Your Tatler can’t help wondering if woke wackos like Jake Tapper perpetrate items like the above simply to provoke the vastly higher number of non-Democrats in this country, but in the end the conclusion is always no. Tapper seems to sincerely believe his absurd and extreme ideas are factual. However, that should not dissuade rational folks from believing Jake Tapper is mad as a hatter and ought be institutionalized.
Some good news from Pope Leo XIV.
Pope Leo has taken a firm stance on natural law, making it plain that there is no alternative. He thus makes it clear to misguided thinkers, in and out of the church, that natural law is the backbone of civilization.
Natural law can be a difficult concept, but it is a vital part of the Church and her teachings. Britannica.com has a good piece on the subject, which is excerpted here.
Natural law is a philosophical concept that refers to a system of right or justice believed to be universal and inherent to human nature, rather than established by societal rules or positive law. It suggests that there are objective moral principles derived from nature that govern human conduct. This idea has been influential in various philosophical and legal traditions, with thinkers like Cicero and St. Thomas Aquinas contributing significantly to its development. Aquinas, for example, argued that valid positive laws must be derived from these objective moral principles to be considered just and binding.
Substacker (is there such a word?) Dianne Montagna, quoting the pope, writes,
In certain Western societies where Christ and His Church are marginalized, often ignored, and sometimes ridiculed,” he said, “only union with Jesus—Jesus crucified!—will give you the courage to suffer for His name.”
It is fortunate the Holy Father stressed the importance of natural law, for without it, not only would the Church collapse, but chaos would ensue. We’re already headed in that direction, as a glance at the front page of any newspaper will tell you.
With thanks to William J Tighe
Following the unspeakable events in Minneapolis, the politicians let us know what is really important
The New York Post:
Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey preached about trans rights during a presser on the mass shooting that left two children dead at Annunciation Catholic School, hours after it was revealed gunman Robin Westman identified as a transgender woman.
And this from the National Catholic Register.
After a pair of out-of-state school shootings in 2022 and 2023 shocked the nation, Minnesota’s bishops implored state lawmakers to provide security funding for local non-public schools.
Now, two years after their appeals went unheeded, tragedy has struck one of their own.
On the morning of Aug. 27, a gunman opened fire during at an all-school Mass at Annunciation Catholic School in Minneapolis, killing two students, aged 10 and 8; 14 other students and three adults were injured.
There is nothing that can be added to the remarks of these callous clods. It is sufficient to let their words speak for themselves.
It’s anyone’s guess which European country will go down first
But for now, Britain seems to be in the lead. There is, though, much competition on the Continent and the lead could change at any time.
From Sheikyermami.com.
UK arrests 14 year old girl for protecting her 12 y/o sister from Paki rape gangs.
This image of little Mayah Sommers will be one of the most galvanising in the history of the UK. Any government that punishes a young girl, forced to have to run around like this to protect herself from the barbarians that they protect, is illegitimate.
The girl’s crime?
Police have arrested and charged a 14-year-old girl after she was forced to brandish a knife to defend herself and her friend against a Muslim migrant who attempted to assault her near St Ann’s Lane in Dundee, Scotland.
They free rapists & murderers while they lock up people for a post on social media. It’s time for the UK to take their nation back
An admirable sentiment, that last sentence, but the time for the UK to take the nation back has long past. The British government, from the Prime Minister on down, including law enforcement, has already surrendered to the Muslims. The present government is remarkably similar to Prime Minister Vidkun Quisling’s government in Norway after the Nazis had taken control of the country. Its main function was appeasing the Nazis by keeping order, while giving the appearance of a free nation. Quisling fooled no one, the citizens of Norway, nor other nations.
That is the state of Britain today, and while most Britains are no doubt outraged by the incident above, they, like the Norwegians under Quisling, have no one to turn to in search of justice for people like the little Scottish girl, arrested for trying to protect her sister from horny Muslims.
