When you fight for the life of your dog…
… But murder your baby out of convenience.
“Wherever there is animal worship, there is human sacrifice.” — G.K. Chesterton
@zweiwalker89607 Such fun reads. Vuffi Raa is an awesome sidekick, the trippy scenes in Mindharp are written well, and the Oswafts seem like proto-purgils. The (very limited) callbacks to the books in Solo and Rebels always make me smile.
@readstarwars The role Yoda plays in Azlin's story was teased so well in The High Republic. I too would like to see more! I think the character deserves it after how important Azlin's relationship to Reath was in the final stretch of Phase III.
@jtimsuggs I feel the exact same way about Adam Christopher's "Shadow of the Sith". After reading, my opinions on Rise of Skywalker softened dramatically. I also love a good Lando appearance--the old, wild Lando series by L. Niel Smith are some of my favorite SW books!
V: Don’t give up, don’t ever give up
Will Wade: If you can’t win with a $10 million roster, lose three games by 25 points, can’t win a First Four game, realize you’ll never compete with Duke … give up and go back to LSU
Saying you like GOT over LOTR is basically a self report that you would rather mock heroic virtue, self sacrifice, loyalty and bravery than dare to aspire to them, because you know you could never reach them. It's nothing but envy, bitterness and bleak nihilism cloaked in smug postmodern intellectualism, desperately trying to position yourself above the very things you can never hope to achieve.
Pope Leo XIV in his first homily, to the entire college of cardinals: "Even today, there are many settings in which the Christian faith is considered absurd, meant for the weak and unintelligent. Settings where other securities are preferred, like technology, money, success, power, or pleasure.
These are contexts where it is not easy to preach the Gospel and bear witness to its truth, where believers are mocked, opposed, despised or at best tolerated and pitied. Yet, precisely for this reason, they are the places where our missionary outreach is desperately needed. A lack of faith is often tragically accompanied by the loss of meaning in life, the neglect of mercy, appalling violations of human dignity, the crisis of the family and so many other wounds that afflict our society.
Today, too, there are many settings in which Jesus, although appreciated as a man, is reduced to a kind of charismatic leader or superman. This is true not only among non-believers but also among many baptized Christians, who thus end up living, at this level, in a state of practical atheism."
It is wrong for a Catholic to let political passions of the moment lead him to give a one-sided presentation of the Church’s teaching, or to misrepresent the views of fellow Catholics he disagrees with politically. That remains true even if said Catholic happens to be the pope.
I was watching highlights from President Carter’s funeral service at the National Cathedral in Washington, DC. I found some of the speeches very moving. But I was appalled when two country singers launched into a rendition of John Lennon’s "Imagine." Under the soaring vault of what I think is still a Christian church, they reverently intoned, “Imagine there’s no heaven; it’s easy if you try” and “imagine there’s no country; it isn’t hard to do. Nothing to kill or die for, and no religion too.” Vested ministers sat patiently while a hymn to atheistic humanism was sung. This was not only an insult to the memory of a devoutly believing Christian but also an indicator of the spinelessness of too much of established religion in our country.
For my British and European friends who are "shocked" and "surprised", here are 10 reasons you didn't see this coming.
Read this short post and then read the replies from our American friends who will confirm what I'm saying.
1. Americans love their country and want it to be the best in the world. America is a nation of people who conquered a continent. They love strength. They love winning. Any leader who appeals to that has an automatic advantage.
2. Unlike Europeans, Americans have not accepted managed decline. They don't have Net Zero here, they believe in producing their own energy and making it as cheap as possible because they know that their prosperity depends on it.
3. Prices for most basic goods in the US have increased rapidly and are sky high. What the official statistics say about inflation and the reality of people's lives are not the same.
4. Unlike you, Americans do not believe in socialism. They believe in meritocracy. They don't care about the super rich being super rich because they know that they live in a country where being super rich is available to anyone with the talent and drive to make it. They don't resent success, they celebrate it.
5. Americans are the most pro-immigration people in the world. Read that again. Seriously, read it again. Americans love an immigrant success story. They want more talented immigrants to come to America. But they refuse to accept people coming illegally. They believe in having a border.
6. Americans are sensitive about racial issues and their country's imperfect history. They believe that those who are disadvantaged by the circumstances of their birth should be given the opportunity to succeed. What they reject, however, is the idea that in order to address the errors of the past new errors must be made. DEI is racist. They know it and they reject it precisely because they are not racist.
7. Americans are the most philosemitic nation on earth. October 7 and the pro-Hamas left's reaction shocked them to their very core because, among other things, they remember what 9/11 was like and they know jihad when they see it.
8. Americans are extremely practical people. They care about what works, not what sounds good. In Europe, we produce great writers and intellectuals. In America they produce (and attract) great engineers, businessmen and investors. Because of this, they care less about Trump's rhetoric than you do and more about his policies than you do.
9. Americans are deeply optimistic people. They hate negativity. The woke view of American history as a series of evils for which they must eternally apologise is utterly abhorrent to them. They believe in moving forward together, not endlessly obsessing about the past.
10. America is a country whose founding story is one of resistance to government overreach. They loathe unnecessary restrictions, regulations and control. They understand that freedom comes with the price of self-reliance and they pay it gladly.