I'm not so sure Brian McGuinness is right (2/1) to condemn the use by retired Catholic archbishop Denis Hart of a mitre and crosier at a recent religious service. Rituals dating from mediaeval or earlier times, together with their associated symbolism, have a wonderful capacity to convey the dignity, beauty and glory of the transcendent - of angelic and divine realities.

 You are right in your editorial ("No value in sham diversity that stifles honest debate", 2/1) to champion "honest discussions that are necessary to do justice to complex and contentious topics". Here are four contexts in which more openness and fairness are needed in debate in our public forums: (1) the challenge to "orthodox" Christianity posed by comparative religion studies that strongly suggest that the story of Jesus should be understood as symbolism rather than history; (2) the peculiar way in which unfettered discussion of the history of Nazi Germany has been demonised and frustrated by obeisance to the ideology of "the Holocaust"; (3) the strong case that has emerged that the author of the works attributed to "William Shakespeare" was Sir Henry Neville; and (4) the ongoing campaigns to legally and constitutionally over-privilege Australians who possess Aboriginal ancestry. Other readers can no doubt supply other examples.

    You have to hand it to the caravan of poor suffering refugees that are camped on the US border; they will leave and go home if given $ 50,000 each!
https://www.breitbart.com/border/2018/12/12/some-caravan-migrants-demand-entry-to-u-s-or-50k-each-to-leave/

“Members of the “Honduran Migrant Caravan” marched to the U.S. Consulate in Tijuana on Tuesday and delivered a letter directed to President Donald Trump, demanding entry into the United States or $50,000 each to return home. They also requested the removal of military installations in Honduras.

    I know nothing about contemporary philosophy, even less about French philosophy, but that does not prevent me from having an unnatural, perhaps slightly unhinged worldview of philosophers. Thus, following the links form one article, like an ageing bloodhound I came upon this gem, a bit dated, but still steaming with moral lessons:
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/france/7196517/Bernard-Henri-Levy-caught-out-by-fake-philosopher.html

“France's best-known philosopher, Bernard-Henri Lévy, has become the butt of intellectual ridicule after copiously quoting a leading authority on Kant who, it transpires, is a modern-day hoax.
Mr Lévy, who in France goes simply by his initials BHL, has been doing the media rounds to promote his new work, On War in Philosophy.
In his book, which has received lavish praise from some quarters, the open-shirted Mr Lévy lays into the philosopher Immanuel Kant as being unhinged and a "fake". To support his claims, he cites a certain Jean-Baptiste Botul, whom he describes as a post-War authority on Kant.
But the chorus of approval turned to laughter after a journalist from Le Nouvel Observateur pointed out that Mr Botul does not exist: he is a fictional character created in by a contemporary satirical journalist, Frédéric Pagès.
Alarm bells should have rung given that Mr Pagès, a journalist with Le Canard Enchaîneé, a satirical weekly, has penned one book under the Botul pseudonym entitled The Sex Life of Immanuel Kant.
He has even given rise to a school of philosophical thought called Botulism – a play on words with the lethal disease – and has created a theory of "La Metaphysique du Mou" the Metaphysics of the Flabby.”

     Once the Swedes were Vikings, but now they just want to die. To die as a people, first get rid of one’s cultural symbols, and the biological/genetic dissolution is easy:
  https://voiceofeurope.com/2018/12/christmas-called-winter-celebration-in-swedish-media-and-the-swedes-are-sick-of-it/

“So Christmas is now called ‘winter celebration’ in Malmö? There you have it… Waiting to open my ‘winter presents’ lying under the ‘winter tree’ The offending published report was by Sydsvenskan, and described how Malmö is preparing for Christmas celebrations amidst the need for more security than in the past. They moved the celebration from Gustaf Adolf Square to larger Stortorget Square. The newspaper chose to call it “winter celebration” instead of Christmas and it has not gone over with members of the Swedish public. “So Christmas is now called ‘winter celebration’ in Malmö? There you have it”, user Nätsäkerhetsexpert tweeted. “Waiting to open my ‘winter presents’ lying under ‘winter tree'”, one user said sarcastically. “Is this the first time a newspaper non-ironically uses the world ‘Winter Celebration’ for Christmas in a news piece?”, user Alexander TixE queried. “Who wants to celebrate Scanian winter anyway? Dark, +3 degrees, wet snow and wind blowing at 13 metres per second”, one of the replies said.”

