Fortunately the Royal Family has responded with a little bit of survival savvy, at the 11th hour, having first thought that it would be a good idea for the Firm, to have some diversity, allowing Meghan Merkle to enter the family, marrying IQ-challenged Harry. Stories had Meg fighting with other members of the Family, and being generally disruptive. That was not good. So, diversity is one thing, but sinking the entire ship, is another.  Hence, this statement by Her Majesty the Queen, long live the Queen:

"The Duke and Duchess of Sussex are grateful to Her Majesty and the Royal Family for their ongoing support as they embark on the next chapter of their lives. "As agreed in this new arrangement, they understand that they are required to step back from royal duties, including official military appointments. They will no longer receive public funds for royal duties. "With The Queen's blessing, the Sussexes will continue to maintain their private patronages and associations. While they can no longer formally represent The Queen, the Sussexes have made clear that everything they do will continue to uphold the values of Her Majesty. "The Sussexes will not use their HRH titles as they are no longer working members of the Royal Family. "The Duke and Duchess of Sussex have shared their wish to repay Sovereign Grant expenditure for the refurbishment of Frogmore Cottage, which will remain their UK family home. "Buckingham Palace does not comment on the details of security arrangements. There are well established independent processes to determine the need for publicly-funded security. "This new model will take effect in the spring of 2020."

     The climate change fanatics have been up and at it, not only about the terrible bushfires, but the on-going 100-year floods along the east coast, which they call extreme weather events, even though all of this has happened before. And, as this great article referenced below indicates, as usual incompetence and obfuscation have more to do with the bushfires that any grand climate change:
  https://quadrant.org.au/opinion/doomed-planet/2020/01/an-inferno-of-incompetence-and-obfuscation/

“I reject the ‘blame it on climate change” position because it has two killer flaws: firstly, it ignores fuels, which are the main contributor to uncontrollable fires during a drought; secondly, it provides no practical solutions to the immediate problem. Both of these factors render the climate change argument utterly unsustainable, indeed ridiculous. It is very obvious who the people are who should be held accountable for the current mess. At the top of the list are the premiers and ministers responsible for land management, such as it is, and bushfire policy, and the public servants in their departments with jurisdiction over forests and national parks. State governments in Queensland, New South Wales and Victoria have palpably failed to do the most important job they were elected to do: protect the lives and livelihoods of their citizens and the health of their environment. And their public servants have failed to do the job they are being paid to do: serve the public. Under the Australian Constitution land management, and therefore bushfire management, is the responsibility of the states. It is state governments which decide how crown land will be managed, and how the protection of communities and their assets from bushfire damage will be organised.

     The medical journal, The Lancet, has become lefty political of late, not just with climate change, but with racial identity issues. For example, the latest controversy involves a review of Jonathan Metzl’s Dying of Whiteness: How the Politics of Racial Resentment is Killing America’s Heartland, (Basic Books, New York, 2019), by Rhea Boyd: “Despair Doesn’t Kill, Defending Whiteness Does” (January 11, 2020). First, Metzl takes the predictable line that America’s refusal to ban guns lies with white supremacy, and defending the racial hierarchy. Gun control is s symbolic issue reflecting white privilege, even though most gun deaths are of Whites, who “die for a cause.” This is a crazy thesis that is refuted by the work on the gun issue by John Lott and many others, including Jews for the Preservation of Firearms Ownership, that has resources to debunk every assertion made by Metzl against private firearm ownership. He should consider debating them: 
  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Lott
  http://jpfo.org/

     However, the issue now is with Rhea Boyd, who said on Twitter that whiteness needs to be eliminated, but she deleted the tweet when the storm blew in:

     The Affirmative Right web site, not to be confused with affirmative action, publishes some great material, and some not so great, and some deserving solid critique. The article discussed here, maintains that Whites are largely responsible for their plight, and as hard as is to accept, some good points are made:
  https://affirmativeright.blogspot.com/2019/12/the-myth-of-white-genocide.html

“The truth is that white men are primarily responsible for the destruction of the West. White men liberated women from their traditional role as housewife and mother. Nowadays, women are encouraged to spend their prime reproductive years getting an education and pursuing a career. The consequences of this unrestrained female hypergamy are a lower white fertility rate and the destruction of the traditional monogamous family unit. In 1919, the US Congress ratified the 19th Amendment, giving females the right to vote. Concerning this regressive legislation, academics write:

