THE TAOS TATLER.

Italy’s soon-to-be Prime Minister Georgia Meloni is already creating quite a stir among the usual suspects in American media. She’s been saying astonishing things on forbidden subjects, such as:

Why is the family an enemy? Why is the family so frightening? There is a single answer to all these questions. Because it defines us. Because it is our identity. Because everything that defines us is now an enemy for those who would like us to no longer have an identity and to simply be perfect consumer slaves.

And this:

And so they attack national identity, they attack religious identity, they attack gender identity, they attack family identity. I can’t define myself as: Italian, Christian, woman, mother. No. I must be citizen x, gender x, parent 1, parent 2. I must be a number. Because when I am only a number, when I no longer have an identity or roots, then I will be the perfect slave at the mercy of financial speculators. The perfect consumer…[But] we will defend it.

Zounds! Mocking key agenda of the left. Meloni has already received Ted Cruz’s attention, who has called her “spectacular.” However, what really caused Bickerstaff to sit bolt upright was her quoting in the close of a speech G. K. Chesterton. Imagine that, Chesterton.

Swords will be drawn to prove that leaves are green in summer.’ That time has arrived. We are ready.

From Heretics.

Bickerstaff is in love. Italy will soon be in good hands.

h/t GWR and WT.

Behold one of the most repulsive men on Earth.

Roger Waters, of the pop group Pink Floyd, has canceled two performances in Poland, miffed over Poles’s furious objections to recent statements by him expressing strong support for Russia’s war in Ukraine. It’s hardly surprising they might take issue with him over it

Waters enjoys having one of the sleaziest reputations in celebritydom, screwing over, lying, cheating and generally behaving horribly to all and sundry (including a close friend of your Tatler’s). Rarely does one find someone who so consistently, when presented with a choice of actions, chooses the worst one.

It is no surprise then Waters would actually defend Russia’s war in Ukraine, even though it has been close to universally condemned by people of all political stripes.

Dreadful man: for a more thorough account of this cretin’s behavior, go here. Or just visit the New York Post’s Page Six. He’s quite the regular there.

Climate change hogwash from a former bastion of science.

From Campus Reform:

Adjunct Senior Scientist at Columbia University, Dr. Anders Levermann, published a research paper claiming climate change is creating hate speech.

In the academic article for Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research, Levermann alleged that “hate speech [increases] across climate zones, income groups and belief systems for temperatures too hot or too cold.”

Across the USA, the authors found low levels of hate tweets in a ‘feel-good window’ of 12-21°C (54-70 °F); the minimum of hate tweets is reached for temperatures between 15 and 18°C (59-65°F),” a summary of the research at Science Daily sates.

There’s plenty more of this slop at the link for those interested, but if you’re looking for something even slightly resembling a causal connection between temperature and angry tweets, don’t bother. You won’t find it, thus making this latest heap of tommyrot no different from the rest of the so-called evidence alleging bad things owing to climate change. It is conjecture, nothing else.

***

The building you see above, Columbia’s  Pupin Hall, once upon a time was more than just a desirable dormitory on the campus. In 1939, five stories beneath that building, some of the most brilliant scientists the world has ever known, including Enrico Ferm, assembled to work on the devilishly thorny project developing a self-sustaining neutron chain reaction. That was science at Columbia then. Now it’s peevish tweets and global warming.

The UK’s New York Post.

Sensational? Sure. Ad hominem attacks? You bet. Yellow journalism? Without a doubt, but a damn sight preferable to red journalism and a lot more entertaining.

Apparently, one single word fans the flames of a slew of -isms.

In a major blow against the putative sins of colonialism, imperialism, capitalism, and all the other “isms” of the academic left (if you’ll excuse the redundancy), the University of Oxford’s Faculty of Oriental Studies has changed its name to the Faculty of Asian and Middle Eastern Studies.

Oriental, according to the Oxford Dictionary–where else to look it up?–means “connected with or typical of the eastern part of the world, especially China and Japan, and the people who live there.” According to the Hindu Times story however, quoting someone, the word “stank of colonialism.” Oxford’s decision was thus made

[‘A]mid concerns that the previous name could be derogatory to racial or ethnic minorities.’

Scholars of the faculty which was founded in the 19th century felt that the word ‘Oriental’ in the name had echoes of British colonialism, the report added, saying that the change comes after a two-year rigorous consultation process with staff and students. (Italics added).

