Ash Wednesday Valentines

It's Ash Wednesday and Valentine's Day, when we celebrate a martyr, love, and mark our foreheads with an ashen cross as a sign of penance; remember, O man, that thou art dust and to dust thou shalt return.

Love is the unifying factor in this apparent clash of Feasts. The love of the martyr for Christ, even to death, the love of a man for a woman and the love of our Lord, supremely manifested on Calvary. So perhaps the calendar isn't as confusing as it seems but I'll spare you the sermon. Here's the Collect instead.

ALMIGHTY and everlasting God, who hatest nothing that thou hast made, and dost forgive the sins of all those who are penitent; Create and make in us new and contrite hearts, that we, worthily lamenting our sins and acknowledging our wretchedness, may obtain of thee, the God of all mercy, perfect remission and forgiveness; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

God bless you all this Lent,

LSP 

The Greatest Portrait Ever

Now that you're happily full of pancakes and djinn fizz, consider these portraits and ask yourself if one of them is not like the others.

Here's a hint.

Your Friend,

LSP

The French Sixty Nine

The eternal suns and systems,

Solid and silent all,

To me are stars of an instant,

Only the fires that fail

From God's good rocket rising

On this night of carnival.

What better way to relax before the onslaught of multiple pancake dinners and the rigours of Lent than a fortifying French 69. You can shake it up like this.

69ml Champagne

30ml Old Raj gin

15ml elderflower liqueur

15ml lemon juice

Lemon twist garnish

Combine gin, elderflower liqueur and lemon juice in a shaker with ice. Shake well and strain into a chilled flute. Top with Champagne and garnish with a lemon twist.

Then, as you reflect upon the strange mystery of Ash Wednesday falling on Valentine's Day, raise your glass and drink to victory.

Cheers,

LSP

Get On Parade!

Everyone loves a military parade, unless Trump's proposed it and you're a deranged leftist politician or a member of the millionaire socialist media. Then you hate parades with a kind of deranged frenzy.

“We would go to Washington, D.C., if such a crazy and insane act occurred and we would lay down in front of the tanks, just like the heroes and the courageous students did in China in 1989,” wailed Green Party senatorial hopeful, Arn Menconi. And here's the New York Daily News in the form of Richard Cohen.

He does not so much envision an army at quickstep, but himself reviewing it. It is this that so offends — the American military as a Trump prop, its heroes, its wounded and its dead drafted to serve the needs of a squalid ego, and its somber tradition of martial modesty turned to bling by the vainglorious President. The appropriate date for such garishness is Trump’s own birthday — the former Flag Day, the future Trump Day, and, to some of us, the new Halloween.

Halloween, or the Devil Rides Out? It seems the News and Cohen don't like President Trump and you have to wonder if they're very much in favor of the military. They're not, certainly to the extent of supporting an actual parade honoring the services. But the veil drops at the New York Times, which leads with this.

Tanks, jets and other killing machines painted olive-drab and tan could be rolling the routes of the nation’s capital later this year for a peacetime parade inspired by President Trump.

There you have it, the gloves are off. The military is a despised "killing machine" and no amount of hysteria is unjustified when it comes to an event which honors and celebrates its values and tradition. The left hates all of that with a vengeance and rightly so, it stands for everything they're against.

On the other hand, the American military is the most popular institution in the country, as opposed to Congress, the Senate and their friends in the media.

President Trump's parade, if it happens, may well strike a chord.

As in open order, right dress.

LSP

Coronation March Of The Russian Bots

Inspired by Borepatch, we're delighted to present Tchaikovsky's famous Coronation March of the Russian Bots. Majestic!

And here's a helpful infographic, just to drive the point home.

Your Friend,

LSP

Mimetic Sundays

You've had a good worship experience at the sacred mysteries and venison chili's safely on the stove, simmering away. So it's time to open a bottle of the right stuff, kick back and enjoy a few memes.

Don't say Uranium One!

Oh dear.

Sweating? Whatever for.

And there goes the Coup, right down the old Blue Wave!

And the battle against Moloch continues.

Bombs away,

LSP

Going To A Gun Show

I don't know why but there's always a surge of excitement, an uplifting movement in the force, at the prospect of going to a gun show. At least there is for me and then, when you get there, the excitement builds. So many guns, so much ammo! It's like Christmas.

A pricey Christmas, mind you, because a lot of the vendors seem to think their beat up, second hand, pawn shop wares are worth full price. I don't get that. Why would you think anyone would be dumb enough to buy your second hand Glock for the price of its new equivalent. Beats me.

Still, gun shows are fun and you never know, there might even be a bargain lurking in the wings. There wasn't this time, but there was a rainbow table and a neat 6.5 AR; which was best? 

Tough call and I resisted the siren song only to weaken at the plaintive call of the young 'un.

"Please can we get a Confederate flag and an MRE?" Seeing as how the flag cost a mere 5 bucks and the MRE the same, I bought both. Eat the appalling MRE under the awesome flag, sort of thing.

Deo Vindice,

LSP

Transfiguration

Tomorrow's Gospel describes the transfiguration of Christ on the mountain, in which "Christ, like the sun, too bright to look upon, reveals his luminous power by the fresh colours he awakens in the wide garden of the world." (Farrer, Saving Belief)

With that in mind, you might like this, from First Things via Rod Dreher:

The glory of Christ on Mount Tabor embodies a joy that is unspeakable. In order words, the transformation of human affections impacts bodily states, causing a change in countenance. There is a radiance on the face of the joyous that pulls out the beauty of the divine image, which lays buried underneath the veils of the passions. If holiness concerns reintegrated and redirected emotion and desire so that perfect love reigns in the heart, then it creates a joy that alters human existence. The transfiguration symbolizes the Psalmist’s admonition to taste the Lord and see that he is good. Every moment of joy is but a foretaste of that deeper bliss, and it breaks through in serendipitous ways as C. S. Lewis discovered.

