On Luxuries

 From The Catholic Thing:

Trump has been overtly pro-life, and a champion of liberty, especially of religion. His economic policies favored prosperity. They were disproportionately beneficial to Blacks, Hispanics, and other minorities. He started no wars, and negotiated unprecedented peace treaties in the Middle East. He has been a flag-waving patriot, and whenever on the record, he has consistently vindicated the rule of law. On the other hand, his wife may have overspent on Christmas decorations.

A majority of Catholics continued to vote Democrat. There are reasons for this, including habit and history, but try as I do to stretch my imagination, none of them are good. Still, it is not my business how anyone votes, apparently, even when other people’s votes will cost me. At most, I can opine, publicly, for as long as Big Tech graciously allows it. (Their graciousness has been contracting, lately.)

If a majority – whether actual or “virtual” – decides that they’d be better off with, for instance, a shill for Red China; or worse, to cancel established American freedoms; who am I to object? I am, after all, “a foreign agent” myself, looking on from another country that has slid farther down the slippery slope to Hell. But when Catholics look upon Trump’s accomplishments, then sneer at him – after he has endured the nastiest ride in at least the last century of American politics – I find that it annoys me. Especially Catholics I formerly read with attention. But this is a luxury, I know. (Read more.)

Some commentary by Dennis Prager, HERE. 

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The Drama is in the Details

 From The Washington Post:

Giovanni Bellini’s “St. Francis in the Desert” is regarded by many as the most beautiful painting in America. I’m with the many — although I reserve the right to nominate another painting if asked the same question tomorrow. It hangs in the Frick Collection in New York. Just look at the thing!

The painting’s protagonist — an oddly stiff Harry Dean Stanton look-alike — is St. Francis, who died in Assisi, Italy, in 1226. Two-hundred-and-fifty years later, Bellini depicted him in a state of ecstatic transport, his arms open to receive an indefinable radiance that all but overwhelms him.

Born in the late 12th century, Francis was the son of a wealthy silk merchant and a noblewoman from Provence. Like Siddhartha Gautama, the Buddha, Francis was a handsome, intelligent young man who renounced a life of privilege to preach a doctrine of poverty, good works and spiritual attunement. He cherished the natural world and identified deeply with Jesus. (Read more.)

 

More HERE.

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Trump’s Anti-Communist Legacy

 From The Epoch Times:

The Trump administration confronted the CCP directly on several fronts, including by supporting Taiwan and Hong Kong, cutting off revenue streams from private firms tied to the People’s Liberation Army, and blocking the espionage threat posed by Chinese technology.

The administration defied decades-old protocols to begin normalizing relations with Taiwan, a Democratic republic that’s the antithesis of the repressive communist regime in Beijing. The CCP claims sovereignty over the island and has long played rough defense about the issue on the international stage.

In September last year, Keith Krach, the undersecretary of state for economic growth, led a delegation to Taiwan, becoming the highest-ranking State Department official to visit the island since 1979, when the U.S. government transferred diplomatic recognition to Beijing from Taipei.

The historic visit signaled the continuation of increasing support for Taiwan, in defiance of the CCP. The significance of the visit wasn’t lost on Beijing.

“We were greeted with fighter jets and bombers,” Krach said. Beijing breached Taiwan’s airspace at least 46 times during the week of his visit.

During the final days of the Trump administration, the State Department removed all “self-imposed restrictions” on contacts with Taiwanese officials, laying the groundwork for even closer relations with the democratic island.

Orlando Gutierrez Boronat, an author and co-founder of the Cuban Democratic Directorate, told The Epoch Times that Trump’s policy on Taiwan was monumental for the success of the nation’s democracy.

“I think the support for Taiwan was monumental in all terms: political, economic, military,” Boronat said. “The Republic of China is a longtime ally of the United States and there’s no reason why it should be treated any differently. They’ve been at the forefront of the struggle for democracy and freedom for decades, and what they’ve achieved in Taiwan is incredible to behold. As an achievement for humanity, his support for Taiwan is outstanding.” (Read more.)

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‘We Are Ungovernable’

 From The Epoch Times:

Far-left activists vandalized buildings and clashed with police in the Pacific Northwest on Jan. 20, voicing their opposition to the government, law enforcement, and the freshly sworn-in President Joe Biden, with some carrying signs reading, “We are ungovernable.”