     Trump wants to flood America with foreign workers. However, this time round it will be poaching upper strata jobs, so that university educated Americans will be tossed on the trash pile, with masses of student debt. It will produce a class of bitter, over-educated people, that may prove problematic for the system in the future.
  https://www.breitbart.com/economy/2020/01/12/donald-trump-we-dont-have-enough-foreign-workers/

     As for Trump’s record, he has achieved no American first issues; everything he has done would have been done by Obama if he could had served another term.
  http://www.occidentaldissent.com/2020/01/11/the-trump-record/

     What’s wrong with me? Am I getting soft in my old age? Why didn’t I think about recommending cancelling the welfare of climate protesters, rather than indulge in vain fantasies about medieval torture and the flames of damnation? Simply starving to death is a tried and proven way of ending dissent, for, after all, this is essentially what the Left are, and will, do to us deplorables:
  https://www.abc.net.au/triplej/programs/hack/peter-dutton-suggests-cancelling-welfare-of-climate-protesters/11572370

“Peter Dutton has proposed scrapping the welfare payments of climate change activists who break the law. Speaking to Ray Hadley on 2GB radio this morning, the Home Affairs Minister called on the public to actively shame protesters who are "putting lives at risk". This week, 10 Extinction Rebellion protesters have been charged over two separate acts of protests that delayed traffic through Brisbane CBD. When asked whether protesters who received government benefits should have their welfare payments removed, Mr Dutton agreed. "Well I agree, Ray," he said. Mr Dutton said the public should 'name and shame' climate protesters. "People should take these names and the photos of these people and distribute them as far and wide as they can so that we shame these people. "Let their families know what you think of their behaviour." Mr Dutton also lashed out at vegan activists who raided farms in April, and the three pro-refugee protesters who briefly occupied the roof of his electorate office in 2016. "We should push back because these people are a scourge," he said.

     Tennis legend Margaret Court has waded into the battle over trans athletes moving into women’s sports, and she has hit the ball real hard into their court:
  https://www.breitbart.com/sports/2019/12/30/tennis-great-margaret-court-decries-transgender-athletes-lgbt-rights-as-of-the-devil/

“Australian tennis great Margaret Court hit out at transgender athletes on Sunday and branded the teaching of LGBT rights as “of the devil.” The 77-year-old, who won a record 24 Grand Slam singles titles, made the comments while giving a sermon at her Victory Life Church in the Australian city of Perth. Addressing the issue of trans athletes competing in male or female sports, the Christian pastor said: “You know with that LGBT, they’ll wish they never put the T on the end of it because, particularly in women’s sports, they’re going to have so many problems.” She also claimed children as young as seven were beginning to change gender, adding: “It’s so wrong at that age because a lot of things are planted in this thought realm and they start to question, ‘what am I?’ “You know, even that LGBT in the schools, it’s of the devil, it’s not of God…” Court is known as an opponent of gay unions and stated in the past that lesbianism on the women’s tour has a corrupting influence on young players, as Breitbart Sports reported. Twelve-times grand slam champion Billie Jean King last year called for Court’s name stripped to be from the Australian Open showcourt in Melbourne because Court’s views on sexuality, including the claim that “tennis is full of lesbians”, are offensive to her.”

     Can you believe it? The Epstein globo-paedo footage, of the evil beast in his well-earnt cell, has gone missing due to an error. What!
  https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-51053205
  https://www.cnbc.com/2020/01/09/jail-video-of-jeffrey-epsteins-first-suicide-attempt-was-deleted.html

“Surveillance video from disgraced financier Jeffrey Epstein's first suspected suicide attempt was destroyed by accident, prosecutors say. US prosecutors say the jail mistakenly saved footage from the wrong cell. Epstein, a convicted sex offender, first tried to kill himself in July last year, then hanged himself in jail in August while awaiting trial on federal sex-trafficking charges. He had pleaded not guilty to abusing dozens of girls, some as young as 14. Soon after Epstein's death, in August, two of the CCTV cameras outside his cell had malfunctioned and were being examined by the FBI, US media reported. Epstein was found semi-conscious in his prison cell with injuries to his neck on 25 July. After this incident, he was placed on suicide watch. Eventually, Epstein was moved to a different cell, where he died on 10 August. Two prison guards have since been accused of failing to check on him during this time and falsifying records to say that they had. There have been ongoing questions over the July recording, which was initially deemed missing and then was said to have been located by jail staff. A letter filed by Assistant US Attorneys Jason Swergold and Maurene Comey said "the footage contained on the preserved video was for the correct date and time, but captured a different tier than the one where Cell-1 was located", New York City media report. "The requested video no longer exists on the backup system and has not since at least August 2019 as a result of technical errors." The request for the video was made by a lawyer for Nicholas Tartaglione, a former New York police officer who shared a cell with Epstein in July and is charged with homicide in an unrelated case. The attorney argued the video could show his client had acted "admirably", possibly helping Epstein.”