The transfiguration, then, symbolizes the life to come and thus the goal of ascetic pursuit. It reminds the believer that the vision of God unfolds amidst the splendor of holiness while also pointing toward the way in which the final movement to ecstatic wonder is always grace-filled and joy-laden. It is the sudden burst of divine light as when Helios peaks over the horizon casting his rays on all creation so that the world glows in the golden haze of dawn, translucent and transformed.

I like that a lot but bear in mind that the transfiguration isn't something stupid, like a reworking of the mithraic cult of Sol Invictus, a "cleverly devised myth."

On the contrary, the symbol exists because of the event as opposed to the other way around. As St. Peter reminds us, he was an "eyewitness" on the "holy mountain."

God bless,

LSP

Melania Orders White House Exorcism?

In a February 2 interview on the Weekend Vigilante, Pastor Paul Begley claimed that Melania Trump ordered the White House exorcised before she moved in.

“The First Lady – in that five hours when the Obamas and the Trumps went down to the Capitol and Trump was being sworn in as the 45th president of the United States – Melania Trump said to her husband, ‘I’m not going to go into that White House unless it has been completely exorcised,’” stated Begley.

According to the pastor, demonic images and pagan voodoo idols were removed from the White House, sinister leftovers from previous occupants.

The Clintons attended a voodoo ceremony in Haiti on their honeymoon, where they witnessed a person being possessed by a spirit. And in her forgotten book, What Happened, Hillary claimed she wanted to "make voodoo dolls of certain members of the press and Congress and stick them full of pins."

Barack Obama legislated against orthodox Christians, brokering in gay marriage, the infamous "contraceptive mandate" in Obamacare and sanctioning lawsuits against Christian religious orders, institutions and businesses. At the same time, Obama championed Islam as a "religion of peace."

Melania, by contrast, is a devout Catholic and her husband has reportedly invited pastors into the White House for prayer seven times in the past year.

Here at the Compound we have to ask, if the White House wasn't exorcised, why not?

Out, demons, out.

LSP

British Foreign Office Goes Full Tilt Dhimmwit

An-Nisa 4: 34 "As to those women On whose part ye fear disloyalty and ill -conduct, admonish them (first), (next) refuse to share beds, (and Last) beat them (lightly); but if they return to obedience, seek not against them means (of annoyance): For God is Most High, Great (above you all)

The UK's Foreign Office went Mohammedan last Thursday, encouraging staff to wear Islamic headscarves to mark "World Hijab Day." 

An internal email for the special event explained the reasoning behind the Foreign Office's willing dhimmitude, calling the hijab a promoter of "liberation, respect and security." Via CDR Salamander:

‘Muslim women, along with followers of many other religions, choose to wear the hijab. Many find liberation, respect and security through wearing it. #StrongInHijab. Join us for #WorldHijabDay.’

Muslim women choose to wear the hijab. What about those that don't but have to anyway, like the women of Iran, the Sudan and Saudi Arabia? Sure, the hijab's liberating insofar as wearing it saves you from being beaten, fined, imprisoned or having your face melted off in an acid attack. 

Britain's Foreign Office doesn't see that and chooses to ignore the Islamic oppression of women by pushing one of its most visible symbols.

Dhimmitude was defined by Bat Ye'or as "a behavior dictated by fear (terrorism), pacifism when aggressed, rather than resistance, servility because of cowardice and vulnerability. By their peaceful surrender to the Islamic army, they obtained the security for their life, belongings and religion, but they had to accept a condition of inferiority, spoliation and humiliation."

Good work, Whitehall Peopledarins, you've gone full tilt dhimmwit and it didn't even take a Muslim army to force you into it. 

How long before the Foreign Office requires all of its female staff to wear a hijab because, you know, workplace respect and security is important.

Especially in the absence of a beating.

'Snackbar,

LSP

Trudeau's Remarkably Gay Socks

Canadian premiere, Justin Trudeau, is rightly famous for being the north of the border's beta cuck, soy boy par excellence. But don't forget his colorful socks.

There's the Davos Ducky. Here, let's zoom in.

The Wacky Wookie.

The Scary Skull!

The Faggy Maple.

And the Mohammedan sock, which does double duty in King Cuck's estrogen enhanced mind for Pride parades and Ramadan. 

Worth a closer look? 

By the Beard of the Prophet, has this Beta Soy Lord no decency?

Kismet,

LSP

Pegu Gin Kickback

The River of the Lost Footsteps and the Golden Mystery upon 

its Banks. The Iniquity of Jordan. Shows how a Man may go 

to the Shway Dagon Pagoda and see it not and to the 

Pegu Club and hear too much.

As you calculate the odds of Great Britain being able to defend itself against, say, Schleswig Holstein, what better way to steady the nerves than a stiff Pegu Gin.

Named after the famous Pegu Club, which is now sadly abandoned, the Pegu is a kind of Gin Margarita, ideally suited for warm climates such as Burma or Texas. It goes like this.

2 ounces++ dry gin

1/2 ounce orange Curacao

1/2 ounce fresh lime juice

1 Dash Angostura Bitters

1 Dash Orange Bitters

Mix all ingredients in a cocktail shaker with ice, shake well, and strain into a chilled glass. Go light on the orange and strong on the lime if you're smart.

Then, as you ponder the capacity of the Sceptered Isle to protect itself in the absence of even having a plan to do so, kick back and drink your Pegu Gin like a warrior.

Cheers,

LSP