Tonight we celebrate the defeat of the demons, tomorrow we look to heaven and the jubilation of the countless throng of the Saints as they worship the Lamb. By way of prelude:
What a joyful sound! Lift up your hearts, sursum corda, the Gospel of salvation has one voice. Victory is assured and evil will be blown away like smoke before the wind.
Let Angels prostrate fall,
LSP
O Almighty God, who hast knit together thine elect in one communion and fellowship in the mystical body of thy Son Christ our Lord: Grant us grace so to follow thy blessed saints in all virtuous and godly living, that we may come to those ineffable joys which thou hast prepared for those who unfeignedly love thee; through the same Jesus Christ our Lord, who with thee and the Holy Spirit liveth and reigneth, one God, in glory everlasting. Amen.
Saints, pray for us, we need all the help we can get right about now.
God bless you all,
LSP
Everyone loves a train ride, especially if it's protected from enemy fire. Here's the Krajina Express:
What a civilized way to travel, you'll note the DLC dining car.
All best,
LSP
There we were, in the dead heat of a dead hot summer and we prayed, when will this heat ever end? Maybe never, so there you are at your desk, sweat dripping down onto the Dell even though your AC's running full blast like a racehorse which just can't keep up.
No kidding, the very ground is cracking under the heat and there you are, idly chopping sweating mahogany with a razor sharp kukri, chop, chop, chop, in time with failing ChiCom ceiling fan dystopia.
A knock on the door. Rap, rap, rap. You look up through the heat haze, clearing a Glock .45, "Come in!" All very Master and Commander and enter the office, and he does, a complete 5.7' of hooded aggressor. Wow, 13% produces 50% of the crime. "Where's your money at?" demands our malfeasant POC friend, waving a blunt machete and a worse than useless garbage Hi-Point.
You look hoodrat in the eye and ask, "You want money? Yeah, we all want money, so take it, it's yours, it's up the monkey, just help yourself. Hey man, have at it, feel free, it's all yours."
100% eye contact. There you are in 110* waiting on the monkey rush, call it a stand-off. So what's it gonna be? Life and death. Rush the monkey to get the cash or... not. Your call, buddy, as a dystopian fan whirs overhead, and the heat does not lessen. No, it builds.
Hoodie looks at the munificent monkey, standing tall in your corner, full off cash, a veritable simian of a floor safe, and you can see the pull of greed versus personal safety playing out in Hoodie's mind. What's it to be, rush the monkey and get the cash and die rich, or retreat out of this hot, hot room, alive.
You watch, tapping your kukri impatiently against a scarred desk, "Maybe it's time for you to go, my friend. Or maybe you want to get all up in the Rittenhouse. Your call, go ask the monkey. It's totally up to you."
Which way would you play this utterly unlikely scenario, punters?
Cheers,
LSP
En lieu of anything remotely serious from me, here's the inimitable Armchair Warlord on last night's raid into the Strip:
Update: Israeli troops withdrew after some skirmishing. It's unclear whether they ever actually entered Gaza proper or engaged from beyond the fence, or how well the respective sides came off.
The fundamental problem the IDF and the Israeli government in general faces right now is that to accomplish their stated goal of destroying Hamas, bombing, shelling and armored incursions into open areas of the Gaza Strip (which they had restricted themselves to in previous rounds of fighting) will not do the job. At some point Israeli APCs are going to have to roll up to the first line of shattered concrete housing blocks, drop ramps and dismount infantry. And those infantrymen are going to have to get behind their assault rifles and go to work. Block by block, building by building, room by room, through an army of enemies and an ocean of civilians, until the job is done.
I think at this point Netanyahu has placed an order with the butcher for a bloodbath and now he doesn't want to pay the bill.
I won't comment but will repeat:
At some point Israeli APCs are going to have to roll up to the first line of shattered concrete housing blocks, drop ramps and dismount infantry. And those infantrymen are going to have to get behind their assault rifles and go to work. Block by block, building by building, room by room, through an army of enemies and an ocean of civilians, until the job is done.
Serious business.
Pax et Bonum,
LSP
Jetsam, noun, unwanted material or goods that have been thrown overboard from a ship and washed ashore, especially material that has been discarded to lighten the vessel.
