VIDEO: The difference between the Novus Ordo and Latin Mass

I know that some of our non-Catholic readers [and some Catholic readers too. Ed.] are wondering why traditional Catholics are so upset by Pope Bergoglio's recent attempt to suppress the Traditional Latin Mass (TLM), the Mass of All Time. See "Catholics outraged: 'Pope Francis' nukes Traditional Latin Mass", WWW 17/7/21. 

One of my own friends, a well-meaning and religious person (but not Catholic) said to me, "It's all the same isn't it? Aren't you just clining to something which doesn't have any meaning in the 21st century?" Well no, I answered, the Novus Ordo (literally: new order) mass is not the same as the Mass of All Time.

There are those who argue that the "New Mass" -- one of the poisoned fruits of the Second Vatican Council -- is not a Catholic Mass at all! I won't go that far, but will say that there are much greater differences than the use of the vulgar language (literally: language of the people) instead of the Latin adopted by the Universal Church in the 5th Century A.D.

There are 1000s of articles and videos explaining the differences between the Novus Ordo and the Traditional Latin Mass, 100s of them written in the last two weeks in response to Francis' tirade. But it's been difficult to find something which outlines, clearly and concisely, why the differences matter to the faith.

The best we've seen so far is this short video from John-Henry Westen, editor of LifeSite News. Mr Westen points out that the changes that the Novus Ordo brought to the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass shortly after Vatican II, have led to the "greatest abandonment of the faith in human history." We urge you -- Catholic or not -- to listen carefully and understand our dismay and anger.

   

If you understand and sympathize, we urge you to click here to read "LifeSite launches petition imploring Pope Francis to withdraw decree restricting Traditional Latin Mass". Then, please sign the petition! May God bless you and Our Lady guide you. 

Two more videos worth watching for added insight:

"The most radical thing Pope Francis has ever done...". Dr Taylor Marshall explains, line by line, what's wrong with Francis' latest statement.

"Why Does Francis Hate the Latin Mass?" Michael Matt, editor the Remnant newspaper, reveals the reasons why the Pope is treating traditional Catholics like lepers.

VIDEO: Stephen Harper & Joe Lonsdale on over-reaction to the "pandemic and economic crisis" and the illiberalism of "wokeness"

When I began this blog in 2009, The Prez was (supposedly) running the Excited States of America, and Stephen Harper was Prime Minister of Canuckistan. The former was and is an extreme liberal. The latter held himself out as a conservative, but only just. I disliked both of them intensely, and started WWW to let my feelings be known to anyone who cared to read.

In retrospect, I was too hard on Mr Harper, whose general nastiness led me to call him "Steve Harpoon". Compared with his successor -- Blackie McBlackface, PM of Canuckistan -- I recognize that Mr Harpoon was an exemplar of good judgment [What about the appointment of Mike Puffy to the Senate? Ed.] whose thoughts on the current "pandemic and economic crisis" (his phrase) deserve to be listened to by both Canadians and Americans.

In this 39-minute episode of Joe Lonsdale's American Optimist podcast, Mr Harper accuses the Canadian government of spending irresponsibly in its attempt to fend off the economic disruption caused by the Covid-19 pandemic. "It's not a good reaction, it's been overkill. This is bad macroeconomic policy on an enormous scale." 

He touches on a wide range of topics, including Canada's response to the pandemic, the rise of "woke" culture and the dangers of an emboldened China on the world stage. Give a listen. 

 

If you skipped over the video link to keep reading, I urge you to go back and listen, especially to the part of the interview in which Mr Harper takes aim at the "woke university crowd" for its attempts to tear down American and Western values. "I'm just fascinated by this notion that is just everywhere now, the so-called woke notion that America is a fundamentally racist country. And yet what I see is all of these supposedly repressed races trying desperately to become Americans and to join the United States.  

"It's not that there aren't problems, historical and present, that are real, but the core of our countries are great, they have great futures and there is no alternative," said Mr Harper, explaining that the modern political left has become "entirely nihilist" and appears more interested in tearing down existing systems than in upholding and improving upon traditional democratic values. "There are elements in our own countries," he said, "which do not want us to succeed!"

Disclaimer: We should point out that Joe Lonsdale is the founder of 8VC, a venture capital firm of which Mr Harper has been a director since 2017.

Look out! Global COOLING is coming!

The late unlamented Climate Barbie, the no-longer-relevant Mark Carney, Saint Greta Thunberg and Al Gore [who he? Ed.] have been telling us for years now that the world is in imminent danger of burning to a crisp, if not today, then tomorrow. 

They say that "global warming" is all the fault of us "peoplekind". If we'd only buy Teslas and use solar/wind power to heating/cool our houses and workspaces, ecological disaster could be averted (they say), if only for a little while. And we have to kill all our cattle, too, because their farts are a major part of the greenhouse gases which are trapping heat and setting off wildfires yada yada yada. 

Où sont les neiges d'antan? I don't entirely dismiss the notion of climate change. I haven't suffered through many winters yet like that of 1963, shown in the picture. Of course I live farther south now. But my car and I are smaller now, so even if there's less snow, the effect is still the same. 

For me, there's little difference between winters then and winters now. If the world warms up and there's less snow, that will be fine with me. But it might get colder again. Global warming and global cooling has been the cycle of nature ever since God created this planet Earth.

My corner of the forest was once covered in ice. Before that, it was under a vast inland sea. And before the sea, or maybe after (who knows?) there were tropical forests in which roamed prehistoric reptiles and mammals, just like in Jurassic Park.

I don't believe there's going to be any spectacular, catastropic climate change any time soon... if ever! Wildfires may be ranging in the west, but just yesterday I heard on the rangdidio that, here, this July is the coolest in ten years. [The wettest too! Ed.] So depending on where you live, in all kind of evens out. "Global warming" (or cooling) is a sweeping overgeneralization.

Who knows? The weather might well take a turn for the colder. We might once again see a return to "real old-fashioned winter", like that shown in this snap which I took in 1978. 

That's not just my opinion, but that of climate scientist Dr. Willie Soon. According to Breitbart News, Dr Soon thinks we should pay closer attention to the sun's activity, which suggests several decades of global cooling rather than warming. 

Dr Soon, a Malaysian astrophysicist and aerospace engineer, told Alex Newman of the New American, that "what we predict is that the next 20-30 years will be cold. It will be cold, so it will be a very interesting thing for the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change [the United Nations body for assessing the science related to climate change] to confront.

"The sun is in a 'weakened state'," says the good doctor "and far less active than during the 1980s and 1990s." This weakened state, he said, should last "until around 2050. The whole climate system is powered 99.1 percent by the sun’s energy."

Therefore, Dr Soon concludes, global cooling is a far greater source of concern than global warming. "We will have a lot more problems were the planet to cool rather than warm." Humanity [not "peoplekind"? Ed.] can solve a lot of problems including overheating, but the problems of a "little ice age" like that of the 1700s are much harder to solve," he said. "If you want to face a serious problem, worry about an ice age; never worry about global warming!"

UPDATED: If Canadians are Islamophobic, perhaps there's a reason

The Canadian mania for self-flagellation ["Is that a sin, Father?" Ed.] continued last week with back-to-back conferences on anti-Semitism and Islamophobia, which, as everyone knows, are hard-wired into all "old stock" (read: white Christian) Canucks.

Liberal Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, MVS (Master of Virtue Signalling) told a "national summit on Islamophobia" on Friday that "government agencies need to do more to help end the problem." Canadians [as well as Americans! Ed.] cringe when they hear words like that. "I'm from the government and I'm here to help you," is one of the Three Greatest Lies in the English language.

