Our Father, Who art in heaven, hallowed be Thy Name. Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread. And forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. Amen.

PATER NOSTER, qui es in caelis, sanctificetur nomen tuum. Adveniat regnum tuum. Fiat voluntas tua, sicut in caelo et in terra. Panem nostrum quotidianum da nobis hodie, et dimitte nobis debita nostra sicut et nos dimittimus debitoribus nostris. Et ne nos inducas in tentationem, sed libera nos a malo. Amen.

Meet St. Gregory the Wonderworker.  Aside from his prolific working of wonders, he is the earliest known person to have had a vision of the Blessed Virgin, in the company of St. John.  He was confused about some things, specifically the Trinity, and they tutored him, and from that event came what would be the final formulation of the Creed.  St. Gregory of Nyssa reported that the actual autograph of the dictation St. Gregory the Wonderworker took from St. John at that apparition existed and was used by him as a reference when he (Gregory of Nyssa) was writing the biography of Gregory the Wonderworker. Gregory of Nyssa’s other main source was his grandmother, St. Macrina, who was an eyewitness to the life of Gregory the Wonderworker.

St. Gregory the Wonderworker died in ARSH 275.

“While [Gregory] was passing a sleepless night because of these worries, someone appeared to him in human form, aged in appearance, clothed in garments denoting a sacred dignity, with a face characterized by a sense of grace and virtue. Gregory, looking frightened, rose from his bed and asked him who he was and why he had come.

The other, in a subdued voice, after soothing his distress, told Gregory that he had appeared by divine will, because of the questions that Gregory found ambiguous and confusing, to reveal to him the truth of pious faith. After hearing these words, Gregory regained his serenity and began to observe the other man with a certain joy and wonder.

The other then held up his hand, as if to point out, with his index finger, something that had appeared opposite him. Gregory, turning his gaze in the direction indicated by the other man’s hand, saw before him another figure, which had appeared not long before. This figure had the appearance of a woman, whose noble aspect far surpassed normal human beauty. Gregory was again disturbed. Turning away his face, he averted his glance and was filled with perplexity; nor did he know what to think of this apparition, which he could not bear to look upon with his eyes. For the extraordinary character of the vision lay in this: that though it was a dark night, a light was shining, and so was the figure that had appeared to him, as if a burning lamp had been kindled there.

Although he could not bear to look upon the apparition, Gregory heard the speech of those who had appeared, as they discussed the problems that were troubling him. From their words, Gregory not only obtained an exact understanding of the doctrine of the faith but also was able to discover the names of the two persons who had appeared to him, for they called each other by name.

For it is said that he heard the one who had appeared in womanly form exhorting John the Evangelist to explain to the young man the mystery of the true faith. John, in his turn, declared that he was completely willing to please the Mother of the Lord even in this matter and that this was the one thing closest to his heart. And so the discussion coming to a close, and after they had made it quite clear and precise for him, the two disappeared from his sight.”

St. Gregory of Nyssa, “Life of St. Gregory the Wonderworker”

1.  I have received many emails over the years asking my opinion of diamonds as a means of  wealth storage.  I have never said anything one way or the other because I really didn’t know much about it.  Well, I visited at length with a friend who has experience in the retail jewelry business, and it turns out the answer to the diamond question is a resounding NO.  Gold and silver are pretty much your only options.  Diamonds and other so-called “investment grade gems” are pure sucker bait.  Steer well clear.

I am not a big jewelry hound, but confess to buying a pair of diamond stud earrings years and years ago as a little wealth storage play.  It turns out that my earrings, as well as pretty much all other diamonds out there are worth very, very little, and are almost impossible to sell.  Unlike … gold and silver, the markets for which are robust.

My friend sent me a link to a completely fascinating article on the DeBeers cartel and how the whole diamond market and mystique is a stone-cold fabrication – one of the most successful scams ever pulled, if you ask me.  Did you know that diamond engagement rings are a pure invention of DeBeers within the last century?  Further, did you know that DeBeers conditioned the global populace to assign an almost supernatural value to diamonds, thus keeping people from ever trying to sell them back into the market?

“Gasp!  You can’t sell Mom’s wedding ring!  Mom and Dad’s marriage is physically embodied in that diamond!  A diamond is FOREVER!”

It’s a pure con.  Brilliant, and scary in how effective it has been, but a pure con.

HERE is the article from the February 1982 issue of The Atlantic.

The thing that is so fascinating to me about this article is the fact that it was written in ARSH 1982.  This isn’t propaganda put out by some prepper/goldbug blogger last week.  This is thirty-two years old, guys.  Heck, Barack Obama was in Pakistan with the Chandoo brothers, just a glimmer in Bill Ayers’ and Khalid al-Mansour’s eyes, and ‘Merica was a shining city on a hill, when this was published.

And on a personal, life-coachey note: gentlemen, if you get sweet on some chick, and she gets all loud demanding that you spend x percent of your income on a ring, you need run as hard and as fast as you can in the opposite direction.  Seriously.  I knew a guy who asked some chick to marry him, and she demanded that he spend $45,000 on her ring.  And he did – he had to get a loan, which he is probably still paying off.  And it was the most hideous monstrosity you ever saw.  And she freely told everyone not only how much it cost, but that the marriage was contingent upon the ring.  And she wasn’t kidding.  You just kinda suspected that she was the type to have already planned out the alimony package based off of duration and income projections.  I just wanted to shake him.

My advice?  Take your young lady to a Swarovsky Crystal store.  They have some gorgeous faux-diamond rings.  I saw one not long ago that was right at $100.  If she doesn’t bat an eye, you picked a winner.  Proceed with all due dispatch.

Bottom line: don’t buy gems as a wealth storage vehicle, because you will be FLAYED ALIVE if you try to unload them.  There is no resale market, and they aren’t even rare or scarce.  They are just sparkly.

2.  The only jewelry I own and wear are a pair of fake diamond stud earrings (they match everything and I never take them out), my watch, which is exactly ten years old and in perfect shape – it’s a Rado, a brand I recommend heartily, and my lapel pin.  People have asked me for years what my lapel pin is (you can see it in all of my videos).  It is the Little Prince.  Chapter 21 of The Little Prince, the chapter with the Fox, is one of my favorite bits of prose.

It was then that the fox appeared.

“Good morning,” said the fox.