Flotsam and jetsam, floating wreckage and unwanted goods thrown off the vessel of modern life. There's a lot of it about, in no particular order:
Harvard, Satan's Vatican
Madonna, Queen of Pop
Justsin Welby, titular head of WANC (Worldwide Anglican Non-Communion)
The sheer genius of Yoko
Don't get me wrong, this isn't an exhaustive list, just a snapshot. Feel free to chime in.
Cheers,
LSP
There we were, on the back porch of the Compound about to say Evening Prayer when I looked up and lo and behold, hundreds of buzzards were flying overhead. Wow, there they were, gliding overhead into the West.
"Is this," I thought in wonder, "the Eschaton?" No fooling, I've never seen such a thing here, and yet there they were. Harbingers of apocalyptic doom. Perhaps. That in mind, it's all going on everywhere and you can Gaza read about it on the Information Superhighway.
Has this, dear readers, all eight of you, made us more or less informed. As we reflect on this, consider the omen witnessed in the expansive blue skies of the North Central Texan Free State this evening. Terrifying, eh?
In totally different yet related news, can any of you recommend a luxury, old skool, sleeper train ride.
Seriously, a luxury, old skool train and sleeper to boot, preferably with an outdoor observation deck and windows must open, which I think counts out our appalling Amtrak. Totally open to suggestions.
Haruspex,
LSP
A curious thing happened today. All the people from Mission #2 who like to go the increasingly popular Shooky's of a Thursday evening turned up at Mass first, without any prompting. That's right, with not a word from me, not even an annoyingly jocular clerical bribe, "Hey, there's a 10% discount if you go to Mass first," ha, ha, sorta thing. No, they just turned up.
Well done, team, and it makes sense. Our communion with one another flows from communion with God in the Mystical Body of Christ, nourished, vivified and deepened at the Altar. Get that right and the other follows naturally.
You know, I recall a priest in DC who told me, "We're at the point where the people here don't even think of doing a parish event without going to Mass first." Right on, worship, giving ourselves in love to God, comes first, always.
It's what we're created for, and we saw a little bit of that North Central Texas this evening.
Stella Maris,
LSP
Just some random space rock, Lord of Light. Happens of the seventh year and what's wrong with the juke box!
Spooky? Yes indeed, and that's just the yard ornaments in this bucolic north central Texan farming community. Then there's carrier groups getting into position for what could be the next Big One, associated pre-deployment warning orders, ongoing slaughter in Ukraine, accelerating debt which can never be paid back, an abhorrent, corrupt, malfeasant, self-serving clown show inside the Beltway, and on.
Scary as you like and then some. That in mind, do you remember TDS, Trump Derangement Syndrome, in which crazed Leftists, our beloved Uniparty, and pretty much everyone in the UK shrieked that evil plutocrat, Nazi, Russian spy, tyrant Trump would crash the economy and start World War III. Remember that?
Sure you do and my, how that worm's turned, not that Queers For Palestine will notice until they're drafted or thrown off tall buildings by the nearest Trans Hamas Theater Collective. But speaking of conscription and going full kinetic, how long would it take for the US to ramp up manufacturing to supply an industrial war? Serious question.
Europe, obviously, isn't in the game, its countries barely have armed forces capable of the kind of action seen in the Ukraine for more than a couple of weeks. Welfare for votes + no factories = no tanks, no ammo, to put it simply. They've been gambling, rainbow foolishly, on never, ever having to fight another major war ever again. Looks to me like that hand's about to fold. But hey, go ahead and ask the Monkey.
The US? We're still the real deal, I think; US = NATO, and if you can tell me what it means I'll join. But still, imagine ChiCom/Russkie/Iranian hypersonics sink a couple of our carriers. Pearl Harbor level disaster. Now, how long would it take us to recreate our shipbuilding capability to replace them? Good question. China, meanwhile, has an estimated shipbuilding capacity 200 times greater than ours. Maybe our Beloved Rulers decide to go nuclear at that point and evac to the nearest private island.