In Portland, black-clad activists with their faces covered broke windows and the glass door at the Democratic Party of Oregon business office, spray-painting an anarchist symbol over the party sign, video posted on social media showed. Some of them tipped over garbage containers and lit the contents on fire, according to reports.

“We don’t want Biden. We want revenge for police murders, imperialist wars, and fascist massacres,” read a banner they marched under, while others carried a banner saying, “We are not governable,” which was dotted with anarchy symbols.

Portland Police confronted a crowd that gathered outside an Immigration and Customs Enforcement building near downtown, with some in the crowd later burning a flag in the street.

According to KATU, the protest was billed as a demonstration against the Biden inauguration and law enforcement. At one point, demonstrators were approached by Portland Police officers on bicycles, with some people in the group taking an officer’s bike and throwing objects at retreating police.

Eight people were arrested in Portland on charges that include rioting and reckless burning. (Read more.)

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Your Child’s Dinosaur Obsession

 From Kitchen Fun:

If your kiddo has a dinosaur obsession, you should be thrilled. Science calls this an “intense interest” and says it will drive a child’s learning as well as help foster lifelong curiosity. In fact, above-average intelligence is not unusual for kids who are enamored with dinosaurs, or any subject that generates a natural strong interest. The same thing goes for a focus on cars, trucks, trains, dolls, drawing, etc. If a child shows an incredible fondness in something, it can be a very good thing. In this post, I’m going to talk specifically talk about dinos because it’s such a popular interest among kids. (Read more.)

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Mr Bliss

 

From Open Culture:

His were usually humorous stories, full of magic, and very often, they contained a connection to the children’s lives, because it was primarily for them that he invented them.

–Sarah Zama

The fact that “much of the inspiration of the Lord of the Rings came from [J.R.R. Tolkien’s] family,” Danielle Burgos writes at Bustle, has become an oft-repeated piece of trivia, especially thanks to such popular treatments of the author’s life as Humphrey Carter’s authorized biography, the Nicholas Hoult-starring biopic, Tolkien, and the Catherine McIlwaine-edited collection Tolkien: Maker of Middle-Earth. As much as Tolkien drew on his extensive knowledge of Norse, Germanic, and other mythologies and linguistic histories, and from his harrowing experiences in WWI, his career as a legendary fantasy author may never have come about without his children.

“In just one example,” notes Burgos, a collection of Tolkien’s letters shows that the character of Tom Bombadil “was based on son Michael’s wooden toy doll.” Tolkien’s oldest son John remarked before the release of the first Peter Jackson adaptation, “It’s quite incredible. When I think when we were growing up these were just stories that we were told.” (Read more.)

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Un-Trumping America

 From Church Militant:

Even after the final nail was pounded in the MAGA coffin with the Jan. 6 Capitol protest, House Democrats still pushed to impeach Trump even though he had only a handful of days left in office.

Their hatred for him runs fast and deep.

Trump pushed back America's nosedive into communism — and they will never forgive him for that. In the follow-up to the 2016 election, the swamp went into shock. But by the time Trump was inaugurated the swamp regrouped.

Republicans and Democrats began a four-year effort to destroy the Trump presidency, including the Russia hoax investigation — costing taxpayers tens of millions of dollars. They thought nothing at all of wasting hard-earned taxpayer money to continue their political theater. Trump's effect on American politics has been so profound that Biden will be spending the first months of his presidency not actually breaking new ground, but attempting to demolish everything Trump has built. While Trump has helped save the lives of thousands of unborn babies due to his pro-life policies, Biden — a so-called Catholic — will turn the knife back to countless innocent unborn children. He will do this with the blessing of the swamp.

The Catholic swamp will also purr in approval. Pro-sodomy priests like Fr. James Martin and the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops will continue to downplay the bloodlust of abortion as "law of the land" and praise Biden for promoting sodomy and transgenderism. (Read more.)

 

Also from Church Militant:

It's time to stand up to our leaders' empty promises, their betrayals of Trump and his supporters and their inexcusable ignorance of the recent events at the Capitol. Why should any good-willed conservative ever vote for these sniveling cowards? These so-called leaders hid under their chairs in terror as a handful of protestors broke some windows, and "mostly peaceful" protestors walked within the ropes laid out in the morning by the Capitol building's staff?

It serves no purpose to support them. Republicans simply do not care about you, your Faith or your family. GOP leadership cares about one thing — preserving their standing with the very wealthy and very powerful elites that fund their re-election campaigns. 