“Good morning,” the little prince responded politely, although when he turned around he saw nothing.

“I am right here,” the voice said, “under the apple tree.”

“Who are you?” asked the little prince, and added, “You are very pretty to look at.”

“I am a fox,” the fox said.

“Come and play with me,” proposed the little prince. “I am so unhappy.”

“I cannot play with you,” the fox said. “I am not tamed.”

“Ah! Please excuse me,” said the little prince.

But, after some thought, he added:

“What does that mean–‘tame’?”

“You do not live here,” said the fox. “What is it that you are looking for?”

“I am looking for men,” said the little prince. “What does that mean–‘tame’?”

“Men,” said the fox. “They have guns, and they hunt. It is very disturbing. They also raise chickens. These are their only interests. Are you looking for chickens?”

“No,” said the little prince. “I am looking for friends. What does that mean–‘tame’?”

“It is an act too often neglected,” said the fox. It means to establish ties.”

“‘To establish ties’?”

“Just that,” said the fox. “To me, you are still nothing more than a little boy who is just like a hundred thousand other little boys. And I have no need of you. And you, on your part, have no need of me. To you, I am nothing more than a fox like a hundred thousand other foxes. But if you tame me, then we shall need each other. To me, you will be unique in all the world. To you, I shall be unique in all the world . . .”

“I am beginning to understand,” said the little prince. “There is a flower . . . I think that she has tamed me . . .”

“It is possible,” said the fox. “On the Earth one sees all sorts of things.”

“Oh, but this is not on the Earth!” said the little prince.

The fox seemed perplexed, and very curious.

“On another planet?”

“Yes.”

“Are there hunters on that planet?”

“No.”

“Ah, that is interesting! Are there chickens?”

“No.”

“Nothing is perfect,” sighed the fox.

But he came back to his idea.

“My life is very monotonous,” the fox said. “I hunt chickens; men hunt me. All the chickens are just alike, and all the men are just alike. And, in consequence, I am a little bored. But if you tame me, it will be as if the sun came to shine on my life. I shall know the sound of a step that will be different from all the others. Other steps send me hurrying back underneath the ground. Yours will call me, like music, out of my burrow. And then look: you see the grain-fields down yonder? I do not eat bread. Wheat is of no use to me. The wheat fields have nothing to say to me. And that is sad. But you have hair that is the color of gold. Think how wonderful that will be when you have tamed me! The grain, which is also golden, will bring me back the thought of you. And I shall love to listen to the wind in the wheat . . .”

The fox gazed at the little prince, for a long time.

The Fox gazed at the little prince, for a long time.

“Please–tame me!” he said.

“I want to, very much,” the little prince replied. “But I have not much time. I have friends to discover, and a great many things to understand.”

“One only understands the things that one tames,” said the fox. “Men have no more time to understand anything. They buy things all ready made at the shops. But there is no shop anywhere where one can buy friendship, and so men have no friends any more. If you want a friend, tame me . . .”

“What must I do, to tame you?” asked the little prince.

“You must be very patient,” replied the fox. “First you will sit down at a little distance from me–like that–in the grass. I shall look at you out of the corner of my eye, and you will say nothing. Words are the source of misunderstandings. But you will sit a little closer to me, every day . . .”

The next day the little prince came back.

“It would have been better to come back at the same hour,” said the fox. “If, for example, you come at four o’clock in the afternoon, then at three o’clock I shall begin to be happy. I shall feel happier and happier as the hour advances. At four o’clock, I shall already be worrying and jumping about. I shall show you how happy I am! But if you come at just any time, I shall never know at what hour my heart is to be ready to greet you . . . One must observe the proper rites . . .”

“What is a rite?” asked the little prince.

“Those also are actions too often neglected,” said the fox. “They are what make one day different from other days, one hour from other hours…”

3.  Here is something beautiful.  I have always liked “Fields of Gold” by Sting, and have the original recording on the Jukebox Ann page.  But I came across this version today which is Sting and Edin Karamazov performing “Fields of Gold” with only two lutes.  The Lute is a guitar-like instrument, and man, does this ever work.  It is just gorgeous.  Better than the original, in my opinion.  Enjoy.

Our Father, Who art in heaven, hallowed be Thy Name. Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread. And forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. Amen.

PATER NOSTER, qui es in caelis, sanctificetur nomen tuum. Adveniat regnum tuum. Fiat voluntas tua, sicut in caelo et in terra. Panem nostrum quotidianum da nobis hodie, et dimitte nobis debita nostra sicut et nos dimittimus debitoribus nostris. Et ne nos inducas in tentationem, sed libera nos a malo. Amen.

Psalm 110:

I will praise thee, O Lord, with my whole heart; in the council of the just: and in the congregation. Great are the works of the Lord: sought out according to all His wills. His work is praise and magnificence: and His justice continueth for ever and ever. He hath made a remembrance of His wonderful works, being a merciful and gracious Lord: He hath given food to them that fear Him. He will be mindful for ever of His covenant:

He will shew forth to His people the power of His works. That He may give them the inheritance of the Gentiles: the works of His hands are truth and judgment.

All His commandments are faithful: confirmed for ever and ever, made in truth and equity.

He hath sent redemption to His people: He hath commanded His covenant for ever. Holy and terrible is His Name: The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. A good understanding to all that do it: His praise continueth for ever and ever.

(This was originally penned and posted for Memorial Day ARSH 2012, and was quite popular, and it makes a perfect Veterans’ Day post, and is extremely timely given the renewed hostility toward and war against liturgical solemnity, masculinity and beauty by the infiltrators of the Church.)

HERE RESTS IN HONORED GLORY AN AMERICAN SOLDIER KNOWN BUT TO GOD.

Those are the words engraved on the Tomb of the Unknowns at Arlington National Cemetery. Here is a video of the Changing of the Guard.

I think we can all agree that the Tomb of the Unknowns, the 24/7 guarding of the Tomb, and the intense precision of the ceremonial rubrics therein is one of the most excellent things in American culture. The old saying goes, “You may judge a nation by how it treats its fallen warriors.” In an otherwise degraded and despair-inducing society, the Tomb of the Unknowns is a beacon of cultural light and hope.

