Silas

His life brings to mind the poem by Hopkins "Felix the Farrier" (blacksmith) --both in terms of his vocation, but also the spiritual quality Felix Randal the farrier, O is he dead then? my duty all ended, Who have watched his mould of man, big-boned and hardy-handsome Pining, pining, till time when reason rambled in it, and some Fatal four disorders, fleshed there, all contended? Sickness broke him. Impatient, he cursed at first, but mended Being anointed and all; though a heavenlier heart began some Months earlier, since I had our sweet reprieve and ransom Tendered to him. Ah well, God rest him all road ever he offended! This seeing the sick endears them to us, us too it endears. My tongue had taught thee comfort, touch had quenched thy tears, Thy tears that touched my heart, child, Felix, poor Felix Randal; How far from then forethought of, all thy more boisterous years, When thou at the random grim forge, powerful amidst peers, Didst fettle for the great grey drayhorse his bright and battering sandal!

(inspired by a painting by Rembrandt) The Mill A motionless nexus holds fast:pensive and serene, in dusk’slambent apprehensionthe axis that moves againstthe world and with itas the village recedesinto enveloping shadowwhile formless men moveon starved rivers.Jubilant women gatherunder sandy taupe cliffstheir expressions lostand everything seemsto float, hover, and mergeinto one unrecoverable moment.I would hold to this,because I cannot graspanything with permanencelayers of celestial lightchasing a perishing sunover all our endeavors.

Wars are fought for economic gain, and to a lesser extent, political gain. Ukraine possesses not only vast natural resources, but contains the pipelines and routes that Russia uses to ship oil and natural gas to Europe --it is the corridor of commerce. Putin simply could not let that fall into the control of his perceived enemies. He wants control Obviously, he did not want American arms in Ukraine, and certainly didn't want NATO membership extended to that country, but such membership was highly unlikely. The military aspect was a smoke screen for the real motivations Putin had. Iran should not consider Putin a reliable partner, and certainly not an ally. He is a snake and a kleptocrat. A dime-store dictator who is motivated by self interest. He has nothing but disdain and contempt for Muslims. A man that will unleash his military on a nation of fellow Slavs for economic in political gain is an evil man.

I am quite wealthy by world standards It's never enough, and it just creates stress. Sure, there are many advantages, but there are drawbacks as well. Wealth is the golden handcuffs which promises us everything for a high price.

It is interesting to note, that two Jewish guys, Anthony Bourdain and Drew Binsky (the travel writer) both said Iran was one of their favorite places in the whole world. I've seen pictures of areas in Iran, and it looks like the most beautiful place in creation. There are no perfect governments, and each of them has its unique issues. Islam may be perfect, but governments are created by men, and implemented by men. I will continue to argue for normalized relations and cooperation between Iran and western nations. We cannot let the perfect be the enemy of the good

The Klingons in the old series, when they first appeared, were clearly Mongols. They were not brown people, but basically Asians. It might have been a dig against the Soviets, but I think it was more of an attempt to show them as warlike, invading conquerors. Ghengis Kahn types But despite all this, the show was pretty "progressive" (I hate that word) for its time. The crew was pretty multicultural, and the first inter-racial kiss on television was when Kirk kissed Uhuru.

There is an interesting thing about suicide: you see it mostly in places with high standards of living, lots of education, etc. Suicide comes from disappointment, and the idea that you were promised so much, and were supposed to do great things, but never received, nor achieved, anything Rather than be grateful to Allah who gave you life and a worldly mission to help others, and spread the faith, you retreat into yourself, and blame the world for the things you should have been given These are things of the western world for sure, and to a lesser degree, other regions. We do not see lots of people killing themselves in the poor regions of Africa or the ME --such people do not have expectations. Life is a struggle, and even the smallest comforts are great victories.

A very interesting interview indeed, and some good commentary from Daniel. When it comes to Dr. Peterson, I am reminded of the statement by the great American thinker Richard M. Weaver " Every man in a culture has three levels of conscious reflection: his specific ideas about things, his general beliefs, and his metaphysical dream. The first constitutes his worldliness, the second is applied to certain choices as they present themselves and the third which is the most important is his intuitive feeling about the immanent nature of reality. " The Muslim has embraced a metaphysical dream, and has an intuitive sense of God and reality--in a fundamental sense. It could be said that some Christians have embraced this dream as well, but the secular, agnostic, skeptic, or vacillating intellectuals have not gotten past specific ideas and general beliefs. One can have strong beliefs and convictions (democracy, human rights, scientific truth), but none of that touches on the immanent nature of reality, and therefore never approaches God (or even considers God--the ultimately real). Dr. Peterson has not crossed into that metaphysical dream yet. Peterson uses the language of psychoanalysis and Jungian ideas as a system through which he views the world--in Kenneth Burke's words, it is a "terministic screen", and he fails to see how arbitrary and hollow it can be. What is an "unconscious"? What is ego or Id? If Peterson says he will address a person according to that person's preferred pronouns, is he not in denial of truth? Neither Muslims nor Christians are told to engage in half-truths or lies to placate the whims of others.

