Battle of Himera: Carthage vs. Ancient Greeks of Sicily

 From The Collector:

With lucrative ports and colonies in the western half of Sicily, Carthage guarded its territory with swift and often decisive proactivity, thwarting several attempts by Greek colonists to settle there. Carthaginians, native Sicilians, and Greek colonists all vied for territory. Soon, a complex web of treaties, marriage alliances, and local despots developed, ensuring that the once small and sporadic conflicts would now escalate and draw in mercenaries from nearly every corner of the Mediterranean.

Seizing on civil unrest, an ambitious young man named Gelon took control of Syracuse. Seeking legitimacy for his new regime, the tyrant married the daughter of Theron of Akragas. Legitimacy was not his only goal. A rival, Anaxilas of Rhegium, had taken the town of Zancle to gain control over the Messenian Straits, threatening the eastern half of Sicily. Anaxilas was a well-connected man; his father-in-law also happened to be a tyrant, controlling a small town on the northern coast of Sicily. It was called Himera. (Read more.)

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Chesapeake Seafood Market

 

From The Easton Gazette:

It was the ugliest building in town, probably built around 1970, when modernity was brown and angular, and has gone through several reincarnations. As the Chesapeake Seafood Market it looks nothing like its former self but is bright and airy. It is a place I like to visit for its convenient parking as well as its phenomenal selection. When I stopped by last Thursday, the meat market was closed. I hope it is only closed temporarily since they had the most wonderful roasted chickens.

According to the website:

Chesapeake Seafood has been a part of the Eastern Shore for more than 50 years. Ed Higgins was an eastern shore native who grew up in a family of working watermen on the Miles, Wye, and Choptank rivers. 

In the early 1960’s Ed traded in the watermen’s life and began an oyster and soft-shell clam shucking house. It didn’t take long for Mr. Higgins to expand beyond the shucking house to the restaurant, catering, and seafood market businesses in both St. Michaels and Ocean City. The business expanded to buying and selling seafood up and down the east coast including New York City and Boston.

Today the business, run by Glenn, his wife Linda, and son Adam operates a Seafood Market, Prime Meats butcher shop, and a robust catering business. Complete surf and turf offerings from crabs, shrimp, and oysters to ribeye, tenderloins, roast chickens, and dry-aged meat are readily available along with a large selection of spices, sauces, and grab-in-go offerings.

Glenn is an avid fisherman and expert in cleaning and preparing all types of seafood.  You can expect the seafood side of the market to carry a wide variety of fresh seafood such as rockfish, clams, scallops, shrimp, oysters, salmon, tuna, and of course eastern blue crabs.

(More here.)

 

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"Queering" Your Child

 From Jan Greenhawk at The Easton Gazette:

I have been reading the book THE QUEERING OF THE AMERICAN CHILD- How a New School Religious Cult Poisons the Minds and Bodies of Normal Kids by Logan Lancing with James Lindsay. It's a difficult book to read because there is so much information about what "Queer Theory**" is, how it began, and why it is promoted. However, it is a book that answers the questions about WHY school systems, federal and state agencies, teachers' unions all seem so intent on forgoing common sense, logic and scientific fact to promote the hideous agenda of "queer activists." It also explores why normal people seem content to turn a blind eye to this agenda.

One of the most alarming facts about the queering of schools is that it has been going on for approximately thirty years.

Most of this material and theory, like so many others bad educational theory, come straight from academia of the late 80's and early 90's where the term "gender queer" was created and promoted as a way to subvert what is normal in society.* Normalcy is considered "oppression" by the gender queer activists who envision a world where nothing is defined, nothing is normal, nothing is "out of bounds." They view it as their mission to spread the "virus of queer theory" (their phraseology) so that no one can get away from it. They need the nation's classrooms to make this happen.

For example, administrators, curriculum developers and teachers look to papers like "Queering Elementary Education: A Queer Curriculum for 4th Grade" to make their schools and classrooms more inclusive. 1 Queer Activists state their mission clearly, to "deliberately...interfere with" the production of normal kids.

And that is why they hate parental rights. The gender queer activists have convinced and co-opted the Federal Government, State Departments of Education, local school systems, courts, teachers' unions, and teachers for their cause. The one group they have NOT been able to bring on board are parents. So, in order to get around the obstacle of parental resistance, queer theory activists must manipulate and gaslight parents. From Lancing and Lindsay:

"Navigating Parental Resistance: Learning for Responses of LGBTQ-Inclusive Elementary School Teachers" can be considered a blueprint for using language to hide Queer Theory Instruction from parents. The paper details the rhetorical maneuvers two elementary teachers (one that 'identifies as a lesbian and is gender-queer,' and another that 'identifies as a cisgender, straight ally') use to bulldoze parental concerns and politicize 4th and 5th grade classrooms filled with nine- and ten-year-olds."

"The paper begins by confirming something parents have felt for a while now. Queer Activists think parents are a "significant gatekeeping mechanism" meant to "protect a mythical innocence" that people "project onto children."