The Tomb of the Unknowns is also extremely instructive, and believe it or not, it instructs us about . . . the Mass. The reason the Tomb of the Unknowns instructs us today about the Mass is because the Tomb of the Unknowns rubrics are highly informed by the rubrics of the Mass, which were themselves informed by military rubrics, which were informed by even older liturgical rubrics. Military ceremonials and the Ceremonials of the Church are intertwined.  Only since the Asteroid hit in the 1960s has the masculinity and, if I may use the term, militant aesthetic been utterly purged, in an attempt by the infiltrators to destroy the Chuch Militant from within by concealing its very nature from itself – MILITANCY. And so I am reminded of a quote I once heard:

It is important for Christians to know their own history, because if you know your own history, no one else can tell you who you are.

And that is precisely what has happened, and continues to happen.  The enemies and infiltrators desperately want all knowledge of WHO and WHAT the Church truly is suppressed and forgotten so that they can lyingly “tell you who you are”.  And if you have no knowledge of your own history, you will have no way to discern what is truth and what is lies, and you can thus be conned into believing that you are what you are not, and deceived into believing that you are not what you in actuality are.

For those of you who have never seen a pre-1969 Tridentine Mass and are used to the clownish, degraded, irreverent Novus Ordo Masses of the last 45 years, or of Superfun Rockband church, I hope the sense of reverent awe and solemnity you feel when watching the ceremony at the Tomb of the Unknowns helps you understand what exactly it is that has been robbed from you.

After watching the ceremony at the Tomb of the Unknowns above, I want you to imagine the guards walking about casually, maybe wearing a partial uniform jacket, but with jeans and sandals. Imagine the guards walking out and introducing themselves, “Hi, my name is Lieutenant Jones, but you can call me Lieutenant Jake, or just Jake.” Then the guard might say something like, “Isn’t it a beautiful day today? It sure was rainy yesterday. I had to wear a rain jacket. I’m so glad you all could make it to my shift today. I’m going to be guarding the tomb for the next few hours, and I know that it can sure get BOOOORING! That’s why I have asked a local band to come in and play some awesome new music for you guys, because I want this to be A FUN EXPERIENCE for all of us!”

If this happened, you would be shocked and disgusted, right? Do you understand that what I have just described is a watered-down comparison of what has happened to the Holy and August Sacrifice of the Mass? The Mass went from being even more reverent than the rubrics of the Tomb Guard to what I just described above – and many times even worse than what I described above.  And this happened for many people within a span of several WEEKS in late 1969 into early 1970.

Let’s walk through some of the many parallels.

The soldiers are in full dress uniform, meticulously turned-out and maintained. They are not in combat gear that soldiers would use to walk a patrol in Afghanistan. The Tomb guards are doing something DIFFERENT, and thus their uniforms reflect that. Really, what the ceremonies surrounding the Tomb are is the highest form of ART. It is living ART, not consisting of a mere two-dimensional representation, not consisting of inanimate objects, but ART consisting of human beings in action. The uniforms, the gait, the precise rubrics, words, gestures and movements – these all combine into a perpetual work of art that not only moves and inspires the people who witness it, but also accomplishes the goal of making tangible a RESPECT for and a REMEMBRANCE of all of the fallen unknown soldiers. The Tomb Guards walk their patrol whether anyone is there to see them do it or not. It isn’t a show. It is a service. It is a liturgy.

The ceremonials at the Tomb of the Unknowns during Hurricane Sandy.

The Holy Sacrifice of the Mass is exactly what I just described, except that the Mass is the most perfect artistic action in the universe because the Mass is the artistic creation of God Himself.  The Mass is SUPERNATURAL ART. The Holy Spirit taught the Church the Mass. The Mass is art that is so perfect that it actually causes something SUPERNATURAL to happen – it causes Heaven and Earth to touch, it causes time to be bent such that the moment of “now” touches and intersects with the moment of Calvary 1981 years ago, and it causes bread and wine to be transubstantiated into the Body, Blood, Soul and Divinity of Jesus Christ, made PHYSICALLY SUBSTANTIALLY PRESENT. Man calls down God, and God, in His infinite love, responds and fully submits in complete love, making Himself present on the Altar both at the moment of His death, and in His resurrection, so that He may go into us not only spiritually but also physically as Food.

-In the Tridentine Mass, the priest observes “custody of the eyes”, never looking around and NEVER looking out at the people. Like the guards, priests are supposed to keep their eyes on exactly what they are doing without distraction. The Guards at the Tomb wear mirrored sunglasses to block out all eye contact. Priests are supposed to keep their eyes DOWN or CLOSED, with a couple of exceptions such as just before the consecration when they are to look up to Heaven. This is like the Guards’ rubric of looking from side-to-side very deliberately when inspecting the rifle and the relieving officer. Did you catch that?

-Priests are also supposed to walk with a very deliberate gait – slow, measured and reverent in exactly the same way the Tomb Guards walk in a slow, deliberate, reverent gait.

-Priests are only supposed to say very specific words – no improvisation, no modifications. The Guards are the same way. They have a very strict announcement that they make at the changing, and they have very strict words that they say when telling people to be quiet and observe reverent silence (there is a YouTube video of that happening, look it up.) There is no chatting or extemporaneous speech. In the Church, the command is “Say the black, do the red,” in reference to the layout of the Roman Missal with the words of prayer in black and the instructions for the intensely precise rubrics, down to every gesture, in red.

-I would analogize the exaggerated heel-clicking movement that the Guards do to the genuflecting of the Priest (and servers, and laity, ahem) to the rubric of ALWAYS genuflecting to the right knee EACH AND EVERY TIME the axis of the Tabernacle is crossed. In many Catholic Churches, the Tabernacle, which is the center of the Church – heck, it is the center of the universe – has been moved off to the side, or even hidden in a sacristy. Where a Tabernacle is present, Our Lord, physically present inside, is largely ignored. I have never seen a Novus Ordo priest consistently observe the loving rubric of genuflecting to the Tabernacle every time the plane is crossed. (I have learned since originally writing this that the General Instruction of the Roman Missal for the Novus Ordo Mass states that there are to be no genuflections to the Blessed Sacrament except by the priest at the consecrations.  Sit in stillness with this for a moment.  Do you see why I say that the Novus Ordo was conceived in malice by the infiltrators, and thus cannot be “fixed”?)