While no one in charge in Britain will admit it, the British people have already lost to the occupying Muslims. The Government, owing to fear and political correctness, no longer stands up for its own people, rather the occupying Muslim “migrants.” It is sad to see, but it was inevitable.
The New look of Cracker Barrel is nothing new at all
The forces of wokeness have wormed their way into nearly every aspect of our society, notwithstanding its zero appeal to the public. Regardless, they keep at it, pushing their bizarre notions on TV, the movies, literature, and other entertainment, presumably with the notion that if we’re beaten over the head enough, their crackpot ideas will eventually gain acceptance, or at least tolerance. Lately they have turned their attention to corporations, with predictably disastrous results (why should the results differ any from the entertainment industry’s?).
Predating the latest woke clown show at Cracker Barrell, we witnessed the near-demise of the established and successful brands, Target Stores, and the subdivision of Anheuser Busch, Bud Light, makers of that god-awful beer-product, which was originally aimed at working-class men, but no more. Both brands, as most retail products do from time to time, suffered a dip in sales. Somehow, woke marketing experts (sic) persuaded the execs in charge that only a woke remake, or, as the perpetrators call it, a “brand refreshment,” would save their companies. What this entailed was devoting all their efforts, and spending vast sums, to appealing to the surprisingly small woke market, i.e., mostly snotty upper-income white women, collosal bores who espouse every wacko PC notion contrary to conventional mores. Amazingly, the execs bought into it and watched helplessly as sales and shares tanked for Bud Light and Target stores. Now, for the third time, execs for an old, established firm, Cracker Barrell, have done similarly and have seen exactly the same results.
Your Tatler’s father was securities analyst, among other things, for a respected Wall Street firm, White, Weld & Co. (long gone). I remember evenings he would come home from work, pour himself a scotch, sit in his favorite armchair, and read his Wall Street Journal. More often than not, he would mutter to no one in particular: “This country is running out of brains.” Sadly, decades after his death, Dad’s complaint is as valid as ever, especially concerning the private sector.
Thanks to GWR.
“Morally therapeutic deism”
🇺🇦🇺🇦🌈🌈🫃🫃
That splendidly dreadful expression is the creation of a Catholic staffer st the Twitchy, Amy Curtis, a traditional Catholic and a convert, devised the term when writing a piece about a Catholic church in Denver that has drifted far from Catholic teachings.
In addition to her own thoughts, Curtis presents us with a good number of quotes on X that illustrate the deplorable state of so many Catholic churches that have completely lost sight of what Catholic worship should be.
She writes
The push by some to make the Catholic Church ‘modern’ and ‘relevant’ to the current culture has turned some parishes into bastions of what this writer calls ‘morally therapeutic deism’ as opposed to, you know, Catholic Churches.
The abuses are considerable. The church in question is Most Precious Blood Catholic Church in Denver, but it is hardly unique, with Catholic churches far and wide engaging in nonsensical and even blasphemous practices.
Commenter David writes, for example,
Priest in Denver preaches Gospel, warns of hell, reminds them missing Mass is a sin, removes feminist art and the laity spaz out and are concerned about their “psychological safety.” Can’t make this up
Unfortunately, David, one can make this up and salient commentary shows us that parishioners are as much to blame as are misguided priests.
From the Denver Post read how modernist parishioners resent it when a priest tries to clean things up.
A rift within the Most Precious Blood Catholic Church parish fueled a petition with more than 750 signatures calling for Denver Archbishop Samuel Aquila to address [Fr Daniel] Ciucci’s leadership, accusing the pastor of eroding a vibrant, welcoming faith community with “fire and brimstone,” dogmatic messaging and a refusal to listen to parishioners.
Former Most Precious Blood parishioners said the fracture within the church since Ciucci was installed four years ago — in part because of more progressive Catholics clashing with a traditionalist priest — represents a microcosm of what’s happening within and without the archdiocese.
