The Song of Roland

  

A long distance shooter friend, JF, sent this in today, from the journalist and former Communist, Whittaker Chambers:

It seemed to me that I had a more important task to do, one that was peculiarly mine. It was not to attack Communism frontally. It was to clarify on the basis of the news, the religious and moral position that made Communism evil. I had been trying to make a negative point. Now I had to state the positive position, and it was a much more formidable task than attack. It meant explaining simply and readably for millions the reasons why the great secular faith of this age is wrong and the religious faith of the ages is right; why, in the words of the Song of Roland, the Christians are right and the heathen are wrong.

 

I'd say there's a lesson to be drawn from that and a good one, but I'll spare you the sermon. Instead, consider the Song of Roland, the great, epic, 11th century chivalric poem. Betrayal, heroism, faith, the battle of good versus evil, all that and far more. It's also bloody. 

Here's Archbishop Turpin in action against Corsablix at the battle of Roncevaux, in which Roland and the ferocious if saintly prelate ultimately die:

To strike that king by virtue great goes he,

The hauberk all unfastens, breaks the shield,

Thrusts his great spear in through the carcass clean,

Pins it so well he shakes it in its seat,

Dead in the road he's flung it from his spear.

Looks on the ground, that glutton lying sees,

Nor leaves him yet, they say, but rather speaks:

"Culvert pagan, you lied now in your teeth,

Charles my lord our warrant is indeed;

None of our Franks hath any mind to flee.

Your companions all on this spot we'll keep,

I tell you news; death shall ye suffer here.

Strike on, the Franks! Fail none of you at need!

Ours the first blow, to God the glory be!"

"Monjoie!" he cries, for all the camp to hear. 

Despite steely Almace and his lance, Turpin's mortally wounded, though he continues to fight the heathen: 

Come on afoot a thousand Sarrazens,

And on horseback some forty thousand men.

But well I know, to approach they never dare;

Lances and spears they poise to hurl at them,

Arrows, barbs, darts and javelins in the air.

With the first flight they've slain our Gualtier;

Turpin of Reims has all his shield broken,

And cracked his helm; he's wounded in the head,

From his hauberk the woven mail they tear,

In his body four spear-wounds doth he bear;

Beneath him too his charger's fallen dead.

Great grief it was, when that Archbishop fell.

Turpin of Reims hath felt himself undone,

Since that four spears have through his body come; 

Nimble and bold upon his feet he jumps;

Looks for Rollant, and then towards him runs,

Saying this word: "I am not overcome.

While life remains, no good vassal gives up."

He's drawn Almace, whose steel was brown and rough,

Through the great press a thousand blows he's struck:

As Charles said, quarter he gave to none;

He found him there, four hundred else among,

Wounded the most, speared through the middle some,

Also there were from whom the heads he'd cut:

So tells the tale, he that was there says thus,

The brave Saint Giles, whom God made marvellous,

Who charters wrote for th' Minster at Loum;

Nothing he's heard that does not know this much. 

Wow, and you can and should read the whole thing here before it's banned by the rainbow Maoists and better still, in the original, which rings.

Chanson in mind, it's said that William the Conqueror's minstrel  went into the Battle of Hastings singing the Song of Roland, and most certainly, Bishop Adhemar de Monteil carried arms in the First Crusade. A mace, perhaps.

What a far cry from the Church of the West as it is today, cowering from a sickness with a 99.8% survival rate, as it cravenly parrots the faddish shibboleths of our corporate sponsored, oligarch, leftist elite establishment and their billionaire CCP heathen patrons. 

Draw the moral as you like, but what would Olifant say? 

Monjoie,

LSP

Texas Independence

 

Texas won it's independence from the Mexican Imperials on March 2, 1836. All hail Sam Houston and come and take it. Santa Anna? Not so much. 

Some Fool on Genie Belle

We celebrate this great victory today, while setting up statues to General Lee, attempting math, dumping coke and reading Dr. Suess as we play with gender positive Hasbro toys. The less DC the better.

