Vive La France

It's the habit of the English to mock the French, but I don't mock this, an open letter signed by senior officers of the the French Army, Air Force and Navy. The French Army Chief of Staff has threatenned the officers with court martial. Here's the letter, via TGP:

Dear Mr. President,

Dear Members of Parliament and Government,

The situation is serious. France is in danger. She faces many mortal perils.

We who, even in retirement, remain soldiers of France, cannot, in the current circumstances, remain indifferent to the fate of our beautiful country.

Our red, white and blue flag is not just a piece of cloth. It symbolizes the tradition, handed down through the ages, of those who, whatever their skin color or faith, have served France and given their lives for it.

On this flag we find in gold letters the words, “Honor and Country”. Today, our honor today lies in calling out the destruction of our country.

This destruction, under the guise of so-called anti-racism, follows a single aim: To foster unrest in our land, even hatred between communities.

There is much talk today of “racism”, “white supremacy” and “decolonization”. But what these hateful and fanatic activists actually want is race war.

They despise our country, its traditions and its culture. They want to see it destroyed by robbing it of its past and its history.

When they attack our statues, they are actually attacking our glorious military and civilian past, a heritage passed down in words that are centuries old.

This destructive attack, together with Islamism and the criminal hordes in the ghettos, is dividing our nation with dogmas that are contrary to our constitution.

Every Frenchman, whatever his faith or lack thereof, is at home everywhere in France. There cannot and must not exist any city or district where the laws of the Republic do not apply.

This destructive attack causes hatred to outweigh our bonds of brotherhood.

The government pits the police, as their proxies and scapegoats, against our citizens expressing their despair in Yellow Vests.

Meanwhile, masked and hooded radicals ransack businesses and threaten these same police officers, who are only trying to obey the sometimes contradictory orders given by you, the government.

The danger is mounting. The violence is increasing day by day. Who would have predicted ten years ago that a teacher would one day be beheaded on the street in broad daylight in France, on his way home from school?

We, as servants of our Nation, who have always been ready to stick our necks out for our country, as is a soldier’s duty, cannot remain passive in the face of such danger any longer.

It is imperative that those who run our country find the courage to eradicate these dangers.

To achieve this, it is often enough to merely start enforcing existing laws without weakness.

Remember that, like us, a large majority of our fellow citizens are baffled by your hand-wringing and shameful silence.

As Cardinal Mercier, Primate of Belgium, said: “When prudence is everywhere, courage is nowhere.”

So, ladies and gentlemen, you have dawdled enough. The hour is grave, the task is huge.

Do not waste any more time and know that we are ready to support those policies which will safeguard the nation.

If nothing is done, lawlessness will inexorably continue to spread in our society, ultimately leading to an explosion and the intervention of our active military in the dangerous task of protecting our civilizational values, and safeguarding our fellow citizens in our country.

There is no more time to waste. Otherwise, tomorrow civil war will put an end to this growing chaos.

The deaths, which will number in the thousands, will be on your hands.

Signed,

Lieutenant-general Christian PIQUEMAL (Foreign Legion), Major-General Gilles BARRIE (Infantry), Maj.-Gen. François GAUBERT (former Military Governor of Lille), Maj.-Gen. Emmanuel de RICHOUFFTZ (Infantry), Maj.-Gen. Michel JOSLIN DE NORAY (Marines), Brigadier General  André COUSTOU (Infantry), Brigadier General Philippe DESROUSSEAUX de MEDRANO (Train), Brig.-Gen. Antoine MARTINEZ (Air Force), Brig.-Gen. Daniel GROSMAIRE (Air Force), Brig.-Gen. Robert JEANNEROD (Cavalry), Brig.-Gen. Pierre Dominique AIGUEPERSE (Infantry), Brig.-Gen. Roland DUBOIS (Transmissions), Brig.-Gen. Dominique DELAWARDE (Infantry), Brig.-Gen. Jean Claude GROLIER (Artillery), Brig.-Gen. Norbert de CACQUERAY (Armaments), Brig.-Gen. Roger PRIGEN T (ALAT), Brig.-Gen. Alfred LEBRETON (CAT), Surgeon General Guy DURAND (Health Service), Rear Admiral Gérard BALASTRE (Navy).

Presidential candidate Marine Le Pen replied to the letter thus:

Gentlemen, Generals, Officers, Representatives of all armies and all branches, you have signed an open letter calling “for our leaders  to return to honor.”