In fact, most Novus Ordo priests wander around the sanctuary with their backs turned to the Tabernacle while they put on their “performance.” This would be analogous to the Tomb of the Unknowns itself at Arlington being moved “out of the way” and instead a stage being erected upon which the Guards would perform. It makes you sick to think of that happening at Arlington – but that is largely what has happened to the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass.

-There is even an analogue in the Changing of the Guard ceremony to the Consecration of the Host in the Mass. Did you hear it when you watched the video above? It comes at the 2:36 mark. A rifle is fired, its report thus commemorating the moment of death of the Unknowns. In the Mass, the moment of consecration and transubstantiation are the report of Christ’s words spoken by the priest:

HOC EST ENIM CORPUS MEUM.
(This is My Body.)

Finally, the words engraved on the Tomb of the Unknowns:

HERE RESTS IN HONORED GLORY AN AMERICAN SOLDIER KNOWN BUT TO GOD

This is analogous to the words of the Mass:

ECCE AGNUS DEI, ECCE QUI TOLLIT PECCATA MUNDI.
(Behold the Lamb of God, behold Him who takes away the sins of the world.)

In the Mass, Christ is obviously alive, physically substantially present in the Eucharist, veiled under the mere appearance of bread and wine. At the Tomb, the Unknowns remain dead – only their memory, veiled in anonymity, is honored.  There is absolutely NOTHING supernatural about the Tomb of the Unknowns.  Let me say that again: There is absolutely NOTHING supernatural about the Tomb of the Unknowns.  It is most excellent, to be sure, but it is not a supernatural thing.

The point is this: if we all know and understand and FEEL the power of the excellent, excellent ceremonial rubrics of the Tomb of the Unknown Soldiers, if we understand the power of “living art”, and we understand how important the concepts of reverence, solemnity, precision, dignity and beauty in movement and action are in the context of the Tomb, why, oh why, do we continue to tolerate the lack of reverence, the lack of solemnity, the absence of liturgical precision and dignity and the resulting UGLINESS that has been unleashed on the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass, which is not just a mere memorial of Calvary, but is Calvary Itself, made supernaturally present, and Our Resurrected Lord physically substantially present?

The Tomb of the Unknowns merits the excellent, beautiful, solemn, reverent, disciplined ceremony of the Guards.

Our Lord, Crucified, Risen and physically substantially present to us deserves INFINITELY MORE excellence, beauty, solemnity, reverence, discipline and dignity in His Mass.

Demand it. Now.

(One of the reasons this piece is so prescient is the opening quote – the degenerate Cardinals made it very, very clear and without the least hint of shame that their intention is to change the praxis of the Church so that it is in diametrical opposition to the teaching of the Church, the truth, and Our Lord Himself.  Satan knows that the Church is protected by the Holy Ghost and cannot formally teach error in matters of faith or morals or change dogma.  Thus, satan’s strategy, being carried out by his minions (let us pray that their service to satan is UNWITTING), is to end-run and avoid completely the whole question of attempting to formally change anything, but merely to change by threats, bribes and general bullying, the PRAXIS.  And if you think about it, satan views this as perhaps a greater victory, because if Pope Francis was to formally abrogate the Sixth Commandment and deny the words of Our Lord in Matthew 19, this would schism the Church instantaneously, and all of the Masses said by those loyal to Francis (which is most of them – let’s be honest) would be invalid, and thus people would not be receiving the Eucharist unworthily because schismatic sects cannot, by definition, confect the Eucharist.  Thus, the schismatic priests would not be performing sacrilege in the sense that they would not be distributing the Eucharist knowingly and willfully to people in open, unrepentant mortal sin, which, again, let’s be crystal clear, would be SACRILEGE.  Likewise, the schismatic laity would not be receiving Our Lord’s Body, Blood, Soul and Divinity in a state of unrepentant mortal sin, just as the Anglicans and all other Protesting Sects are not receiving the Eucharist in their sin, which is a mercy.  No.  This is satan trying to put The Church in check (in the chess sense) by maintaining the validity of the Masses, and thus the confection of the Eucharist, and thus getting as many people as possible to receive the Eucharist in mortal sin.  Do you see this?  Do you understand?  If satan is trying to get as many people as possible to receive the Eucharist in mortal sin, dontcha think that MAYBE receiving the Eucharist unworthily is EXTREMELY EXTREMELY BAD?  And maybe we should all be taking this just a TOUCH more seriously ourselves?  

Originally penned and posted May 7, ARSH 2014.  I have added a couple of sentences.)    

In truth, the most salient fact of contemporary Catholic life in the West is the way it is pervaded by the pattern of saying things and then acting as if something else were true. -Michael Brendan Dougherty

(I’m learning, slowly. Everything below that is sarcasm or the voice of a liar, heretic or apostate is in GREEN.)

Indeed. This sentence, penned earlier this week* by a secular columnist almost sums up what pretty much everyone is too cowardly to say. In fact, it is the base premise underlying the derivative statement above that is the real 800 pound gorilla sitting squarely in the middle of the room. And, since it is my job to state with all of the bluntness, clarity and precision I can muster the objective truths that no one else will say, I’ll say it. I’ll answer the question: Why do Catholics today, including and most especially clergy and religious going all the way to the TOP, say one thing and then act as if something else were true?

Because they apparently don’t actually believe any of it.

Now, you can squirm and call me uncharitable all you like, but deep down you know just as well as I do that if you were able to corner the vast majority of these people at a cocktail party where they would open up to you honestly, OF COURSE they don’t believe in the Divinity of Christ. OF COURSE they don’t believe in the concept of sin, much less Original Sin, and certainly not in any sort of judgment by a personal deity, much less the ridiculous fictions of hell or damnation. OF COURSE they don’t believe in the Mass as The Holy and August Sacrifice of Calvary Made Present, and CERTAINLY not in the Real Presence of Jesus Christ in the Eucharist. I mean, come on, this is all a bunch of medieval bullshit that a bunch superstitious neanderthals used to oppress and control each other up until we “sang a newchurch into being” in 1965 after Saint Second Vatican Council incarnated in the hearts of men on October 11, 1962, and then ascended on December 8, 1965, thus liberating modern man from nineteen centuries of monumentally embarrassing and oppressive crackpot voodoo bullshit.

