Remembrances for January - 2025

 

An opening note:  Remember to pray for Jimmy Carter's soul, since he also is a son of the South.

Dear friends, if you have time, please pray for these members of the Southern family on the day they reposed.  Many thanks.

But one may ask:  ‘What good does it do to pray for the departed?’  An answer is offered here:  https://orthochristian.com/130608.html

Along with prayers and hymns for the departed:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M6je5axPodI

Jan. 1^st

Francois Valcour Aimé, one of Louisiana’s noblest sons.

https://64parishes.org/entry/valcour-aime

https://web.archive.org/web/20210126212259/https://64parishes.org/entry/valcour-aime

https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/6679407/francois-gabriel-aime/photo

Hank Williams, the country music legend.

https://www.abbevilleinstitute.org/what-makes-this-musician-great-hank-williams/

Jan. 3^rd

Rev Robert Lewis Dabney, an influential leader in the South both behind and outside of the pulpit.

https://www.abbevilleinstitute.org/review/dabney-on-fire/

Jan. 4^th

Fred Chappel, a profilic Southern writer of recent years.

https://www.abbevilleinstitute.org/ol-fred/

Jan. 4^th

Gen Francis T. Nichols, a Confederate general in the War between the States who lost an arm and a foot defending his homeland.  After the unpleasantness came to an end, he became a reforming governor in his home State of Louisiana, waging another mighty battle - this time against the corrupt Louisiana Lottery.  He later sat on the bench of the Louisiana Supreme Court.

https://64parishes.org/entry/francis-t-nicholls

http://www.la-cemeteries.com/Governors/Nicholls,%20Francis%20T/Nicholls,%20Francis%20T.shtml

Jan. 5^th

George Washington Carver, the famous Tuskegee researcher who found many new uses for the South’s agricultural produce.

https://www.biography.com/scientist/george-washington-carver

https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/179/george-washington-carver

Jan. 6^th

Judge Robert Baylor.  ‘Robert Emmett Bledsoe (R.E.B.) Baylor (1793-1874) was a lawyer and politician who represented Alabama for one term in the U.S. Congress. He is much better known as the principal founder of Baylor University in Waco, Texas, and as a member of the Supreme Court of the Republic of Texas from 1841 to 1846. He was influential in moving Texas from an independent republic to statehood.’

http://encyclopediaofalabama.org/article/h-3693

Jan. 6^th

Col Hugh Thompson, a Louisianan in Uncle Sam’s army that stopped the My Lai massacre in Vietnam.

https://jimbrownusa.com/blog/?p=24074

https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/12922923/hugh-clowers-thompson

Jan. 8^th

Prof Thomas Landess, a recent defender of Southern ways.

https://theimaginativeconservative.org/author/thomas-landess

https://www.abbevilleinstitute.org/blog/author/thomas-h-landess/

https://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2012/jan/13/tom-landess-rip/

Jan. 9^th

Gen John Gordon, one of Lee’s best generals during the War, though he had no formal military training; afterwards a uS Senator for and Governor of Georgia.

https://www.battlefields.org/learn/biographies/john-b-gordon

https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/4140/john-brown-gordon

Jan. 14^th

Grace King, ‘New Orleans novelist and historian Grace King made the city and state of her birth an abiding theme in her work. Prolific in several genres—short fiction, the novel, memoir, biography, social and cultural history—King published her work in major national magazines.’

https://64parishes.org/entry/grace-king-3

https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/6420504/grace-elizabeth-king/photo

Jan. 18^th

John Tyler, an underappreciated uS President who continued the great Virigina dynasty of leadership.

https://www.abbevilleinstitute.org/reassessing-john-tyler/

https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/1331/john-tyler/photo

Jan. 19^th

Arthur Gaston, a successful black businessman in many fields in Alabama and a successful though quiet worker for desegregation.

http://encyclopediaofalabama.org/article/h-2062

Jan. 19^th

Texas Confederate Heroes’ Day

Jan. 20^th

Gabriel Manigault, a Southern patriot from South Carolina who correctly diagnosed the sources of corruption in the uS after the War had ended.