Secession,

LSP

Ramblin' Man

  

Biden's America. Note made in China mask trash in foreground

The sun shone, birds sang, squirrels attacked a cat nesting on the Compound's fence, and the cat won. All was right with the world, so I went for a ramble after morning prayer.

Tarleton House, a wreck since "Biden"

Past the broken down shacks behind Tarleton House, past the flotsam and debris of Biden's America and into the comparative sanity of the local High's "discipline school."

Hail the Discipline School

Dicipline School? It used to be a bakery and sounds ferocious. Like, maybe, Prussian BCT, but it's just where malfeasant teens go to pass high school. The kids have to wear khakis and a polo, a veritable uniform, and they're not allowed to talk in class unless it's requested, either, and their performance or miserable lack thereof is monitored daily. Good heavens.

Doge Lofts?

Sounds a bit like school, which puts the normal ISD carry-on in perspective. Whatever, I know all this because the SPC attended this hallowed hall of academe before embarking on a career of military adventure. He's enrolled in college now, partly thanks to the DS. Thanks, teachers.

And on, past half-occupied warehouses which stand as mute monuments to King Cotton. You'd think some enterprising dogecoin millionaire would turn those upper stories into attractive lofts for people who want rural bucolic haven but have to commute to the appalling metrosprawl to earn a buck.

Then home, and guess what. Governor Abbott's lifting Texas' absurd, stupid, corrupt, iniquitous, snake oil, faked up China virus restrictions. About dam time. Let's hear it for secession.

Republic of Texas forever,

LSP

Maths - You Nazi

Mathematics. 2+2=4. Simple truth, right? No, you Nazis, racist white imperialism. So let's get with Woka Cola and stop oppressing our dusky brethren persons of color with the racist assumption that they can add and subtract. How very top Nazi Cecil Rhodes.

But seriously, when you get rid of truth what are you left with? Opinion and force, to say nothing of infernal pride and the deadly, insane logic of the Pit.

Note SMLE? Or some kind of "double"?

Speaking of which, we wonder, why does Satan thrash so furiously? For the same reason that the doomed Fuhrer did in his bunker. In the face of utter defeat, burn it all down. He failed, and so has the Devil.

Your Pal,

LSP

After Mass Outlaws - Belle Starr

 

Belle Starr on Venus

Talk after Mass at mission #2 turned naturally to famous Bosque County outlaws, and I learned something. The famous Bandit Queen, Belle Star, née Myra Shirley, owned a 160 acre ranch not far from the church, in what became Fairview.

This would have been in the 1870s, in the turbulent years following the War, and the ranch served as a hideout for Belle, then Myra, her first husband Jim Reed and assorted outlaws. These could well have have included members of the James and Younger gangs, former Confederate raiders turned horse thieves and bandits.

Wild West Show?

The Bandit Queen knew these men because she'd served as a scout(?) with Quantrill, "Bloody Bill" Anderson and other guerrillas during the Missouri-Kansas border war. Her brother Bud served as a raider and taught Belle to ride and shoot. 

After Bud was killed in action in 1864, Belle's family, the Shirleys, moved to Texas, northeast of Dallas, where they continued their relationship with the very irregular cavalry.

Jim Reed was shot in 1874 in Paris, Texas, and Myra moved to Indian Territory (Oklahoma) where she set up on the South Canadian River with a Cherokee outlaw, Sam Starr, her second husband. Starr was shot by lawman Frank West at a Christmas party and Belle went on to marry another Cherokee horse thief, Bill July, who she renamed Jim Starr.