And so we're back where we started, spooky. My advice, for what it's worth, is this. Get right with God and make it a matter of personal urgency.
Your Pal,
LSP
I eat the donutsGlazed and chocolate ones tooSometimes blueberryWelfare music playsTaxpayers buy them for meMeanwhile, I snarf moreHelp me Joe BidenMy welfare is running outFeed me more donuts
Fireflies in the mapleDeep dark woodsHot tea on the porch
Front windows rolled down.Why, when fifty-two degrees?Nigerian Uber
Chaos sown every dayAre you not entertainedHave a donut
What can I say. Sorry, Kerouac, we got you beat. But who am I to judge, this one's for LL and perhaps it'll resonate with you too:
A sharp bayonetDark prints in the forest snowMoonlight gleams on ice
Keep 'em coming.
Your Old Friend,
LSP
Yes, it's that moment we've all been waiting for, Haiku Time. And here it is:
Why am I so fat
Said the girl at the bus stop
Donut in the rain
Your turn,
LSP
Just back at the Compound from celebrating a Requiem Mass and this seems appropriate, Faure's Cantique de Jean Racine:
DS was and is a sweet soul with a natural reverence and piety, I do not say that lightly. May she rest in peace and rise in glory.
Requiescat in Pace,
LSP
Do you remember George Floyd, the holy race martyr who was executed by a white cop, Derek Chauvin? Sure you do, evil rayciss Chauvin decided to kill innocent Floyd because of the color of his skin. Except this isn't true, Floyd died because of a massive fentanyl overdose, but there's more. Here's damning words addressed to the Democrat plantation via Tucker:
Ep. 32 You’ll be shocked to learn this, but it turns out the whole George Floyd story was a lie. pic.twitter.com/4vDXBStHf5
— Tucker Carlson (@TuckerCarlson) October 20, 2023
Whoa, and yes, we all know this. The Democrat/Uniparty concern to look after "minorities" is just as fake as the rainbow they've enlisted. Regardless, strong words, eh?
LSP
I know, here we are on the very edge of World War III and what was once Christendom appears to have been driven apostasy insane by Satan. But don't lose heart, God has this and all things in hand. That in mind, lighten up, here's Substitute Teacher, old but gold:
Wow. Douglass Mackey was sentenced to 7 months prison time yesterday by United States District Judge Ann M. Donnelly. Why? Because he had the sheer, brazen, literal temerity to post a "meme" mocking Hillary Clinton in the 2016 election. Yes, that's exactly what he did and now he's suitably punished, with jail. Here's the so-called "meme," risible and racist as it is:
Kristina Wong didn't go to hideously ugly jail because she supported Hillary and was against evil Russian spy Nazi Donald Trump. That's why she posted her awesome meme with impunity. Here, have a look:
Someone once said, "This'd be a banana republic if it was a republic." In the meanwhile, we lurch towards rainbow corporate Armageddon in the hope our beloved rulers will become even richer than they already are.
Speaking of which, which blazer patch do you prefer, Lockheed, Martin or Raytheon?
Regardless, it was her turn,
LSP
In a ferocious and possibly unsuccessful bid to escape from the brink of World War III, I looked up Austin Farrer on Purgatory. Many Anglicans and for all I know many of you don't like the doctrine, but it's always made sense to me.
How could we not pass through purgation on our way to glorification? The chaff, famously, must be burned away. Anyway, here's Farrer, see what you think:
I say, then, that the teaching of Christ, the nature of our freewill, and the way God deals with us all point in one direction: the loss of heaven is a real danger. Second. I observe that Christ teaches one thing with particular insistence. Men whose moral misery is disguised from them by comfort, pride or success, will find themselves after death a prey to that flame which can surely be nothing but the scorching truth. Third, I see that Christ speaks of the flame as everlasting, as a torment which does not lose its force, or die down. The sinner will vainly wait for it to exhaust itself, or hope to escape from it on the further side. But I do not see that I am forbidden to ask, what then? Cannot everlasting Mercy save from the everlasting fire, or let the irreconcilable perish in it?