The second paragraph is the most frightening portion of what Queer Activists want from society. By rejecting childhood innocence and boundaries of what is acceptable and permissible between adults and children with the goal of removing those boundaries altogether. This opens the door for children deciding to change their gender via surgery or hormone therapy because it removes the definition of what a child is like it removes the definition of "man" and "woman."

It also opens the door for pedophilia under the guise of mutual consent. (Read more.)

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The River and the Pyramids

 From Phys.org:

The 64-kilometer-long river branch, which ran by the iconic Giza pyramid complex among other wonders, was hidden under desert and farmland for millennia, according to a study revealing the find on Thursday. The existence of the river would explain why the 31 pyramids were built in a chain along a now inhospitable desert strip in the Nile Valley between 4,700 and 3,700 years ago.

The strip near the ancient Egyptian capital of Memphis includes the Great Pyramid of Giza—the only surviving structure of the seven wonders of the ancient world—as well as the Khafre, Cheops and Mykerinos pyramids. Archaeologists had long thought that ancient Egyptians must have used a nearby waterway to move the giant materials used to build the pyramids. (Read more.)

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Ewan McGregor: A Brothers’ Guide to Scotland

 From Expedia Magazine:

“There’s always a moment of silence,” says Ewan McGregor, “when you reach the top of the mountain, and you don’t need words. You just stop and look and drink it in: that sense of scale and space. And then you open your sandwiches.” The actor swapped the forest-covered peaks of Scotland for the star-studded hills of Hollywood years ago, but his fierce love for his native land has never dimmed: its shimmering, majestic lochs, its ruined castles, its windswept, ever-changing weather, and its warm, whisky-laced welcome in cozy pubs with flickering fires. 

Expedia has brought McGregor—bona fide box-office superstar, travel obsessive and the voice of our TV ads—back to his homeland to be reunited with his brother Colin, a former Royal Air Force fighter pilot turned instructor. From Colin’s home in Elgin, 175 miles north of Edinburgh, the pair are headed into the Scottish wilderness in search of the northern lights. This natural phenomenon, which paints the night sky in spectacular swathes of green and blue, is currently doing its awe-inspiring thing in all sorts of places it never normally would (read more here)—lighting up both the epic mountains of the Highlands, and Scottish Twitter. (Read more.)

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RNC Still Working Against President Trump

 From L. Todd Wood at The Easton Gazette:

Sources with knowledge of what is happening inside the RNC describe a disastrous situation, where 'election integrity' efforts are window dressing, where 'real election fraud' is not discussed, and where anti-Trump operatives still wield substantial power inside the organization.

Sources also inform The Georgia Record that ninety percent of those RINO swamp creatures 'fired' after a leadership change at the RNC, which saw the removal of Ronna McDaniel, have been hired back, and are working feverishly against the re-election of President Trump.

The '500 attorneys' to be locked and loaded in GA to fight election fraud is a mirage - they don't exist.

Having thousands of blue-haired ladies in polling stations will not stop the cheat.

It's all happy talk designed to sleep walk the MAGA movement into slavery.

Sources lay out several 'must happen' initiatives that need to be immediately implemented or the election is already lost to MAGA.

1. A major focus on stopping illegals from voting.
2. A focus on preventing fraud by absentee ballots and drop boxes - all which for the most part are alive and well.
3. A focus on improving, or even requiring, signature verification.
4. Stopping the use of 'thumb drives' being used with machines to install malware.

(Read more.)

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Why Modern Art Isn’t Right

 From Daniel McCarthy at Modern Age Journal:

Alexis de Tocqueville might offer a different explanation, however. Our elites are out of touch with popular feelings, but they are not immune to the pressures of egalitarianism. How can one justify being rich or otherwise of high status in a society that prizes equality?

The wealthy don’t want to lose their wealth, but few would want to defend their unequal place by adopting a consciously aristocratic or selfish philosophy. That would be not only socially unacceptable but psychologically dissonant. Most people, rich or poor, want to be judged good by the standards of the society in which they live, not least in the court of their own conscience.

But to be an enemy of inequality can suffice as an alternative to actually being equal. This accounts for the perversity of much of the American political left, which is often wealthy or well-educated yet insists on pretending to champion the lowly and marginal. Hating traditional, even mythical, sources of inequality substitutes for loving one’s neighbor. In the world of art on either side of the Atlantic, egalitarian virtue takes the form of rejecting the past and its values. Monarchy and traditional portraiture were features of a West less egalitarian than today, and by opposing and parodying such things the artist places himself on the right side of history. (Read more.)

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King Louis XV

 From Once I Was a Clever Boy:

The historiography of his reign is very much in terms of his predecessors’ achievements and, inevitably, whether or to what extent he bares all, or much, or some, or none of the blame for the outbreak of the French Revolution in 1789. Nineteenth century French writers, often sympathetic to the ideas of 1789, or hardline social and moral conservatives deeply opposed to them, seeking for the origins of revolution see them everywhere in the Ancien Régime. As Wikipedia points out a modern, if minority, trend is to be favourable to him.

