louvre is a “vast mood board,” a source of endless inspirations and influences for contemporary designers and fashion lovers. (Read more.)

 looks from Paco Rabanne, Balenciaga, Loewe and Gareth Pugh


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‘They Used To Be My Friends’: Democrats Scream At RFK In Confirmation Hearing

 From The Daily Wire:

Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s first confirmation hearing in the Senate Committee on Finance was a raucous, at times explosive, affair as Democrats grilled the nominee over his past.

The hearing over Kennedy’s nomination to lead Health and Human Services (HHS) lasted roughly three-and-a-half hours before Republican chairman Sen. Mike Crapo had to cut the hearing to rush for a vote. Democrats continued to question and, at times, berate Kennedy up to the final minute.

“All these Democrats are opposed to me for partisan issues, they used to be my friends,” Kennedy said at one point. “They agreed with all the issues I’ve been working on my whole career. Now, they’re against me because anything President Trump does has to be discredited, derided, and vilified.”

Kennedy’s left-wing activist past has raised alarms among conservatives and Republican lawmakers. To allay those concerns, the nominee repeatedly promised to enforce President Trump’s agenda. He said he would follow the president’s lead on abortion policy, including the abortion drug mifepristone, and denied attacks that he is “anti-vaccine.”

“President Trump has asked me to end the chronic disease epidemic and make America healthy again … and that is what I’m doing,” Kennedy said under questioning from Democratic Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto, laying out his top priority if confirmed to lead HHS. (Read more.)
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The Secret to Why Stories Endure through Generations

 From Scientific American:

Echoing Jonathan Gottschall, author of The Story Paradox (Basic Books, 2021), Breithaupt warns that our addiction to narrative—however fulfilling—can close off possibilities outside the borders of our pet stories. Casting ourselves as victims tempts us to stay in that role, and when we want to believe epic-style justice will triumph, we may not accept realities that veer in a different direction.

Even so, Breithaupt remains a narrative optimist. Our storytelling knack, he contends, primes us to master what he calls “playability”: rendering endless possible ­futures in story form, which helps us anticipate and plan for the best of these futures. “Narratives can be the medium of our unhappiness,” he writes, “but they are also the means of escaping it.” He includes few details about how to achieve this escape; ­unlike the classic stories that inspired it, The Narrative Brain does not build to a clear resolution. Yet its very open-endedness—its invitation to reimagine ill-­fitting stories—makes it a timely corrective to our fierce zest for certainty. (Read more.)

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Wednesday, January 29, 2025

A Former Monastery in Sussex


It would make a great hotel. But is it haunted? From House and Garden:

In 2012 Adele, the grammy-award winning singer/songwriter, rented a large Edwardian house called Lock House in West Sussex for six months. During her tenure, Adele found the house unsettling, telling Anderson Cooper during an interview with American broadcaster CBS that it gave her ‘the creeps’. A flyaway comment it might have been, but the consequences for the house's owner, Nicholas Sutton, have been catastrophic: in an interview with The Times, he accused Adele's remarks of ‘negatively impacted future marketing’, rendering the house 'unsellable'. It is currently on the market with House Partnership for £5,995, 000.

 The house has been on the market since 2010 - notably before Adele's tenancy - though it appears that Nicholas is giving up hope of renting it in its current state, and has applied for planning permission to convert the 10 bedroom mansion into three houses and a cottage. The hope, presumably, is that in splitting up the property any evil spirits will be forced to relocate.

It is easy to see what attracted Adele to the Grade II-listed house. Set within the rolling hills of the South Downs National Park, there is a sense of peace to be found here, though with a charming village, Partridge Green, just down the road and larger towns and cities, namely Horsham, Brighton and Guildford, within driving distance, you are never too far from popping to the shops, pub or beach. The house itself is set on 32 acres of land, and includes the main building, two garages and a guest cottage. (Read more.)



