Our World

What became horrifying clear about Nov. 22, 1963, will also become clear about what is happening today.

Going through a box of memorabilia from family and friends recently, I found two letters. (The story you’re about to read is true; the names have been changed to protect the innocent.) On the morning of Nov. 22, 1963, a young married professional in Dallas wrote to his parents…

By age 35, Akinola Bolaji had already spent two decades scamming people online, posing as an American fisherman to con vulnerable widows into sending him money.

The New York Times asked the Nigerian how he felt about causing so much harm to innocent people. He replied:

“Definitely there is always conscience. But poverty will not make you feel the pain.”

Scamming people is easier to justify in your head when you’re starving.

h/t DS

There is a telling moment in former GQ editor Dylan Jones’s insider account of the 1990s, Faster Than a Cannonball: 1995 and All That. Loaded journalist Martin Deeson has gatecrashed a Cannes Film Festival party with his photographer in tow. ‘I ordered a large scotch, two gin and tonics, two glasses of champagne and then asked Derek what he wanted’, recalls Deeson. The two journalists then staggered around rat-arsed chatting to various A-listers before bumping into Sixties style icon Terence Stamp: ‘After looking at me for a while Stamp said, “I just don’t think I want to talk to you”, and walked away.’

It’s time we started culling the societal herd of weirdos and degenerates by shaming them out of the mainstream.

We’ve long used shame as an essential tool in shaping our common morality with great success. Since the fall of man, it has acted as a blunt reminder to stay the course as we grow up past childhood and enter the age of reason.

Young men are struggling in a woman’s world

In August 2022, English teacher Kirsty Pole took to Twitter to warn other teachers about a former kickboxer and Big Brother contestant who was “spouting dangerous, misogynistic and homophobic abuse” online.

The culprit was, of course, Andrew Tate. Pole was especially worried about his appeal to younger boys. As she told Sky News: “They already don’t know who they should be, if they’re allowed emotions, if they’re allowed to cry or if they need to ‘man up’.”

Can democracy in the West survive its attenuation in the US and UK?

The countries we call Anglo-Saxon (Great Britain, the Commonwealth and the United States) have been known for centuries for their ability to govern themselves democratically, peacefully and efficiently. In the twenty-first century they have been doing less well.

Britain and America are both in dreadful straits politically, economically and socially. The implosion of Boris Johnson and the search for a satisfactory successor have revealed the leadership of the Tory Party as a hapless and embarrassing collection of mediocrities devoid of coherent ideas. Across the Atlantic, one of the two major parties is a gerontocracy at the top and a gang of urban guerrillas with Molotov cocktails at its base. The other was exhausted as a coherent force by the end of the 1990s and has, for a full generation now, effectively been two parties, neither able to kick free of the other.

Oshawa activist confronts city’s first people repellant

The John Street bridge spans Oshawa Creek, the stream that flows through the heart of this automaking hub just east of Toronto. Christeen Thornton was crossing it one day this summer when she heard a strange sound.

At first she thought there was something wrong with her car. But when she went back to investigate, she spotted a small box fixed to the concrete underside of the bridge. It was giving off a piercing, high-pitched noise that assaulted her ears, forcing her to cover them with her hands and back away.

It’s hard to put your finger on exactly when and where it was that democracy’s global eclipse began, but a darkness has been encircling the world throughout the 21st century. While the current insurrection in Iran is cause for some hope, overall, the dictators have been winning.

The existence of God requires us to temper every assertion of power with a sense of responsibility to the truth.

In his past few podcasts, Jordan Peterson has picked up with greater vigor a theme that has been increasingly among his favorites: the inescapable role of God in life and meaning.

This would not be so noteworthy were Peterson a cleric of some sort. Preachers of every stripe and style regularly speak to their congregants or students, and it usually doesn’t interest anyone beyond a parochial group.

Is the American way of life threatened by the growing proportion of citizens taking psychiatric medications?

You can learn much about what a civilization lacks by observing what sentiments it elevates as an ideal. The ancient Greeks, who invented the concept of the “golden mean” between extremes, were, on the basis of Greek tragedy and historical accounts, given to wild eruptions of rage. For years now, Americans have exalted empathy as our king of sentiments, but on the evidence of everyday life, empathy is in short supply.

Chris McCandless had been dead for two weeks when a pair of hunters stumbled upon the abandoned bus he had been using as a makeshift shelter near Alaska’s Denali National Park. A note taped to its door…

Technology is emasculating society

Little is known about the ecstatic rites of Cybele, a pre-Hellenic goddess associated with nature and wildness. Shrines have been found throughout Europe, though she was originally from Mesopotamia. And numerous sources describe her mendicant priesthood: castrated men who bleached their hair, and wore heavy makeup and elaborate feminine costumes. They were said to mimic the mythic figure of Attis, a mortal who — the legend goes — was driven to a frenzy by a jealous Cybele, and castrated himself before becoming her deathless consort.

August 2nd marked 4 months in hospice for my brother.

My sister-in-law and I arrived during “music class” this morning.

My brother was in attendance but soon began to nod in and out of consciousness and then appeared to spasm as if in a mild seizure.

We wheeled him back to his room and waited for the nurse to attend.

She monitored his vitals revealing a very low BP and heart rate, he continued to nod in and out becoming less “coherent” in response to questions.

They put him to bed via the lift and raised his feet.

I flagged down his doctor who was surprised at the sudden turn of events since it was she who had wheeled him to music class.

She was able to rouse him and over the next few minutes he became aware of his surroundings.

Slowly over the course of the afternoon he returned to “normal” even managing to eat some fruit and cheese.

He was not in discomfort and is one resilient fellow still we know his time is likely not long.

We will be back tomorrow.

Our fabulous co-blogger Frau Katze has had a bit of a setback.

She fell at the hospital and we await details.

Please wish her well.

PS. I notice we have some spam bots in Disqus. I thank all of you who have reported them.

I try to stay on top of things but I am at the Hospice every other day.

Bear with me.

I usually zap ’em but my internet has been down for 2 days, just came back on.  – Sarcasticat