What does Blackie McBlackface have in mind? This, for starters. Now that the Americans are admitting defeat and getting out of Afghanistan, there are 1000s of Afghans who collaborated with them (and the Canucks, who hauled down their maple leaf flag years ago) clamouring for asylum before the Taliban can behead them.

On Friday, M Trudeau announced that those Quislings and their families will be "welcomed" to Canada as refugees. Who will do the welcoming is unclear, as are specifics of the plan, but (Just in sez) his minions are on the ground in Afghanistan, working to identify those eligible for a new "path to protection." 

The Canadian public seems not to share their leader's sentiments. Comments in the Groan & Wail were unavailable due to "technical difficulties" within an hour of the story being posted.

In his opening remarks at the snorefest, Mr Socks called on the Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) and federal security agencies to stop practices that "target" Muslims. He repeated the "diversity is our strength" mantra, calling on weary Canucks to fight for a Canada "where we celebrate diversity, where we stand together." 

How the CRA and federal security agencies will "help" is as unclear as anything else M Trudeau says, but Agent 3 warns that if anyone dares to write, say or even think anything even vaguely anti-Muslim, they can expect visits from the tax guys and/or the Mounties. M-106 is still in effect!

When he spoke of "security agencies",  the Canuck PM somehow failed to mention the Toronto Police Service, one of whose members -- Constable Jeffrey Northrup -- was laid to rest just a few days earlier, having been killed by a vehicle in the city hall parking garage while trying to apprehend Umar Zameer, who now faces a charge of first-degree murder. PC Northrup's bosses have declined to released any information on Mr Zameer's nationality, ethnicity, religion or immigration status. M-106.

Yesterday saw the opening of an inquest into another "interaction" between police and a follower of the Prophet, although this time it was the civilian who got killed. Ali Zaraeeneh was shot by a York Regional Police sniper on 13 December 2017, inside a bank in the city of Vaughan, just north of Toronto. He was armed with a gun and claimed to be wearing an explosive "suicide vest". Negotiators were called to the scene to reason with the "emotionally disturbed" man, but police were ultimately forced to "use lethal force in order to gain control of the suspect."

Three years ago last week, another "emotionally disturbed" "new Canadian" shot and killed himself in Toronto's Greektown, after first shooting and killing 10-year-old Juliana Kozis and 18-year-old Reese Fallon, and wounding 13 other people. Faisal Hussain opened fire on people sitting on restaurant patios and walking along Danforth Avenue, for no apparent reason. 

The so-called Greater Toronto Area is the destination of choice for 1000s of immigrants, "refugees" and asylum-seekers fleeing the Muslim civil wars in the Middle East. There's no news from there this morning, but in Montréal -- preferred by Muslims from North Africa -- police have just cancelled an Amber Alert for 16-year-old Zahraa Jaafar, after she was found alive. She had reportedly been abducted by her brother, Mohammad Jaafar, 22, in what was undoubtedly an affair having to do with the family's honour.

Of course not all the "refugees", asylum-seekers and other Muslim immigrants are like that. Some of the followers of the "Religion of Peace" (TM) are actually peaceful people who work as Uber drivers or run shawarma shops or halal butcheries. But with a federal election almost certain to be called for the fall, and immigration being a top-of-the-mind issue for Canuck voters (so much so that pollsters won't even ask about it -- M-106), M Trudeau will probably not show up for a photo-op with the next planeload.

UPDATE ADDED 29/7/21:  Toronto Police are looking for the public's help in find someone who our old friend Mark Steyn would call "yet another Mohammed". Mohammed Maboob is a suspect in an investigation into two instances of sexual assault that took place over the course of this summer. 

It is alleged that on June 9th, a 49-year-old woman was sexually assaulted in the Firvalley Court and Warden Avenue area. In a second incident, police say a 27-year-old woman was sexually assaulted in the Victoria Park and Danforth avenues area. 

Mr Maboob, age 55 [Really? 55?! Ed.] is wanted for two counts of sexual assault and one count of fail to comply with a release order. (That means he was already out on bail.) Police have said nothing about his ethnicity, religion or immigration status.

WARNING: New virus identified, affects older people

Here we are, still battling Covid-19 [Can we call it "kung flu", now that the truth about the Chinese lab is coming out? Ed.], and the next cause for panic is here already. 

Virologists have identified a new Nile virus - type C. It appears to target those who were born between 1930 and 1970. 

Symptoms: The virus causes you to: 

1. send the same e-mail or text message twice. 

2. send a blank message. 

3. send a message to the wrong person. 

4. send it back to the person who sent it to you. 

5. forget to attach an attachment. 

6. hit SEND before you've finished. 

7. hit DELETE instead of SEND. 

8. SEND when you should DELETE. 

The new disease is called the C-Nile virus! And if you cannot admit to doing any of the above, you have obviously caught the mutated strain — the D-Nile virus!

Thanks and a tip of the sun-hat to Agent 6!

Don't sugar-coat it! Tell us what you really think!

Spotted recently on People of Walmart.

Note to Dumbocrats, liberal, and others who think the sun, moon and stars shine out of President Biteme's arse: 15 months until the mid-terms!

Note to our foreign readers: If you want to know what real Americans look like, PoW is the site to see.

"It's not what it looks like!" - Canuck convicted of attempted bestiality

"I’m sorry, it’s not what it looks like," 30-year-old Ryan Dodd told Ottawa (Canada) police when caught with his pants down (and his pecker up, as the British say) standing in a stall with a miniature pony that had been tied up and lubed with scented body oil which the police described as "overwhelming". 

Police seized an empty bottle of body oil and some rope with which the pony (female pony of course -- nothing wrong with old Dodd!)  had been restrained. 

In response, the cops told him to put his pants on... which he did... backwards! Mr Dodd was co-operative with arresting officers and said he had been drinking and did two lines of coke a few hours before breaking into the barn. 

The miniature pony was left greasy, particularly around her genitalia, but  examination by a veterinarian showed no trauma to the vaginal area or rectum. Three swabs showed no semen or oil from the vagina, hamstring region or hind legs. The pony's coat, however, "smelled of perfume for days", according to Inspector Knacker.

In his defence on charges of break and enter and attempted bestiality, Mr Dodd said he had broken into the barn only to masturbate, for which purpose he had brought with him the pink silicone replica vagina which the police removed from the pocket of his hoodie.

Mr Dodd was convicted on both charges, and will under go a sexual behaviour assessment while he awaits sentencing later this year. He is expected to appeal to a higher court... but not very much. [That's a really old one. Ed.]

MUSIC VIDEO: Aaron Ward song draws ire of liberals

Left-wing music blogger (((Bob Lefsetz))) recently called "Am I the Only One", a No. 1 country music hit sung by Aaron Lewis, "heinous". Give a listen and see if you can figure out why.

 

What's wrong with that?! Could be the patriotism. Do ya think? Maybe the unflattering reference to Bruce Springsteen. Whatever it is, it's got the lefties all riled up. Mr Lefsets -- a Jew who lives in California -- has taken the publisher, Big Machine Label Group, to task for releasing the number. He and his kind seem to think that Mr Ward and his kind should be "cancelled".

Scott Borchetta, CEO of Big Machine, has responded to Mr Lefsetz in an open letter, which says: "Firstly, I believe in the First Amendment. My job has never been to tell my artists what to sing and write about.... Aaron Lewis and I have political disagreements. But there are also things we agree on. I think that's the foundation for the idea of our country. It doesn’t work if we're so divided that we can't reach across the aisle, have a conversation or an argument, and ultimately, shake hands. If we can't do that, and this moment is so divisive, we may never get our country back."

Walt agrees. And to Aaron Ward, Walt sez: You are not the only one! Keep singin'!