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Of Course, We Should Deport Illegals

 From John Hawkins at Culturcidal:

If you enter the United States illegally, OBVIOUSLY, you shouldn’t get to benefit from your crime. You should be held in custody, processed, and deported. No one coming here illegally should be allowed to file for asylum or go wherever they want. They’re a criminal who was caught in the act. Criminals need to be punished.

Especially since every person who came here illegally without question knew that what they were doing was illegal and that the punishment was deportation. They might not say, “I was hoping that I might be able to exploit the system and stay in the United States” or “I was hoping that I would get away with breaking the law,” but they knew they were disobeying our laws, and they knew what the penalty was for it.

So, why would we not deport illegal aliens?

There are no good reasons for it, but there are foolish and selfish reasons not to do it.

Liberals tend to view illegal aliens as potential future voters who they can easily capture with welfare programs. There are also business owners who view illegals as a source of cheap labor whose costs can be passed on to the rest of society. That’s why bringing these same people in legally via a work program instead of illegally doesn’t appeal to these business owners. It would cost them a lot more money. You also have NGOs that have been paid staggering amounts of money to work with illegals in one form or another. These are the selfish people who don’t give a damn about the country or anyone but themselves.

However, there are also foolish people. They make arguments like, “But, they’ve been here for a long time,” as if getting away with breaking the law for years means the law can be ignored. Others say things like, “Well, if I were in the same position as them, I’d break the law to do the best I could for my family.” This may be true, but you’re not in the same position as they are. If you’re an American, you’re supposed to look out for your own family and your own country. If someone breaks into your house, you don’t say, “In their position, I might break into a house as well,” you tell them to get the hell out of your house. (Read more.)

 

From Amuse on X:

 The cartels that poison our communities with fentanyl and violence do not wear uniforms, but their threat to American lives is no less dire than that of a foreign enemy—a threat that President Trump has repeatedly prioritized addressing through his decisive policies and actions aimed at dismantling their operations and securing our borders. Senator Mike Lee of Utah has revived an idea as old as the republic itself, proposing the use of letters of marque and reprisal to combat the scourge of drug cartels. It is a strategy rooted in the Constitution, steeped in historical precedent, and tailor-made for the unconventional challenge posed by these non-state actors.

The U.S. Constitution’s Article I, Section 8 empowers Congress to “grant Letters of Marque and Reprisal.” These commissions historically allowed private citizens to engage in acts that would otherwise be deemed piracy, such as capturing enemy vessels during wartime. This mechanism provided an agile, cost-effective response to seaborne threats while adhering to the rule of law. Though it has not been used since the 19th century, the power remains a viable constitutional tool—one that could be repurposed to address modern-day non-state actors, like Mexican drug cartels.

In this case, issuing letters of marque would authorize private security firms or highly trained individuals to disrupt cartel operations. Such commissions could target supply lines, intercept narcotics shipments, or seize cartel assets—a modern adaptation of capturing enemy ships. Unlike military intervention, this approach would not require a formal declaration of war, aligning with President Trump's emphasis on avoiding prolonged foreign conflicts while prioritizing national security and sovereignty for both the U.S. and Mexico in addressing this urgent threat. (Read more.)


From The Daily BS:

Border czar Tom Homan said Monday that he owes “no apologies” for the mass deportation operation undertaken by the Trump administration in response to celebrity Selena Gomez posting a video of herself sobbing over their new policy.

In the past seven days, Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) ramped up enforcement actions, arresting over 2,000 illegal migrant criminals considered to be “public safety and national security threats” since the Trump administration entered office. In response to the new initiative, 32-year-old Gomez sobbed uncontrollably in a since-deleted Instagram post Monday over the deportations of “[her] people” and accused the Trump administration of attacking children.