Another deplorable example of what traditionalist priests have to deal with, again comes from commenter David
One of the issues the Priest had to address was “ensuring people were not taking the Eucharist home.” I had to read that one twice to believe it. If that’s an issue this place is in need of serious change.
Serious change indeed. Taking the host home is a new and appalling abuse to this blogger and obviously a consequence of allowing receiving the host on the hand. What this convert, even after many years, still has trouble accepting is how so many putative Catholics ignore the Catechism entirely or make personal “amendments” to it to fashion Catholic worship more to their liking, even when they are just plain wrong. That seems to be the case with Most Precious Blood Church, and until Fr. Ciucci came along, priests and higher-ups appeared to have zero qualms about do-it-yourself worship. For shame.
Holiness, your work is cut out for you.
h/t blogger Christopher Fountain
Update: a reader comments:
The phrase “morally theraputic deism” has been around since the early 2000s. The writer Rod Dreher has used it frequently to describe the kind of degraded Christianity found in many places, notably Main Line Protestant denominations.
The New Romantic, Alexander Gadjiev
While nursing some unpleasantness, I happened upon a recording, via streaming, of an outstanding young Slovenian pianist I had not heard before, Alexander Gadjiev, who is a romantic of the likes not heard on the concert stage for many years.
By “romantic,” Mr Gadjiev is of the old school of pianists, which to this blogger means always being faithful to the composer, but unafraid of making the music his as the composer’s. Which is as it should be, especially with music of mid-19th century and later.
Too many modern-day pianists, to these ears, seem almost reluctant to let themselves go when playing the romantics. Not Mr Gadjiev, who seems to relish the opportunity to present his ideas to the audience. Listen to him play Scriabin’s Étude in D-sharp minor, Op. 8, No. 12, which epitomizes romanticism, even in its key. It was a favorite of Vladimir Horowitz, who pretty much owned the work, and which Gadjiev could well take title to . Whether coïncidence or not, it is saved for last in his newly released album, Legends, which, in its romantic fury, seems the perfect ending to this splendid collection.
A card of thanks
This blogger has been at it, off and on, for nearly two decades. Few people have read it for most of its existence (with the notable exception of Prof. William Tighe), but that hardly mattered as I wrote it for the fun of it and still do.
The small readership changed lately, thanks to a wonderful website called “The Big Pulpit,” which does a “round-up” of interesting blog posts every day that concern the Holy Catholic Church. One happy day a few months ago, I noticed my numbers had soared, and after investigating a little, saw that a recent post had been listed, without fanfare, in the Big Pulpit. I had “made the cut” on the Big Pulpit, greatly increasing my readership and placing my blog among some of the heavy hitters of “blogdom,”
What fun! And I owe it to Mr Robert Edwards, III, KM (Tito) who runs Big Pulpit via his Little Flower Foundation. I recommend having a look at the Big Pulpit, which is a terrific resource, and I also recommend donating to it, as I have, to its parent, the Little Flower Foundation. It takes a great deal of time and effort, I’m sure, to keep the Big Pulpit going.
So thank you, Tito, and know the Taos Tatler’s gratitude.
Europe’s coming doom.
Joseph D’Hippolito writes, in today’s New York Post, of a frightening development taking place in Europe that has been ignored or dismissed by people of rank who ought to know better, including Pope Leo XIV. The problem is the slow but steady takeover of Europe by a people who despise both Westerners and Western culture, especially those who are religious, even more so, Catholics.
It should come as little surprise that those who hate us are the Muslims, who are not silent about taking over and making the continent into a caliphate, where Sharia is the law of the land.
From the New York Post:
Pope Leo must stand up to Muslim immigrants seeking to remake Europe
As Muslim migration roils Europe, some Catholic bishops are starting to notice.
“For decades, the Islamization of Europe has been progressing through mass immigration,” Polish Bishop Antoni Długosz said July 13, adding that illegal immigrants “create serious problems in the countries they arrive in.”
