The True Cross

 

Today's the Feast of Exaltation of the Holy Cross. You may recall that Constantine's Mother, Helena, recovered the True Cross in Jerusalem, where it was rightly venerated until the heathen Persians sacked the Holy City in the early mid-7th century. Emperor Heraclius retook it in 628 AD, only for the savage Moslems to overtake his victory and conquer the holy city in 638 AD.

Heraclius, perhaps the last of the classical Roman Emperors, saved the Cross from Mohammedan fanatics, however, a large fragment remained in Jerusalem and was rescued by the first Crusaders, who venerated the relic and took it into battle with varying degrees of success.

I find the history or legend of the relic fascinating and compelling, that's me, but reflect on the words it points to, "If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself, take up his cross and follow me." 

Again, "Whoever would save his life will lose it, and he who loses his life for my sake and the gospel's will save it." And lest there be any doubt, "What shall it profit a man to gain the whole world and lose his soul?" Reflect on that.

Here endeth the lesson,

LSP

Play Up Play Up And Play The Game - UPDATE

 

You'll recall Great Britain faced off the Mahdi in the 1880s, with General Gordon losing his head in Khartoum and a British Square being partially broken at the battle of Abu Klea, in which the beloved and heroic Col. Burnaby was killed by a Moslem spear to the throat. 

Sir Henry Newboldt wrote a poem immortalizing the thing. Here it is:

There’s a breathless hush in the Close to-night —

Ten to make and the match to win —

A bumping pitch and a blinding light,

An hour to play and the last man in.

And it’s not for the sake of a ribboned coat,

Or the selfish hope of a season’s fame,

But his Captain’s hand on his shoulder smote —

‘Play up! play up! and play the game!’

The sand of the desert is sodden red, —

Red with the wreck of a square that broke; —

The Gatling’s jammed and the Colonel dead,

And the regiment blind with dust and smoke.

The river of death has brimmed his banks,

And England’s far, and Honour a name,

But the voice of a schoolboy rallies the ranks:

‘Play up! play up! and play the game!’

This is the word that year by year,

While in her place the School is set,

Every one of her sons must hear,

And none that hears it dare forget.

This they all with a joyful mind

Bear through life like a torch in flame,

And falling fling to the host behind —

‘Play up! play up! and play the game!’

Play up! Play up! And play the game! It's easy to mock this,  unless you're, ahem, Texas A&M(!), and the beastly place which calls itself "Clifton," but maybe not so fast, punters. Are duty, loyalty, esprit de corps and sheer resolution in the face of the enemy bad things? I will face you, enemy of my people, and I will not give up. Ever. There's a virtue in that, call it fighting spirit if you like.

Your Friend,

LSP

PS. A schoolboy "rallies the ranks." Reflect on the line. Try saying the chorus in that very same, unbroken voice and see where it leads you. Maybe to this:

The War On Terror - 18 Years Out

After the 9/11 atrocity I was as keen as anyone else to hit the enemy back, and hit hard. You can't fly planes into the WTC and the Pentagon with impunity, Muslims. And so began the War on Terror, a war in which the enemy was never identified, only a tactic, a war which has proved inconclusive at best, a heinous waste of life at worst.

Borepatch comments:

18 years after December 7th, 1941 was 1959. Japan and Germany had largely been rebuilt. The threat they had represented was relegated to history books and movies. The United States had made the decision to eliminate those threats, converted to a war footing, won decisively, and returned to a peacetime economy that was the envy of the world.

18 years after September 11, 2001 is 2019.

We never identified the enemy. We never declared war. We called it a war. The War on Terror. A complete failure to identify the enemy and an undeclared war on a tactic. Invaded two countries inconclusively. Then we decided to start rebuilding before we had won.

As a result, we have incurred 7,000 combat related U.S. military deaths, 54,000 injuries of which approximately 1,700 involved amputations, and there are 6,000 veteran suicides a year, every year.

In the process we have already spent 6 Trillion dollars. We did not tax or sell war bonds for this. It is all done with borrowing and deficits.

We used up the life of our ships, aircraft, vehicles, and weapons systems. We would be currently unable to effectively respond to another war. Our active obligations drive an ops tempo that do not allow for proper maintenance of equipment and push personnel into a continuous cycle of deployments.

We set in motion a surveillance apparatus that continues to grow, watching every move, call, text, click that we make.
We turned air travel into a Kafkaesque system where everyone, from 80 year old nuns to infants are suspects. It's all theater, but it's unpleasant, unconstitutional theater. And we spent a 100 Billion dollars just on that.

We have lost and are continuing to lose. We're negotiating with the Taliban. We don't control Afghanistan. We don't control Iraq. We are not safer than we were in 2001. We don't have any idea who is coming across our southern border. We don't know that the next attack won't be worse. We're far less free than we were.

If Osama Bin Laden wanted to make us bleed, both physically and economically, he won.

I'd say Borepatch has a point, and I'm pleased we have a president who seems reluctant to commit to more war, not least because I have a son in the game. And, if we're going to fight, let's identify the enemy and do it to win. I'll wager the Jihad, to say nothing of Saudi Arabia and its puppets inside the Beltway, wouldn't last long.

In the meanwhile, those responsible for the deaths should be held accountable. I know, good luck with that.

God bless,

LSP

Macron is so Very Awesome

The failed Faux Bonaparte, Illuminati ruler of France and the European Union was forced into making embarrassing concessions to nationalist populists this week, such as scrapping a hated weather tax and raising the minimum wage.

Problem is, people smell blood in the water. Here's a mechanic, via Zerohedge:

He is trying to do a pirouette to land back on his feet but we can see that he isn’t sincere, that it’s all smoke and mirrors,” said Jean-Marc, a car mechanic as a gathering of some 150 Yellow Vests in the southern town of Le Boulou.

“It’s just window dressing, for the media, some trivial measures, it almost seems like a provocation,” said Thierry, 55, a bicycle mechanic.

“All this is cinema, it doesn’t tackle the problems of substance. “We’re really wound up, we’re going back to battle,” he told AFP before taking part in blocking the Boulou turnpike on the French-Spanish border.

“Maybe if Macron had made this speech three weeks ago, it would have calmed the movement, but now it’s too late. For us, this speech is nonsense,” said Gaetan, 34, one of the “Rennes Lapins Jaunes” (Yellow Rabbits of Rennes).

It looks as though the protests are set to continue and many Americans, at least in my zone, don't get it. Who are these awful Communists?  They ask, bewilderedly old paradigm.

Look, an Illuminati troll hiding behind Macron!

No, surely it's the same urge that put Trump in power. Disgust in a smug, self-serving, elite, NWO kleptocracy which apparently cares nothing for the bulk of the citizenry. Heck, they outsourced all the jobs to China and then attempted to weather tax everyone to make up the deficit. All those immigrant votes don't come cheap you know.

Here she is again, Vive La Trolle

Whatever. The French don't seem to be buying and you can't blame them, though you might ask who's going to lower taxes and increase welfare and how. To put it another way, can you have the unfortunate Antoinette's cake and eat it too?

And again! Brigitte La Trolle crops up everywhere

In related news, an immigrant homegrown Moslem of Moroccan descent shot up a Christmas Market in Strasbourg yesterday, yet again proving the value of multiculturalism. 

I'd imagine the French are wondering why Muslims have been imported into France so they can kill French people. Just remember, Islam's a religion of peace and Jihad isn't violent, that's why it means war. 

Cheers,

LSP