“I don’t think we’ve arrested any families. We’ve arrested public safety and national security threats, bottom line,” Homan said. “And look, President Trump won the election on this one issue, securing our border and saving lives. What happened at our southern border the last four [years] is the biggest national security threat this country’s seen at least in my lifetime because you’ve got 2 million known gotaways, you’ve got an increase in sex trafficking, we’ve got a record number of terrorists crossing the border on the terrorist watchlist. We have a quarter of a million Americans dying of fentanyl coming across the open border. We’re gonna do this job and we’re gonna enforce the laws of this country. If they don’t like it, then go to Congress and change the law.” (Read more.)

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Salem on the Eve of the Witch Trials

From It Can Always Get Worse:

Elizabeth I (r. 1558-1603) sought to compose England, after the rapid alterations in official confession that preceded her, with a compromise that left the Church of England, in the famous phrase, both Catholic (in structure) and Reformed (in theology). Protestantism of a really quite radical Calvinist kind bedded down remarkably quickly as the overwhelming majority religion in a country that had been known since the eleventh century as the “Dowry of Mary”, such was its devotion to the Virgin Mother, a tradition now dismissed as superstition and idolatry.

The battleline in England was, therefore, not Protestant-Catholic, but between those Protestants who accepted the Elizabethan Settlement (Anglicans) and those Protestants (“Puritans”) pushing for the Revolution to go further.13 Despite Elizabeth confronting Spain—the embodiment of evil above even France to English Protestants—the Puritan movement repeatedly challenged her and gained momentum throughout her reign, but the Puritans were marginal enough and the Queen adept enough that the issue was contained.

The English-language King James Bible produced in 1611 under Elizabeth’s successor, James I (r. 1603-25), was partly to accommodate the Puritans, but in general James took a hard line. “No bishop, no King”, James memorably told the Puritan representatives gathered for a conference with Anglican bishops at Hampton Court in January 1604, adding: “I shall make them [that reject my religious policies] conform themselves, or I will harry them out of the land”.14 In the event, they left of their own accord.

It was during James’s reign English settlements were established in the New World. There had been one earlier attempt to found a colony, on Roanoke Island in what is now North Carolina in the 1580s, but it had failed, resulting in one of the great mysteries of Colonial America. The colony founded at Jamestown, Virginia, in 1607, stuck—just. The winter of 1609-10 would be remembered as “the Starving Time”, when the Jamestown population of 500 was literally decimated amid scenes of cannibalism. Then the English set down at Newfoundland in Canada in 1610. These two colonies remained largely Anglican and commercial, but an infrastructure and template now existed for those who wanted to leave England and begin again. (Read more.)


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Tuesday, January 28, 2025

Notorious (1946)

Walter Beardsley: Oh, I don't think any of us have any illusions about her character. Have we, Devlin?
Devlin: Not at all, not in the slightest. Miss Huberman is first, last, and always not a lady. She may be risking her life, but when it comes to being a lady, she doesn't hold a candle to your wife, sitting in Washington, playing bridge with three other ladies of great honor and virtue.
~from Notorious (1946)


It is said to be among Alfred Hitchcock's finest films. Among movies about fallen women seeking redemption and true love, Notorious is second to none. Ingrid Bergman plays what in 1946 was called "a party girl." Ashamed of discovering that her father is a Nazi, Alicia Huberman gives herself over to drinking and men with such abandon that she becomes "notorious." It always strikes me in the opening scenes that how she carries on would not be a matter of notoriety today, just typical youthful behavior. The love story, however, is of an intensity rarely seen on the modern screen, made more poignant because of Alicia's desire not only for atonement but to make herself worthy of being loved by Devlin.

The late Roger Ebert loved it. From Far Out Magazine:

One of the greatest examples of Hitchcock’s pre-colour films is 1946’s Notorious, a movie that Ebert adored almost above all others. It stars Cary Grant as Devlin, a US government agent in Rio de Janeiro who is trying to infiltrate a group of Nazis who, even after the war, are continuing to plot against peace. To gain entry into their inner circle, Devlin teams up with Alicia Huberman (Ingrid Bergman), the daughter of an imprisoned Nazi who is being courted by one of her father’s associates.

