Member Post

 

Guy and Gulielma K——-   were very dear to us. We were privileged to sit at their kitchen table when we were poor students; we were further privileged to host them in our own home in later years. Guy and Gula were Quakers of the original sort, from the Indiana farmlands. They fetched up in […]

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Member Post

 

The society that separates its scholars from its warriors will have its thinking done by cowards and its fighting by fools. ― Thucydides In Ancient Greece Socrates fought in the phalanx and Xenophon, a military leader wrote works of scholarship.  There was no separation between scholars and warriors.  Nor was there in Republican Rome. Cicero […]

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Quote of the Day: Enormous Blessings

 

“I think it’s an enormous blessing to be the child of an immigrant who fled oppression, because you realize how fragile liberty is and how easily it can be taken away.” – Ted Cruz

“I was so horrifically bad at tennis” — Ted Cruz

I like Ted Cruz a lot, and have grown to like him even more in the last few years. He doesn’t mince words, and is brutal and fearless when he challenges people who are either seeking appointments or testifying about their corporate actions. He’s also very articulate, has a deep understanding of the Constitution, and a great sense of humor.

Member Post

 

Oh! but he was a tight-fisted hand at the grindstone, Scrooge! a squeezing, wrenching, grasping, scraping, clutching, covetous old sinner! Hard and sharp as flint, from which no steel had ever struck out generous fire; secret, and self-contained, and solitary as an oyster. The cold within him froze his old features, nipped his pointed nose, […]

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Quote of the Day: Fight for the Right

 

“Still, if you will not fight for the right when you can easily win without bloodshed; if you will not fight when your victory will be sure and not too costly; you may come to the moment when you will have to fight with all the odds against you and only a precarious chance of survival. There may even be a worse case. You may have to fight when there is no hope of victory, because it is better to perish than to live as slaves.” – Winston Churchill

Churchill knew of what he spoke. He was in Parliament when Hitler remilitarized the Rhineland in 1936 in violation of the Treaty of Versailles. Had France and Britain moved in with just a battalion or two of troops each, the Germans would have been rolled back. The entire occupation was a bluff and could have been easily reversed. Hitler would have been deposed by the German Army.

Member Post

 

Here is our second signup sheet to post daily memes. Pick either a day of the week or a single day when you will volunteer to provide the daily meme to the Ricochetti. Sign up in the comments. Let’s see if we can get better participation in December. It’s not hard and a great way […]

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Quote of the Day: War and Peace

 

Si vis pacem, para bellum (If you want peace, prepare for war). – Publius Flavius Vegetius Renatus, Epitoma rei militaris 4th Century AD

The United States has been at peace for the last 70-odd years. Yes, it has been involved in foreign conflicts since the end of World War II from the Korea War through the ill-named War on Terror. Yet during that time actual US soil has not been touched by war, except possibly by the terrorism of 9-11. The last year there was a real existential threat to US soil was in 1942, including a brief occupation of minor bits of what later became Alaska.

Quote of the Day: Thankful for Gratitude

 

My sister, Gwynne, is one of the sweetest people in the world.  Five kids in our family, I was the youngest and she the eldest and growing up she spoiled me rotten. Even today, if I’m coming over to visit she’ll ask, “What would you like for the dinner? Tamales? Pizza? Steak? Will you want cinnamon rolls for breakfast?”  But the thing is, if she met you, she would probably find out your favorite dessert in ten minutes and be baking it within the hour.

She always kind, and I remember one particular instance when that kindness shined through. And so we, her brothers and sister teased her mercilessly for it.

We were on a car trip. One of my dad’s car trips. The seven of us were stuffed in the station wagon, I was always in the way back. The only reason to stop was for gas. Mom made sandwiches beforehand. Rest room stops were planned around those gas stops. (There was always a pot for emergencies.) On this particular trip, my dad needed help with directions. He didn’t often admit he needed help with directions, but he asked the attendant who pointed me dad in the right direction.

Quote of the Day: War

 

“God created war so that Americans would learn geography.” – Mark Twain

It is true, isn’t it? Two years ago, how many of you had heard of Kherson or Melitopol? Back then I thought It was Nikoliav, not Mykolaiv. Before October 7, who knew where Wadi as-Salqua was?

Quote of the Day: Pro-Free Speech

 

Any online community that is explicitly pro-free speech will inevitably become right-leaning. This is because in the free market of ideas right-leaning ideas win. Which is why we see these left-wing tech companies censoring. No one is buying their progressive, globalist [REDACTED] anymore, so it must be force-fed down the throats of users and dissent must be stamped out with the iron fist of censorship.” — Gab CEO Andrew Torba

If you think about it, it makes sense. Ricochet is an example. We have had progressives and liberals join Ricochet to convert the heathen conservatives t0 their political bent instead staying and becoming right-leaning. Because the center-right arguments convinced them. In a free marketplace of ideas, the better arguments win.

Quote of the Day: What Lies in the Human Heart

 

On our best days, we like to think of the heart as the repository for our love and affection. It connects us to others, and as it deepens in quality, it builds relationships. Our heart swells when we fall in love, and that love fills our souls. The more we love in healthy connections, the happier we are and the more we have to offer to the people around us.

Unfortunately, the heart can also be a haven for darkness and evil. Instead of nurturing love, there are those who feed hatred and violence. Their souls are filled with resentment and the need to punish those whom they feel have deprived them of meaningful lives. And often a purposeful life is only acquired through the destruction of those they hate. As Rabbi Jonathan Sacks says:

The greatest weapon of mass destruction is the human heart.

Quote of the Day: Silencing the Opposition

 

“Once a government is committed to the principle of silencing the voice of opposition, it has only one way to go, and that is down the path of increasingly repressive measures, until it becomes a source of terror to all its citizens and creates a country where everyone lives in fear.” – Harry S. Truman

There is not much I can add to that. Harry S. pretty much nailed it.  Other than to note, he was a Democrat, which shows how much the Democrats have gone down the path of Fascism since 1972. (Yes, the big shift started after McGovern’s loss,  when the socialist wing of the Democrats captured the party machinery and  chased out first the anti-Communists and eventually everyone to the right of Henry Wallace.)

Quote of the Day: Miracles

 

“There are only two ways to live your life. One is as though nothing is a miracle. The other is as though everything is a miracle.” ― Albert Einstein

Is he right?  I do not know. I tend to fall in the second camp. To me, everything about life is to some extent miraculous, even the everyday pleasures. Waking up in the morning seems like a miracle. (It always has, even when I was a child, but somehow it seems even more so at 68.) There is a new day ahead. The smell and taste of the first cup of coffee in the morning. (Add a bit of heavy cream and I hear the angels sing.) The beginning of a fresh day at work with new challenges to overcome – or on weekends projects to start or finish. There is a gorgeous blue October sky outside. It all seems so remarkable, so special.

Quote of the Day: Sadness or Depression

 

I found that with depression, one of the most important things you could realize is that you’re not alone. –Dwayne Johnson

Life is really simple, but we insist on making it complicated. Confucius

That’s the thing about depression: A human being can survive almost anything, as long as she sees the end in sight. But depression is so insidious, and it compounds daily, that it’s impossible to ever see the end. The fog is like a cage without a key. –Elizabeth Wurtzel

Quote of the Day: Nash on Sensible Fish

 

Oh, things are frequently what they seem,
And this is wisdom’s crown:
Only the game fish swims upstream,
But the sensible fish swims down.
— Ogden Nash

Don’t ask me what it means, but it is your Quotation of the Day. What does it mean? Any answers?