The Sailor King

From Catherine Curzon:

The end of the Georgian era is a point that has come in for some debate and, as I found when researching Life in the Georgian Court, William IV is not a man who is often included in the notorious list of the Georgian monarchs. William was not a farmer like his father, nor a Prinny, like his brother but instead the Sailor King, a committed naval man and the heirless monarch who came to the throne when he was already well into his sixties, paving the way for the Victorian era that was to follow.

When William gave his first newborn cries at Buckingham House, his status as third son to George III and Queen Charlotte meant it was unlikely that he would ever inherit the throne. Rather than submit to the painstaking preparation to rule that his brother faced, William’s life was set to be a nautical one. Under the guidance of his tutors, Major-General Budé and Dr James Majendie, he grew up fast until, at the age of thirteen, William joined the Royal Navy. It was the best decision for all, the king decided, keeping his son safely away from the potentially thorny influence of his brother, George.

Accompanied by a tutor, William went to sea as a midshipman aboard the Prince George and, in 1780, he even went to war serving at the First Battle of Cape St Vincent in 1780. He was a keen member of the crew yet his fame was about to get the better of him. It was in New York during the American War of Independence that William dodged a kidnap attempt sanctioned by George Washington himself. Though he was unharmed, this marked the end of the young man’s unrestricted gadding about. (Read more.)

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Trump: A Morally Good Choice

Not that I ever had any doubts after hearing his platform. I do not understand the scruples of other persons of faith in regard to Trump. But then I do not expect anyone running for public office for be Jesus Christ. I already have a Savior, and His Kingdom is not of this world. From Town Hall:

Should Christians even try to influence elections at all? Yes, definitely. The apostle Peter says Christians are “exiles” on this earth (1 Peter 1:1). Therefore I take seriously the prophet Jeremiah’s exhortation to the Jewish people living in exile in Babylon:

“Seek the welfare of the city where I have sent you into exile, and pray to the LORD on its behalf, for in its welfare you will find your welfare” (Jeremiah 29:7). By way of modern application, I think Christians today have a similar obligation to vote in such a way that will “seek the welfare” of the United States. Therefore the one overriding question to ask is this: Which vote is most likely to bring the best results for the nation?

If this election is close (which seems likely), then if someone votes for a write-in candidate instead of voting for Trump, this action will directly help Hillary Clinton, because she will need one less vote to win. Therefore the question that Christians should ask is this: Can I in good conscience act in a way that helps a liberal like Hillary Clinton win the presidency?

Under President Obama, a liberal federal government has seized more and more control over our lives. But this can change. This year we have an unusual opportunity to defeat Hillary Clinton and the pro-abortion, pro-gender-confusion, anti-religious liberty, tax-and-spend, big government liberalism that she champions. I believe that defeating that kind of liberalism would be a morally right action. Therefore I feel the force of the words of James: “Whoever knows the right thing to do and fails to do it, for him it is sin” (James 4:17).

Some may feel it is easier just to stay away from this messy Trump-Clinton election, and perhaps not even vote. But the teachings of Scripture do not allow us to escape moral responsibility by saying that we decided to do nothing. The prophet Obadiah rebuked the people of the Edom for standing by and doing nothing to help when the Babylonians conquered Jerusalem: “On the day that you stood aloof, on the day that . . . foreigners entered his gates and cast lots for Jerusalem, you were like one of them.” (Obadiah 1:11).

I am writing this article because I doubt that many “I can’t vote for Trump” Christians have understood what an entirely different nation would result from Hillary Clinton as president, or have analyzed in detail how different a Trump presidency would be. In what follows, I will compare the results we could expect from a Clinton presidency with what we could expect from a Trump presidency. (Read more.)

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A Fascist Anthem?

This is the most stupid article I have ever seen, in which Puccini's Nessun Dorma from Turandot is called "fascist anthem"! Turandot is one of my favorite operas. When I was in graduate school researching the fate of the last Romanovs, Turandot's grandeur and tragedy was one of the few pieces of music capable of capturing the full scope of the misery of the downfall and death of the Tsar and his family. I listened to it constantly in my grandmother's flat where I was staying, so that Grandma was concerned that the neighbors might be annoyed.

Many years later, when writing Madame Royale, Turandot played over and over again in the background, for the cold, deeply wounded, Chinese princess of the opera was not unlike Marie-Thérèse-Charlotte, haunted by the past and unable to move beyond it. Opera is a bit like the Latin Mass; you do not have to understand every single word in order to be swept up into it.

But now I see Turandot labelled as "fascist." How ridiculous. Puccini died in 1924. He was an artist; he was not a political person. When Mussolini first came to power he courted Puccini by making him a senator but there is no strong evidence that Puccini was ever a member of the fascist party. Turandot was his last opera and it is about so many other things than politics. It is about the power of love. It is about self-sacrifice. That is probably why Trump loves it. That is certainly why I love it. People who try to politicize such magnificent music just make themselves seem silly. Share

Wolf Farm

My sister Sarah takes us on another trip to her local Farmer's Market:

I immediately felt that passion coming from Becky & Steve Wolf of Wolf Farms, and its’ sister business, Wolf Farm Natural Elements. Becky and Steve have been farming for years, but about 5 years in the Washington County area. They not only grow incredible organic produce, but they work to educate other growers and make it a whole lot easier to start a garden, whether it’s in the grand scale or in your backyard. By finding local sources for fertilizers, seeds, and feeds, they have been able to alleviate some of the pain and expense that often goes along with organic farming. Learning never stops in any field, and that’s certainly true in farming. Pun intended.

Along with the farming products they talk about below, you can find them selling carrots, a variety of potatoes, lavender, basil, onions, tomatoes, squash, zucchini, and more! Also, the body butter they sell? Heavens, it smells good and it keeps your hands feeling soft as a baby’s bottom. Yeah, I got that expression from my mom too.