     The evil globalist UN Migration pact is now in.
  https://www.cbc.ca/news/world/un-migration-conference-morocco-1.4938985

“A majority of UN states adopted on Monday a non-binding global pact to better handle migrant flows, Morocco's foreign minister said, though fewer governments joined than had previously worked on the proposal. Foreign Minister Nasser Bourita announced the decision as host of the UN conference in Marrakesh. There was no formal vote. In July, all 193 UN members except the United States finalized the so-called Global Compact for Safe, Orderly and Regular Migration to better handle migration. Since then, the text has come under fire from mostly right-wing European politicians, who say it could increase immigration from African and Arab countries. At least six European Union members — mostly in formerly Communist Eastern Europe — have shunned the accord. It was not immediately clear how many countries were in Marrakesh. The UN had put the number of governments registered late on Sunday at more than 150.”

     Here is one of those pieces sent to you by email, that drifts into your consciousness like the man with no name, blowing in from the windswept dust ridden landscape of modernity:

“A City of White Ghosts and Vanishing Memories
A former Vancouverite returns to ask, “What became of my people?”
It was a week of despair---and hope. A week of mourning---and faith in resurrection. It was a homecoming to a home that no longer exists. A city that fell victim to an invasion of incomprehensible scale, of overwhelming numbers and laundered money.
Last week I went to Vancouver, the city of my birth, the city where eons ago my grandparents first met, like tens of thousands of other European immigrants. My hope was that I would find traces of their legacy. I knew before my departure that the city had undergone massive and dramatic change in my decade long absence, that it was no longer just the gateway to Asia but a colony of Asia, and that some architectural landmarks had fallen to the wrecking ball of mass immigration and the pressure on land that follows from it. But never did I expect to see this much devastation, nor the ubiquity and predominance of Chinese migrants. No longer were they confined to the inner city and the suburb of Richmond, and other suburbs as well---including the one I grew up in. Every school ground, every sidewalk, every park, every mall was dominated by the Chinese. Not Chinese “Canadians”, but Chinese speaking Mandarin, as well as Cantonese. Their feet stand on Canada, but their heads have a different postal code.

     At first blush I thought that the balloon had gone up, and it was the end of mankind. Well, heaven would be nice. But, then, I saw the fine print, namely that the EU insane thought police were banning the word “mankind.’ Presumably, the transhuman agenda of eliminating the human race, as Mike Adams thinks is going to happen, will be next cab off the rank:
  https://www.naturalnews.com/2019-01-03-eu-moves-to-outlaw-the-word-mankind-because-it-starts-with-man.html

“Liberal dogma now dictates that words beginning with the letters “m-a-n” are now “gender-biased” tools of the patriarchy which must be criminalized — at least in the European Union. The EU has decided to ban the use of “gender-biased” words and will be moving towards more gender neutral language. The outlawing of gender-specific language and more is all part of the new paradigm laid out in their new guide, Gender Neutral Language In The European Parliament. The policing of language is soon going to reach its apex — and it’s not going to be pretty. Language has a powerful effect on the way we think and feel. The erasure of male identity in language signifies a much greater problem than just battling so-called gender bias. Recall Ayn Rand’s Anthem, a dystopian fiction novel in which the notion of individuality has been erased entirely; gender-specific pronouns are not used. There is no “I,” only “we.” Perhaps it sounds a bit far-fetched, but every path begins with a single step — including the path to tyranny. Outlawing male identity and gender-specific language in government is only the beginning. And while the English language is being obliterated, identity and individuality may just be going down with it.”