The film is a romance between Devlin and Alicia, but it’s much messier than a simple meet-cute and a happily-ever-after. He mistrusts and even looks down on her for her family connections and her reputation for promiscuity, but he can’t rid himself of his attraction to her. Meanwhile, she is put in the impossible position of having to align herself with another man in order to help the man she loves.

For Ebert, Notorious not only embraces – rather than glosses over – the complexity of its love story and political context, but does so through startlingly effective cinematography. “It contains,” he wrote, “[S]ome of the most effective camera shots in [Hitchcock’s]–or anyone’s–work, and they all lead to the great final passages in which two men find out how very wrong they both were.”

Overall, he argued, it was, “the most elegant expression of the master’s visual style.” (Read more.)

As the heroine finds herself sinking deeper into a chasm from which she might not escape, the relationships become more complicated. Claude Rains portrays a man whom it is truly hard to hate; even though he is a Nazi, his love for Alicia renders him vulnerable and sympathetic. This is where the master storytelling of Hitchcock's camera conveys every nuance of passion and anguish. As one critic expresses it:

Notorious returned Hitchcock to the world of spies and counterspies. But the film primarily is a study of relationships rather than a straight thriller—which is not to say that there still isn’t a great deal of Hitchcockian suspense. The Bergman character is trying to forget, Grant is cynical, and Rains has a genuine, devoted love for our leading lady. Even when he discovers her treachery, it is his mother (Leopoldine Konstantin) who makes the decision to, shall we say, do away with her.

Francois Truffaut said to Hitchcock in his interview book on the director that “It seems to me that of all your pictures this is the one in which one feels the most perfect correlation between what you are aiming at and what appears on the screen . . . Of all its qualities, the outstanding achievement is perhaps that in Notorious you have at once a maximum of stylization and a maximum of simplicity.”

The stylization is fascinating to watch. Some of Hitchcock’s most famous scenes are in this film: the justly acclaimed crane shot, taking the audience from a wide establishing view of the elaborate formal party into a tight closeup of the crucial key to the wine cellar in Ingrid Bergman’s hand; the brilliantly staged party scene itself, which alternates between thoughtfully conceived point of view shots and graceful, insinuating camera moves; and, of course, the wine cellar sequence, during which Cary and Ingrid discover the incriminating bottle containing not vintage nectar but....

The backdrop of the thriller/romance is elegant and exotic Rio and the lavish mansion of the Sebastian family. Every scene is a work of art and yet the beauty does not detract from the sense of dread at knowing that in the midst of it all are evil people who will stop at nothing to achieve their ends. On the other hand, the "good guys" are willing to sacrifice Alicia and any other seemingly disposable person in order to fulfill the mission at hand. In Notorious, the human cost of cold war is assessed; no one is unscathed.


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The Revolving Door

 From Amuse on X:

In the past decade, a peculiar phenomenon has emerged, blending the power of unelected bureaucracies with the unparalleled influence of Big Tech companies. Google, Meta, Twitter, and even OpenAI now operate as soft extensions of the federal government, employing hundreds of former FBI, CIA, DOJ, and DHS officials. These figures, long familiar with surveillance and information control, have seamlessly transitioned into roles dictating content moderation, security policy, and even artificial intelligence ethics. This phenomenon, which mushroomed during the Biden administration, reveals a disturbing reality: the government’s ability to outsource censorship to private entities, effectively sidestepping constitutional constraints.

A quick LinkedIn search reveals that hundreds of former federal employees, many from surveillance and justice agencies, have taken key roles at Big Tech companies. Google alone absorbed 130 former DOJ, FBI, and CIA officials. Meta followed suit, hiring 47 ex-government operatives for politically sensitive positions in trust and safety, security, and content moderation. TikTok, despite its Chinese ownership, employed 25 former U.S. intelligence officials, while Twitter (pre-Elon Musk) had 46 former FBI employees, many of whom held significant positions.

