Saturday, December 23, 2023

Saturday Good Reads - Dec. 23, 2023


This week, a Missouri state representative from suburban St. Louis was expelled from her political caucus. She’d been running for state attorney general in the primary election. Her problem was being photographed with an alt-right conspiracy theorist and then with a Holocaust denier, and spreading a rumor that her primary opponent, who is Jewish, was an agent for the Israeli government. Lest you think she was a supporter of the man with orange hair, she’s actually a longstanding member of the opposite political party.  

I’ve watched the news coverage of the protests at our elite universities, and it’s like watching Western civilization finally crack. Francesca Block explains how U.S. schools teach antisemitism. Lee Smith at Tablet Magazine underscores that, noting that Palestine is now a global empire. Carl Trueman wonders if Adolf Hitler has now won over the left

 

And this story – this story by Bari Weiss – wiped me: “Miracle in Hell: The Baby Twins Who Survived a Massacre.”

 

Speaking of the man with the orange hair, of whom I am not a fan, the Colorado Supreme Court ruled this week that the United States should become the Venezuela of the northern hemisphere, with California hot on Colorado’s heels. In the name of democracy, a state supreme court tries to destroy it, achieving exactly the opposite of what was intended. Reportedly, Republicans are already planning to return the favor and sue to strike President Biden from the ballot in Arizona, Ohio, and Pennsylvania. Remember: you no longer have to be charged, tried and convicted of a crime; you just have to be deemed a “threat to democracy.” 

 

More Good Reads

 

Writing and Literature

 

Sigrid Undset: A Study in Christian Realism – A.H. Winsnes at The Imaginative Conservative. 

 

British Stuff

 

Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue – A London Inheritance. 

 

The Crystal Palace Subway – Helen Barrett at The Critic Magazine.

 

American Stuff

 

The Saddest Christmas – Evan Portman at Emerging Civil War.

 

Faith

 

Grace Grows Best in Winter – Jeffrey Stivason at Gentle Reformation.

 

Turning Grief into Love – Laura Boggess.

 

A season to renounce hate speech – Helen Louise Herndon at American Thinker.

 

When Did Multiple Services Begin? – Caleb Morrell at 9Marks. 

 

Life and Culture

 

Norman Lear: An iconic mass media seeker who evolved past secularism – Terry Mattingly ay Get Religion. 

 

On Earth as It Is in Heaven: Embracing Limits to Find Identity, Community, and Place – Sarah Silflow at Front Porch Republic.

 

Poetry

 

Seeds of Yahweh – Sandra Heska King at On Aging and Other Adventures.

 

10 Funny and Nostalgic Christmas Poems – Society of Classical Poets. 

 

Midwinter – poem and artwork by Sonja Benskin Mesher.

 

Solstice – Paul Wittenberger.

 

The Winter of Listening – David Whyte.

 

O Holy Night – Malakai Bayoh and Aled Jones



 Painting: Woman Reading and a Man Seated at a Table, oil on panel (circa 1676) by Frans van Mieris (1635-1681), the Leiden Collection.

1 comment:

Bill (cycleguy) said...

I am not a fan of the man in the orange hair either. Nor am I a fan of one who has used his influence to peddle riches to himself and his family. Sadly, is this the best both parties can come up with? I think not and I pray not. But this garbage going on in Colorado and Cali and now a "we'll do the same" in Ohio, etc has got to stop. I agree with Trueman about whether Hitler has won over the Left (seen elsewhere). But when it this madness going to stop. Rand Paul's list of waste for Festivus was sickening to read. Even so, come Lord Jesus.