CENSORED VIDEO from Michael Matt at Remnant TV: "Why Does Francis Hate the Latin Mass?"

Walt received an e-mail today from Michael Matt, editor of the Remnant newspaper, asking us to share his latest video, CENSORED by YouTube, from which he's been banned for a week. Mr Matt writes: 

In this Remnant-Tv.com exclusive, I consider the question of why in the middle of global upheaval, apostasy, and pandemic, Francis is focusing his papal sights not a church wracked with apostasy, but rather on the small remnant of believers who wish simply to attend the Mass of their fathers. 

Even non-Catholics are perplexed by Francis' unprecedented decision to contradict Pope Benedict XVI, who freed the Latin Mass and insisted it was never (and could never be) abrogated. 

In this video, Mr Matt analyses Traditionis Custodes, the latest (and worst) attack by "Pachamamma Papa" on traditional Catholics and the Traditional Latin Mass. See also our earlier posts: "The most radical thing Pope Francis has ever done..." and "Catholics outraged: 'Pope Francis' nukes Traditional Latin Mass". 

Mr Matt says this is all about "the crumbling facade of Vatican II". What is to be done? Do we have to go back to the catacombs, like the early Christians? Mr Matt provides some answers. Check it out. Running time 32 minutes.

   

Dear Catholic friends... As Michael Matt says, it's the Mass that matters! Do the right thing and do not be afraid! You are not alone! Onward, Christian soldiers!

Further viewing: "Francis Suppresses the Latin Mass | A Conversation with Brian McCall and Chris Ferrara", from the Fatima Center, 17/7/21. Our old friend Chris Ferrara calls Traditiones Custodes (the title of Francis' Motu Proprio) "a joke".

VIDEO: "The most radical thing Pope Francis has ever done..."

In a letter to the world's bishops accompanying the Motu Proprio Summorum Pontificum, Pope Benedict XVI* wrote: What earlier generations held as sacred, remains sacred and great for us too, and it cannot be all of a sudden entirely forbidden or even considered harmful. (My emphasis.)

Yesterday, the man who calls himself "Pope Francis" said, in effect, "Wanna bet?!"

Following up my earlier post, "Catholics outraged: 'Pope Francis' nukes Traditional Latin Mass", here's a look at how the man who calls himself "Pope Francis" is trying to extinguish forever the Traditional Latin Mass in his latest Motu Proprio, Traditionis Custodes. In the video, Dr Taylor Marshall calls this "the most radical thing Pope Francis" has done in the eight years of his papacy."

Commentators like Dr Marshall and Dr Peter Kwasniewski (see link at end of this post) are shocked by the extremism and autocracy of the Pope Bergoglio's lateset attack on the traditions of the Church. Dr Kwasniewski says it "doesn't make sense unless you're an ideologue." Dr Marshall calls it simply "a punch in the gut". Here's what's going to happen....

Item: Pope Bergoglio has declared that the Novus Ordo (New Order) Mass of 1969 is the "unique" (read: only) liturgy of the Roman Catholic Church. What Pope Benedict XVI* called the "extraordinary" rite is not recognized, except temporarily by exception. 

Item: Only the diocesan bishop has "exclusive" power to authorize the Latin Mass, and that only within the even narrower confines of whatever restrictions the Vatican -- Pope Bergoglio and those surrounding him (Hello, "Peter the Roman"!) -- feel like imposing on any given day. A bishop may say OK, but not unless Rome says OK!

Item: Existing Latin Mass "groups"-- that's the word used -- like the Institute of Christ the Kind and the Fraternity of Saint Peter must undergo a loyalty test to ensure that they accept fully the Novus Ordo Mass of 1969. And they cannot have any hesitation to accepting fully the heresies of Vatican II, out of which came the "New Mass."

Item: Latin Masses, if allowed, must be moved outside of regular parishes. Dr Kwasniewski says thosse who want to celebrate the TLM are being treated like lepers, shunted off to disused churches and meeting rooms where they can't "contaminate" ignorant "mainstream Catholics".

Item: Even though a traditional Mass may be ["must be"! Ed.] celebrated in Latin, the Epistle and Gospel must not be proclaimed in Latin, only in the vernacular. tongues. This was one of the goals of the Modernist liturgical movement in the 1950s and of the Protestants and Freemasons who helped draft the Novus Ordo Mass approved by Vactican II.

Item: There to be no "new groups" centred around the Latin Mass. Not even bishops can allow the formation of such a group. That's for the Vatican alone. One wonders what will become of the existing "groups", like those mentioned above and the Society of St Pius X, the latter not being recognized by the Vatican in the first place. Goodbye to any hope of reconciliation!

Item: Pope Bergoglio has taken "the firm decision to abrogate all the norms, instructions, permissions, and customs" that precede Traditionis Custodes. Previous "indults" for the TLM are abolished. So as of yesterday, the celebration of the Latin Mass is forbidden, pending new permissions granted by the bishops (which really means the Vatican -- see above).

In the accompanying letter of instruction to the world's bishops (which is longer than the document itself), Pope Bergoglio slams down his dictatorial hand even harder! This Motu Proprio, he says, was necessitated by the bishops' responses to a skewed 2020 questionnaire that the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith sent out. He doesn't give any details of what the bishops said, but obviously it didn't conform to the Bergoglio's New Age/New World Order/ agenda.

He goes on to blame traditional Catholic priests and laymen for using the Latin Mass "to widen the gaps, reinforce the divergences, and encourage disagreements that injure the Church, block Her path, and expose Her to the peril of division." In other words, those who want the TLM are nothing more or less than a bunch of narrow-minded schismatics -- the same charge leveled against Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre and the SSPX. 

In effect, Francis has hit the reset button. He orders the Church to return to "a unitary form" of celebration. But he doesn't mean the united form of the Mass of All Time, the Roman Mass of Saints Peter and Paul, the Fathers and Popes of the Church, canonized by Pope St Pius V. He means the quasi-Protestant New Mass, the validity of which is questioned by more and more faithful Catholics, as more is learned about how the New Mass was inflicted on us by Popes Paul VI and John Paul II.

Does Pope Bergoglio really think he can get away with this? Does he think he can, with the stroke of a pen, obliterate the memory of and devotion to the Mass of All Time, which faithful Catholics have handed won for sixteen centuries? Does he think he can put the genie -- the demand for a return to the Traditional Latin Mass -- back in the bottle?

Popes can say and write what they like, but unless they declare their utterances to be dogma, to be matters of Faith, Catholics may follow their precepts... or not! I predict that Traditionis Custodes will be honoured as much in the breach as in the observance. And when Jorge Bergoglio has shuffled off this mortal coil, his successor may very well abrogate this latest diktat, just as Francis now purports to abrogate Summorum Pontificium. Please, God, let it be so. 

Enough from me. Here are the thoughts of Dr Taylor Marshall.

  

Further viewing: "Did Pope Francis Just Ban the Latin Mass? Reaction to 'Traditionis Custodes'" - Dr. Peter Kwasniewksi and Cameron O'Hearn discuss what this "ecclesiastical atom bomb", this "historical slap in the face", means for the future of the Traditional Latin Mass and the future of Holy Mother Church.

* Footnote: Pope Benedict XVI is still alive, as far as we know. Some believe that his purported resignation is invalid, and that the election of Jorge Bergoglio as Pope is therefore canonically illegal and invalid. In other words, Pope Francis is not the Pope! Others say that's right, because a real pope wouldn't, couldn't say and do the things that Francis says and does. QED. 