Northwest: you write "Case in point: during the Russian Revolution and Civil War (1917–21) the Catholic Church, animated by its historical animus vs. Russian Orthodoxy, actually sided with the Bolsheviks for a period of time, because the Leninists at the time were opposing the traditional dominance of the Russian Orthodox Church, so instead of opposing the “godless Communists” Rome forged a temporary, tactical alliance with them vs. Orthodoxy." I have never heard that, although I don't necessarily doubt it. Do you have any references or citations for it? I would like to look into it.

I think it is interesting that now that Biden is in power, there has been no effort to reestablish the Iran nuclear deal. He hasn't even made any indication he wants to improve relations with that country. Quite honestly, Shia Muslims are an after-thought to Democrats. The Democratic Party, as others here have pointed out, is militantly Zionist, despite a few on the far left calling for sanctions against Israel. 75% of Biden's cabinet consists of Jews, most of whom are huge supporters of Israel. But the Republicans are also problematic. They tend to be in two groups: 1. Neconservatives: hardcore interventionists, many are Zionists, globalists and internationalists, Protestant Christian, suspicious of Muslims, anti-Iran, and big spenders. 2. Paleoconservatives / traditionalists: non-interventionist, somewhat critical of Israel, tend not to be overtly religious, ambivalent towards Muslims and the Middle-East, fiscally conservative. There really isn't a "good choice" among any of these for your average Shia Muslim. But I will say that the social policy of the Democrats, and the left in general, is just awful: LBGTQ promotion, transgenderism, atheism, Marxism, irrationalism, and other nonsense abounds. Never let these people fool you into thinking they are your friend or that they support your community--they don't. They have a very clear objective, and that involves eradicating religion altogether, obedience to the State, abolishing gender, etc.

While I did not agree with the Afghan invasion at the start, and felt we needed to pullout, this whole thing was a complete disaster and totally mismanaged. US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken has been behind the scenes in all of this. An ardent Zionist and Israeli shill, he supported the 2003 invasion of Iraq, has consistently pushed for foolish foreign policy in the ME, and has no real understanding of the complexities in that region. This is the guy who was arming Syrian "rebels" (aka ISIS) during the Obama administration The fact that intelligence reported that the Taliban was 90 days from taking Kabul just a couple days ago, shows the failures here. That turned into a few days, and then became 12 hours. It is clear that the administration has no idea what it is doing at this point. And now Iran and other countries in the region have to contend with a radical regime armed with US weapons on their borders --what is to stop the Taliban from launching attacks across the border, or starting proxy wars?

Catholicism is a real mess right now. Big divisions within leadership and its votaries reflective of the problems in the west

It isn't going to stop here soon they will be seizing hundreds of sites, including domestic US ones ...

As others have pointed out, this conflict cannot be "won" through military adventurism or violence Let the Israelis invade Gaza, let them march through the streets, burn homes, destroys buildings, attack civilians, etc. And let the Zionist puppets in the west continue to discredit and embarrass themselves by trying to justify this. We see on the media today that dozens of children have been killed by the IDF --people are becoming outraged. In the US, and many other western countries, Israel is starting to be viewed as an Apartheid state, and an oppressive regime. And like South Africa, the solution is to apply pressure through boycotts, sanctions, or even to arrest members of the Israeli government if they set foot on western soil. Win the hearts and minds of the people and you can accomplish a lot. Act rashly with violence, and give bad actors the pretense to attack you is foolish. Iran isn't going to declare war on Israel and get nuclear weapons thrown at them.

I think it is very important for people to understand that there is NO "systemic racism" in the United States. Such a thing is very different from isolated examples of prejudice or unfair treatment. Systemic racism means state-sponsored racism that is legal and encouraged: manifest mistreatment of minority groups that is pervasive. Things like apartheid, Jim Crow laws, or outright persecution are examples. The US is over 50 years removed from the Civil Rights movement, and numerous laws have been passed to correct past discrimination. We now have affirmative action, set-asides for minority businesses, anti-red-lining laws, etc. We have black members of congress and had a black president. When people tell me I have "white privilege" or that systemic racism exists in the US, I ask them: 1. What right or immunity do I possess that a black man does not possess in this country? 2. What occupations or political appointments are you prevented in obtaining because of the color of your skin? 3. Are you prevented from owning real estate, stocks, or debt instruments in this country because you are black? 4. How is the culture denigrating your people? Do you not see films, tv shows, etc. in which black people are portrayed favorably? -- This idea of systemic racism and white privilege is a monstrous lie that is promoted by the radical left in an effort to destabilize the country and to cause conflict. It also convinces poor blacks that they cannot get a fair shake, and shouldn't bother working, or becoming productive members of society. As in India, where some politicians push hatred against Muslims for political gain, politicians here push hatred against whites. We are demonized as oppressors. 77% of black births are to single mothers Atheism in the US is growing, and has tripled in the last 10 years or so So kids are raised in a family with no father, and they don't go to church/mosque. Many drop out of school. This is a massive cultural and religious problem. Simply blaming white people for this stuff doesn't do anything to correct it, and instead makes things worse and poverty does not equal violence and despair. There are many countries "poorer" than the US, where the net worth and income of the average citizen is much lower, and yet there is far less violence and problems. Iran is much "poorer" than the US in terms of GDP per capita, average income, etc., and that country is 10 times safer. People can walk down the street in Tehran and not have to worry about getting mugged or shot. People are not using drugs, and huge gangs are not controlling parts of the city.