Enjoy the interview and make sure to visit them either Tuesday or Saturday at the Abingdon Farmer’s Market! What’s more exciting, is that they’ve begun selling their produce at Blue Hills Market on Pecan Street! Go check them out and pick up your veggies for dinner. And if you’ve ever got any gardening questions? Becky and Steve Wolf are the people to see. (Read more.)

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Trump and Hillary on Abortion

From Life News:

Every presidential election year, National Right to Life publishes a downloadable comparison flyer about the presidential candidates. This year’s flyer is entitled “Where Do the Candidates Stand on Abortion?” The downloadable version of “Where Do the Candidates Stand on Abortion?” is available at: www.nrlc.org/uploads/2016POTUScomparison.pdf

Not surprisingly, the candidates have very different views on abortion. Here is an overview of their positions on abortion-related issues. Donald Trump said, “Let me be clear – I am pro-life,” adding, “I did not always hold this position, but I had a significant personal experience that brought the precious gift of life into perspective for me.”

In contrast, in the U.S. Senate Hillary Clinton voted to endorse Roe v. Wade, the Supreme Court decision which allows abortion for any reason. She says, “The unborn person doesn’t have constitutional rights,” later adding she believed this to be true even on the unborn child’s due date. (Read more.)

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The Irish of the NYC Subways

From Irish Central:

From laying the foundations of the Brooklyn Bridge, through to building The Lincoln Tunnel, Queens Midtown Tunnel, Brooklyn Battery Tunnel, the entire subway network, and the tunnels that ferry the city's water from upstate, the Sandhogs are integral to the survival of one of the world's greatest cities.  Few New Yorkers know these tunnel workers exist: out of sight, out of mind. Fewer know how integral Irish workers are to the city's underground network. Irish immigrants and their offspring have dug as deep as skyscrapers are high. A documentary on Irish station Newstalk digs deep beneath Manhattan with New York's legendary urban miners, The Sandhogs. (Read more.)

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(Re)Defining Home

A lovely post about a house that is very dear to me, having spent many happy hours there as a young girl and throughout my life. From Chartreuse and Company:

Circa May 1968. Cutting my favorite cake: my grandmother’s Lemon Pound Cake with lemon drizzle. You can see how excited I am! That’s my beautiful mother helping me cut my birthday cake. By the way, that round, convex mirror above the mantel is still there. We put it right back when we moved in. (Read more.)

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The Hitler of Our Time

From Ellis Washington:

Much like Stalin used the long-arm of the Soviet Union to execute his hated rival Trotsky who was hiding in Mexico, Aug. 21, 1940, Erdogan desperately wants Gulen to be repatriated back to Turkey to torture and execute him before the people of Turkey, but the Obama administration officials so far disagree, demanding that Turkey must present legally verifiable evidence of crimes committed by Gulen before they will agree to deport him back to Turkey. Of course Erdogan has no evidence of crimes committed by Gulen—tyrants operate by Robespierre’s aphorism of expediency—There are no crimes, only criminals. Erdogan’s paranoia which imprisoned the 58,000 police, judges, clerics and social workers claim that they were all involved in a grand conspiracy against him operated by Gulen while living in the mountains of Pennsylvania. You couldn’t write a better movie script than this. To Erdogan, free speech is terrorism. (Read more.)

And some insights from Chronicles:

Two weeks after the failed coup and President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s subsequent mass purge, three facts seem clear. Turkey has ceased to be a democracy in any conventional sense. The army’s reputation and cohesiveness have suffered a massive blow, with uncertain consequences for its operational effectiveness. Most importantly, Turkey’s foreign policy and regional security strategy will become more difficult to predict and less amenable to Western interests.

The military that has long served as a trusted unifying force for the country is deeply divided, diminished and discredited. Hundreds of its senior officers are under arrest. Almost 1,700 have been dishonorably discharged, including 40 percent of all active-service generals and admirals. That once staunchly Kemalist army, which had been for nine decades one of the key institutions of the Turkish state and society, is gone. It is likely to emerge from the purge as a pliant instrument under Erdogan’s direct control—a hundred reliable colonels have already been promoted to generals—and not a suprapolitical institution accountable to the prime minister’s office as before. This change requires a constitutional amendment, which may well pave the way for the new constitution which would grant Erdogan unprecedented executive powers. (Read more.)

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Campion and Shakespeare

From Supremacy and Survival:

The former Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams has written a play about William Shakespeare and St. Edmund Campion. Its title, Shakeshafte, refers to the name mentioned in the annals of Hesketh Hall in Lancashire and the Jesuits in Britain are highlighting performance this week. In interviews about the play Williams says he believes Shakespeare was a Catholic and seems to accept one theory about Shakespeare's "lost years" as fact:

As part of his look into Shakespeare’s life and work, Dr Williams has also concluded The Bard was probably a Catholic.

He said of the play: “We know they both stayed at the same house in Lancashire. I found this a wonderful idea to play with: what might a Jesuit martyr and Shakespeare have said to each other?”

Regarding the ages-old debate over Shakespeare’s religion, Dr Wiliams says he now agrees with rumours that Shakespeare may have been a secret Catholic at a time when Queen Elizabeth I was spearheadeding a brutal repression of the catholic faith.

Dr Williams said: “Shakespeare knows exactly where he does, and doesn’t, want to go, in matters of church and state. He deliberately puts some of his plays right outside the Christian, Tudor/Jacobean framework.

“For instance, King Lear takes place in a pre-Christian Britain. Again, some people argue that Cymbeline is about a rupture with Rome, leading to a reconciliation. I think Shakespeare did have a recusant Catholic background. My own hunch though is that he didn’t go to church much.”

(Read more.)

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