Your initiative, rare in the military, testifies to the level of concern you have in the face of the worrisome deterioration of the situation in our country. Your outspoken but fair observation, made in very strong terms, constitutes a public challenge that no one can ignore, given your reputation.

With the courage of those who have dedicated their lives to their country, you criticize our leaders very directly, questioning their responsibility quite legitimately, urging them to regain the ability to act and restore “our honor”.

As a citizen and as a politician, I agree with your analysis and share your concerns. Like you, I believe it is the duty of all French patriots, wherever they’re from, to stand up for the restoration and even the salvation of our country.

However, I believe that an open letter will not be enough to persuade our failing leadership to change its shameful ways.

The recent pronouncements by the President of France on his project to “deconstruct the history of France” indeed show us these harmful tendencies are not the result of a moment of confusion, but from a political agenda powered by fundamentally destructive ideology.

The concerns you so bravely express cannot remain a mere expression off outrage, however. In a democracy, we must look for a political solution which must materialize through a process of dialogue which must be validated by French voters.

This is the motivation for my political agenda, and of my candidacy for the French Presidency, with the objective of forming a government that will unify the nation.

Many senior officials and leading figures of society have rallied to our cause. I invite you to join us in the struggle which is beginning, a peaceful and political struggle, which is above all the struggle for France.

Marine Le Pen

This has nothing whatsoever, in any shape, form or substance to do with anything at all that's occurring in the United States. At all. Or the UK. Nothing. At. All. (Must you be so sarcastic? Ed.)

Cheers,

LSP

Midweek Message

 

While reflecting on Christ's words in the Gospel for this coming Sunday, "Abide in my love," (Jn 15:9) I was struck by this:

In 1944, the Russian poet Yevgeny Yevtushenko's mother took him from Siberia to Moscow. They were among those who witnessed a procession of twenty-thousand German war prisoners marching through the streets of Moscow:

The pavements swarmed with onlookers, cordoned off by soldiers and police. The crowd was mostly women -- Russian women with hands roughened by hard work, lips untouched by lipstick, and with thin hunched shoulders which had borne half of the burden of the war. Every one of them must have had a father or a husband, a brother or a son killed by the Germans. They gazed with hatred in the direction from which the column was to appear.

At last we saw it. The generals marched at the head, massive chins stuck out, lips folded disdainfully, their whole demeanor meant to show superiority over their plebian victors.

"'They smell of perfume, the bastards," someone in the crowd said with hatred. The women were clenching their fists. The soldiers and policemen had all they could do to hold them back.

All at once something happened to them. They saw German soldiers, thin, unshaven, wearing dirty blood-stained bandages, hobbling on crutches or leaning on the shoulders of their comrades; the soldiers walked with their heads down. The street became dead silent -- the only sound was the shuffling of boots and the thumping of crutches.

Then I saw an elderly women in broken-down boots push herself forward and touch a policeman's shoulder, saying, "Let me through." There must have been something about her that made him step aside. She went up to the column, took from inside her coat something wrapped in a colored handkerchief and unfolded it. It was a crust of black bread. She pushed it awkwardly into the pocket of a soldier, so exhausted that he was tottering on his feet. And now from every side women were running toward the soldiers, pushing into their hands bread, cigarettes, whatever they had. The soldiers were no longer enemies. They were people. (A Precocious Autobiography, Yevgeny Yevtushenko)

 

Abide in my love says Christ. What freedom, peace and joy there is to be had in that, as opposed to the tyranny, conflict and misery of its opposite. 

Let's choose wisely between these to paths and pray without ceasing that God's invincible love, his life, fills our hearts. Do not think for an instant that such a prayer won't be answered.

Here endeth the lesson,

LSP

Cinco de Mayo

 

Don't Say Devolved

We forget, perhaps, that the French were beaten by Mexicans in the last century at Puebla. Take that, so-called Napoleon III. Here at the compound we're celebrating this great victory with some tasty grilled chicken and a glass or two of white wine. 

Random Children's Book

On the other hand, Eduardo and Maria, who run a chicken operation next to the manse, aren't doing anything at all. I'm told this is typical but who knows, perhaps they're at a Tecate fest elsewhere. Power to 'em, they're good neighbors and bring me eggs.

