The Mysterious Frescoes of Castelseprio

 From Hilary White at The Sacred Images Project:

It might seem surprising that this fresco of Christ Pantocrator, discovered in the apse of a small obscure church in the north of Italy, is so unusual that it caused a major re-write of the art-history timeline.

It looks like any early Byzantine image that we’ve seen hundreds of times: serene, otherworldly, with the face symmetrical with classical proportions, modelled with lights and darks to give the impression of lifelike three-dimensionality. But at the same time, we can see it is stylistically different: the softness of the facial modelling, the natural fall of the hair, the subtly rendered shadow beneath the chin, the piercing gaze and human expression.

In fact, it immediately reminds me in its naturalism of the frescos discovered at Pompei and Herculaneum. It might not be surprising to find that it dates to the earliest paleo-Christian period, when Roman standards were still in use.

But that would be the wrong guess. (Read more.)

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Transcript of Trump’s speech on US strikes on Iran

 From the AP:

For 40 years, Iran has been saying. Death to America, death to Israel. They have been killing our people, blowing off their arms, blowing off their legs, with roadside bombs. That was their specialty. We lost over 1,000 people and hundreds of thousands throughout the Middle East, and around the world have died as a direct result of their hate in particular. So many were killed by their general, Qassim Soleimani. I decided a long time ago that I would not let this happen. It will not continue.

I want to thank and congratulate Prime Minister Bibi Netanyahu. We worked as a team like perhaps no team has ever worked before, and we’ve gone a long way to erasing this horrible threat to Israel. I want to thank the Israeli military for the wonderful job they’ve done. And most importantly, I want to congratulate the great American patriots who flew those magnificent machines tonight, and all of the United States military on an operation the likes of which the world has not seen in many, many decades.

Hopefully, we will no longer need their services in this capacity. I hope that’s so. I also want to congratulate the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, General Dan ‘Razin’ Caine, spectacular general, and all of the brilliant military minds involved in this attack. (Read more.)

From Sharyl Attkisson:

• The U.S. has not formally declared war since World War II, yet it has engaged in countless military operations, and even war, without prior congressional approval.

• From Trump’s first-term hits on the Islamic extremist terrorist group ISIS that grew to power under Obama, to Biden’s retaliatory strikes in Syria, the U.S. has frequently relied on expansive interpretations of executive authority to justify unilateral action.

• Legal precedent supports President Trump’s position.

The U.S. airstrikes on Iran’s nuclear facilities are igniting a firestorm of debate over presidential war powers, with critics arguing that President Trump’s decision to act without prior congressional approval violates the Constitution.

The strikes, targeting sites like Iran’s heavily fortified Fordo nuclear facility, follow a pattern of U.S. military actions abroad that sidestep Congress, a practice spanning decades.

But the high-stakes nature of bombing Iran—a regional powerhouse with the potential for devastating retaliation—has brought renewed scrutiny to this contentious issue.

Why do these strikes spark such outrage when unilateral action is so common? And what does history tell us about America’s approach to war powers?

Read on for details. (Read more.)

 

From Direct Line News:

To the brave and noble people of Iran—those with fire in their hearts and the memory of freedom in their bones—hear this message with clarity: The time is now.

For more than four decades, your nation has been chained by a theocracy that hijacked your revolution and replaced one tyrant with another—only this one cloaked himself in religious robes and pretended his brutality was divinely sanctioned. Since 1979, the radical mullahs have ruled your land with cruelty, paranoia, and isolation. They turned Persia—a cradle of civilization—into a regime synonymous with oppression, terrorism, and fear.

But Iran is more than its rulers. Iran is its people. And the people remember.

A Legacy Stolen

Once, your homeland was a beacon of science, poetry, medicine, and liberty. Long before Western Europe knew the concept of a republic, Persians had drafted declarations of human rights. While other empires were burning books, you were building libraries. While others glorified conquest, you built gardens and wrote love poems. The very word “Iranian” should stir pride, not fear.

Yet the ruling clerics—the Ayatollahs and their cronies—have done everything they can to bury that legacy. They tell you your only future is jihad. That women should be silent. That dissent is blasphemy. That your neighbor Israel must be destroyed. That America is the “Great Satan.”

But deep down, every honest man and woman in Iran knows the truth: this regime does not speak for you. It never has. (Read more.)