Was this not evident after they betrayed the voters, defrauding them by illegal state-level actions designed to sidestep election laws? Was it not demonstrated after several so-called Trump allies in Congress rolled over in objecting to election results, thus allowing a self-described infanticide supporter — one who officiated at a homosexual wedding — to take power in the Oval Office? They are not pro-life. They are not pro-family. They are not pro-God. (Read more.)

 

Biden's attack on girls and women. From Life Site:

Among the first wave of executive orders issued by President Joe Biden on his first day in office is one aligning federal administrative policy with the Supreme Court’s infamous Bostock ruling last year, which will force women’s athletic programs, restrooms, and locker rooms to accept gender-confused males.

“It is the policy of my Administration to prevent and combat discrimination on the basis of gender identity or sexual orientation, and to fully enforce Title VII and other laws that prohibit discrimination on the basis of gender identity or sexual orientation,” reads the executive order, which cites Bostock’s claim that federal law’s prohibition on discrimination “because of … sex” extends to “discrimination on the basis of gender identity and sexual orientation.”

“Children should be able to learn without worrying about whether they will be denied access to the restroom, the locker room, or school sports,” the order says. It directs all agency heads to “review all existing orders, regulations, guidance documents, policies, programs, or other agency actions” to ensure they are in compliance with this new interpretation.

One of the biggest actions that will be undone is the Trump Education Department’s determination that Bostock does not mandate transgender inclusion in girls’ sports because the Court “expressly declined to decide questions about how its interpretation of Title VII would affect” statutes beyond employment discrimination, and that Justice Neil Gorsuch’s majority opinion expressly stated that it “does not prejudge any such question” about “sex-segregated bathrooms, locker rooms, and dress codes.”

LGBT activists claim it’s “discriminatory” to reserve female competitive sports for actual females, but science confirms that “trans women” (i.e., biological men) retain distinct physical advantages, through which they can deprive actual female athletes of recognition and scholarship opportunities intended to advance girls. (Read more.)

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Garden of American Heroes

 From CNA:

The National Garden of American Heroes will include statues of many notable Catholic figures, including five saints and numerous people who are on the path to sainthood. President Donald Trump announced in an executive order Jan. 18 that a garden will be built to “reflect the awesome splendor of our country’s timeless exceptionalism,” and to serve as a response to the spate of vandalism on statues during the summer of 2020.

“On (the National Garden’s) grounds, the devastation and discord of this moment will be overcome with abiding love of country and lasting patriotism,” said Trump. “America is responding to the tragic toppling of monuments to our founding generation and the giants of our past by commencing a new national project for their restoration, veneration, and celebration.” (Read more.)

From Just the News:

Joe Biden on the first day of his term shuttered former President Trump's 1776 Commission that championed "patriot education." Biden ended the project Wednesday with an executive order that also overturned a final report released this week by the group.

The commission was established in September 2020, after the publication of The New York Times' 1619 Project, which attempted to reframe U.S. history by making the consequences of slavery and the contributions of black Americans more central to the "national narrative."

The project's content has also become part of some U.S. high school and college curriculums. Biden's order said the 1776 Commission's 45-page report released Tuesday "sought to erase America's history of racial injustice."  Matt Spalding, who was the commission's executive director, said members aimed to "put together a report to address the core question that was asked to the commission, which is to come to give an explanation of America's core principles and how they have shaped and understood in our history." (Read more.)

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In an English Garden

 From Live Science:

A seemingly dull marble slab, used for 10 years as a stepping stone in an English garden, is actually a rare ancient Roman engraving, a new analysis finds. The discovery surprised its owner, who learned that the 25-inch-long (63 centimeters) slab — a stone she had previously used as a stair while mounting her horse — dated to the second century A.D. and was worth about $20,400 (£15,000). However, no one knows how the marble masterpiece ended up in England. It was likely carved in Greece or Asia Minor (modern-day Turkey), according to a statement from Woolley and Wallis, a U.K auction house that is handling the sale of the slab.

 Some of the stone's history is known: It was unearthed from a rock garden in Whiteparish, a village in southern England, about 20 years ago, according to Woolley and Wallis. Then, the woman who owns the stable used the mud-covered stone for a decade as a mounting block until, one day, she noticed a laurel wreath carved on its surface. An archaeologist who assessed the slab revealed that it was a rare find. Its inscription reads, "the people (and) the Young Men (honor) Demetrios (son) of Metrodoros (the son) of Leukios," The Daily Mail reported. (Read more.)

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