     It was only a matter of time before they destroyed James Bond 007, because, well, a macho symbol had to go:
  https://www.counter-currents.com/the-importance-of-james-bond-order/

     Yes, 50 years of great entertainment, gone. I remember working in the school holidays to get some pocket money to go see a Bond movie. Gone. This video by aggro film critic, the Critical Drinker, slams the forthcoming über politely correct Bond movie. It is worth one last sad look. Say goodbye to a friend, who now sails to wherever it is true fictional heroes go when dead.
  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ol8E-cPOhdA

     I have been covering the vast sell-off of Australia’s water resources, done in the driest continent on Earth, stricken by long-lasting droughts. Hard to believe, but true, once a nation loses its sense of identity and is deracinated:
  https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-7884855/Queensland-town-runs-water-Chinese-company-given-green-light-extract-water-area.html?ico=pushly-notifcation-small

“A drought-ravaged town has run out of water just weeks after a Chinese company was given the go-ahead to run a commercial water extraction facility in the region. Stanthorpe in Queensland's Southern Downs is now fully dependent on 42 truckloads of water a day brought in from a dam 60km to the north. The local dam for the town of 5,000 people has dipped to just 11 per cent of capacity, with those living in Stanthorpe limited to 80 litres of water per person a day. Southern Downs Regional Council tightened the water restrictions last month just one day after approving the development of a mining operation 40km away at the Queensland border town of Cherrabah. The 'full-time water carting' from Connolly Dam consists of 1.3 megalitres per day and mayor Tracy Dobie said the operation is the biggest of its kind by an Australian local government. 'We've now commenced full trucking of water. There's 14 trucks doing three trips a day,' she said. 'Council promised the community we would not run out of water. 'The initial stages of water carting went extremely well and without incident. We will now move to full-time water carting to provide water to the Stanthorpe Region.' Remaining local reserves will be kept back for emergency use.  Despite the water importation, the 80-litre restriction will remain in place - four times less than the average individual water consumption of 340 litres per day according to Riverina Water.”

     Beatles fans, of which I am not, tend not to like Yoko Ono, whom they blame for breaking up the fab four, as if they would not have broken up soon anyway, given their inflated egos. Anyway, Meghan Merkle has been compared to Yoko Ono. That I think is unfair to the screaming Japanese conceptual artist, who merely took Lennon where he was going anyway, while Markle, an actress who did numerous sex scenes in her film, endangers an entire institution, which could have national, if not international significance, for the survival of the monarchy.
  https://www.breitbart.com/europe/2020/01/09/royal-family-deeply-disappointed-and-hurt-by-harry-and-meghans-announcement-report/
  https://www.breitbart.com/politics/2020/01/09/farage-prince-harry-let-side-down-compares-meghan-wallis-simpson/

“Playing the Yoko role is former Suits actress Meghan Markle — aka Princess Pushy; aka the Duchess of Sussex. Playing the Lennon role is former bad boy heartthrob Afghanistan vet helicopter pilot turned bleeding heart, henpecked pantywaist Prince Harry. Playing the rest of the Beatles are the Queen, the Duke of Edinburgh, Prince William, Kate and all the other royals quite understandably concerned that if this nonsense carries on for much longer it could be the end of everything. Obviously, in this particular tiff, the majority of British people are very much Team Beatles rather than Team John ‘n’ Yoko. This is partly because most of us support our Royal Family, a bastion of traditional values and a unifying force in times of national celebration and crisis. Mainly, though, it’s because we can’t stand Princess Pushy. As I may have hinted in my last piece on the subject – Princess Pushy Go Home! – Meghan Markle is a dangerously and unnecessarily divisive figure. We don’t mind that she is an actress: the Royal Family has accommodated plenty of those in its time from Charles II’s mistress Nell Gwynne onwards. And we’re certainly not bothered that she is ‘black’. No one even noticed Meghan was of mixed-race heritage until she and her supporters kept banging on about it, as though she were the first ‘person of colour’ the extremely cosmopolitan and well-travelled Royal Family had ever met. Rather, it’s that ever since attaching herself to Prince Harry she has tried to push the Royal Family and, by example, the whole country in a direction that the vast majority of us find utterly repellant. Meghan’s ideological role model is Woke Hollywood: the kind of hypocritical, spoilt, identity-politics-obsessed, whiny, needy, thin-skinned, crass, cry-bullying, virtue-signalling cesspit that Ricky Gervais so deservedly mocked at the Golden Globes. She could have kept her woke politics to herself – that would have been the sensible thing, especially in the early days of her marriage, so as to allow the British people to get used to her. This is the usual quid pro quo when you marry into the Royal firm: in return for your newly elevated social status and your freebies (like Meghan’s multi-million-pound grace and favour cottage on the Queen’s estate in Windsor) you accept that you have certain duties, one of which is not to come across like an entitled gold digger.”