Catholics outraged: "Pope Francis" nukes Traditional Latin Mass

In order to bring about the "Great Reset" and achieve the New World Order, (((George Soros))) et al. must first destroy the one institution which stands in their way. I don't mean the Disunited Nations. The globalist liberal elites and Communists have had the UN in their pockets for decades. I refer to the Roman Catholic Church, which at one time was the guardian and protector of the Western (read: Christian) civilization without which the entire world would be like... ohhh, let's say Afghanistan.  

Try as they might (and are!), the Jews, Muslims and heathens cannot destroy Holy Mother Church by themselves. The One-Worlders need and are getting the active co-operation of the enemies of the One True Faith who lurk and work like termites within the Church. None of these is more powerful or more dangerous than Jorge Bergoglio, the man who calls himself "Pope Francis".

More and more traditional Catholics are beginning to think that Francis is the Antichrist, the evil one prophesied in the Bible, who opposes Our Lord Jesus Christ and seeks to substitute himself in His place before the Second Coming. 

We mere mortals our not to judge Pope Bergoglio, for we cannot know his intentions for sure. But if we go by his actions, we are not wrong to infer that he means to emasculate and eviscerate the forms and structures of the traditional Catholic Church, and in particular the Lex orandi, lex credendi -- "the law of what is prayed [is] the law of what is believed" -- which expresses the relationship between worship and belief.

Expanded to Lex orandi, lex credendi, lex vivendi -- "the law of what is prayed [is] what is believed [is] the law of what is lived" -- the traditional Christian motto means that prayer and belief are integral to each other and that liturgy is not distinct from theology.

This ancient Christian principle provided a measure for developing the Creed, the Canon of scripture, and other doctrinal matters. It is based on the prayer texts of the Church, that is, the Church's liturgy. In the Early Church, there was liturgical tradition before there was a common creed, and before there was an officially sanctioned Biblical canon. So the liturgical traditions provided the theological framework for establishing the Creeds and Canon.  

Six decades ago, the Second Vatican Council and Pope Paul VI began the task of dismantling this theological framework by instituting the Novus Ordo, a "New Mass", not in Latin but in the 1000s of "languages of the people", with a generous admixture of Protestant and even Jewish forms of prayer. 

Today, in many modern Catholic churches, there is virtually nothing left of the old ways of worship. No Latin. No bells. No incense. A "resurrex" in place of the crucifix. A handful of people in a circle around the priest mumbling prayers which belong only to the priest, and singing "Kumbaya".

For traditional Catholics (like your obdt servant) attending a Novus Ordo "Mess" is painful in the extreme. Some of us believe that if we can't find a Traditional Latin Mass (TLM) to attend, we're better off -- our souls are better off -- staying and praying at home.

Thanks be to God, many of us could still find a traditional Mass within driving distance, perhaps at a chapel of the Society of St Pius X (SSPX) or in a parish where an old-fashioned priest might at least pray in Latin, albeit following the modern form. But no more!

Yesterday, on the feast of Our Lady of Mount Carmel (!), Francis moved to stamp out the Traditional Latin Mass, once and for all. He issued a Motu Proprio -- kind of like an Executive Order in the American governmental system --which virtually bans the celebration of the Traditional Latin Mass in ordinary parish churches throughout the world. 

In Traditionis Custodes, Francis completely reverses the course set by Pope Benedict XVI, just fourteen years ago, in Summorum Pontificum, which specified the circumstances in which priests of the Latin Church could celebrate Mass according to the 1962 edition of the Roman Missal, in the form known as the Tridentine Mass or Traditional Latin Mass, and administer most of the sacraments in the form used before the liturgical reforms that followed Vatican II.

Effective immediately, priests may celebrate the traditional Mass only under special circumstances, and with explicit permission from the bishops of their dioceses, who are not bound to give such permission, even though they may have done so in the past. Can you imagine..."Please, your Eminence, can I keep saying the Latin Mass?" Cardinal Cupich: "No!"

I am running out of space. Later this weekend I'll explain exactly how the Motu Proprio works to suppress the Mass of All Time, beloved of faithful Catholics for at least 1500 years. Explaining why Pope Bergoglio did this is harder. My take is that Francis, under increasing pressure from the puppet-masters to fold the Church into a new pantheistic religion, feared that he would die -- he knew when he wrote this that he would soon be undergoing major surgery -- before he could accomplish the mission.  

Traditionis Custodes may therefore be (let us pray!) the last act of a desperate man. Will he succeed in taking away our Mass, which is central to what we believe and how we live? God has promised that He will protect and preserve His Church, and for that let us pray, devoutly and urgently:

Saint Michael the Archiangel, defend us in battle. Be our protection against the wickedness and snares of the devil. May God rebuke him, we humbly pray, and do thou, O Prince of the heavenly hosts, by the power of God, cast into hell Satan and all the evil spirits, who prowl throughout the world seeking the ruin of souls. Amen.

Worth watching: "Francis Suppresses the Latin Mass | A Conversation with Brian McCall and Chris Ferrara" - video from the Fatima Center, 17/7/21. Our old friend Chris Ferrara calls Traditiones Custodes (the title of Francis' Motu Proprio) "a joke".

Message from Woka-Cola

 

Do the makers of Coca-Cola realize they're making a big mistake with their "Be less white" campaign? Do they not realize that the folks they're pandering to drink RC? [Or grape sode! Ed.] This could very well turn into a repeat of the New Coke fiasco of April 1985!

It was then that the Coca-Cola Company, fearful of losing market share to Pepsi, introduced a new formula for the Big Drink. [That's a book title. Ed.] Known informally as New Coke, it was renamed Coke II in 1992, and was discontinued in July 2002 -- one of the biggest flops in the history of marketing.

The New Coke fiasco was based on a gross misreading of public opinion, and the reluctance of Coca-Cola drinkers to "embrace change". And here they are telling us once again that we have to get woke!

I'm severely conflicted. I am very fond of Coca-Cola. [The word "addicted" springs to mind. Ed.] But I absolutely refuse to become "less white". Indeed, doing so is an impossibility for me, both physically, mentally and emotionally. As far as I'm concerned, it's cool to be white!

What to do? I may have to learn how to make a proper mint julep and hope that will get me through the summer, or however long it takes the Coca-Cola Company to come to its senses. Meanwhile, I've sold all my shares in Coke stock. I urge those who share my sentiments to do likewise, or whatever they can to fight corporate wokeness!

VIDEO: SA riots: it's those Zulus!

Something that many of our readers may not understand about the current rioting and looting in South Africa is that the problem is not so much racism as tribalism. Things were quieter yesterday in Johannesburg -- all that "reparations shopping" tires you out, eh -- but still out of control in Durban, the biggest city of KwaZulu-Natal (KZN), where whites and "Asians" (read: south Asians) have formed armed self-defence militias to protect themselves and their property. Most of the looting, though, is black-on-black.

Like many other African countries whose borders were established by Europeans in the 19th century, South Africa is an amalgam of different tribes who dislike each other almost as much as they dislike whites. The biggest groups are Zulus (21 %), Xhosas (17 %) and the Sotho (15%). Smaller minorities are the Tswana, Venda, Ndebele, Swasi, and Pedi, among others. The Khoi-San -- the ones we used to call "Bushmen" (see the excellent movie The Gods Must Be Crazy)  -- are originally hunter-gatherers who have inhabited the land for a long time.

As you might guess from the name, Kwa-Zulu Natal (formerly just "Natal") province, is the homeland of the Zulus, a fierce and warlike people whom the British imperialists fought hard to displace in the 19th century. Pictured below is a painting of the Battle of Isandhlwana, fought on 22 January 1879, the first major encounter in the Anglo-Zulu War between the British Empire and the Zulu Kingdom. 