It doesn’t matter what the Mass was like before, and it doesn’t matter what the Fathers and Saints taught before, because MANKIND ITSELF was different, and not just different but INFERIOR. Thus everything “old” is just a bunch of bullshit, and everything “new” is good, and thus the Church must also be new, and thus different. None of that ridiculous old bullshit can possibly speak to the new, superior modern man, who, being liberated from nineteen centuries of bullshit, can now “encounter” Christ and “dialogue” with “him” as an equal. Anyone who takes any interest at all in any of that archaic nonsense must then, by definition, be of sub-standard intelligence at best, and TOTALLY UNCOOL at worst. You don’t want to be UNCOOL, do you? You don’t want to be THROWN OUT OF SEMINARY, do you? You don’t want to be disdained and sneered at and mocked behind your back by your professors, superiors and peers, do you? You don’t want to be exiled to some *gasp* RURAL parish, do you? You don’t want to be demoted from being Chief Justice of the Vatican Supreme Court to a purely ceremonial position as the Patron of the Sovereign Military Order of Malta, do you?  You don’t want people to think that you ACTUALLY BELIEVE THAT BULLSHIT, right?

Modern man, having moved beyond and having been liberated from the bullshit, can now act as his own arbiter of truth, conceptualizing the notions of good and evil within himself, and truth, goodness and beauty are now negotiable and dynamic. Modern man need not rely upon or even be informed by strict, rigid, antiquated, superstitious teaching (the bullshit), but now, in his superiority, can confidently rely on how things make him FEEL, and thus liberate himself and others from the bullshit, and thus stop obsessing over minutiae and trivia, and start worrying about the things that really matter: giving the state the power to redistribute wealth and incur incalculable debt so that unlimited amounts of free shit can be “given” to “poor people”, thus eliminating material inequality which is the root of social evil, and, of course, climate change.  And also maintaining the cash flow from the church tax in Germany.

The concepts of “mercy” and “charity” must be redefined as “PERMISSIVENESS born from INDIFFERENCE” according to the new order – the exact opposite of their antiquated and oppressive pre-St. Vatican II bullshit meanings.

Ladies and gentlemen, in the eyes of these people there is today only one sin, and that sin is actually believing what the Catholic Church teaches. It embarrasses them. It embarrasses them to the point of rage.

Over Passiontide I came across several pieces on the web speculating as to the motives behind Judas Iscariot’s betrayal of Our Lord. One surmised that Judas loved Our Lord so much that he wanted to force the hand of the Romans and Jews and bring about the installation of Christ as an earthly king. Another postulated mere greed as the core motive. No, no, no. We are told in John 6 exactly why Judas betrayed Our Lord.

Judas was EMBARRASSED by Our Blessed Lord. And there is nothing in this world that stokes and fans the flames of hatred as quickly and violently as EMBARRASSMENT.

John 6. The Eucharistic Discourse. Let me recount the events briefly. This moment is the “height” of Jesus’ earthly ministry in terms of popularity. He has drawn a crowd of five thousand men (verse 10), which means that when women and children were counted there were even more than that. Anyway, at minimum five thousand people have spontaneously gathered around Him. This is impressive to say the least. Judas and the other Apostles are STOKED and are seriously starting to think about Jesus somehow being made king and expelling the Romans, and all of the perks that go along with being a member of the inner circle of a KING. Then Jesus performs the Miracle of the Loaves and Fishes. OH. MY. GOSH. Serious momentum building now. This is so cool. He’s gonna be king and we’re gonna be PRINCES. And then…

“You must eat My Flesh and drink My Blood.” Over and over and over again.

And all the people start saying, “What in the WORLD is He talking about?”

Hearing and seeing the thousands and thousands of people pretty much freaking out at His words, and, you know, being God Incarnate and omniscient and all, He then repeats it with more clarity and force. “For My Flesh is meat indeed: and My Blood is drink indeed. He that eateth My Flesh, and drinketh My Blood, abideth in Me, and I in him.”

At this point the entire crowd, who just a few minutes ago were totally on board with the program, and would have been the vectors of a likely movement to put Jesus on the Throne of David, almost to the man get up and leave. C-ya.

And why did they leave? Because Our Blessed Lord just told them about His Real Presence in the Eucharist – that bread and wine would be transubstantiated such that their substance would actually become the substance of God that we could physically eat and thus take into our own bodies – because that is how much He loves us.

The other eleven Apostles are CONFUSED to be sure (aren’t we all), but they know who Jesus is, and their faith, despite their near-total confusion, keeps them from abandoning Him. Jesus walks over to them, and instead of saying, “Aw, shucks, I was just talking symbolically,” as the protestant heresy would have Him do, He gets in their faces and forces them to make an Act of Faith right then and there: “Then Jesus said to the twelve: Will you also go away?”

At this point Peter makes one of the greatest Acts of Faith in all of human history, up there with the Fiat of the Blessed Virgin at the Annunciation and the near-sacrifice of Isaac by Abraham: “And Simon Peter answered Him: Lord, to whom shall we go? Thou hast the words of eternal life. And we have believed and have known, that Thou art the Christ, the Son of God.”

Backing up to verse 65, we see Judas who was so utterly EMBARRASSED by Our Lord’s revelation to mankind of the Holy Eucharist, and the near-instantaneous loss of the power base that Judas, just a few short minutes before, envisioned elevating him to a princely throne with all of the wealth and power and popularity-by-association that would come with it, that he is enraged, and is already plotting to betray Jesus. “But there are some of you that believe not. For Jesus knew from the beginning, who they were that did not believe, and who he was, that would betray Him.”

Please note that the metric here is not UNDERSTANDING, but BELIEF. No one to this day understands the mechanisms of transubstantiation. Got that? It is a mystery how the substance of one thing can be changed into the substance not just of something else, but of God Himself, whilst the accidents (the appearance, taste, etc.) remain.

Absolutely. No. Clue.

It requires faith. Hence, verse 64: “It is the spirit that quickeneth: the flesh profiteth nothing. The words that I have spoken to you, are spirit and life.”

Judas Iscariot did not believe in the Holy Eucharist and was thus EMBARRASSED by and ASHAMED of It, which is to say, Our Lord. This embarrassment and shame was instantly converted into anger and hatred of Our Lord.

Ahem. Cough-cough. Is anyone else experiencing a weird deja vu kind of vibe right about now?