(They seem to have an awful lot of time to kill at Oxford.)

Your Tatler remembers years ago hearing much whinging over the alleged racist implications of that seemingly innocent word Oriental, but was never able to glean the reasons. Like the above, the complaints seem to originate from ivory tower Caucasians, who always seem be first decreeing what is and what is not racist. We wonder when Occidental, Boreal and Austral join poor Oriental in the liberal Index librorum prohibitorum.

Bickerstaff, unmistakenly Caucasian, is hiwever not alone dismissing the silliness over the suspect word. Consider the views of this Oriental, in the LA Times, no less.

h/t GWR.

Your Tatler is a newbie Catholic, embracing the full Catholic faith only fifteen years ago. He had extensive instruction, seven months devoted to reading the following: the entire Catechism, copious Papal bulls and encyclicals, large portions of Scripture, a bit of Canon Law and more. Additionally, a number of written essays were required. When he was at last received into Holy Church, he held the notion he was at least reasonably informed regarding matters Catholic.

Not so, sadly. His ignorance was brought to the fore when an important public figure, a self-proclaimed observant Catholic, made claims about abortion which certainly raised your Tatler’s eyes, forcing a re-assessment of his knowledge of basic Church teachings.

From the Washington Post:

President Biden is taking Sen. Lindsey O. Graham (S.C.) and other Republicans to task over a proposed nationwide abortion ban, a topic set to be a galvanizing issue in the midterm elections.

“Think about what these guys are talking about,” Biden told a Democratic National Committee fundraiser in New York this week. “No exceptions — rape, incest — no exceptions, regardless of age,” he said of the proposed ban. “I happen to be a practicing Roman Catholic,” he added. “My church doesn’t even make that argument now.”

Oh, goodness, there’s so much more to learn. Puzzling, though, as Canon Law regarding abortion doesn’t provide much wiggle room, as Ed Morrissey’s Hot Air makes clear when quoting from the website of the  Human Life International Organization.

Further:

Nevertheless, our nominally Catholic President has spoken contrarily regarding Canon Law on abortion. Ah well, back to the books.

Gooder and harder, as the Instapundit says.

Everyone’s favorite mock news site (except liberals’s, perhaps) has been outdone by reality. The San Francisco Bicycle Coalition* has instructed its members not to report bicycle thefts to the police. Why, you ask? Here’s why.

From PM.

San Francisco crime has skyrocketed since 2020 and bike theft has grown into an epidemic in the Golden City. In response the San Francisco Bike Coalition wrote on their “considerations” section of their website that victims of bike theft should reconsider calling the police as “Black and brown” people could be harmed from the interaction.

It gets better.

The San Francisco Bicycle Coalition wrote about their dedication to anti-racism in 2020 and have held panels on the intersection of race and bicycles and promised to end the systemic bicycle white supremacy.

And better still.

We have a long way to go to understanding the intersectionality of race and biking. This panel of experts will discuss how anti-Black racism manifests in the biking community, in @sfbike, and in Bay Area urban planning . . .

Now how can the Bee top that?

***

Five years ago, when your Tatler was debating whether or not to ditch the city he loved, New York, the decision was made for him by the City’s voters, when all of 17-percent of them turned out on Election Day to re-elect, by a substantial margin, the City’s worst mayor in modern times, Warren Wilhelm, Jr., aka Bill de Blasio. This despite his undoing in only five years the twenty years good work by previous Mayors Giuliani and Bloomberg making New York the safest big city by far in America and the envy of mayors in cities worldwide.

Your Tatler reasoned if the 83-percent of New York voters who chose not to vote, as well the majority of the few that did, had so little concern about the soaring crime rates and plummeting quality of life in their city, then they were getting exactly what they deserved and that things would only worsen. He put his apartment up for sale, got his asking price and left. Four years later, things indeed have gotten substantially worse in New York and get, to use the Shakespearean comparative, worser by the day.

Whether or not the views of the San Francisco Bicycle Coalition represent those of most San Franciscans cannot be determined by simply by the silly little item above, but this writer, who has lived among brain-dead liberals most his life, has a pretty good idea they do, thus they too are getting exactly what they deserve, as well the people of most Democrat-controlled cities in this nation. What a tragedy these awful people willingly let this happen.

*It’s a good bet any organization with “coalition” in its name is as commie as they come.

An exceptionally less than exceptional newsreader gets his comeuppance.