Eleven days after the British commenced their invasion (for such it was) of "Zululand" (as they called it), a Zulu force of some 20,000 warriors attacked a portion of the British main column consisting of about 1800 British, colonial and native troops and perhaps 400 civilians, killing most of them

During the final  hour of the battle, a contingent of about 4000 Zulu warriors broke off from their main force to attack a small mission station at Rorke's Drift, about six miles distant. A force of about 150 British troops -- mostly Welshmen of B Company, 2nd Battalion, 24th (2nd Warwickshire) Regiment of Foot -- held off the attackers in a fierce two-day battle which has been immortalized in one of Walt's favourite films, Zulu, starring Stanley Baker and Michael Caine.  

Here is a clip of one of the opening scenes of the movie, showing some handsome men and beautiful women doing a pre-marital dance, in preparation for a mass marriage. 

   

Readers who were not transfixed by the sight of the dancing girls may note that the missionary (played by Jack Hawkins) had a little conversation with the Zulu chief, who was actually... wait for it... a Zulu chief! Chief Mangosuthu Buthelezi played his grandfather, Cetshwayo kaMpande, king of the Zulu Kingdom from 1873 to 1879 and its leader during the Anglo-Zulu War of 1879.

After a lot more fighting, "Zululand" was incorporated into Natal province, which was renamed KwaZulu-Natal in the transition from the apartheid era to the "new South Africa". Mr Buthelezi was still the Zulu Chief, and from 1975 to 2019 led the Inkatha Freedom Party (IFP), the main opposition to the Communist-dominated African National Congress (ANC), which has ruled South Africa since 1994.

They do have elections in South Africa, about as free and fair as the American presidential election of 2020. The IFP never had a chance of forming a national government because it is supported almost exclusively by the Zulus. The other tribes fall into line with the ANC, and the whites and Asians make up the Democratic Alliance, never really a force in SA politics, nationally.

What does this have to do with this week's riots? Just this... Some Zulus, seeing that the IFP would never get their hands on the levers of power, defected to the ANC, which is now split along tribal lines. The disgraced ex-President, Jacob Zuma, is a Zulu, and it is his people who are now in the streets. If Mr Zuma lived like a traditional Zulu chief, well, why shoudn't he?!

Mr Zuma adheres to many traditional Zulu customs, including polygamy. This has endeared him to some segments of the population but has also been a source of criticism from others, who find some customs to be at odds with what they consider to be "modern societal norms". In February of  2010, Mr Zuma addmitted that he had fathered a child out of wedlock, something frowned upon in traditional Zulu culture.

He also had to deal with allegations of impropriety regarding extensive upgrades -- "for security reasons", of course -- to his private homestead at Nkandla in KZN. An official report in March of 2014 concluded that many of the publicly funded improvements made to Zuma’s homestead, such as a swimming pool, an amphitheatre, and a cattle kraal, were... wait for it... not security-related. Mr Zuma was found to have "benefited unduly" from the "upgrades" ans was asked to pay for some of them. Whether he ever did so is not known. 

The list goes on, but the present hoorah comes down to the feeling of Mr Zuma's supporters that he was persecuted for living the life to which he was entitled. And if he corruptly received certain benefits, well, what American president could plead "not guilty" to similar accusations? And anyway, it's not like Mr Zuma is white! He's just another victim!

Besides, in today's South Africa, any excuse for rioting and looting will do as long as it is somehow tied to making non-black people pay for the oppression of black people, once upon a time. Thank goodness that's only South Africa and not any place closer to home!

Who's to blame for "mostly peaceful protests"?

You could see it coming. Here's what happens after years of crime and corruption, economic stagnation and rising unemployment, the crumbling of the state in key sectors such as electricity and transport, a growing lawlessness in many regions, and an unofficial policy of impunity for violent street mobs. 

What you see in the pix is not "reparations shopping" in Chicago, St Louis, San Francisco or Portland -- all those fine Democratic cities -- but black people rioting and looting in Johannesburg and other cities of South Africa. Happening right now, it's what the gliberals call "mostly peaceful protests" against the imprisonment of former president Jacob Zuma after convictions on charges of corruption and malfeasance. 

As in the Excited States of America, folks of the coloured persuasion seize on any excuse for rioting and looting. So bad is the situation that the SA government has called up 25,000 army reservists in an attempt to restore order. They will likely find themselves outnumbered, as tens of thousands continue to attack shopping malls and set factories ablaze. ("No more work! Let's go shoppin'!") 

In Durban (the largest city in Mr Zuma's KwaZulu-Natal province), some 45,000 businesses have been affected by the "unrest" (the PC term). Across the country, food and fuel shortages are worsening. At least 200 shopping centres have been ransacked by looters, and national highways have been shut down, endangering alrelady tenuous supply chains.The official death toll, as of this morning, stands at 72, but unofficial reports put the number of deaths in stampedes and shootings in the 1000s.

Who is to blame for all this? Must be whitey, right? Isn't South Africa the country where they have that apartheid system to keep the fuzzy-wuzzies down and the white on top? Errr, no. "Settler rule", as the United Nations called it, ended in 1994, when Nelson Mandela became president. 

That was 27 years ago. And -- trust me on this, I was there -- that's when the decline of what was theretofore the most developed, most prospereous country in Africa began. That's when smart Afrikaaners started leaving for places where white folks still run things, like Australia and Canada. [Those who went to Canada must be really disappointed! Ed.] 

South Africa was given back to its aboriginal peoples, and has now become just like all the other shitholes of darkest Africa. There's a lesson there somewhere, for those who are not blinded by ant-white racism and political correctness. 

Who's running the municipal governments of Chicago, Atlanta, Detroit and Baltimore? Not white Republicans! And what is happening in those and similar failing American cities? Persistent crime and corruption, years of economic stagnation and rising unemployment, etc etc. 

The difference between those cities and, say, Johannesburg, is that in the USA, it's all because of things that some white people did to some black people nearly two centuries ago. Maybe if we tear down some more statues, rename some more streets, and start teaching white kids about how rotten they are, the rioting and looting will stop. Right? LMAO!

Innocent question

VIDEO: A 1950s vision of the world we live in today

Agent 6 has passed along a very interesting video, allegedly made on 29 February 1956. Is it possible that some clairvoyant could have seen so accurately not just the blessings of modern technology, but the problems humans would create for themselves? You be the judge? Running time 2:51.

   

 A big thank-you to Agent 6. Even if this is a fake, the message is worth sharing.

Islamic takeover of Europe feared 1338 years ago

Archaeologists excavating under London's Fleet Street during road works have unearthed a fragment of a seventh-century newspaper in which concern was expressed about the spread of Islam across North Africa and into Europe.

OK, ya got us. This little spoof appeared in the UK satirical magazine Private Eye in February of 2013. In 683 A.D., the followers of the Religion of Peace (TM) were, even then, engaged in not the First but the Second Islamic Civil War. 

In September of that year, Yazidi besieged the holy city of Mecca, and bombarded it with catapults. The Kaaba -- the holiest site in Islam -- was severely damaged, and the Black Stone inside it split into three pieces. It was later rebuilt, and the reassembled fragments of the Black Stone set into a silver frame, now remounted them in the Kaaba's eastern corner, where devout Muslims throw stones at it during the Haj.

There are still Yazidis in the Middle East, living mostly in "Kurdistan" -- the disputed territories of northern Iraq and eastern Turkey where both Sunni and Shia Muslims regularly attack them, and vice versa. 

The Islamists no longer attempt to invade Europe by force of arms. Nowadays they do it as "refugees" and "asylum-seekers" who cross the Mediterranean from North Africa by the 1000s and are welcomed by the bleeding heart liberals and others  (Hello George! Hello Francis!) trying to preciptate the end of Christian civilization.