Now, bringing it full circle, tell me who you would assign the following quote to: Judas Iscariot or the average modern western Catholic?

“How in the hell do you expect us to get anyone to join and support us if you keep talking about this bullshit? This superstitious crap might have flown back in the day, but crazy bullshit like that only drives people away now. You either need to drop that talk all together, or walk it back and tone it way the hell down into some meaningless, non-offensive symbolism or shared community meal meme, or something. Bottom line, you are embarrassing us with this bullshit. STOP EMBARRASSING US.”
And so, ladies and gentlemen, the next time you see or hear something that fits the pattern of “saying things and then acting as if something else were true”, ask yourself if the following premise would totally, completely explain everything you are seeing:

They don’t actually believe any of it.

I am going to repost something relatively recent tomorrow, from May of this year, because it is so incredibly important, and, once again, extremely prescient since the disastrous, heretical Synod mess of a few weeks ago.  First, several points to make everything as blunt, forthright and clear as humanly possible.

1.  The title “The Cool Kids don’t actually believe any of that bullshit…” stays.  There are all manner or references to fecal matter in scripture, and I insist that one and all be confronted with the full strength of the contempt and rage that these people give every possible indication of having for the Truth.  “Stuff” doesn’t cut it.  “Stuff” is neutral.  They don’t think it is “stuff”.  They think it is BULLSHIT.

2.  Beaver, let’s go into my den and have a talk.  Man to man.

Okay.  Pope Francis Bergoglio is dumb.  He is an unintelligent man.  He washed out of a doctorate program in Germany in the ’70s because he couldn’t hack it, which is saying something indeed, because the ’70s weren’t exactly intellectually rigorous.  His extemporaneous speech is incoherent, wandering, rambling, nonsensical fog banks of thought.  I have been told from EYEWITNESSES to his “sermonettes” every morning in Rome that he will literally lose his train of thought in mid-sentence (not that he actually speaks in COMPLETE sentences mind you), stand staring into space for 20 seconds, and then pick up on a completely different train of thought.  His statements are staggeringly idiotic pastiches of meaningless buzz words, catchphrases and tropes.  In other words, he speaks like the typical dimwitted 1970s Jesuit, post-modernist that he is.  Just two examples from the past couple of weeks are these gems:  “Corruption is worse than sin” and “Judas Iscariot wasn’t the worst sinner among the Apostles”.  These are terrifying in their stupidity.  Corruption IS a sin, so how can sin be worse than sin?  And Judas Iscariot betrayed our Lord and then COMMITTED SUICIDE.  I wonder, which of the other Apostles could beat suicide and Deicide?  Hmmm.  Maybe Saint Andrew smiled insincerely, like a flight attendant, once.  These are just two tiny examples from the past couple of weeks.  I have also been told secondhand that people who have been inside the living quarters at the lavish, massive new papal suite (in as much as TWO ENTIRE FLOORS can be called a mere “suite”) that Pope Bergoglio immediately commissioned (in his dazzling, dazzling humility) that there are NO BOOKS.  The man doesn’t read.  Anything.  Including these documents that come across his desk.  This may be a function of trying to establish plausible deniability, but it is also probably because dumb people find reading to be hard.

Now you may be thinking that I am just insulting the Pope because I enjoy it.  No.  Are you kidding?  This is AWFUL.  But, it is ESSENTIAL to understand, and I’ll bet that you will recognize why from experiences in your own life when I lay it out.  As I have railed for years, our culture is so degraded that stupid people have more worldly success than smart people.  Stupid people are running the show, and are aggressively promoted up the various ladders and chains of command.  The government, the military, the universities, the corporations, and yes, the Church.  Anyone with two brain cells to rub together has two choices: keep one’s head down and mouth shut and resign oneself to mediocrity, or go out on your own and prepare to be attacked and vilified for the duration.

Now these stupid people, like Bergoglio, are just smart enough to be terrified of having their intellectual mediocrity found out – they live in terror of it, in fact.  And here is where we get to the meat of the issue.  These stupid people, in their pathological need to be THOUGHT intelligent by the world, utterly despise … wait for it … the SUPERNATURAL.  We have eighteen months of this Bergoglio train wreck, and a massive dataset to draw from.  Bergoglio is CLEARLY a materialist, who beyond that seems to lack any belief or reference to anything SUPERNATURAL.  Why does the Pope not seem to care one whit if people receive the Eucharist in a state of unrepentant mortal sin?  Because the entire question pivots on a supernatural fulcrum, namely the Real Substantial Presence of Jesus Christ, Body, Blood, Soul and Divinity, in the Eucharist.  If one strips away, disregards or denies this SUPERNATURAL truth, then, yeah, why the hell can’t people come up and get their symbolic community meal cracker at Mass?  What’s the problem?  That’s mean, and if you’re mean and don’t give people the symbolic cracker, then they won’t like you, and won’t come to your church, and won’t give you money and tell everyone how dreamy and awesome-sauce you are.

Now let’s look at the SUPERNATURAL institution of the Church Itself.  The Church is the one and only SUPERNATURAL Body of Christ, and the one and only SUPERNATURAL Bride of Christ.  If we deny the SUPERNATURAL, then the “church” is just a human organization, one among many, with no special claim to authority.  The Church stripped of its SUPERNATURAL nature is a philanthropic clearing house, lobbying firm, property management company, and an NGO for craven careerists to game for every Peronist-Fascist centavo and scrap of worldly political power it can.  Note well the use of the verb “to game”.  It’s power and glory for power and glory’s sake.  Stake out teams within the matrix of this playing field called “the church”, and then its “us” against “them”.  Play the game.  It’s all about the game.  There is nothing beyond the game.

These people are stupid, and they are worldy, and thus they are humiliated and enraged by the SUPERNATURAL and by people who talk openly about the SUPERNATURAL, because they think that the world will think that they are stupid if they are seen to believe in things which cannot be proven with modern science (yes, that’s a laugh-out-loud line).  This is EVERYWHERE.  Heck, I remember when someone saying out loud the things I now say on a regular basis would have made me cringe and squirm and find the nearest exit.  How many of you readers originally happened upon this website because of my financial commentary, but find yourself reading my religious pieces?  And how many of you feel EMBARRASSED reading about Jesus Christ and His love for us?  How many of you feel that knot of unease in the pit of your stomach?  How many of you, because of this embarrassment feel ANGER towards me for saying the things I say?  How many of you are angry at me for subjecting you to my “religious rantings” in order to get to my financial posts?  How many of you have thought, “Why can’t she just focus on the financial stuff, or at least sort the posts so we don’t have to be subjected to her holy-roller BULLSHIT?”