The fate of ultimate impenitence is a mystery into which I am reluctant to look. If it overtakes any, I pray they may be few. But looking to myself and the hopes a Christian dares to entertain, I find conscience and moral reason join forces with Catholic teaching, and forbid me to to claim exemption from the burning of that flame. If Dives needed to be stripped, and to suffer the truth of his condition, do not we also?
Perhaps before we suffer it, we may be assured of mercy; perhaps the sight of mercy will make the torment, when we see what a God we have, and how we have served him; what wounds we have inflicted on the souls of our fellows by our egotism and neglect.
Purgatory was rejected by our Reformers, as undermining the sufficiency of Christ's atonement; for it was taken to be the serving of a sentence by which the guilt of Christians was in some way worked off. Such an objection has no force against the teaching, that we have a pain to pass through, in being reconciled to truth and love. And we may as well call this pain purgatorial, having no other name to call it. It seems strange, indeed, that so practical and pressing a truth as that of purgatory should be dismissed, while so remote and impractical a doctrine as the absolute everlastingness of hell should be insisted on. (Saving Belief, P154-155)
Sadly, I'd say that the absolute everlastingness of hell becomes more apparent by the day, but Farrer was focused on Divine Mercy and the white hot, purifying light of God's truth.
We must all pass through this, surely, on the way to sanctification and the green pastures and still waters of paradise. Such is the progress of conviction of sin, repentance, amendment of life, and absolution.
God bless you all,
LSP
Maybe you had too much too fast?
Smash hit super celebrity pop icon Cher, 77, has threatened to finally leave America if Donald Trump is reelected. That's right, no more Cher if El Senor gets back in the Oval Office and Melania's once more in charge of White House aesthetics.
According to Breitbart, the aging singer "almost got an ulcer" when Trump defeated Hillary in 2016 and if he returns Cher will "leave":
“I almost got an ulcer the last time [Trump was elected],” Cher told the Guardian in an interview published Wednesday, adding, “If he gets in, who knows? This time I will leave [the country].”
Megastar Cher famously supported Joe Biden in his hugely successful run for President in 2020 and even reworked a song for his campaign, the mass hit, "Happiness Is Just A Thing Called Joe." However, even though Old Joe won the Presidency, Cher still wasn't happy.
When the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade, massively popular Cher rode the doomsday clock, declaring that SCOTUS would be “responsible for the deaths of hundreds of thousands of American women.” Yes, a veritable female slaughterhouse because biological women wouldn't be killed in the womb.
Unsurprisingly, the talented singer songwriter of classics like the Shoop Shoop Song and Heart of Stone was outraged by Texas' recent pro-life legislation, shouting on social media, “WOMEN WILL DIE” and “DEMOCRACY WILL WITHER & DIE, & DICTATORS WILL THRIVE.”
Is Cher a Moloch worshiping, Illuminati Devil Witch with a whopping socialist net worth of $380 million or a simple pop genius with a social conscience? Either which way, she's out if 45 becomes 47.
Here at the Compound and by way of serious analysis, we wonder if this isn't reason enough to vote for El Senor. Not that voting actually seems to matter much, but still.
LSP
Well, no sooner than an SPQR video with a brave war dog is posted than all hell breaks out in the Middle East, not that there wasn't enough of that already. Worrying, eh? Here at the Compound we're cooking ribs in the oven, lo and slow, and thanking God for His goodness. And, it being the Feast of Ignatius of Antioch, here's a prayer:
Ignatius, pray for us, and all of you, stand steady.
So, what'd you do today, so-called LSP, if that's your real name, which we doubt. Well, nothing complicated, a morning visit to the Pick 'n Steal and then off to the lake and its dam to try my luck against the piscine adversary. Would they bite?
No, they did not. Don't get me wrong, I tried, I really did, but the fish weren't having it. There they were, predatory gar lying in ambush downstream of the spillway pool, you could see them loud and clear through cleverly polarized glasses.
But no, they weren't having it, frozen shad didn't cut it today, so I tried my luck at Soldiers Bluff on the other side of the dam. There were fish there, yes, you could see them, but would they bite? No, they would not.
Don't worry, fish, your day will come. Draw the moral as you care to take it and that, dear readers, is the story of that.
Never Surrender,
LSP
