How Many Putin(s)?

Posted on August 3, 2019 by jimmie

Not knowing who-is-who in the Russian government, only recently I learned of Nicolai Patrushev. He is reputed as “one of Putin’s closest and most trusted advisers,” who “has been the nerve center of most of Putin’s special operations,” and “was one of 24 Russians close to Putin subjected to sanctions by the United States.” Continue reading →

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Glimpses of Europe

Posted on June 30, 2019 by jimmie

Back from a trip to Europe, I sketch down a few notes and observations. They are personal, and the patient reader may object to some of my conclusions. But this is, of course, inherent to the general elusiveness of truth.

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The Bottom of the Barrel

Posted on May 3, 2019 by jimmie

a graphic rendering of the bottom of a barrelIn patient resignation, most of us accept that the web of life is of a mingled yarn, (1) that good and ill go together, that our virtues may shine were it not for our faults – and that our sinfulness would induce despair, were it not redeemed by our virtues or, at least, by some atoning acts of charity or goodness.

Yet there are times when the surrounding prevailing powers of evil unite to reach the bottom of a barrel of perfidy, treason, debasement and viciousness – equally filled with the nauseous and abhorrent distillate of the seven capital sins.

Listing the products of evil would imply a priority among degradations, whereas I weigh the acts equally, and equally their performers. Continue reading →

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Good-Bye Home Country

Posted on April 4, 2019 by jimmie

On Mar 19, 2019 an “Italian” school-bus driver, dumped several canisters of gasoline inside a school-bus full of students, and set it ablaze. It was a miracle that there were no victims.

The inverted quotes around “Italian” require an explanation. In line with the Kalergi Plan for the Western World – more later – Italian and European mainstream newspapers resort to lexical acrobatics to avoid disclosing the name of migrant offenders. Furthermore, to promote benevolence they frequently describe the nameless criminal with terms as “the boy” (il ragazzo), even when the “boy” is later discovered to be in his 30s – a poorly disguised effort to free cowardice from reproach. For a criminal is also implicitly a coward, independently of his age or country of origin. Continue reading →

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Tragicomedy of Errors

Posted on March 17, 2019 by jimmie

Guaido driven from TrumpThe sublime Plato said that the soul has a trinitarian composition – a very coarse soul in the belly, a loving one in the chest and a reasoning third in the head. The soul is immortal, though women have only two souls, for they are missing reason.

But a father attending the Council of Macon (585 AD), from across the banks and shoals of time, (1) answered, “Plato you speak like an idolater.” And the very same council with a majority of votes, assigned to women a trinitarian and equally immortal soul. Continue reading →

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In Praise of Shamelessness

Posted on February 6, 2019 by jimmie

So much has been said about the Venezuelan crisis that adding more would equate to gilding the lily or carrying coal to Newcastle.

The following, then, is but a brief aside on the psychology and physiognomy of the protagonists of the ongoing coup, starting with Guaido’ – or “Guido” as Mike Pompeo’s re-baptism , while he anointed him as self-appointed president of Venezuela.

If the face is indeed an open book where men may read strange matters, (1) the attached image of the afore-said putative president of Venezuela proves the point. A camera immortalized him thus in 2009, during a political demonstration.

I have unprofessionally modified some extreme features to obscure a part of the body that I will forbear to mention out of my inviolable respect for the ladies. Continue reading →

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The Waves of Time

Posted on January 19, 2019 by jimmie

An artistic rendering of the Waves of TimeThat all the world is a stage and all men and women merely players is a familiar and generally accepted proposition. But many, prompted by curiosity and helped by new information previously unknown or uneasily available, would like to know more about the play they are the unwitting players thereof.

Which transforms the frame of mind of the curious into that of a historian. In turn, this exposes him to the immediate problem of interpretation. Interpretation of the historical facts themselves, often accompanied by a likely change of his worldview, following the discovery of new facts. For historians themselves can modify their views, when forced by the train of circumstances. Continue reading →

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Another View of the EU (European Union)

Posted on December 12, 2018 by jimmie

Image for Another View of the EU (European Union)The MacDonaldization of words forces many to lay that reason asleep which disturbs their gayety. Among recent new entries is ‘Brexit’, a word suitable to a speaking-club made of millions, where most half-hear what, if they heard the whole, they would but half-understand.

Furthermore, some words in time are debased by repetition, and can no longer be heard without an involuntary sense of annoyance. Hence I will spare my twenty-five readers further comments on how England will work-out her separation from the European Union. Official news suggests that about half of the citizenry is filled with all that sparkles in the eye of hope, while the other sees but penury ahead and thickens the gloom of one another. Continue reading →

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The Cunning of Reason

Posted on November 19, 2018 by jimmie

Picture of Hegel with reference yo his theory of the cunning of reasonReading Hegel requires a reader in perfect health. The alternative is to attempt but a little at a time, which, after all, is the secret of all learning.

In the instance, Hegel says that history is but the realization of the idea of Reason – a proposition that, without further elucidation, may prompt many to wonder if Hegel said so while drunk. For a quick look at the ways of the world proves that he who places his hopes in reason, lives like a drunken sailor on a mast, ready with every nod, to tumble down into the fatal bowels of the deep.(1) Continue reading →

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The Cardinal’s Letter

Posted on October 11, 2018 by jimmie

Cardinal Arundel of England preaching - illustration for the article The Cardinal's LetterSooner or later it was inevitable that the capitulation of the Vatican to the demands of a decadent culture and of powerful enemies would awaken the trumpet of sedition inside the Catholic Church.

As readers may already know, Cardinal Viganò recently wrote an open letter to Pope Francis asking him to resign. I will attempt to show the link connecting that letter to the actual resignations of Pope Benedict XVI, and to the recent bitter and acrimonious fight to prevent the nomination of Brett Kavanaugh to the US Supreme Court.

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