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Royal Ascot 2025

 

From Tatler:

The Duchess of Edinburgh has truly led the style stakes at Ascot this year. On 17 June, she arrived at the hallowed grounds in a delicate, petal-adorned lace gown from Marylebone-based label Suzannah London, which she teamed with a peach rose-adorned hat from Jane Taylor and a coordinating bag from the Archduchess of Austria’s eponymous accessories line, Sophie Habsburg. Sophie has turned to Suzannah London for classic, elegant outfits – think A-line dresses, clean lines and neat, belted jackets – on countless occasions, most notably Prince Philip’s funeral and King Charles’ Coronation. For a state banquet at Buckingham Palace, honouring the Emir of Qatar and his wife, the Duchess of Edinburgh worked with the atelier on a bespoke navy gown, which featured a wide boat neckline and sleek long sleeves. Suzannah Crabb, the brand's founder, described working with Sophie to The Telegraph as ‘an effortless and enjoyable collaborative process,’ making it no surprise that the Duchess often relies on her designs for Royal Ascot, one of the biggest fashion events in the English summer calendar. (Read more.)

 

More HERE. 

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Against Sorcery: A Guide

 One of the best explanations of Church teachings on various phenomena that I have ever read. Apparently there was a debate somewhere online. Puritanism, which sees the devil everywhere, is alive and well. Charles Coulombe posted the following. Brilliant. From El Antiguo:

Some readers may already feel discomfort, perhaps even alarm. But I believe this stems not from true disagreement, but confusion over terminology. The critics of what they describe as ‘occult’ sympathies (really just classical Neoplatonic Realism) within contemporary “trad” Catholicism are conflating distinct traditions and terms—Hermeticism, theurgy, natural magic, Gnosticism, symbolism, etc.—without academic, historical, or theological nuance. This only increases confusion. Worse, it leads to a kind of moral panic wherein any language of cosmic participation, hierarchy, correspondence, or symbolic efficacy is flattened into the word “magic,” and then condemned wholesale, regardless of how those words and concepts were employed by the Fathers, the Doctors of the Church, or even Christ Himself in His teaching and signs. (Read more.)

 

Part II, HERE.

Part III, HERE.

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The Monmouth Rebellion Explained

 From Andrea Zuvich at Art UK:

The year 2025 marks the 340th anniversary of the Monmouth Rebellion of 1685, and is the subject of a moving exhibition at the Museum of Somerset, 'After Sedgemoor: Remembering the Monmouth Rebellion'. You can find out more about this exhibition on Bloomberg Connects. The rebellion, named after its enduringly romantic, yet flawed, leader, James Scott, Duke of Monmouth, is a tragic episode in the history of Stuart Britain.

 The road to the Battle of Sedgemoor was the culmination of decades of anti-Catholic rhetoric and fear of a Catholic succession. Few figures in history have had the appeal of James Scott, Duke of Monmouth. His life, with its intoxicating mixture of privilege, intrigue, rebellion, betrayal – and grisly bloodshed – makes for an unforgettable episode in British history. (Read more.)

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Liberalism is More of a Cult Than an Ideology

 From Culturcidal:

Now, first of all, I am certainly not the first person to suggest that liberalism is closer to a religion than an ideology. The late, great David Horowitz, who lived a significant portion of his life before he became conservative as a devoted Communist, certainly talked about it in that way:

“(Liberalism is) a faith that seeks redemption in this life with itself as the savior. It’s such a beautiful dream, what lie would you not tell and what crime would you not commit to realize it?”

Additionally, Ann Coulter has beat this drum a lot over the years:

"Liberals hate religion because politics is a religion substitute for liberals, and they can't stand the competition."

All that being said, if you’re comparing liberalism to a cult, you have to ask, “Who is the cult leader?” Typically, cults are run by charismatic, somewhat delusional narcissists or psychopaths with an endless need for control and self-gratification. Granted, there is no one Jim Jones ready to pass out the Kool-Aid to the whole Left (although ironically, Jim Jones was a diehard socialist who was a significant power player in California Democratic politics for a while), but this is a great description of liberalism. The object of worship in the center of everything is liberalism itself. Just as a Christian is taught to put God ahead of everything else, liberals are taught to put their liberalism ahead of everything else. If they’re a pastor, God comes second. If they’re a cop, the law comes second. If they run a corporation, making money comes second. If they’re a teacher, educating children comes second. The more political a liberal becomes, the more everything else becomes second to liberalism. It doesn’t matter whether they’re talking about God, their parents, their kids, or their country, liberalism has to come first for them to be a liberal in good standing. Just to name one of many examples, if you wonder how so many liberal parents could push their young children to be trans, this explains it. They’re willing to sacrifice their own children on the altar of liberalism.