Bishop Athanasius Schneider of Kazakhstan spoke more bluntly in March: “We’re witnessing an invasion. They are not refugees. This is an invasion, a mass Islamization of Europe.”
Yet all you hear from those who have the most to lose is the usual tommyrot about how Islam is a religion of peace, that it shares our Abrahamic heritage, that they even revere Jesus as a messenger of God (it is only his worshippers they despise), etc.
Especially distressing is Pope Leo’s take on the subject: the usual bromides without a hint of concern from someone who should know better.
This Catholic approach toward Islam reflects the ideas of Louis Massignon, a French scholar from the early 20th century. Massignon described Islam as “the faith of Abraham revived with Muhammad,” and asserted that Muslims “have the right to equality among the monotheisms descended from Abraham.”
French Catholic scholar Alain Besançon described the results.
“An entire literature favorable to Islam has grown up in Europe, much of it the work of Catholic priests under the sway of Massignon’s ideas,” he wrote.
Even harder for European leaders and the Pope to admit that they have a serious problem on their hands is what ought to be done about it, as the Muslims will never change their ways and they will never leave Europe of their own accord.
Asylum seekers from Afghanistan set up tents inside of the Church of Saint John the Baptist at the Beguinage in Brussels on Jan. 7, 2014.
REUTERS/Francois Lenoir
Since this is my blog, shared with no one else, your Tatler writes as he pleases, and will continue to do so until stopped. This post may be the one that offends, but here goes: the remedy for Muslims who hate everything about the West is to remove them from the West, peacefully if possible, by paying them to leave. If they refuse to leave, they should be forcibly removed, as civilly as possible, but removed just the same.
There is only one world leader fearless enough to accomplish that nearly impossible task, but unfortunately for the Europeans, he is in the United States. That world leader is, of course, President Donald Trump. The leaders of Europe could do a lot worse than consult with Trump on the matter, as he is an authority on removing people who do not belong in this country. They will not consult with him, though, as they loathe him as much as the Democrats do in America. So much for Europe, then.
Note: thanks to Anita Zadeh, with whom I was catechized, for alerting me to the excellent, if scary piece in the Post this morning.
My heart breaks for these poor souls; yours will, too.
In the news from the Harvard Crimson:
Lindsey E. Adams, a Ph.D student in Harvard’s virology program, opened her pay stub on July 1 to a strange sight: Her research stipend was no longer listed as a union stipend, and no union dues were deducted from her pay.
But nothing about Adams’ job was different — not her hours, not her supervisor, not the lab where she works or the tasks she completes every day.
“My work day-to-day has not changed at all,” she said.
Adams was one of the more than 900 students on research-based stipends removed from Harvard’s graduate student union’s bargaining unit in July shortly after the union’s second contract with the University expired. Without union representation, the students are not entitled to contract protections, including union benefits, access to union funds, and the pay raises that the union is negotiating for in its third contract.
Now, more than a month after the students’ removal, the Harvard Graduate Student Union-United Automobile Workers and its workers are still trying to understand the University’s criteria for excluding certain students — who it claims are not employees — and examining whether they have a path to appeal the decision.
The morning greeted your Tatler with the tragic news that 900 Harvard graduate students had their union membership “stripped” from them.
Its difficult to fully grasp the magnitude of wrong suffered by these mercilessly maltreated scholars and the bleak future they now face. Do, if you can, when saying your evening prayers, directly after praying for the repose of the soul of the late Ruhollah Musavi Khomeini, please address a few words to the almighty asking compassion for the exploited Harvard unionists forced into being scabs, a bitter pill indeed for the hard-core leftist Harvard graduate students.
For solace, you may wish to recall, as your Tatler does, the heartwarming words of Oscar Wilde when refering to a character from Dickens’s Old Curiosity Shop.
One must have a heart of stone to read the death of Little Nell without laughing.
THE TAOS TATLER. 