The Cardinal’s Letter

Posted on October 11, 2018 by jimmie

Cardinal Arundel of England preaching - illustration for the article The Cardinal's LetterSooner or later it was inevitable that the capitulation of the Vatican to the demands of a decadent culture and of powerful enemies would awaken the trumpet of sedition inside the Catholic Church.

As readers may already know, Cardinal Viganò recently wrote an open letter to Pope Francis asking him to resign. I will attempt to show the link connecting that letter to the actual resignations of Pope Benedict XVI, and to the recent bitter and acrimonious fight to prevent the nomination of Brett Kavanaugh to the US Supreme Court.

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Tales Told The Millennials

Posted on September 22, 2018 by jimmie

illustration for Tale Told The Millennials - baby with sucker and smart phoneDecades are acknowledged historical markers, signaling the birth of a new generation, and the transition between adjacent but different cultural times. Since September 2001, the inaudible and noiseless foot of time (1) has advanced by almost two decades. And two generations are now alive who did not see 9/11, and will derive only from school, movies or conversation the knowledge of an event that happened during their infancy.

There is no intent here to debate the multiple explanations and theories of the deed, thus boring the reader to an Olympic degree. He that writes or talks longer than the reader or hearer is willing to attend, is guilty of an injury which he cannot repair, and takes away that which he cannot give. Continue reading →

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Quo Vadis Vatican?

Posted on August 29, 2018 by jimmie

Pope Francis I at the wailing wallThe nature of the subject requires an introduction. A detective story does not require a murder, nor the events of a thriller need be fictional. Most detective stories include a murder because the gravity of the deed instills a sense of vicarious fear, triggers the pleasure of the riddle, and makes plausible the concealment that prompts curiosity.

Ever since the Bible and the Greek dramatists, riddle has been a compelling literary device, and the discovery of who-is-who and who-did-what has been the mainspring of great narratives.

 In ancient stories, however, a single physical fact, or an object, sufficed to disclose the identity of the perpetrator and lead to closure. Sophocles’ Oedipus and the biblical Joseph are examples. Continue reading →

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From 1000 AD to WW3

Posted on August 13, 2018 by jimmie

Interior of Spanish Cathedral Example of Spanish Architecture and below an atomic explosionIf, according to Oscar Wilde, truth is a matter of style, even more so history is a matter of opinion. An obvious and unnecessary remark, were it not for the anger of some when they dissent with the thoughts of others. To them I would recommend, with all the earnestness at my disposal, the recollection of Mark Twain’s topic and soothing ruling that, “In all matters of opinion our adversaries are insane.”

We have no other device for returning through time, except that which operates in our minds with the materials provided by past generations. Therefore I declare myself a humble vessel, into which some ancient and nearer historians have poured the fruits of their findings. Continue reading →

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Prisoners of Words

Posted on July 30, 2018 by jimmie

Cartoon of a puzzled puppet to illustrate the ambiguity of some recent words popularized by the nainstream media, for example, Russophobia and collusionDuring his recent meeting with Putin in Helsinki, Trump, answering a question form a US journalist, said that there was no reason to suspect Russian interference in the 2016 US presidential elections. However, back on home soil, he said that what he meant was the opposite.

In the circumstances, there is some difficulty in assigning to either of Trump’s statements the property of truth. Continue reading →

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Red-Wine, Health-Care, Shakespeare & Capitalism

Posted on July 1, 2018 by jimmie

A glass of red-wine and a Sjakespeare cartoonThose who follow the reigning fashion, or from fashion borrow their taste, will have observed that, after a de-facto 20 years of relative unpopularity, red wine has undergone a commercial and cultural renaissance.

Not that it was ever dead, but lore and clichés suggested that thoughtful solitude was the natural setting for a glass of red. Or, in a different setting, it was considered an erotic prelude to the real thing. An idea with a long tradition. In his “Art of Love,” the Latin poet Ovid says, Continue reading →

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Post Scriptum on Skripal

Posted on June 14, 2018 by jimmie

Theresa May and Boris Johnson, image for article "Post Scriptum to Skripal"The dust of time is settling on the Scripal affair, after the eruption of British anti-Russian bile, bursting out from the deep state, and scattered to the four winds by the deep-state’s minions. Bile converted into imaginative insults and tokens of contempt for which sometimes it is not easy to find a name – for they are real but escape an attempt to describe them. Including, for example, the asinine and uninformed reference by the Foreign Secretary to “Crime and Punishment,” his knowledge of which, as indicated by the Russian UN Ambassador, is – to be kind – approximate.

And equally including those members of Parliament, nodding and applauding the Prime Minister, unstoppable in her litany of insults and accusations towards Russia – proving that insolence always propagates itself. Indeed, from the times of ancient Rome, corruption would always supply flatterers eager to applaud, and ministers prepared to serve the fear or the avarice, the manias or the oddities of their masters. Continue reading →

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Who are the People in the Quiz?

Posted on May 27, 2018 by jimmie

Image of a QuizGiven that, for any current political or social event, there is a wealth of interpretations, from the simplest to the most elaborate, I will not add yet another comment. For I resent the idea of telling others what they already know – or most do anyway.

Furthermore I wonder whether, in the current climate of thought, crime and politics, we should resign ourselves to watch silently the flying arrows of outrageous prevarications and crimes – Gaza comes to mind as one example. Considering that taking arms against evil and by opposing end it, is delusional, for the conformism of silence and the distortion of facts by interested parties can hide the grossest crimes.

Instead, in this blog, I will challenge my 25 readers to solve a riddle, designed after I finished reading a relatively short book, of which the intended objective will become clear, once the riddle is solved. Continue reading →

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Meditations on Skripal

Posted on April 11, 2018 by jimmie

place vendome in paris, starting point for the blog "Meditations on Skripal"Parisians, and those who roam the streets of Paris to take upon themselves the Frenchness of things, will no doubt know or remember the elegant, historic and fashionable Place Vendome.

There is a history in all men’s lives(1) and in what they built. In the instance, however, I only refer to the Duke of Vendome, (1654-1712), in whose honor the square is named.

He was a Marshal of France and a successful general, notably in the Nine Years’ war (1688-1697) – a global war of sorts, featuring France against a proto-coalition of the willing that included Austria, the Holy Roman Empire, the Dutch Republic, Spain, England and Savoy. Continue reading →

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Dostoyevsky and the Chosen People

Posted on March 31, 2018 by jimmie

Image of Dostoyevsky to accompany article 'Dostoyevsky and the Chosen PeopleDostoyevsky is known as an eminent tower of world literature and an implacable depth-sounder of the remotest recesses of the human soul – an analytical mind, fascinated by the invisible chemistry of people’s consciousness and emotions. And if Pushkin can be called the Raphael of Russian literature, Dostoyevsky is undoubtedly its Michelangelo.

Very, or at least relatively few, associate Dostoyevsky with journalism, to which he dedicated a major part of his life – notably during the years when he, single-handed, wrote and published “The Diary of a Writer.” In fact, in later years, the Diary that made him popular, also contributed to his extraordinary fame. Continue reading →

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