A Shiba

In other news, the Peoples Currency went white hot yesterday, smashing through ill-prepared Bonapartite resistance at fifty cents and then surging victoriously into sixty before testing an all time high at .70. Good work, pup, this lambo's not going to buy itself!

Dog-faced crypto aside, if you want some fascinating info on narco subs check out Virtual Mirage. Value.

God bless,

LSP

Jukebox Monday

It's been a hard day at the Compound, sweating over a hot monitor as the Peoples' Crypto surges to retest all time highs. So it's time to relax, unwind and enjoy the jukebox. First up, Godzilla. Good call, Infidel.

And what's wrong with Dang Me? Nothing at all. Great choice, Bob. 

Jim chooses the Bushwackers and gets it.

Here at the Compound we go for Great Train Robbery, because it's awesome.

And this one's for LL.

Cheers,

LSP

The Coming Inflation

Via Zero:

In the late stages (of coming inflation), those same people will conclude that it is permanent. Throughout the process, each of us, individually, will see what we want to see, hear what we want to hear, and believe what we want to believe. Those things are always true, perhaps now more than ever. We will also find the period ahead deeply unsettling. Change is hard to process. And more things are changing now than at any time in our lives - such is today’s utterly unprecedented pace of innovation and disruption.

In such a state, it is natural to cling to our anchors:

• Our policymakers will point to the inflation metrics that they themselves have engineered in such a way to ensure stability, even if they long ago diverged from reality. 
• Bond investors will look to the spreads between overnight rates and two-year bonds, five-year, ten, thirty. And despite the reality that the government has run 15% deficits for two years, funded by the Fed which simply creates the money, they will cling to the anchors that have governed the well-behaved yield curve for the course of their careers.
• Equity investors will hold tight to the relationships that anchor their value relative to bonds.
• Not a solitary investor in the mainstream will be prepared to deviate from the benchmarks to which they have anchored their careers.

 

And yet, all of us will begin to increasingly wonder, whether digital assets, which have no real history, no anchors, are the first to provide a glimpse of what lays beyond the horizon. 

You can read the whole thing here. In the meanwhile, everyone's favorite Shiba's surged to .416 at the time of writing. Much wow. Go, pup.

Ad Lunam,

LSP

**** BREAKING DOGE$ HITS .420 ****

Let's see how far this dog can run.

LSP

The AfterMass

 

In England you usually go to the pub after Mass or have a delicious Sunday roast, maybe both. Here in North Central Texas people typically go for lunch at some local eatery. And that's fine except that they're mostly not so good. 

Then there's Olaf's in Clifton, which is good. So when the MC said "climb in the rig, we're going to Olaf's," I said yes, and off we went.

Olaf's

Clifton's a well put together little town with a small movie theater, hospital, excellent feed store, antique shops, a good little western store, and restaurants. It's also the Norwegian capital of Texas, which I didn't know until today.

Typical Clifton Street Art

Olaf's is part of this and you get to it by walking through an antiques operation. Strange, I know, but worth it because the food's great, the atmosphere's relaxed and everything's good. I had Eggs Benedict, which was delicious, and a Bloody Mary, also delicious.

Tie Those Horses Up

What a lot of fun. Thanks, MC, for the exeat, and if you get the chance, check out Clifton. Well worth the visit.

God bless,

LSP

The Face Of Evil?

 

This is Ghislaine Maxwell or "Ghizzy." We all know who she is and where she is now, in a hellhole jail. Her crime was allegedly acting as a kind of pedo pimp for Jeffrey Epstein. What was the remarkably wealthy Epstein doing?

Entertaining world leaders in his New York mansion and private island where nubile teens were passed around like so many party favors. Ghizzy recruited the youngsters and, it's claimed, enjoyed them along with the likes of Bill Clinton, Prince Andrew, Epstein himself and others. 

A veritable fantasy island of erotic delight for people in the >M$ Club. Some speculate it was a blackmail honey trap, and perhaps they're right.

Regardless, others suggest this photo of Ghislaine says demonic possession. If so, I hope she's delivered from that. And as an aside, let's see the people who used her brought to justice. Good luck with that, eh? And don't forget, judge not lest ye be judged. 

Your Pal,

LSP

Enter The Mountebank

 

Did you watch Joe Biden's SOTU address last night? No? Don't worry, neither did anyone else much, which is weird given he's the most popular president in history. 

You'd think that the amazing figure of 81 million votes would be reflected in Joe's viewing stats, but no. They're not. A cynic might say the whole thing's a phony, faked-up, fraudulent sham.