The stories behind these hires underscore the tight integration between government and tech. James Baker, the former FBI general counsel who played a controversial role in the Trump-Russia collusion narrative, became Twitter’s deputy general counsel, where he oversaw legal and policy decisions, including those related to content moderation. Aaron Berman, a CIA veteran, now manages misinformation policy at Meta, influencing decisions on what content is allowed to circulate. OpenAI has followed suit, hiring Paul Nakasone, the former Director of the National Security Agency, to advise on security and policy issues, ensuring government-aligned priorities shape AI development. These individuals are not mere advisors; they hold significant sway over policies that directly shape the flow of information and public discourse, as evidenced by their roles in suppressing key stories such as the Hunter Biden laptop controversy and moderating pandemic-related dissent. Their embedded presence within corporate hierarchies demonstrates how deeply government-aligned priorities can permeate private platforms. (Read more.)


Trump and the New World. From Armas:

Friends, it’s a new year and a new episode of The Hard Country, in which we discuss the extraordinary actions — against the trafficking cartels, and especially against their allies in the Mexican state — undertaken in the first week of the new Administration of President Donald J. Trump. The odious Vladimir Lenin once quipped that there were decades in which nothing happened, and weeks in which decades happened — and the new White House has given us an example of the latter. Settle in and have a listen on what’s changed, and why we may allow ourselves a sentiment on the border and the Western Hemisphere that has been in short supply for many years: Hope. (Read more.)

 

Fantasy ideology. Because living in a make-believe world has consequences. From Jennifer Roback Morse:

Let’s give this problem a name: Fantasy Ideology. The purpose of a Fantasy Ideology is NOT to solve a problem. It is to help the partisans accumulate more power.

The process works like this.

Creating a Dystopia, in Five Easy Steps

Step 1. Sell the public on the utopian ideal of completely eliminating an Intolerable Problem. (Climate change. Systematic racism. Sexism. Homophobia. Injustice to transgender people. COVID. Take your pick, the possibilities are endless.) Catastrophize the Intolerable Problem. Demand nothing less than its complete elimination.

To be clear, even good ideas and noble goals can be transformed into utopian impossibilities. For instance, we can eliminate some inequality, but we will never have perfect equality in every dimension. That’s completely impossible. Human beings are irreducibly different from each other.

For instance, some environmentalists want to eliminate all pollution, all carbon footprints. That’s not possible. Can we reduce pollution? Sure. But eliminate it? No.

Some in the public health establishment insist on trying to eliminate all cases of COVID. Can we reduce the number of cases? Sure. But eliminate them all? No.

But these ideas must never spoken aloud, because realistic obtainable goals do not serve the purpose of accumulating power.

Step 2: Sell yourself and your ideological buddies as the potential Savior Class who can make this dream a reality, if only

Step 3: You have enough power. Doing the impossible requires a lot of power. Thus, the Savior Class requires unlimited power to bring about the Fantasy. But even with lots of power, you can’t really do the impossible. So, you must fill the society with

Step 4: Unlimited propaganda. The propaganda keeps people convinced that the Fantasy is possible and desirable. It diverts attention from the problems and costs associated with trying to do the undoable. Finally — and very importantly — the propaganda must divert the attention of ordinary people away from the failure of the Fantasy and toward the

Step 5: Scapegoat Class. The Fantasy will never materialize, even with massive amounts of power and propaganda. So the self-appointed Savior Class needs someone to blame.

Every totalitarian ideology you can think of has had a Scapegoat Class. The Communists had their kulaks and rich peasants. The Nazis had their Jews. Today’s Ruling Class has its “basket of deplorables,” the unwashed, embittered “garbage” people who “cling to their guns and their religion.” (Read more.)