https://www.abbevilleinstitute.org/the-norths-victory-unmasked/

https://www.abbevilleinstitute.org/secession-and-economics/

https://americanaristocracy.com/people/gabriel-manigault-2

Links to some of his works:

https://onlinebooks.library.upenn.edu/webbin/book/lookupname?key=Manigault%2C%20G%2E%20%28Gabriel%29%2C%201809%2D1888

Jan. 23^rd

Lucius Q. C. Lamar, a fine Southern statesmen of the 19^th century who held a number of posts throughout his life:  college professor, uS Congress and Senate, Confederate colonel, foreign diplomat, uS Supreme Court, and more.

https://mississippiencyclopedia.org/entries/lqc-lamar/

Jan. 28^th

Zora Neale Hurston, Alabama-born and Florida-raised, she played a leading role in the Harlem Renaissance and was a prolific writer.

https://www.zoranealehurston.com/about/

Also, to celebrate some of the saints of January from the South’s Christian inheritance of various lands, follow these links:

https://southernorthodox.org/orthodox-saints-for-dixie-january/

https://confiterijournal.blogspot.com/2020/01/happy-feast-for-saints-of-january.html

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Holy Ælfred the Great, King of England, South Patron, pray for us sinners at the Souð, unworthy though we are!

Anathema to the Union!

Offsite Post: ‘What Dixie Can Learn from Senegal’

 

Even before the colonies separated from Great Britain in 1776, the South has had an adversarial relationship with the Yankees of the north, who, because of their arrogance, have demeaned Southern culture and forcefully tried to transform Southrons into Yankees.  Southerners tried to put an end to that in 1861 but were unsuccessful, which resulted in even greater domination of the South by Yankees and their ideas over us these last 159 years.  Motivating Southerners to throw off the Yankee yoke is difficult because of this:  Yankee ways are so ingrained, Yankee power is so strong (through the federal government bureaucracy, media of various sorts, and giant corporations), that few desire to challenge it, even if it means the complete annihilation of Southern culture.

It is at this point of despair that Dixie can gain a good measure of hope from her African cousins in Senegal.  Like Dixie, she has long been dominated by the equally boastful (equal to the Yankees, that is) French elite, who established a presence in Senegal in the 17^th century.  Even after her independence in 1960, French influence continued to overshadow her.  But the presidential election in Senegal this past March has upended the status quo, as evidenced by the response of the upper French classes:

 

Since the beginnings of the victory of the Bassirou Diomaye Faye and Ousmane Sonko at the declaration of the official results giving the duo the winner by the electoral body of Senegal and confirmed by observers from serious countries deployed on the occasion, the French media and others of the Western line multiplied the insults to towards the new president Faye and the government team led by Ousmane Sonko. Which suggests that Senegal has embarked on the path to its sovereignty vis-à-vis imperialist France. Because, as Ahmed Sékou Touré said, “if you are congratulated by the settler, know that you are betraying your people; but as long as he criticizes you, know that you are working for your people.”

The quote at the end equally applies to the Yankee-Southron relationship:  ‘If a Dixian is praised by a Yankee, you can be certain he is betraying his people; but if a Yankee criticizes a Dixian, this latter fellow is doing something good for the South.’

The author of the article goes on to say,

 

Franсafriсa is in agony and France’s sphere of influence is diminishing, thus announcing the decline of France on the world stage. This process of disintegration of France recalls Thomas Sankara’s thesis, according to which, “imperialism will find its grave in Africa”. We are not so far from the burial of Western imperialism, the grave of which has already been dug by recent events in Mali, Burkina Faso, Niger, Senegal and many others in West Africa. 

The Yankee Empire, like the French Empire, is diminishing in the world, thanks to evil actions of its own as well as to wise and prudent actions of other countries like Russia, China, India, Iran, and others.  The South, thus far, has not contributed in any large measure to that decline.  Yet it would be to the glory of the Southern people if someday someone would write of us that ‘Yankee imperialism found its grave in Dixie.’

But in order to reach such a decisive stage of development, the South will need to achieve what Senegal has of late:

 . . .

The rest is at https://www.reckonin.com/walt-garlington/what-dixie-can-learn-from-senegal.

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Holy Ælfred the Great, King of England, South Patron, pray for us sinners at the Souð, unworthy though we are!

Anathema to the Union!