Critical race theory pictured perfectly

Nick Adams (@NickAdamsinUSA) describes himself as President Trump's favourite author. Hadn't heard of him until I saw this meme today on Blazing Cat Fur, but with an endorsement like that, will have to check him out!

"Gypsy moth" to get new, politically correct name

Wendy Mesley retired a few days ago. [Who she? Ed.] Glad you asked. At one time Ms Mesley was a star in the News and Public Affairs section of the Canadian Broadcorping Castration, the state-owned broadcaster of Canuckistan. 

When the Corpse chose a new anchor to replace the venerable Peter Mansbridge on the National newcast, she was passed over in favour of Liberal arse-licker Rosie O'Donnell. [Ed. Please check that. Might have been another Rosie.]

Ms Mesley was banished to the Siberia of Sunday morning TV, where she hosted The Weakly, a talk show about media, politics, and technology, until last June, when the show and Wendy got cancelled. Why? Because, in a staff meeting which included a couple of vizmins, she dared to utter the N-word. 

She was not referring to POC (Persons of Colour), but to White Niggers of America, the title of the English translation of Nègres blancs d'Amérique, a 1968 book by pseudo-Marxist Québécois journalist Pierre Vallières, who was banging the drum for the separation of la Belle Province from the rest of Canada.

Context doesn't matter to the PC police at the CBC. Wendy Mesley said the N-word out loud. Nya-nya-na-na-na. So she was seen and heard no more.

In our "woke" society, the N-word is, apparently, the very worst word one can utter, a "racial slur" (as it's referred to now), even more shocking and offensive than George Carlin's "Seven words you can't say on TV", which nowadays are heard on TV all the time.

But there is another "racial slur" which is almost as bad, one that you will never hear on the CBC or NPR, or read in the Times or Wapo. It refers to a tribe of people, mostly from central Europe, who have been discriminated against -- not without reason -- for centuries, in both Euroope and North America. The PC word for those people is "Roma".

[Roma? Who they? Ed.] Glad you asked. They used to be called Gypsies. The singular is Gypsy. I can remember my mother warning me that if I wasn't careful about talking to strangers and wandering too far from home, the Gypsies would steal me. (At other times she said I wasn't her child, that Gypsies had left me on her doorstep!)

So... the second-worst racial slur  you can use nowadays is the G-word. Which brings us [at last! Ed.] to the subject of today's headline: Lymantria dispar (or L. dispar), heretofore known as the gypsy moth.

It is not the gypsy moths, actually, but their larvae -- caterpillars -- which are causing incredible damage to trees and other greenery in areas around the Great Lakes, as reported by Agent 2 who says the buggers aren't just harmful but icky.

Indeed, the gypsy moth and the lesser-known gypsy ants have bad names for their destructive eating habits. But the experts at the Entomological Society of America, which oversees the common names of bugs, thinks they don't deserve a common name which is also an "ethnic slur...that's been rejected by the Romani people a long time ago." So says society president Michelle S. Smith, adding that "nobody wants to be associated with a harmful invasive pest." 

The society seems to have time and resources to spare, so is taking a hard look at some 2000 common insect names to remove those which are now deemed geographically inaccurate or "derogatory" (read: politically incorrect). 

University of Illinois entomologist May Berenbaum, a past ESA president, said the moths likely got their name because as larvae they have hair with small air pockets that act like balloons allowing them to float for kilometres, wandering like the group of people they were named after. Another theory is that male adult moths have a tan colour that could be similar to Romani people. 

The Entomological Society is now on the hunt for a new common name, a process that will take months. Ms Berenbaum, who has written about weirdly named plants and animals -- e.g. the "jewfish", now known as "goliath grouper" -- said that given the moths' destructiveness, she and other would have some ideas for a descriptive new name. But, she said, "You're not allowed to use obscenities, so that's out."

Footnote: The same woke reasoning explains why the meeja no longer calls the "Indian variant" of the Covid virus by that name. It's now the "Delta variant". Mustn't stigmatize anyone or anything, you know!

MUSIC VIDEO: Album release: Maria Muldaur sings with Tuba Skinny

Every young man should have a crush on a girl singer, at least once in his life, right? When I was young(er) [MUCH "young(er") Ed.] I was hot for Maria Muldaur. 

I bought her first album, just to get the hit single "Midnight at the Oasis", but when I looked at the cover photo and listened to the first cut on Side B -- "Don't You Feel My Leg (Don't You Get Me High)" -- I couldn't help but feel "Heaven's above!" (Yes Father, I mentioned this in confession, ages ago.)

Over the decades I lost track of Ms Muldaur, so was delighted when she came out of retirement (I presume) to sing with my favourite New Orleans jazz (formerly Dixieland jazz) band, Tuba Skinny. 

Erika Lewis has been the vocalist with the band since Day One, but has recently been on a "time out", thus opening the door, so to speak, for Maria. She's put on some weight [You too! Ed.] but still has a beautiful sultry voice [Not you too! Ed.], just the type for this kind of folksy-bluesy music.

In May, Tuba Skinny and Maria Muldaur released "Let's Get Happy Together", their first (but, one hopes, not last) album together. Here is the official album release concert, recorded at the historic Dew Drop Social and Benevolent Hall in Mandeville LA.  

The album is on Stony Plain Records. You can click here to stream, download or order the CD. And don't forget to tip the band! When you donate, please tell them Walt sent ya! (No, I don't get a commission, just want them to know I'm trying to help.)

Footnote: Shaye Cohn, seen here playing the cornet, leads Tuba Skinny. Although she can play some half dozen other instruments, she doesn't sing... but in my fever dreams she doesn't need to! 

UPDATED: Electric vehicles: not so green after all!

Breitbart News has been covering the Globalist American Empire summer camp, in progress [Geddit? Ed.] this week in Sun Valley ID. Those attending are the right-thinking progressive liberals who plan our future in such a way that they always manage to come out on top.

One of the things they have in mind for us, part of Sleepy Joe's Green New Deal, is forced conversion from vehicles which run on fossil fuels to the greener cleaner ones that run on electricity. Pretty soon, they tell us, everyone will be driving a Tesla or Chevy Volt [Didn't GM cancel those? Ed.], because gas-powered vehicles will no longer be manufactured in North America. Elon Musk will be so pleased!

We should be pleased too (they tell us) what with gas having risen last weekend to their highest prices since 2014, and further increases expected as the Biden-Harris cancellation of Keystone XL and other pipelines leads, as surely as day follows night, to shortages of the lifeblood of American transportation.

"Where am I gonna get the juice?" is a question motorists should be asking as they contemplate making the big switcheroo to a car that runs on batteries. "Range reluctance" is one of the two biggest reasons people have for wanting to stick with their old gas-guzzlers. (Sticker shock is the other. Have you priced a Tesla lately?)

Walt wonders if forced electrification is part of the Democratic (in Canada, read: Liberal) conspiracy against those of us who live in rural areas. The billions of dollars that are to be spent on "building a modern and sustainable infrastructure" [direct quote from Joe's website. Ed.] will be spent in places like New York and San Francisco, not Fort Mudge! Charging stations will be readily accessible to liberal city dwellers, but what will we do for fuel, out here in the boonies?

The liberal elites have an answer for that. It looks like this.

Yes, campers, it's an electric charging station that runs on diesel. They’re popping up everywhere! This one appears to be somewhere in the Nullarbor Plain, an almost trackless waste which stretches across the southern edge of Australia between the goldfields of Western Australia and the Eyre Peninsula in South Australia.

You'd think there would be solar power aplenty in such a place, but apparently they have the same problem -- how to store the eneregy until someone comes along to recharge his Holden Volt. Better to use a reliable (if politically incorrect) generator like this 350kw beauty. It uses 12 gallons of diesel fuel per hour, and it takes 3 hours to charge a car enough to go another 200 miles. That's 36 gallons for 200 miles -- 5.6 mpg! How “green” is that?!

