In The Shadow Of Mt Hollywood

Here's what Rowan Williams said about the "grooming gangs," in a recent piece for The Guardian. You'll note, first of all, that he put the phrase in scare quotes, because, of course, he doesn't really believe there actually are organised groups of Muslim men deliberately… https://t.co/6CXZhMfa4K pic.twitter.com/W8h9O03Q1A — RAW EGG NATIONALIST (@Babygravy9) April 17, 2026 Now and then, most recently here and here , I've reviewed the late 19th century idea that the best strategy to counter the threat of world proletarian revolution was to temporize with working-class demands, but nevertheless gradually capitulate to them. This was a product almost exclusively of the UK bourgeoisie. According to Wikipedia , As one of the founding organisations of the Labour Representation Committee in 1900, and as an important influence upon the Labour Party which grew from it, the Fabian Society has strongly influenced British politics. A few figures closely a...

Spielberg's 1981 film Raiders of the Lost Ark poses what amounts to a thought experiment that's at its basis not too much different from the one Rabbi Pesach Wolicki poses in the YouTube presentation I've discusssed over the past two days: it boils down to the question of what we would do if the Old Testament history and prophecies turned out to be more than just a collection of comfortable fairy tales; instead, they have some bearing on current events. Wolicki argues that the Old Testament contains numerous prophecies that the nation of Israel will be restored. Chrome AI Mode gives this summnary: Deuteronomy 30:3–5 Return from scattering to the ancestral land; Isaiah 11:11–12 Global regathering from the four corners of the earth; Jeremiah 31:31–34 Establishment of a New Covenant and spiritual renewal; Ezekiel 37:1–14 National resurrection (Valley of Dry Bones); and Amos 9:14–15 Permanent restoration and rebuilding of ruined cities. The issue Wolicki raises is simple:...

I'm continuing to discuss Rabbi Wolicki's arguments against the traddy (mostly) Catholic anti-Zionists, which I started yesterday. I've embedded the same video above, but I'll be talking about the second half of it, which begins at 6:51. I used to teach rhetoric over 50 years ago, and his argument here is one of the best pieces I've ever seen. I admire it simply as an astonishingly good argument, separate from its subject matter, which I also find compelling. It's reminiscent of Aquinas, in that it spends a great deal of time considering opposing arguments, but it doesn't follow Aquinas's formal stucture. Beginning at 6:51, he summarizes the position he's taken in the first half of his argument, in which he agrees with the contemporary position of the Catholic Church, "that the Jews are participants in God's salvation is theologically unquestionable. How can that be possible? . . . How that can be possible remains an unfathomable divine ...

Lately I've been following US-born Israeli Orthodox Rabbi Pesach Wolicki, because he puts me onto new trains of thought that take off from issues that have been sitting at the back of my head for a while. In the video embedded above, he offers some insights into traddy Catholics that I'd been wondering about myself -- now, he has no opinion on the Latin mass; he's into Hebrew. He doesn't care if you receive the sacrament kneeling or standing, in the hand or on the tongue; the sacraments aren't his thing. But he brings up a strain of opinion that he attributes not to Catholic leadership, but more exclusively to traditionalist Catholics: What you're hearing more and more are claims that the Jews of today aren't really the Jews, that the state of Israel has no significance, and of course, from those same circles and in the same conversations, attacks on Christian Zionism and calling it a kind of heresy. And this is a very serious issue, and it points ...

I've been saying for the past few days that the US-born Israeli Orthodox rabbi Pesach Wolicki has some of the best insights into the issues surrounding the Iran war. Here's what he had to say yesterday about the off-again on-again negotiations in Pakistan: At 19:50: They're trying to create uncertainty, to slow down the US decisionmaking. . . . Donald Trump is driving them nuts because of how fast he moves. He gives an ultimatum, and it's just like 48 hours or a couple days, or, you know, a short ceasefire, two weeks, negotiate, come to the table, you don't come to the table, boom. Open the Straits of hormuz. Oh, you didn't open them? Boom, blockade. . . . It completely counteracts their usual strategy, Westerners are usually so easy for them to deal with. They just drag things out, and they have another summit meeting and another negotiation in a different European city, and the American diplomats love that, getting on planes and being negotiators. And...

From Alan Dershowitz in yesterday's Wall Street Journal : I am a lifelong Democrat. I started campaigning for the party’s local candidates as a teenager in Brooklyn, N.Y., have been a registered Democrat for 67 years, made speeches for John F. Kennedy as a college student, and can count on one hand the number of Republicans I’ve ever supported for any office. I still disagree strongly with the GOP on abortion, the separation of church and state, immigration, healthcare and taxes, among other things. Yet I’ve decided to bite the bullet and register as a Republican. . . . I intend to work hard to prevent the Democrats from gaining control of the House and Senate, and I urge those who share my concerns about the increasing influence of radicalism in the Democratic Party to vote, campaign and contribute for continued Republican control of Congress. I will contribute money to Republican candidates, campaign for them, make speeches at Republican events, and urge pro-Israel A...

Via the New York Post (which also carried the diagram above): The deaths or disappearances of 11 top US scientists and researchers is a matter of urgent national importance, a member of the House Oversight Committee insisted Friday. Rep. Eric Burlison (R-Mo.) said his office had already been eyeing some of the “too coincidental” disappearances a year before President Trump told reporters Thursday that he had ordered an investigation. The lawmaker argued the fate of the scientists is almost “certainly” linked to the access some had to classified aerospace, defense and UFO information — and may involve bad actors from China, Russia or Iran. Why stop there? I'd be looking at the Men in Black. According to Chrome AI Mode: The Men in Black urban myth has existed for nearly 80 years, tracing its roots back to the "Summer of the Saucers" in 1947. The legend evolved through several key stages: First Appearance (1947): The myth began with the Maury Island incident ...