Particularly enjoyable, the ever-so-slightly superior  tone in her voice.

Thanks to GWR.

UPDATE: From For What it’s Worth.

Nigerian journalist and novelist Adaobi Tricia Nwaubani writes that one of her ancestors sold slaves, but argues that he should not be judged by today’s standards or values.

Apparently it only became immoral when the white folks did it.

Domine non est dignus.

A recurring thought yesterday watching the services for the Queen Elizabeth was the extraordinary beauty of the language used. Your Tatler is no stranger to it as he was brought up in the Episcopal Church before they ruined the Book of Common Prayer, not to mention the Church itself, in the ’70s.

Another recurring thought was when the forces behind the reforms [sic] of Vatican II were busying themselves junking the beautiful and elegant Latin texts, replacing them with the lifeless and mediocre English translations found in Novus ordo, it’s a pity they didn’t consider a far better alternative to the expulsion of Usus antiquior: the pillaging as much as possible from either the 1662 (UK) or 1928 (US) Books of Common Prayer, making necessary changes of course to agree with Catholic teachings.

Instead, at every mass we are subjected to eminently forgettable and boring English, save for the preposterous wrenching into Elizabethan English for the Pater noster (amusingly, the Episcopalians do the exact same thing), which seems to this writer tacit recognition the hopeless inadequacy of the English used in the rest of the mass.

It will be pointed out of course that mass texts used by Anglican Use parishes (more properly, those in the Personal Ordinariate of the Chair of St Peter) are just as your Tatler prescribes above. The problem is AU has not exactly caught fire in this country, and parishes are few and far between.

Chances of the Traditional Latin Mass returning to use in Holy Church are just about nil at this point. It’s difficult to learn and most Catholics now have little interest in hearing words they cannot understand. Perhaps, however, some Pope, some day, let us pray, concerned with the wretched state of modern Catholic liturgy will promulgate, or even order–because he can–at least one mass at every English speaking parish be celebrated in the language of Shakespeare, Jonson and Spenser (and, er, Marlowe). Who knows, that might even stir interest in doing something about the excruciating torture that is Catholic praise-music.

Your Tatler rose early this morning to catch some of the services for the late Queen Elizabeth II. They turned out to be so compelling and moving he watched all six hours of them. The British have a special talent for putting on large scale precision public ceremonies that also manage to display warmth and humanity, unlike, say, Leni Riefenstahl’s ghastly cold-blooded productions.

That was especially so with today’s splendid events commemorating the Queen’s death and this writer believes it is because they were unabashedly and unapologetically Christian, surly reflecting the late Queen’s deep and abiding faith, as well her having a major say in the planning of events at her death. To that end, all prayers and scripture readings were Christian, nothing whatsoever from the other Abrahamic faiths. This was a Christian nation mourning the death of its Defender of the Faith.

That faith of course is Protestant Christianity, as made clear in the state funeral at the Abbey and the later, smaller committal service at Windsor Castle. In a gratifyingly ecumenical action, however,  important Catholic clergy and laity were invited to participate, no doubt because of England’s large Catholic population, but also perhaps, recognition that all England’s monarchs were all Catholic until the passage by Parliament of the Act of Supremacy in 1534, and Protestant thereafter (save some exceptions with unfortunate outcomes). Also once Catholic were the two venues, the Abbey and St. George’s Chapel at Windsor Castle.

Whether is was required of participating Catholic clergy and laity or, as your Tatler likes to think, a gracious gesture by them, Catholics who read scripture at the two ceremonies did so from the King James Bible, at least as best this observer could tell. Good for them. It lent unity to the occasion and gave rise, however infinitesimal, to the hope the Church of England will once again be one with the Holy Catholic Church. There is an excellent account of the ecumenism displayed at the Queen’s funeral and commitment found in the Tablet.

Your Tatler was particularly thankful for the BBC’s coverage of today’s events. Unlike other broadcast services, especially ours, which are terrified of silence, the Beeb kept chatter, blabber and “back-chat” to a minimum, often allowing long stretches of uninterrupted quiet to allow viewers to take in the splendor. This was especially appreciated during the extensive musical offerings made by the numerous forces involved. Also praiseworthy was virtually all the music was by British composers, though at least one of the brass bands snuck in the Marche Funébre from Chopin’s Piano Sonata No. 2, to no ill effect at all.

A memorable day. Requiescat in pace Elizabeth Regina. God save the King.