Thanks and a tip of the Aussie outback hat (the one with the corks dangling from the brim) to Agent 6, who often drives 100s of miles a day in gas- and diesel-powered vehicles.

Note from Ed.: "Nullarbor" is derived from the Latin words for "no" + "trees". You already knew that, eh.

UPDATE ADDED 18/7/21: Further reading: "It's Time to Unplug the Hype Over Electric Vehicles", by Robert Bryce, on Real Clear Energy, 11/7/21.

"Negro" or "black" or "Afro-American"? American historian weighs in

Joseph Chamberlain Furnas (24/11/1905 – 3/6/2001) was an American freelance writer, whose works include a trilogy of social histories of the United States: The Americans (covering the period 1570-1914), Great Times (covering the period 1914-1929) and Stormy Weather: Crosslights on the 1930s (which covers the time between the stock market crash and the attack on Pearl Harbor.) 

Mr Furnas was a Quaker, and a believer in the equality and brotherhood of man. Two of his books, The Road to Harper's Ferry and Goodbye to Uncle Tom, deal with "black" issues, notably slavery, which he viewed as an evil institution which degraded (black) slaves and (white) masters alike.

The Road to Harper's Ferry is an account of John Brown's raid on Harper's Ferry, which delves into the lives and motivations of the "Secret Six" who gave him a great deal of his support. Goodbye to Uncle Tom examines how Uncle Tom's Cabin, both as a novel and in its many stage adaptations, has shaped American attitudes towards "Afro-Americans" and slavery.

I've put quotation marks around "black" and "Afro-Americans" for a reason. Mr Furnas wrestled throughout his writing with what to call people of the coloured persuasion. In a footnote at pp 405-6 of The Americans (G.P. Putnam's Sons, New York, 1969), he explains his preference for the word "Negro" to those terms which came before ("coloured") or later ("black"). 

Most of this book had been drafted before the recent shift frm "Negro" to "black" to designate Americans with discernibly West African genetic traits. Many Northern politicians and most of the communications industry [today we'd say "media". Walt] have adoped the term. I have...considered making the change throughout this book. Several rasons have deterred me.

For instance, there is no reliable way to learn how acceptable the term "black" may be to the many million Americans most directly affected. It has been used contemptuously for centuries, particularly by the British. 

Then the change seems pointless as a matter of logic. "Negro" is simply Spanish-Portuguese for "black". Neither term accurately describes either the skin pigmentation or (if "Negro" is used as anthropologists sometimes use it) the genetic makeup of most of the Americans to whom it is applied.

Either word could apply to the many Melanesians who are very disttantly if at all related to the West Africans from whom American Negroes descend. So "black" is no improvement if intelligibility is the test.

There is good reason to believe that the actual motivation, maybe often unconscious, of the current sponsors of "black", of the militant separatist-minded leaders a mong them, is to express alienation from all whites, even their most earnest well-wishers, instead of an effort toward higher accuracy of group-definition. 

Were I to make the shift in this book, I might well find within a year or two that a new token of alienation, maybe "Afro-American", had succeeded "black". 

And that's exactly what happened, except that "African-American" was more widely used than "Afro-American". Then, as "African-Americans" began to visit their ancestral homelands, as members of the Peace Corps or just as tourists, they discovered that they were strangers there, just as much as the evil whites. 

So we don't hear/read "African-American" any more. The current politically correct term is "Black", with a capital "B", as in "Black lives matter." I guess that's better than "black" because the capital shows that progressive people are giving "Black" folks mo' respeck... or something like that. [Should we call ourselves "White"? Ed.] Too bad Mr Furnas didn't live to comment on the current wokeness.

Salut, les Habs!

Walt [and Ed.! Ed.] join our National Sports Editor, Poor Len Canayen, in saluting the Montréal Canadiens, who were defeated 1-0 by the Tampa Bay Lightning last night, in what became the final game of the NHL Stanley Cup playoffs. Congratulations on a playoff run as improbable as it was inspiring. Now over to Len for the wrap-up.

The spectacular playoff run of le Canadien, known to all as "the Habs", is over. They lost to a better team, the 2020 Stanley Cup winners who have now won their second in a row and could well do a threepeat next year. 

But the Habs have nothing to be ashamed of. They had one bad game -- Game 2 -- and just one really good game -- Game 4 -- but overall played as well against the Bolts as any other team could have. I don't think Las Vegas, who the Habs beat 4 games to 2 in the semi-final, could have done any better. 

Without doing too much shoulda-woulda-coulda, I can't help feeling that if the Habs' coaches had followed my advice and put Romanov and Kulak in place of Merrill and Gustafsson after Game 2, they might have won one more game. Ultimately, though, Canada's team lost through a lack of scoring, as was particularly evident last night. There weren't enough guys who were consistently able to finish a passing play, so it was rush, rush, rush, and the Lightning did a great job of defending against that.

The amazing thing about the Canadiens' playoff run is that many would say (and are still saying, shame on them) that the Habs didn't deserve to be in the series at all! Of the 16 teams who made the playoffs, le bleu-blanc-et-rouge had the worst regular season season, the only team to get into the playoffs in spite of a negative goals for/against stat. 

La Sainte Flannelle finished fourth in what was deemed to be the weakest of the NHL's four divisions, and to reach the finals beat not one, not two, but three teams who were better than they. First they came back from a 3-games-to-1 deficit to defeat the much-favoured Toronto Maple Leafs. Then they swept the Winnipeg Jets, four straight. Then they beat Las Vegas, who had finished second overall in the NHL, 4 games to 2. 

Indeed it was an impressive playoff run, of which les Glorieux and their fans right across Canada (and in Canada's 11th province -- Florida!) can be proud. All of us here at WWW offer most sincere congratulations and best wishes for 2021-22.

What about "next year", which begins in just 97 days? The Canadiens will have a much different roster. Although they don't get a pick until the third round of the entry draft, they will lose one of their better players (G Jake Allen?) in the expansion draft. And at least two under-performers -- I can think of four, but won't name names today -- will be gone. So I'll not make any predictions until I see who's in the training camp. See you in September!

Worth watching on YouTube: "Montreal's Cinderella Run Falls Short in 2021 Finals", with THG (Shannon, The Hockey Guy), 8/7/21.

UPDATED: Where is St James the Moorslayer when we need him?

We -- Walt, Poor Len Canayen [and Ed.! Ed.] - were preoccupied, this holiday weekend, with the Stanley Cup playoffs. I am happy to report that our beloved Habs won last night's game vs Tampa Bay (3-2 in OT) and are alive to fight another day (Wednesday, 2000 EDT). Now we can turn our attention to the rest of the news.

Turns out Walt was not wrong to be concerned about the future of the very Disunited States of Ameria. (See "'One nation, under God, indivisible...' HAH!", WWW 4/7/21. Americans -- or some of them -- celebreated the Glorious Fourth by shooting at each other. 150 citizens were fatally shot in more than 400 shootings nationwide. Epicentres of gun violence included New York City (Bill de Blasio, Democrat, Mayor) and Chicago (Lori Lightfoot, Democrat, Mayor). I leave it to you to figure out the race of the majority of the shooters and shootees. 

That's pretty run-of-the-mill stuff in today's America. But there was a truly bizarre "incident" in Massachusetts. A stretch of the I-95 around Wakefield was shut down for several hours owing to a standoff between MA state police and a group of "militiamen" calling themselves "Rise of the Moors", which authorities say adheres to "Moorish Sovereign Ideology".