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Frugal Living Tips From The 1950s

 From New Trader U:

One of the most impactful frugal living strategies from the 1950s was the focus on home-cooked meals. Preparing meals from scratch using whole ingredients is more cost-effective than relying on pre-packaged or restaurant food and offers significant health benefits. Home cooking allows for better nutrition and portion control by controlling the quality and quantity of ingredients.

Another smart eating habit from the 1950s was the creative use of leftovers. Instead of discarding excess food, thrifty households would repurpose leftovers into new dishes, such as turning Sunday’s roast into Monday’s hash or Tuesday’s soup. This approach minimized food waste and stretched grocery budgets further. Additionally, many families in the 1950s maintained home gardens, which provided fresh, affordable produce and further reduced food expenses. (Read more.)


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Monday, January 27, 2025

Princess Margaret's Lady-in-Waiting

From Newsweek:

A lady-in-waiting acts as a go-between. People came up to me and asked, "What color is she wearing tomorrow?" because they wanted flowers to compliment her outfit. I told people what she liked to drink, I found out where the lavatory was at different events—all those sorts of things in order to make her day run as smoothly as possible.

At a cocktail party or dinner, I'd find people that Princess Margaret wanted to meet and bring them over and introduce them. I had to gauge when the timing was right; if she was having a fascinating talk with somebody, I didn't want to butt in with a new person. I had to assess whether she was enjoying the conversation. A lot of that was down to eye contact.

At dinner parties, I always sat at a table where we could have eye contact, so I knew if she needed me. I became very attuned to her, and I think it helped that I'd always been her friend.

When you're traveling—which I did a lot with Princess Margaret, to Australia, Zimbabwe, Canada, all over the place—all day, it's hard work. In the evening, Princess Margaret would say, "Get into your dressing gown, Anne, and come and have a drink with me." I'd go up to her sitting room and we'd talk about the day, laugh and have a really good time together. (Read more.)


 

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Justice Restored: Trump’s Mission to Reclaim the DOJ

 From Amuse on X:

The Department of Justice is finally being reclaimed from the grips of partisan weaponization. President Trump’s administration, in its second term, is delivering a long-overdue reckoning. Over 20 career officials, entrenched in a culture of bias and selective enforcement, have been sidelined overnight. This isn’t just a shake-up—it’s a war against the corruption that has festered for years under the guise of justice. Trump’s team is not just draining the swamp; they are dismantling it, brick by brick, to restore fairness and accountability to an institution that has betrayed the American people.

The abrupt sidelining of over 20 long-serving DOJ officials marks the death knell of what conservatives rightly decried as the "Merrick Garland Reign of Terror." For years, Garland’s DOJ symbolized the grotesque transformation of justice into a political weapon, targeting Trump and his allies while coddling Democratic operatives. This two-tiered system eroded trust in one of America’s most critical institutions. But with Trump’s return to the White House, the administration is laser-focused on uprooting this corruption and restoring equal justice under the law. (Read more.)

 

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Apeel

 Now we have something called Apeel. What is Apeel? From PCC Community Markets:

“I’ve recently heard about an alarming coating that is sprayed onto produce to extend the visual preservation of produce (organic and conventional) made by a company called Apeel. I need to know that PCC isn’t allowing produce treated with this coating. Thank you for your time.”

PCC responds: We understand your concern about a new coating being used on foods and have received several questions asking if Apeel products are harmful.

What is Apeel made of?

 “Edipeel,” produced by Apeel Science, is a plant-based, FDA-approved coating derived from the peels, seeds and pulp of fruit and vegetables. The coating, as well as a version meant for organic foods labeled as “Organipeel,” is meant to extend the shelf life of fruits and vegetables….To our knowledge and our supplier’s knowledge, no producers or packers in our supply chain are using this substance on their produce. Apeel’s coatings are not widespread in the organic marketplace, so customers are generally unlikely to encounter it when they shop organic. In our discussions with folks up the supply chain and experts in the organic community, Apeel is mostly used only at the request of distributors, and we know that ours are not asking growers to apply it. (Read more.)