     Greenies are anti-coal and oil in part because they believe that techno-industrial civilisation can kick over with renewables. This is their ultimate faith, since only a minority of environmentalists accept that industrial civilisation should be abandoned. However, renewables cannot power the modern world, as the utter failure of renewables as a replacement energy source in Germany shows:
  https://www.technocracy.news/renewables-were-never-meant-to-power-modern-civilization/
  https://www.spiegel.de/international/germany/german-failure-on-the-road-to-a-renewable-future-a-1266586.html

“The so-called Energiewende, the shift away from nuclear in favor of renewables, the greatest political project undertaken here since Germany's reunification, is facing failure. In the eight years since Fukushima, none of Germany's leaders in Berlin have fully thrown themselves into the project, not least the chancellor. Lawmakers have introduced laws, decrees and guidelines, but there is nobody to coordinate the Energiewende, much less speed it up. And all of them are terrified of resistance from the voters, whenever a wind turbine needs to be erected or a new high-voltage transmission line needs to be laid out. Analysts from McKinsey have been following the Energiewende since 2012, and their latest report is damning. Germany, it says, "is far from meeting the targets it set for itself." Germany's Federal Court of Auditors is even more forthright about the failures. The shift to renewables, the federal auditors say, has cost at least 160 billion euros in the last five years. Meanwhile, the expenditures "are in extreme disproportion to the results," Federal Court of Auditors President Kay Scheller said last fall, although his assessment went largely unheard in the political arena. Scheller is even concerned that voters could soon lose all faith in the government because of this massive failure.

     Why is Trump being impeached merely for the Democrats hating him, even being the migrants’ best friend, while Hillary Clinton, who endangered national security by her lack of security with official emails, is free to drink martinis and watch the sun rise.
  https://www.breitbart.com/politics/2020/01/10/years-later-more-illicit-hillary-clinton-emails-emerge/

“It has been more than three years since President Donald Trump defeated Democrat Hillary Rodham Clinton in the 2016 presidential election, but all of Clinton’s emails at the center of the email scandal that plagued her failed presidential campaign have still not seen the light of day. But on Friday, conservative watchdog group Judicial Watch announced the FBI produced 37 new pages of Clinton emails demonstrating she mishandled classified information and used text messages for official business as well. Judicial Watch announced in a press release on Friday: Judicial Watch today released 37 pages of new Clinton emails recently found by the FBI that show former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton used her unsecure, non-government email to transmit classified information. The new emails also show Clinton used text messages for government business. The documents, produced to Judicial Watch after a review by the State Department, include 13 new Clinton emails. The State Department did not provide information about where the emails were found; why they were not previously produced; or if additional records are anticipated. Last month, a Justice Department attorney could not tell a federal court judge how and where the FBI discovered the new cache of Clinton emails. The State Department previously claimed it had produced all releasable Clinton emails, including emails recovered by the FBI that Hillary Clinton tried to destroy or withhold.