Then, when you start to look at the tactics cults use to keep their members under control, you see parallel after parallel. Such as:

A coming doom: Cults frequently tell their members some apocalyptic event is coming in the future. Charles Manson was trying to kick off a race war between whites and blacks, which supposedly black Americans were going to win, leaving the Manson family in charge to rule them all. The Heaven’s Gate cult believed there was a spaceship trailing the Hale-Bopp Comet that would take the worthy to the “Next Level” of humanity.

Of course, liberals have their own coming doomsday story. It’s the pseudo-scientific belief that manmade global warming is going to wreck the planet as foreseen by the great prophets Al Gore and Greta Thunberg. (Read more.)

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How Fiction Can Help You Face Adversity

 From Jocelyn Soriano:

Instead of always listening to frightening news around you, you can focus your attention elsewhere. Instead of dwelling on various scenarios that only keep you awake at night, you can fix your attention on another world.

While there can be a criticism of the “escapist” attitude this seems to address, we can always go back to J.R.R. Tolkien’s opinion on the role of fantasy in our lives. While it may seem to lean towards “escape”, Tolkien reminded us that there are two kinds of escape.

There is an escape from something we shouldn’t run away from, like escaping from our responsibilities and obligations. But there is also an escape from something that is harmful to us. Is it a bad thing then to escape from worrying that only keeps us paralyzed in times of danger?

“Fantasy is escapist, and that is its glory. If a soldier is imprisoned by the enemy, don’t we consider it his duty to escape?… If we value the freedom of mind and soul, if we’re partisans of liberty, then it’s our plain duty to escape, and to take as many people with us as we can!”― J.R.R. Tolkien

(Read more.)

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The Hot Shoppes

 

 I remember going to one late at night after a prayer meeting in Georgetown, back in the 70s. It was magical and the food was delicious. From Streets of Washington:

Of all the mid-20th-century icons of everyday life in Washington, Hot Shoppes ranks among the most memorable. The chain of casual drive-in restaurants founded by J. Willard "Bill" Marriott (1900-1985) in 1927 once had a commanding presence at dozens of sites across the metropolitan area, serving up thousands of fast, friendly meals every day. Beginning with a tiny root beer stand in Columbia Heights, the chain rose rapidly to prominence in the 1930s, expanded in the 1940s and 50s, and then almost as dramatically dwindled away in the 1970s and 80s, eventually slipping into history after winning the hearts and stomachs of several generations of Washingtonians.

The Marriott rags-to-riches story used to be one of the most oft told in the city. The son of a Utah sheep rancher, Bill Marriott was imbued at an early age with strong Mormon beliefs and an intense work ethic. As a teenager he experienced firsthand how hard it was to make a living raising livestock out west and resolved to get into a line of business less subject to market volatilities. In September 1921, after spending time in New York, Marriott passed through Washington on his way home to Utah. He spent a day sightseeing and noticed how vendors of ice cream, lemonade, and soda would sell out to the sweltering crowds practically as soon as they arrived on the scene with their carts. Six years later, when he was ready to start out on his own, Marriott decided to return to Washington to open a franchise selling A&W root beer. (Read more.)

 

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The Middle East Is About to Change Forever

 From Overton:

The collapse is strategic, not just symbolic. Hanson noted that the so-called “Shia crescent” connecting Tehran to the Mediterranean is no longer intact.

“Lebanon is free of Iranian influence. So is Syria. Gaza, a de facto, will be.”

Even Russia, once a key ally, is no longer a player in the region.

“It’s tied down in Ukraine,” he said.

“Iran itself, the formidable powerhouse of the Middle East that evoked terror all over, has no defenses.”

Over the course of just five days, Israel has launched a targeted military campaign to dismantle Iran’s strategic infrastructure.

According to Hanson, the damage has been sweeping. (Read more.)

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