I am definitely inclined to exonerate the King. Eighteenth-century Europe moved at different speeds - reforming and modernising systems that were old and slow - getting the balance right was difficult. An explosion of the entire political and social mechanism was always a risk, yet it did not happen until 1789, and then only in one country to then cause Europe-wide chaos.

I am inclined to see what happened in France as very much a typical failing of France or of the French political system. National folie de grandeur in 1848,1870, 1914,1940, 1958, and indeed in recent decades results in a great power with a self-belief out of touch with the real situation. Eighteenth century France was in advance of much of Europe and believing in what it had achieved did not always see the practical impact of or need for reform like its rival Austria faced with an existential crisis in the 1740s or Spain and Portugal later on realising they were slipping backwards. (Read more.)

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Harrison Butker’s Speech

 I thought it was the best commencement speech ever. From The National Review:

Butker addresses the audience with encouragements on motherhood and fatherhood (which has been woefully disregarded in the discourse online). He then spoke about how his wife has fulfilled the vocation that she was called to. He emphasized the goodness and importance of motherhood and noted that it has been attacked in the culture for quite a long time. While speaking about his love and admiration for his wife, he choked up. He also spoke extensively about the need for fathers in the home and the importance of men fulfilling their duties as fathers. The Catholic Church teaches that men and women are called to fatherhood and motherhood, either spiritually or physically. 

The graduates of Benedictine have been equipped with substantial knowledge of Catholic Church teachings and ethics. Many have a degree in theology and are able to parse Butker’s speech to assess what in it is true and what might need clarification.  

His speech was not given to evangelize or to change minds, but rather to encourage Benedictine students on their paths forward. As a student at Benedictine, I was never discouraged from getting my degree, finding a job, or having ambitions and dreams. I was in Gregorian Fellows, a leadership program whose goal is to create men and women leaders equipped to go out into the world. We were taught about the greatness of family life as well as the importance of evangelization. (Read more.)

 

Tucker joins the fray. From The Vigilant Fox:

“If you’re sending girls to fight your wars, you’re disgusting!”

Carlson says doing so is “violating the most basic agreement there is,” which is “the man protects.”

He added, “If there’s a home invasion at your house at 3 in the morning, you’re like, ‘Honey, I dealt with the last time. Go, go defend us.’ I hope that she leaves you, and she will.”

These comments followed Carlson recalling a past conversation in which a general described how a soldier and mother of three children, who had her legs blown off and died in Iraq, had made “the ultimate sacrifice for America.”

As you can imagine, Tucker was furious. Take a listen to how that conversation went down. (Read more.)

 From Catholic Vote:

Benedictine College is unapologetically Catholic. This shouldn’t be a shock to anyone who has spent at least 30 seconds looking at their website or Instagram. There has never been any attempt to hide or shy away from our identity. Rather, the college is proud to nurture traditional Catholic values.

As a young woman and a Benedictine student, I am proud of my college for its unashamed faith. It is a haven for young people, like me, who have not always felt accepted for what we believe and who often have to defend our views. 

Knowing this about my school, it didn’t come as a surprise to me when Benedictine asked Harrison Butker, an outspoken traditional Catholic, to give the commencement speech at this year’s graduation. 

What did come as a shock to me was the firestorm that followed.  

Butker began his speech by addressing the hardships the graduating class has faced throughout their educational journey. What stuck out to me in his introduction, however, was the intense call to action he gave the audience. 

He stated that we as Catholics must have more courage in speaking openly about our beliefs. 

“We need to stop pretending that the Church of Nice is a winning proposition,” he said.

For many, including me, this is a terrifying suggestion. It is one thing to go into the upper room and pray behind closed doors, but it is something else entirely to show my faith openly to the world. My faith is what I cherish most and it scares me to think of opening it up to ridicule from others. Butker recognizes that fear, yet still lives a boldly Catholic life. (Read more.)

 

From Carrie Gress at The Washington Examiner:

Despite the local audience who gave Butker a standing ovation and the fact that his #7 jersey is selling like hotcakes, Butker’s remarks have not been well received by the cultural elite. The NFL has distanced itself from him, with Jonathan Beane, the NFL’s senior vice president and chief diversity and inclusion officer, telling NPR, “Harrison Butker gave a speech in his personal capacity. His views are not those of the NFL as an organization.”

Jason Page at MSNBC had perhaps the most eyebrow-raising response. Page said that members of the political Right “sit idly by, or even worse, may applaud the ignorance of a kicker telling women to stay at home and pop out babies in a subservient manner while worshipping their husbands. The misogyny at play is staggering.”

What is staggering is that anyone actually believes this anymore.

What the intelligentsia doesn’t yet realize is that the winds have changed, and the blather about women popping out babies and worshiping their husbands just doesn’t land the way it did 50 or even 10 years ago. Feminism fatigue has set in: Women who have been groomed for three generations to crave power and control at the expense of family are now reprioritizing.   

The girlboss is out — she has been replaced with the likes of the “softgirl” or the “tradwife,” to name two of the latest trends. These new monikers reveal that ’70s feminism is losing its grip. Women, particularly younger women, have lost their stomach for the corporate ladder grind and its requisite sacrificing of husbands and children. (Read more.)

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