Belle Starr

Belle was ambushed, shot and killed in 1889, at the age of 40. Suspects included Edgar Watson, a neighbor and horse thieving associate, her son Ed and possibly her third husband Jim. But I won't bang on, here's Belle:

My home became famous as an outlaws' ranch long before it was visited by any of the boys who were friends of mine in times past. Indeed, I never correspond with any of my old associates, and was desirous my whereabouts should be unknown to them. Through rumor, they learned of it. Jesse James first came in and remained several weeks. He was unknown to my husband, who never knew until long afterward, that our home had been honored by Jesse's presence. I introduced Jesse as one Mr. Williams from Texas. But, few outlaws have visited my home, notwithstanding so much has been said. The best people in the country are my friends. I have considerable ignorance to cope with, consequently, my troubles originate mostly in that quarter. Surrounded by a low down class of shoddy whites, who have made the Indian country their home to evade paying tax on their dogs, and, who I will not permit to hunt on my premises, I am the constant theme of their slanderous tongues. In all the world, there is no woman more peaceably inclined than I.

 

Again:

You can just say I am a friend to any brave and gallant outlaw, but have no use for that sneaking, coward class of thieves who can be found in every locality, and who would betray a friend or comrade for the sake of their own gain. There are three or four jolly, good fellows on the dodge now in my section, and when they come to my home, they are welcome, for they are my friends, and would lay down their lives in my defense at any time the occasion demanded it, and go their full length to serve me in any way.

 

Belle Starr, an excellent horsewoman, see Venus, who often rode side saddle, was a crack shot with two revolvers which she called her "babies," served less than a year in a Detroit jail, acted in a Wild West show where she robbed a stagecoach and... became a legend in her lifetime. 

She had, to my mind,  a hardbitten look by the time she married July, and no wonder. You can imagine her running hospitality for killers like the James and Younger brothers.

For my part, I'll remember her when I drive down 56 past Fairview on the way to Valley Mills. And rumors that some of our people are part Cherokee and out of Bonham are just that, vicious, unfounded rumors.

Ride on, and ride fast. Or slowly if you've busted your hip,

LSP

To Meridian

 

I drove to Meridian this evening as the sun was setting to officiate at a funeral. It's a good drive, hilly for Texas with a western feel to it, I always think. You can imagine John Wesley Hardin riding this road before it was a road, the Horrell Boys, and more. Not that long ago, when you think on it.

Outlaws aside, the funeral went well, pretty much a country crew, and good people to boot. So the prayers were said and may the soul of Don, who liked to hunt and fish, rest in peace.

God bless,

LSP

Jukebox Friday

 

Yes, it's Friday evening and time to spin up the jukebox. I'll go first, and because today's been all about lawyers, guns and money, here it is.

Jim asked for Steve Young's Tobacco Road. Great song and a good call.

Nothing wrong with Pancho and Lefty either, thanks, RHT. I like Emmylou's version.

And Brig requested Waylon and Jessi's Storms Never Last. What a great choice.

With a H/T to Jim and WSF, here's the original Big Ball's in Cowtown. Have we devolved since 1949? Sure looks like it to me.

On topic, this one's for LL, who's focusing on the Great Reset and life in the Hive. Sorry, arcology. Do you remember the tale of Babel? Let's hear it for Hawkwind.

Rock on,

LSP

Look What I Found!

 

And at normal price, too, from Walmart. Some claim the age of miracles is over. I would dispute that claim.

Shoot straight,

LSP

California Collapsing?

 

California is famous for being incredibly rich, populous, and totally lib progressive. A veritable Millionaire Socialist utopia, or is it? Perhaps people are fleeing the Golden State for a reason. Via Zero:

Yet now, California is in terminal collapse and crisis. Governor Gavin Newsom, farcically promoted by the national Mainstream Media (MSM) as a heroic White Knight in Shining Armor in the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic last spring has been exposed even in his own state as a catastrophic bungler and hypocrite who has never had a clue what he was – or more usually was not – doing. As I write, California’s sick and tired citizens are close to providing the 1.5 million signatures necessary to pull Newsom into what would certainly be a chaotic recall election.