     No doubt many of us Christians are world weary from the constant battles against the forces of darkness, death and degeneracy, and would like to withdraw from it all. Well, in America, this is being tried, and shows the way forward beyond the nation state, where each group founds their own “ethnostate,” be it based on race or religion. Rather than be ruled by the myth of diversity, this regime’s ideological justification for global capitalism, people would seek homogeneity:
  https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2020/01/retreat-christian-soldiers/603043/

“Half an hour down the highway from Topeka, Kansas, not far from the geographic center of the United States, sits the town of St. Marys. Like many towns in the region, it is small, quiet, and conservative. Unlike many towns in the region, it is growing. As waves of young people have abandoned the Great Plains in search of economic opportunity, St. Marys has managed to attract families from across the nation. The newcomers have made the radical choice to uproot their lives in pursuit of an ideological sanctuary, a place where they can raise their children according to values no longer common in mainstream America. St. Marys is home to a chapter of the Society of St. Pius X, or SSPX. Named for the early-20th-century pope who railed against the forces of modernism, the international order of priests was formed in the aftermath of the Second Vatican Council, the Catholic Church’s attempt, in the 1960s, to meet the challenges of contemporary life. Though not fully recognized by the Vatican, the priests of SSPX see themselves as defenders of the true practices of Roman Catholicism, including the traditional Latin Mass, celebrated each day in St. Marys. Perfumed with incense and filled with majestic Latin hymns, the service has an air of formality and grandeur. To most American Catholics under the age of 50, it would be unrecognizable. …

     It will probably not happen in Australia, which is likely to simply wither on the vine, but the US seems to be heading full throttle into Civil War 2.0. If so, looking at the vast human dung piles, literally in the case of San Francisco, Chicago and Baltimore, that US cities have become, I wonder how the population will eat, even if they have the money? After all, everything is trucked in to cities, and truckers do not want to be killed, or even have scratches on their precious rig, let alone bullet holes:
  https://www.survival.news/2020-01-06-truckers-coalition-warns-of-supply-chain-crisis-cities-war-zones-disruptions.html

“The Executive Director of the Small Business in Transportation Coalition (SBTC) — known as Truckers.com — has issued a stern warning about a “super supply chain crisis” that could severely disrupt trucking and transportation operations that bring supplies to all U.S. cities. James Lab issued a Dec. 17th press release in which he warned of “nationwide riots that will impede truckers’ ability to make deliveries of products for Americans’ consumption.” Those supplies include food, fuel, medicine, ammunition and other supplies on which Americans depend each day. This warning was issued a few weeks before President Trump’s drone strike on Soleimani — an event that many believe might set off activation of radical Islamic sleeper cells that have been embedded in U.S. cities, awaiting orders to strike critical infrastructure and cause mayhem. According to the SBTC’s press release, the authoritarian gun confiscation push of tyrannical Democrats in Virginia could, all by itself, “quickly escalate into armed conflict reminiscent of the Civil War.” As the announcement also states: Lamb fears the conflict… in Virginia could escalate and spiral out of control.

     I don’t know if the death penalty by being drawn and quartered presently exists for criticising any aspect of vaccination, so just pretend that you have not read this:
  https://www.naturalnews.com/2020-01-09-vaccines-spread-infectious-disease-fully-vaccinated-children.html

“A new peer-reviewed scientific paper published in the journal Tropical Diseases, Travel Medicine and Vaccines has found that the DTaP vaccine for diphtheria, tetanus, and pertussis (whooping cough) is causing children who receive it to become more prone to contracting whooping cough later on in life. According to the study, children who receive the entire DTaP series of vaccinations are up to 15 times more likely to contract whooping cough at the five-year mark following these jabs compared to unvaccinated children, completely obliterating the myth that whooping cough outbreaks are the result of “anti-vaxxers.” As it turns out, the vast majority of children being affected by pertussis outbreaks are vaccinated children, which some health authorities are reluctantly admitting. Even so, pro-vaxxers are insistent that all disease spread is caused by unvaccinated children, despite the fact that science continues to prove otherwise. What’s more, the DTaP vaccine, along with many other vaccines, fails to provide permanent protection against disease – assuming they provide any protection at all. As reported in the same aforementioned DTaP study, pertussis antibodies experience a “rapid decline” in as little as 2-3 years post-vaccination, “often to pre-vaccination levels.” Even though antibody levels alone “are not necessarily indicative of waning immunity,” this same study goes on to explain, “in this case given the higher risk of infection after aP (acellular pertussis) vaccine with time, it is strongly suggestive of it.”