Uh-huh.  I know.  I read enough of my email to know.  And do you know what the difference is?  Do you know why I am completely willing to “embarrass myself” in the eyes of the world?  Well, let me put it this way.  When I lie awake in bed worrying about the things I worry about, the question, “I wonder if people think I’m smart?” is NOT on the list.  And so not only is the SUPERNATURAL reality of God and His Holy Church not a scandal or an embarrassment, it is irresistibly attractive to me to the point that I cannot but attempt to tell as many other people about it as possible.  And frankly, if the fact is that I can in one breath be talking about fractional reserve coefficients and in the next about the Holy and August Sacrifice of the Mass, well, so much the better.  Do I tie your guts in knots of embarrassment and make you blush with shame for even silently reading about Jesus Christ and hearing His Name ring out in your mind?  Good.  GOOD.

3.  Finally a quick word about Francis’ latest rhetoric.  He was jabbering about fake, “pagan” Christians.  Here is what I suspect he is setting up with this.  Bergoglio was immediately reported as despising pre-Asteroidal (circa ARSH 1965-69) liturgy, aka the Traditional Form of the Roman Rite, and to this day gives the strong appearance of being deeply, deeply disinterested at best at even Novus Ordo liturgies.  Photographers in Rome joke that getting a “good picture” of Francis at Mass is tough because he physically comports himself like a bored child, and has a nasty habit of looking at his watch, rolling his eyes, and sighing heavily.  Hmmm.  Well, I suppose if one disregarded the SUPERNATURAL realities of the Mass, it would seem boring and a waste of time, wouldn’t it?  I mean, we should all be out giving free stuff from the government to the poor so that we can smell like them and accompany them body-to-body, or something, right?  That would be a much better use of everyone’s time than these symbolic old  rituals, verdad?

Ay ay ay. ¿Es terminado todavía?

I suspect that Pope Francis is going to plant the rhetorical seed that the Traditional Liturgy itself is “pagan”.  Ornate vestments, precise rubrics, movements and postures, strict prayers with zero opportunity for improvisation or the expression of personality, and most especially, the fact that these liturgical traditions are not just OLD, but ANCIENT.  Given his oeuvre, it is undeniable that the one and only thing which he seems to be “intolerant” of and “unmerciful” towards is ROMAN CATHOLICISM, and I refuse to qualify that further.  Tell me, who else do you think he could be talking about given his bootlicking of every other faux-religion and heretical and schismatic Christian sect, and his declaration that proselytism is “solemn nonsense”?  I’m all ears.

Gentlemen, the strategy of laying low cannot and will not work.  They are coming, and they are coming for you.  The only thing laying low and cowering will accomplish is making it faster and easier for them to defeat you.  This is the “end game”.  This is their “final solution”, and I use the term without hesitation.  There will be no negotiations, no truces, no honorable parleys.  They want everything pre-Bugnini exterminated from the face of the earth, INCLUDING ITS MEMORY.  This is already more than 90% accomplished.  This is the last push to guarantee that one generation from now it is 100% accomplished.  Now, it is certain that the Gates of Hell will not prevail, but it is not certain that the Church must schism and be reduced to the worst-case-one-valid-Mass-per-day.  That is up to us.

4.  One last tiny point.  Do NOT make the mistake of thinking that stupid people are incapable of malignancy.  Oh, that’s lethal.  I know we have been culturally conditioned to believe that lower intelligence BY DEFINITION means purity of heart and intention.  This is false.  Stupid people can be every bit as malignant as smart people, and conversely, smart people can be good.  That regression analysis would have a very low R-squared, indeed.

Our Father, Who art in heaven, hallowed be Thy Name. Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread. And forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. Amen.

PATER NOSTER, qui es in caelis, sanctificetur nomen tuum. Adveniat regnum tuum. Fiat voluntas tua, sicut in caelo et in terra. Panem nostrum quotidianum da nobis hodie, et dimitte nobis debita nostra sicut et nos dimittimus debitoribus nostris. Et ne nos inducas in tentationem, sed libera nos a malo. Amen.

Today is the Feast of the Four Holy Crowned Martyrs, four soldiers who were executed by being beaten to death for refusing to offer sacrifice to a pagan god by Diocletian in ARSH 304.  This is the Epistle Reading of their Mass today from Hebrews 11.  In addition to being justification for those of us accused of writing excessively long sentences, it makes the point that if you have Faith and do the right thing, you will win either way.  You will either subdue kingdoms and put the enemies of God to flight, or you will win the crown of martyrdom, depending on what the Will of God happens to be.

THE ULTIMATE WIN-WIN SCENARIO.

Please note that cowering sycophancy or even merely “keeping ones head down” are NOT viable options.  Fight and reign gloriously, or die gloriously.  But fight for Christ the King and His Holy Church.

[The Saints] who by faith conquered kingdoms, wrought justice, obtained promises, stopped the mouths of lions, quenched the violence of fire, escaped the edge of the sword, recovered strength from weakness, became valiant in battle, put to flight the armies of foreigners:  women received their dead raised to life again: but others were racked, not accepting deliverance, that they might find a better resurrection; and others had trial of mockeries and stripes, moreover also of bands and prisons: they were stoned, they were cut asunder, they were tempted, they were put to death by the sword, they wandered about in sheepskins, in goatskins, being in want, distressed, afflicted: of whom the world was not worthy; wandering in deserts, in mountains, and in dens, and in caves of the earth. And all these being approved by the testimony of faith, In Christ Jesus Our Lord.

Behold the most potentially powerful and influential Patron of the Sovereign Military Order of Malta ever. Let’s go, Eminence!  “For when I am weak, then am I powerful.” 2 Corinthians 12: 10

So let me lay out some simple TRUE PREMISES, and then ask a follow-up question.