Washing fruit is not enough. From The Guardian:

A new scientific report lends weight to consumer concerns about pesticide residues on food, presenting fresh evidence that washing fruit before eating does not remove various toxic chemicals commonly used in agriculture.

The paper, published on Wednesday in the American Chemical Society’s journal Nano Letters, comes amid ongoing debate over the extent of pesticide contamination of food, and the potential health risks associated with a steady diet that includes pesticide residues.

In May, Consumer Reports said it had determined that 20% of 59 different fruit and vegetable categories carried pesticide residues at levels that posed “significant risks” to consumers, based on an analysis of data gathered by the US Department of Agriculture (USDA).

The central aim of the new paper is to share the technical details of a process the authors developed for enhanced trace detection of pesticides in foods. But the underlying finding about the ineffectiveness of washing fruit is important for consumers who may be relying on food safety practices that are insufficient, the authors said. (Read more.)


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Sunday, January 26, 2025

Hope in the Ruins

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 From Coffee and Covid: "Grateful locals even erected a Hollywood-style sign for the President...."

 

  From Edward Feser at Postliberal Order:

Raymond Chandler wrote of “those hot dry Santa Anas that come down through the mountain passes and curl your hair and make your nerves jump and your skin itch.” When these notorious winds arrive, he noted, “anything can happen.” And it did happen, last week.

I’ve lived in Los Angeles my entire life, nearly six decades. During that time there have been several major earthquakes;many heavy rainstorms yielding devastating mudslides and serious flooding; countless major fires; and, in 2011, an especially destructive windstorm. But never before have I seen Santa Ana winds as powerful and wide-ranging as those that tore through L.A. last Tuesday. 

Never before have I seen block after block of the city I love razed by Dresden-like firestorms. Never before have I personally known so many people whose homes were gravely threatened, seriously damaged, or in several cases completely destroyed, by a natural disaster.

Especially distressing was another personal first – my mother having to evacuate her home as one of the larger fires spread in the direction of the neighborhood I grew up in. At the time I write this, her home now appears to be safe. My immediate family and our own home are also fine. But a couple of the smaller fires that broke out last week were, for a time, alarmingly close. (Read more.)

 

The human factors. From Sharyl Attkisson:

It was November of 2018, flames blew through Paradise in less than 24 hours, torching more than 31 square miles. It became known as the Camp Fire, killing 85 people and destroying nearly 19,000 homes. The fire was caused by electrical transmission lines, owned and operated by PG&E. According to a 700-page investigation by the state, PG&E failed to inspect and maintain an aging electrical tower. It wasn't an isolated case. PG&E equipment reportedly sparked 19 major blazes in 2017 and 2018.

PG&E, pleaded guilty to 84 counts of involuntary manslaughter and agreed to pay $13.5 billion to victims of the Camp Fire and other fires, and hundreds of millions to the local government.

With many open questions in the latest fires, critics point to man made contributors to the resulting disaster: fire department budget cuts, canceled insurance policies, corruption scandals, the state’s destruction of dams that once held crucial water, an empty water reservoir near the main fire and broken or dry fire hydrants. (Read more.)


From Fox News:

 The president and first lady Melania Trump then experienced the damage up close, meeting with local law enforcement and members of the community for a tour of the destroyed Pacific Palisades neighborhoods.

"Not even believable," Trump told reporters on site.

Trump sat down for a roundtable with LA Mayor Karen Bass and other state officials. When the president entered the room, individuals were heard chanting "USA, USA, USA!" Bass greeted the president and said that his presence was welcomed.

"This is an honor to be with you," during the meeting, saying that homeowners told him that they want to rebuild their homes in the area.

At one point, the president criticized Bass for not using her emergency powers to respond to the wildfires.

"You have emergency powers just like I do … you have to exercise them also," Trump told Bass, who responded that she did exercise them.

"I don't think you can realize how rough, how devastating it is until you see it," Trump said of the wildfire damage. "The federal government is standing behind you, 100%."