A bit like "Trump's a Russian spy!" But regardless, Joe, popularly known as "The Corpse," got up on stage and told the world that the DC protests on January 6 were the worst assault on our democracy since the Civil War. Wow, far worse than Pearl Harbor and crazed Jihadists flying jets into the World Trade Center and the Pentagon.

What a wicked old fraud. You'd almost think multi-millionaire Joe was a mountebank cipher shill for the military industrial complex, global international banking, transnational corporate lobbyists and big pharma. But no, he's not in it for personal gain because he's a rainbow socialist.

Thank God for that. Jobs, opportunity, education can all go to Hell and the place you live in become a dying, dystopian slum, but at least you've got transgender toilets.

For the love of God,

LSP

Midweek Message

Jesus said to his disciples, “If you love me, you will keep my commandments." (John 14:15) St. Clement of Rome expounds:

He who has love in Christ must observe the commandments of Christ. The binding power of the love of God - who is able to set it forth? The radiance of His beauty - who can voice it to satisfaction? The sublimity to which love leads up is unutterable. Love unites us with God, love covers a multitude of sins; love endures everything, is long-suffering to the last; there is nothing vulgar, nothing conceited, in love; love creates no schism; love does not quarrel; love preserves perfect harmony. In love all the elect of God reached perfection, apart from love nothing is pleasing to God. In love the Master took us to Himself. Because of the love which He felt for us, Jesus Christ Our Lord gave His Blood for us by the will of God, His Body for our bodies, and His soul for our souls. St. Clement of Rome, Epistle to the Corinthians

And from the 19th century Russian saint, John of Kronstadt:

In order not to be in daily bondage to the passions and the devil, you must set yourself an object to aim at, have this object constantly in view, and endeavor to attain it, conquering all obstacles by the name of the Lord. What is this object? The Kingdom of God, the Divine palace of glory, prepared for believers from the creation of the world. But as this object can only be attained by certain means, it also is necessary to have such means at one's disposal. And what are these means? Faith, hope, and love, especially the last. Believe, hope, and love, especially love, disregarding all obstacles; love God above everything and your neighbor as yourself. If you have not sufficient strength to preserve in your heart these inestimable treasures, fall down more often at the feet of the God of Love. Ask, and it shall be given you; seek and ye shall find; knock and it shall be opened unto you," for He Who has promised is true. Walking, sitting, lying down, conversing, or working, at every time, pray with your whole heart that faith and love may be given to you. You have not yet asked for them as you should ask - fervently and instantly - with the firm purpose of obtaining them. Say now, "I will begin to do so henceforth. St. John of Kronstadt - My Life in Christ

Walking, sitting, lying down, conversing, or working, at every time, pray with your whole heart that faith and love may be given to you. 

Therein lies glory,

LSP

Mrs. White is Always Guilty

 

No comment,

LSP

Spirit of the Age

 

Your father refused to sign the form to freeze you? Oops. Win some, lose some. Space rock forever.

Cheers,

LSP

Chatham Artillery

 

Have you heard of the Chatham Artillery? I hadn't, until 4Branch sent this:

The Chatham Light Artillery was organized in 1756 in Savannah, Georgia for service against the French and Indians and/or the odd Pirate.  The unit saw service here and there, and was involved in the American Revolution on the Rebel side.  Their service was so

prominent that Gen Washington and Lafayette awarded them the two brass field pieces, taken at Yorktown, now known as the 'Lafayette Guns'.

 CLA saw service in 1812, 1846, and 1861-65 with the Confederate Army.  The Lafayette guns were buried during the Yankee occupation of Savannah, to be resurrected along with the Battery when the tyrant's boot was lifted from the Southern neck.

They did duty in SpanAm war, and WWI, WWII and sundry mobilizations since, under various federal names concluding with

118th Field Artillery Brigade, now reorganized and reduced to a Battalion.  I am no longer current with the status of the unit or the guns.  In today's atmosphere, no doubt they're hidden away in some barn, to await a happy homecoming at some future date

The Lafayette guns were normally held on display in the square of that name in Savannah, and being paraded - and fired, on occasions of state.  The guns and trappings were maintained by the newest Cornets and Privates of the Regiment, supervised by the Sergeant Major.  Eventually the firing was stopped due to age and wear on the old tubes.

Respect to the 118th.

Nescit Cedere,

LSP