Published on January 1, 2019    
  https://www.spencerfernando.com/2019/01/03/i-survived-communism-are-you-ready-for-your-turn/

     “It was scientifically proven that communism is the only social-economic system providing the masses with justice and equality – 100% of scientists agree on this. The topic is not up for debate!”, so proclaimed my professor during one of his lectures on the subject ‘scientific communism’, while the country of Czechoslovakia was still under communist control. I was reminded of his blustery pronouncement the first time I encountered the spurious claim that “a consensus of 97% of scientists agree global warming is man-made.” Most people don’t question scientific statements because they think they are facts. They do not understand that scientific statements must always be challenged, because Science is not about ‘consensus’; ideology is.

     While people have hobbies, such as chess, and fishing, my hobby is researching conspiracy theories, always hoping to find the ultimate conspiracy, that explains the entire universe. This is the  cosmic comic meta-political theory of everything. Seems like the same thing bugs Mike Adams over at Natural News.com, as well:
  https://www.naturalnews.com/2018-12-21-convergence-the-inescapable-explanation-that-connects-world-events-cosmic-truth.html

     First consider all of the problems we face:

         This one brought a smile to my old ugly  face; a university seminar is teaching how not to judge the quality of writing when grading papers:

 Many rap songs feature sentiments about killing white police and depict the killing of specific individual  White people, usually these songs are American and are just consumed in the culture, even though if the races were reversed, there would be hell to pay. For shock! horror! consider this clip from a major artist, and then consider if our Spenglerian vision is too “pessimistic” or not.

                  In the interests of diversity, equality and social justice, will the socialists who endless protest against Australia’s immigration “camps,” be staging protests against what the Chinese are doing? Here is the ABC reporting, “our” ABC, so you know that the news must be “good” for socialists:

         The cultural war attack upon traditional masculinity, both the value and the person continues, with the American Psychological Association stating that masculinity is “harmful.”

         The antifa are getting increasingly violent, no, perhaps radical Leftists always were like that, believing the opposite of John Lemon: give violence a chance.

         There could be some excitement on the horizon to liven up the rather boring life of Earthlings. Nothing like a good old fashioned alien invasion by little green men, to spice things up. Let me explain.

         It would be the stuff of a “great” adventure movie; a group of terrorists, who by definition must be Nordic blondes, maybe Germans, hack into the US power grid and threaten to bring it down. A group of multicultural heroes assemble, and save the day, after having sex with all the blonde female villains, who then turn “good,” so that obese people can go back to playing video games. Anyone out there interested in a film script for this potential blockbuster?

         Many of us lament the fact that immigration to the West is having ill-effects that is undermining the sustainability of civilisation. Here is one exchange illustrating this point, where Ann Coulter demolishes Trump:

         Way back in 2016, both Charles in Florida, and myself in hot Australia, covered the election fraud issue, where the Democrats openly cheated. Now they are moving to make that open cheating simply part of the system, so that they will rule their dumb subjects forever, or at least until the collapse occurs, wiping them all out:

     This one is slipping down the slippery, slimy slope of the mainstream headlines, but still is worthy of reflection, as US congress man Steve King got into deep trouble with the establishment thought police just by asking a simple  question:
  https://www.nytimes.com/2019/01/14/us/politics/steve-king-white-supremacy.html
  https://vdare.com/articles/ann-coulter-white-supremacists-ate-my-homework 
  https://www.amren.com/commentary/2019/01/republicans-stawman-steve-king/

“Iowa congressman Steve King is under fire—and being punished—for another dissident outburst. In an interview published by the New York Times last week, he said: “White nationalist, white supremacist, Western civilization — how did that language become offensive? . . . Why did I sit in classes teaching me about the merits of our history and our civilization?” The media called this an endorsement of white supremacy, deliberately ignoring the paragraph just before the quote: At the same time, he said, he supports immigrants who enter the country legally and fully assimilate because what matters more than race is ‘the culture of America’ based on values brought to the United States by whites from Europe. The congressman quickly issued a clarification.”