A.)  The constitutional republic referred to as the United States of America no longer exists.  TRUE.
B.)  The Rule of Law is no longer in force in the former United States.  TRUE.
C.) The Constitution of the United States and the system of government it defines is therefore no longer in force.  TRUE.
D.) The body going by the name “United States Congress” has been rendered meaningless in praxis.  TRUE.
E.)  National-level representative politics in the former United States is a completely false facade, kabuki theater, designed to entertain and mollify the masses who are of average intelligence, and to launder looted money and enrich the oligarch class.  TRUE.
F.) Given the reality of the true premises above, any person who holds or seeks to hold national-level public office is, by definition, morally, intellectually and/or psychologically unfit to hold public office (The Barnhardt Axiom).  TRUE.

Okay, so now my question.  What exactly are you people agog about?  Have we learned NOTHING?  NOTHING AT ALL?  It still hasn’t sunk in?  Do you not remember the 2010 midterms and how that was going to put the brakes on Obama once and for all?  DO YOU REMEMBER THAT?  Yeah. And what did they do?  Flip-all.  Zippo.  Nada.  I don’t give a crap if the “US Congress”, both houses, are UNANIMOUSLY republican.  What the hell does it matter?  No.  Stop.  Stop and think.  Answer the question, because it is not rhetorical.  You tell me.  WHAT DOES IT MATTER?

Oh boy!  I’m so excited!  Now there are a few more psychopathic imbeciles and whores who wave the flag with the elephant on it who will do exactly nothing to stop anything that the Washington DC regime does.  Run up debt, debase the currency and loot the Treasury to the tune of a TRILLION dollars per year?  NOTHING.  Dissolve the Mexican border?  NOTHING.  Run guns to and reform the islamic Caliphate?  NOTHING.  Sic the IRS on enemies?  NOTHING.  Actively attempt to bring viruses and plagues into the country?  NOTHING.  Aggresively force and promote a culture of sodomy and child slaughter?  NOTHING.  But the godless sellouts and larcenous hacks will all now, instead of capitulating to everything, suddenly stand tall and put their proverbial foot down!  Really?  And also the sun will rise in the west tomorrow morning.  Give me a break.

You can’t, you just CAN’T be that obtuse.  The former United States is being run by a shadow regime, who has full power and control with ZERO check or balance.  Have you not been paying attention to ANYTHING that has happened for the past six years?  The former U.S. is being run by executive fiat, which is carried out by an ideologically purged and compliant bureaucracy, judiciary, military, financial industry and with a fully compliant media/propaganda arm.  The executive is not Obama the man, who is less than nothing but a puppet front, but a Supreme Soviet of oligarchs.  And I mean that literally.  A Supreme Soviet of oligarchs.  The Legislative branch is a troupe of very, very highly paid shills and cretins who, I’m sure, will perform their little hearts out for you.  Hands will be wrung.  Frowny faces will be made.  Billions of breathless, personalized emails begging for contributions to their money laundering fronts, aka PACs, will be sent.  Balance sheets will inflate by eight figures for no apparent reason.

I’m sorry, but I cannot, in good conscience, engage in any sort of conversation or commentary that is not based upon reality and true premises.  This is another way of “going along to get along” that I simply refuse to do.  It is massively harmful to others to confirm them in their delusions or false premises.  Just to be sociable?  Just to be included in the conversation? Just to be liked?  Nope.  Can’t do it.  Won’t do it.  It’s a sin against Charity.

Look, you can tell me about how the United States is “turning it around” when abortion is a capital offense and sodomy is recriminalized.  You can tell me all about how the U.S. is on the road to recovery when there are people in the streets weeping and sobbing on their knees begging the Triune Godhead for His mercy and forgiveness for spending the last fifty years proverbially kicking God in the crotch non-stop.  You can tell me about how there is hope for America when there are dead bodies of these oligarchs hanging from the lampposts after their trials and executions for crimes against humanity with full due process in accord with the Rule of Law.

You want to know what the first glimmer of hope will look like?  Something like this:

Hope for Italy.  (No due process – points subtracted for bad form.)

Hope for Romania.

Hope for Iraq – now utterly extinguished by the Washington DC regime.

Until then, save me the brainless rah-rah-team-elephant-yay-everything-is-awesome crap.

Our Father, Who art in heaven, hallowed be Thy Name. Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread. And forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. Amen.

PATER NOSTER, qui es in caelis, sanctificetur nomen tuum. Adveniat regnum tuum. Fiat voluntas tua, sicut in caelo et in terra. Panem nostrum quotidianum da nobis hodie, et dimitte nobis debita nostra sicut et nos dimittimus debitoribus nostris. Et ne nos inducas in tentationem, sed libera nos a malo. Amen.

St. Charles Borromeo and his formidable proboscis.

The nose, formidable as it was, couldn’t hold a candle to the man.

Let us fear lest the Angered Judge say to us: If you were the enlighteners of My Church, why have you closed your eyes? If you pretended to be shepherds of the flock, why have you suffered it to stray? Salt of the earth, you have lost your savor. Light of the world, they that sat in darkness and the shadow of death have never seen you shine. You were apostles; who, then, put your apostolic firmness to the test, since you have done nothing but seek to please men? You were the mouth of the Lord, and you have made that mouth dumb. If you allege in excuse that the burden was beyond your strength, why did you make it the object of your ambitious intrigues?
–- Saint Charles Borromeo

The Holy Sacrifice of the Mass will be offered twice in November for all of my Benefactors and supporters.  Remember, even if you decide that you hate my guts, once you’re on the list, you never, ever, ever come off of it.  ‘Cause that’s how I set it up with God.  So there.
MWAH. HA. HAH. HAH!

NOVEMBER 5th
NOVEMBER 28th
Both at approximately 12:30pm EST

Mark your calendars!

Many, many thanks to one and all.  If I should happen to survive the war, I shall regale all of you with tales of these golden days in Riverville.

Then Peter answering, said to Him: Behold we have left all things, and have followed Thee: what therefore shall we have? And Jesus said to them: Amen, I say to you, that you, who have followed Me, in the regeneration, when the Son of man shall sit on the seat of his majesty, you also shall sit on twelve seats judging the twelve tribes of Israel. And every one that hath left house, or brethren, or sisters, or father, or mother, or wife, or children, or lands for My Name’s sake, shall receive an hundredfold, and shall possess life everlasting.

Indeed.  But understand, the earthly “hundredfold” reimbursement package will almost certainly not be paid in mere money.  It will be much, much better than that.  And the “hundredfold” coefficient is LOWBALLING it.