     The Pope has given a speech equating violence towards women as equal to profaning God. I am not sure theologically about this, but agree that violence towards women is very bad, perhaps not the greatest sin, but still a terrible evil.
  https://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory/pope-francis-equates-violence-women-profaning-god-68016422

     But we saw the real nasty side of the Pope when he slapped a woman’s hand, who was holding his hand too long. Look closely at the video to see how mean this is, for he should have been able to withdraw his hand without assaulting the women.
  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uzDcjPBhkw4

     Here is the latest arrow shot oi the cultural war over carbon: that fat people produce too much carbon.  I thought at first, from flatulence, although I am skinny and eternally passing wind, sometimes in embarrassing situations, if I still had any pride. No, it is resource consumption:
  https://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-7813435/Obesity-contributes-extra-700-MILLION-tons-carbon-dioxide-year.html

“Obese people generate an extra 700 million tons of carbon dioxide per year than those with 'normal weight', according to a new study. Research from The Obesity Society has revealed that obese people account for about 1.6 per cent of all man-made greenhouse gas emissions. This is due to a combination of higher metabolic rates and the environmental impact of both producing the food and the increased fuel required to transport obese people, according to the researchers. The society used greenhouse gas emission data, demographic data, and obesity prevalence statistics to estimate that obesity is responsible for 20 per cent more greenhouse gas emissions compared with people of a normal weight. Increasing average body size of people on Earth may further challenge attempts to reduce man-made carbon dioxide emissions, they say. 'Our analysis suggests that, in addition to beneficial effects on morbidity, mortality, and healthcare costs, managing obesity can favourably affect the environment as well,' said Faidon Magkos, corresponding author of the paper and nutritionist at the University of Copenhagen in Denmark. 'This has important implications for all those involved in the management of obesity.'

     Here is another good article in defence on eating red meat, in a world where the nutritional content of plants has diminished for a variety of reasons, including long-term cold storage of vegetables:
  https://www.naturalnews.com/2019-12-21-diets-and-bone-health-can-eating-red-meat-prevent-multiple-sclerosis.html

“According to the National Multiple Sclerosis Society, about one million adults over the age of 18 in the U.S. are affected by MS. Experts claim that risk factors for developing MS also include environmental factors such as low sun exposure, low vitamin D, and poor diet. However, evidence that links diet with MS risk remain inconclusive. (Related: Multiple sclerosis can be mitigated by making healthy lifestyle changes.) “Previous research suggests that a Mediterranean diet can help to reduce the risk of certain health issues, including cardiovascular diseases, diabetes, cancer, Alzheimer’s disease and dementia and improve overall life expectancy. However, there is inconclusive evidence to suggest a Mediterranean diet also reduces the risk of developing MS,” said lead author Lucinda Black, from the School of Public Health at Curtin University. Because of this, researchers from Australia aimed to examine the associations between a Mediterranean diet and the risk of a first clinical diagnosis of CNS demyelination. To do so, the research team gathered and analyzed data from the Ausimmune study, a multicenter, case-control study that examines the environmental risk factors for CNS demyelination. Data from this study included 282 cases of people with MS alongside 558 healthy control subjects. Black and her team used the alternate Mediterranean diet score (aMED) to measure the participants’ adherence to the diets, with 9 being the highest adherence and 0 being the lowest.

     Across Europe there is an epidemic of church vandalization. Why is this occurring, as it did not happen in past decades? What has changed the equation?
  https://www.churchmilitant.com/news/article/epidemic-of-crib-vandalism-hits-italy

“Hundreds of Christmas cribs have been smashed, burned and vandalized across Italy in a binge of violence unparalleled in recent memory. Statues of the Baby Jesus and the Holy Family have been beheaded, stolen or hanged — in one shocking incident even impaled on an iron pole in a public square. In the town of Ivrea, near Turin, firefighters were called to extinguish a blaze in the church of San Maurizio on Jan. 4 after a 46-year-old woman with a history of arson set fire to a crib near the altar. The fire destroyed valuable paintings and frescoes, as well as two antique painted tables and the covering of the baptismal font. The perpetrator confessed to the crime, even though she said she was unable to explain why she did it. Meanwhile, on the same day and in the same town, another arsonist set fire to a crib in the church of San Salvatore, destroying the altar linen. The two churches are near one other, close to the historic city center. Edoardo Cerrato, bishop of Ivrea, called for acts of reparation and an investigation, noting that "we have seen beheaded figurines of the Child of Bethlehem and His Most Holy Mother" in other parts of Italy. "The investigation will perhaps identify the perpetrators and understand the motive behind what, for now, can be seen as desecration of sacred images and churches," he said.”