Trump said that he is going to waive federal permits for rebuilding in the area. "I'm gonna be the president to help you fix it," he said. "We're going to waive all federal permits... Because a federal permit can take 10 years... we don't want to take 10 days." (Read more.) 


Meanwhile, in North Carolina....From BPR News:

President Donald Trump wants to overhaul the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) – and during a visit to Western North Carolina on Friday he floated the idea of eliminating the agency altogether.

Trump landed at Asheville Regional Airport Friday morning on his first visit to North Carolina since the start of his second term. The western part of the state, along with neighboring communities in Tennessee, has been reeling since Hurricane Helene unleashed devastating flooding and landslides in the mountain region last September.

“ FEMA has been a very big disappointment,” Trump said. “They cost a tremendous amount of money. It's very bureaucratic and it's very slow. Other than that, we're very happy with them.”

Getting rid of FEMA would take congressional action and it is unclear if there is any support from lawmakers to do so. The agency is usually only called into a disaster area by a governor when the state cannot handle recovery alone.

Trump said he wants to restructure disaster response so that states handle resources that the federal government provides.

“ I think we're going to recommend that FEMA go away and we pay directly. We pay a percentage to the state, but the state should fix this. If the state did this from the beginning, it would have been a lot better situation,” Trump said.

Trump also announced that he has enlisted the Army Corps of Engineers to repair roads and bridges and is preparing to sign an executive order “slashing red tape and all bureaucratic  barriers and permits to ensure the rapid reconstruction of the roads here in Western North Carolina.”

“We're going to go through a permitting process that's called no permitting. Just get it done,” he said.

In North Carolina, Helene caused an estimated nearly $60 billion in damage. A bipartisan federal funding bill signed into law last month by then-President Joe Biden allocated billions of dollars to disaster relief. But the aid will take months to arrive, and local officials say more help is needed.

The North Carolina General Assembly has, in three different rounds of legislation, allocated over $1 billion in state funding toward a range of recovery needs – from infrastructure rebuilding to rental assistance and from social services to support for daycares destroyed in the region. (Read more.)


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Biological Truth

 From Tierney's Real News:

On inauguration day, President Trump reversed 78 Biden policies, signed dozens of executive orders & pardons and issued one restoring “biological truth” to the US Government - proclaiming that the U.S. government will recognize only two sexes, male and female.

The executive order states that Federal funds will no longer be used for “gender ideology” or “gender reassignment” surgery or hormones and basically that men should be kept out of women’s sports and women’s bathrooms & dressing rooms. Pretty simple.

“It is the policy of the United States to recognize two sexes, male and female. These sexes are not changeable and are grounded in fundamental and incontrovertible reality.” (Read more.)

 

From Right Flank:

In January 2024, The World Economic Forum’s annual meeting in Davos, Switzerland, brought “leaders from government, business, and civil society to address the state of the world and discuss priorities for the year ahead.” What harm could come from that? It depends on what priorities are being discussed.

The Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation–GLAAD–has attended the WEF annual meeting since 2018 to “bring LGBTQ people and issues into focus.”

In 2024, GLAAD focused on its relationship with the Partnership for Global LGBTIQ+ Equality. For its part, the “PGLE is a project of BSR, the U.N. Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, and the World Economic Forum.”

Confused yet? LGBTIQ + GLAAD + PGLE + BSR + U.N. = ????. It sounds like a highfalutin equation for an esoteric brand of cult knowledge. Put another way, it’s decidedly gnostic.

That’s okay. It’s supposed to be confusing. Engineered cognitive dissonance is at the center of the Leftist strategy for a corporate takeover of the world.

GLAAD has every right to fight defamation against gays and lesbians. But what if they were recruiting young people and indoctrinating them in LGBT ideology? And what if the WEF and the UN were backing them?

It would be an indoctrination program, not a human rights campaign. (Read more.)


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