During the standoff one member of the group broadcast on a social media account for the group "Rise of the Moors" that they were not anti-government or anti-police. The website for the group says they are "Moorish Americans [sic] dedicated to educating new Moors* and influencing our Elders." The group’s Facebook, YouTube and Instagram accounts had been taken offline by early Sunday

Reports from the Boston Herald and other sources say that the standoff began around 0130 on July 3rd when a state trooper stopped to offer assistance to two vehicles he found parked, with hazard lights flashing, on the shoulder of the I-95 near Wakefield. The trooper called for backup and most of the group went into the nearby woods until they surrendered to a police tactical team just after 1000.

The group told police they were traveling from Rhode Island to Maine to conduct "training". Troopers recovered three AR-15 rifles, two pistols, a bolt-action rifle, a shotgun and a short-barrel rifle. None of the men, who were dressed in military fatigues and body armor, was licensed to carry firearms in Massachusetts.

Ten of the 11 men arrested are to be arraigned today on charges of unlawful possession of a firearm, unlawful possession of ammunition, use of body armor in commission of a crime, possession of a high capacity magazine, improper storage of a firearm in a vehicle, and conspiracy to commit a crime. According to police Capt. Peter Griffin, "additional charges are possible if the ongoing investigation, including the expected search of the defendants’ two vehicles, determines they are warranted."

Those identifiede by state police include:

Jamhal Tavon Sanders Latimer, aka Jamhal Talib Abdullah Bey, 29, of Providence RI, the self-proclaimed leader of "Rise of the Moors", pictured.

Robert Rodriguez, 21, of the Bronx

Wilfredo Hernandez, aka Will Musa, 23, of the Bronx

Alban [doesn't that mean "white"? Ed.] El Curraugh, 27, also from the Bronx

Aaron Lamont Johnson, aka Tarrif Sharif Bey, 29, of Detroit

Quinn Cumberlander, 40, of Pawtucket RI

Lamar Dow, 34, another one from the Bronx, and

Conrad Pierre, 29, of Baldwin NY

Authorities have not named the 17-year-old male also arrested, and two additional males have so far refused to identify themselves. The 17-year-old was released into parental custody, while the remaining adult defendants were held at the Billerica House of Correction on $100,000 cash bail. 

*Footnote: Our dictionary of archaisms defines "Blackamoor" as a black African or a very dark-skinned person. Not a word you see in use any more. Even "Moor", meaning a person from Morocco [geddit? Moor-oco? Ed.] has been thrown down the same memory hole as the N-word... until these guys showed up.

Another footnote: 1000s of Moors were allegedly killed by Christians, with the help of Saint James the Moor-slayer, aka Santiago Matamoros, the name given to the representation of the apostle James, son of Zebedee, at the Battle of Clavijo (which may or may not have actually happened). Surely no appeal to Saint James would ever be necessary in 21st-century America!

UPDATE ADDED 7/7/21: Further reading: "Members of 'Rise of the Moors' sovereign citizen militia REFUSE to cooperate at arraignment and claim they are not subject to U.S. laws after 11 were arrested during armed standoff near Boston", Daily Mail, 7/7/21. Check it out, if only to see the photos of the "Moors" and their baby mama supporters.

VIDEO: Father Edward Meeks talks about the plague of "wokeness"

In addition to being the Glorious Fourth of July, yesterday was a Sunday. Hope some of you went to church before enjoying the July 4th cookout promised by Sleepy Joe. The promise that 70% of American would be vaccinated against the kung flu by July 4th didn't quite eventuate -- actual number 63% -- but never mind, there are other plagues to think about.

In yesterday's homily, Father Edward Meeks, a Catholic priest of the Ordinariate of the Chair of Saint Peter, and the founding pastor of Christ the King Church in Towson MD, talked about one of those "other plagues" now sweeping the Excited States of America -- that of political correctness, or not giving offence, in an age when so many seem so easily offended.

   

Lesson 1: If you're a Christian and offended by the "wokeness" of today's America, don't be afraid to stand up and say so. The godlessness of the popular cultural is real. As Fr Meeks says, those infected by it need to "wake up from their wokeness" before it's too late -- for them and for the country. It's up to us to issue the wakeup call! 

Lesson 2: Even more important, acknowledging that we who believe in the Lord are a small and too-often-silent minority in a world of unbelievers, a world hell-bent (word chosen carefully) on self-destruction, we must keep our Faith, for the sake of own souls, lest we follow the majority to eterenal damnation.

"One nation, under God, indivisible..." HAH!

On the Glorious Fourth of July, it's our custom to post something patriotic - three cheers for the red, white and blue! - along with salutations and best wishes to all our American friends and readers. One of the best things we ever posted was this fine video of God Bless America, as sung by the inimitable Kate Smith. Let's hear it again!

   

I always thought that should be the American national anthem. Much easier to sing than The Star-spangled Banner. Makes one want to go out vanquish the foes of freedom, democracy and the American Way of Life! 

But since God Bless America invokes the Deity, it is no longer politically correct. The secular humanists, atheists and radicals have banished God from America's schools, courthouses, and even hospoitals. I expect an amendment to the Constitution to to delete all references to the Almighty, any time now.

And what, pray [Watch it! Ed.] tell, is the American Way of Life nowadays? Do we really believe that life in places like Chicago, San Francisco and Portland is "as good as it gets"? 

From where I sit, the Excited States of America looks to be tearing itself apart. Americans are at each other's throats, figuratively and literally. In spite of Sleepy Joe's promise to reunite America, the country is more  divided now than at any time since 1865.

Americans are separated by race, place and politics. Lines are drawn between them by the politicians and other "elites", with partisans convinced that the other side is the enemy. More than a century ago, Henry Adams defined politics as "the systematic organization of hatreds." That's no less true today.

In The Big Sort: Why the Clustering of Like-Minded America is Tearing Us Apart, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2008, Bill Bishop writes: "There are no cross-cutting issues, places or policies. So there is always conflict. And the ‘other’ is always clearly identifiable."

Note that The Big Sort was published in 2008. You remember 2008, dontcha? That was the year the Prez was elected on a promise to bring all Americans together. That America could elect a black (oops, "Black") man, whose accomplishments amounted to little more than being able to count up to 3 and recite from memory nearly all 26 letters of the alphabet, proved once and for all that the US of A had become "post-racial". Right? LMWAO.

Also worth reading: "It Took Decades for America to Become This Divided", on the Governing website, 23/12/20. Subhead: "Political polarization has become so familiar and entrenched that we barely think how it came about. The backstory is more than a half-century long [more like a century-and-a-half. Walt], involving race, media and a diverging economy." 

What is to be done? I regret to say that my view of the future of the US of A is not a rosy one. The victory of North over South in the Civil War really settled nothing. The same war, over race and the clash between liberal and conservative lifestyles broke out again a century later, and is being fought today, in various ways and various venues, across the length and breadth of the country. 

The physical division of the United States into two groupings -- let's say red states vs blue states -- is now expressly forbidden by the Constitution, and looks to be impractical to the point of impossibility. But when push comes to shove -- as it already has in places like Portland -- I know where I stand. How about you?!

Further reading: Walt's not the only one feeling pessimistic about the future of the US of A. Check out "Enjoy July 4 this Sunday. It might be the last one" by Paul Craig Roberts, 1/7/21.

VIDEOS: Tucker Carlson doesn't think much of Kamala Harris

"Kamala Harris is a joke. She can barely get through the day. She has no idea what she's doing!" 

Guess you don't have to watch the video now, but you might want to think about who's really running the country, since Sleepy Joe Biden is clearly unfit.

 

And here's an earlier one, from June 8th. Mr Carlson asks how this fraud of a person, disliked by her staff and her own constituents, voted for by nobody, wound up effectively in charge of the country.