 

Again:

Los Angeles, the state’s largest city and arguably the most populous now in the United States, has become a byword for violent crime and especially the stronghold of the enormous, ultraviolent and rapidly growing MS 13 organization, routinely mislabeled as a mere “gang” in media reports. MS 13 has up to 50,000 members worldwide of whom at least 10,000, officially, and probably twice as many according to the private assessments of many police officers are in LA.

 

And what about San Francisco, notoriously twinned with Austin?

San Francisco – America’s “anything goes” city – is in even worse shape. Its most famous, historically popular and beautiful stylish locations are now swamped with aggressive, unsanitary street people who openly urinate and defecate in the streets. Public services, long superb, are now appalling.

 

To say nothing of mindless, Green induced wildfires and rolling blackouts as energy follows the science and turns off. We had a taste of that in Texas last week when snow broke all the windmills.

The question is, will the rest of the country follow California's gender neutral Potato Head genius into dystopian nightmare? If the ongoing ammo shortage is anything to go buy, the people are voting "yes."

Cheers,

LSP

The Feast of St. Matthias

 

It's the Feast of St. Mathias the Apostle today. Here's the Collect:

O ALMIGHTY God, who into the place of the traitor Judas didst choose thy faithful servant Matthias to be of the number of the twelve Apostles; Grant that thy Church, being alway preserved from false Apostles, may be ordered and guided by faithful and true pastors; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

Clement of Alexandria says this:

Not that they became apostles through being chosen for some distinguished peculiarity of nature, since also Judas was chosen along with them. But they were capable of becoming apostles on being chosen by Him who foresees even ultimate issues. Matthias, accordingly, who was not chosen along with them, on showing himself worthy of becoming an apostle, is substituted for Judas.

Apocryphal tradition tells us that the Apostle preached the Gospel amongst the cannibals of Aethiopia (latter day Georgia) where he was martyred and buried near the Temple of the Sun at Sebastopolis. Other sources tell us he was martyred in Jerusalem.

God bless,

LSP

US Navy Goes Sci-Fi?

When we think of the mighty US Navy our minds go to massive aircraft carriers, LL's favorite Littoral Combat Ships, and perhaps transsexual diversity training, so relevant on a warship. But look a little closer and you'll see that the Navy's behind some pretty interesting research.

Dubbed "UFO Patents," Navy backed research into ground breaking tech, such as compact fusion generators and inertial mass reduction devices, useful for FTL travel, seem more like the stuff of science fiction than reality, but the patents are out there. Here's a snapshot, from Forbes:

When Dr. Salvatore Cezar Pais, an aerospace engineer at the Naval Air Warfare Center Aircraft Division (NAWCAD), filed a patent for a “Plasma Compression Fusion Device” in 2019, it was either a giant breakthrough – or mad science. According to the patent application, the miniature device could contain and sustain fusion reactions capable of generating power in the gigawatt (1 billion watts) to terawatt (1 trillion watts) range or more. A large coal plant or mid-size nuclear powered reactor by comparison produces energy in the 1–2 gigawatt range. The revolutionary invention by Dr. Pais, if real, would produce near unlimited clean energy from something no larger than a sports utility vehicle.

 

Check out the whole article if you like, it's not long, and we have to wonder, where's our technology really at and are we on the verge of significant breakthroughs? I'd love to think we were, but if so, could we trust our rulers to use the advance wisely, for the benefit of the people? That's another question again.

In related news, the venerable Church of England appears to be falling into a black hole. You can read the excellent Holy Relic here. Whether the starfaring denomination escapes the event horizon remains to be seen.

Ad Astra,

LSP

This Is Not Financial Advice

 

People often ask me, they say, "How do you invest your money, LSP?" And I tell them, "In much the same way as everyone else, in $DOGE." Ha, ha they mutter, turning in greed to Bitcoin and the weirdly medical sounding "Ethereum." But here's the thing.

1 $DOGE = 1 $DOGE.

So where's our pup, the Peoples Coin? Fighting hard in the .05s. By Selene, we will win this war.

Ad Lunam,

LSP