How unhinged is the left?
Rachel Maddow having a normal one. Calls Lord of the Rings a right wing dog whistle. (Based)
Refers to Gandalf’s Ring of Power “Narya” and says, it’s “Aryan” but you just move the “N.”
Hard hitting mental breakdown goblin activity here. pic.twitter.com/stP0wA4NVN
— The Middle-earth Mixer (@MiddleearthMixr) July 18, 2024
It’s hard to come up with words about that.
The Biel Chess Festival continues today in Switzerland with various tournaments. Meanwhile, the strangely named CrunchLabs Masters is on. It’s is the third leg of the 2024 Champions Chess Tour. Magnus MVL and “Puer” are in Division 1. Levon, Hikaru, Fabi and Nepo are also in. Of course I am glad to see that my guy Wesley So is in Division 1 because of his qualification from the chess.com Classic. Format is 10+2. Alas, on the live stream we are subjected to the cranium-etching voice of Tania Sachdev. Someone needs to give her some sort of filter for her mic to cut down on the upper end. Good commentary (when not just repeating what the person before said). Also commenting is Daniel Naroditsky.
Black to move and mate in 4.
1. Nd3+ Kd1 2. Nxf2+ Kc1 3. Nd3+ Kb1 4. Qf1#
NB: I’ll hold comments with solutions ’till the next day so there won’t be “spoilers” for others.
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I received a copy of a new book from Sophia Press.
One Lord, One Faith, One Church: An Inconvenient Truth by Jesse Romero and Paul Zucarelli
The title trolls Al Gore!
The Introduction states that this book is written for people who have little if any, or even faulty, instruction in the faith. That’s a large target audience! They seek to show that the God initiated the Roman Catholic Church. The Church really is of divine origin… sorry!
I was struck that one of the first questions raised is “Who is Jesus?”
I am reminded of how my old pastor Msgr. Schuler, in view of the hideous St. Paul Seminary of the day and the feckless fruitless vocations efforts of the Archdiocese, made a speech to the local Serra club explaining that at the seminary and chancery they couldn’t answer three basic questions: “Who is Jesus? Who is the Church? Who is the priest?” They couldn’t easily get past the first one. So, how were they to foster vocations to the priesthood?
But I digress. That’s just to show how fundamental the question is.
Other questions are “Why is the Church in Rome?” and “Who is Peter?”
The rest of the book takes a mostly historical journey, well worth reviewing. Review… this is a good point. Even if you know this stuff already, it constitutes a good, dense, review.
This would be a good book for you friends or relatives (or YOU) who have fallen away from the Church into some Protestant sect.
There is nothing in it about the Novus and/or Vetus Ordo. There is very little about liturgy at all, expect for one significant phrase: “To understand the enormity of the Catholic Mass, one must understand that the heavenly liturgy and the earthly liturgy are one and the same.”
You wouldn’t know that from attended most suburban churches, although was you encounter would still affirm the Four Last Things, only differently.
UPDATE:
Many thanks to people who have already sent donations for my stay in Rome in October and into November. I haven’t started the main effort yet, but these thoughtful readers have already chipped in via “wavy flag” and Zelle. Thank you.
VF, JL, MR, DVDH, DC, LG, MMcM, MH, SB, PG, HL, MM, SAS
“Enormity” is a poor choice of words to describe the Mass, although it’s a word so often misused that it may not carry the negative connotation anymore:
(The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition)
enormity /?-nôr?m?-t?/
noun
1. The quality of passing all moral bounds; excessive wickedness or outrageousness.
2. A monstrous offense or evil; an outrage.
3. Great size; immensity.
In his Appendices to the Lord of the Rings, Tolkien had something to say about outpourings like Rachel Maddow’s outpourings:
“Much the same sort of talk can still be heard among the orc-minded; dreary and repetitive with hatred and contempt, too long removed from good to retain even verbal vigour, save in the ears of those to whom only the squalid sounds strong.”
Ms. Maddow has just insulted the large swath of Tolkien fans who, by the way, run the breadth of the political spectrum. Trying to turn my beloved Tolkien literary works into something hateful displays her ignorance and lack of education. She owes us all an apology. (This is my toned down version—you do not need to see my original reaction.)
The Romero and Zucarelli book looks interesting. I think I may get it.
How unhinged, you ask, Father? Off the charts unhinged IMO, especially that one who speaks. I could almost lose my morning coffee listening to the evil drivel.
Vance is a recent convert to the Church. He was received in at a Dominican run parish, St. Gertrude’s in Cincinnati just a few Easters ago.
The Dominicans have a seminary there and I understand that is where most of the first year seminarians for that province go. However, I doubt they have much contact with the parishioners.
Ms. Maddow said one thing that actually made sense, but she saved that to the very end: “I don’t know.”