Offsite Post: ‘What Speaker Johnson Can Learn from Saint George’

 

The checklist of Speaker Mike Johnson’s betrayals has grown fairly lengthy in just a short time.  Jeff Crouere gives a good summary:

At one time, Johnson was regarded as a staunch supporter of the “Make America Great Again” (MAGA) movement. In fact, his nickname was “MAGA Mike.” His lifetime Heritage Action voting record was 90%, but, in this session of Congress, it has plummeted to 53%.

 

As House Speaker, Johnson supported the horrific omnibus spending bill, which fully funded the Department of Justice and the FBI, which has been weaponized against President Donald Trump and MAGA supporters. He was the deciding vote in extending FISA powers, allowing our intelligence services to spy on Americans without a warrant.

 

Previously, Johnson had railed against omnibus spending bills and extending FISA surveillance powers, but, in a stunning twist, his positions changed as House Speaker.

 

In his latest betrayal, Johnson supported a $95 billion aid package for Taiwan, Israel, and Ukraine. The bulk of the package, $61 billion, was targeted to assist Ukraine fend off the Russian invasion, which began in February of 2022.

 

Previously, the United States has authorized $113 billion for Ukraine, more than the rest of the world combined. Once again, Johnson had previously opposed such funding. He also vowed to make sure that our border was secure before sending billions of dollars to secure the border of another country.

 

Sadly, on Saturday, with the help of Democrats and a minority of his Republican colleagues, Johnson rammed through the foreign aid package, which supported other countries, while providing zero assistance to our Border Patrol.

 

The spectacle disgusted Brandon Judd, President of the National Border Patrol Council. He told Bill Melugin of Fox News, “We are beyond disappointed that the House would give aid to secure the borders of foreign countries but gave nothing to allow the Border Patrol to secure the safety of the United States. There’s nothing more backwards.”

 

In the raucous aftermath of the vote, Democrats celebrated the passage of the foreign aid package and the exclusion of border funding by waving Ukrainian flags on the House floor. This disgusting display just reinforced the feeling of many Americans that Congress is more concerned about foreign nations than American citizens.

 

At least some Republicans in Congress denounced this outrageous exhibition. U.S. Senator Rand Paul (R-KY) tweeted, “Ukrainian flags fly in the chamber of the UNITED STATES House of Representatives as they vote to send more of your hard-earned money to a corrupt foreign regime. And just like that they shout “UKRAINE! UKRAINE!” while happily working to secure Ukraine’s borders, not ours.”

 

Congressman Thomas Massie (R-KY) also condemned the Ukrainian flag celebration, referring to it as “the U.S. House of Representatives under the direction of Speaker Mike Johnson. Democrats are celebrating his total capitulation with no victory for securing our border.”

There have been numerous stories now about his being captured by the Deep State.  That is horrid enough.  Yet there is something worse about all of this.  Speaker Johnson has trumpeted his Christianity quite loudly over the years:

Johnson -- a supporter of former President Donald Trump and a 2020 election denier -- told a Baptist newspaper when he was running for Congress in 2016, "I'm a committed Christian and my faith informs everything I do." In an interview that aired Thursday night on Fox News, Johnson told host Sean Hannity that "Someone asked me today in the media, 'People are curious, what does Mike Johnson think about any issue under the sun?' I said, 'Well, go pick up a Bible off your shelf and read it. That's my worldview."

His capitulation on the issues touched on above give the Christian Faith he proclaims a bad reputation:  Here is yet another very public figure who says he is a committed Christian but who then betrays that Faith by his duplicitous actions.

This is not the boldness for Christ that we see in the heroes of the Faith throughout Church history:  from the Holy Apostles themselves to the New Martyrs under the Soviet communists in the 20^th century.

Recall how bold and defiant the Apostles were toward the Jewish authorities when the latter ordered them to stop preaching about the Resurrected Christ:  ‘We must obey God rather than men’ –

 . . .

The rest is at https://thehayride.com/2024/04/garlington-what-speaker-johnson-can-learn-from-saint-george/.

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Holy Ælfred the Great, King of England, South Patron, pray for us sinners at the Souð, unworthy though we are!

Anathema to the Union!

Offsite Post: ‘Building on a Foundation of Sand’

 

The 13 colonies of England gained their independence at an inauspicious time.  Christianity was at a low ebb in much of the world:  In western Europe, Roman Catholics and Protestants were continuing to have violent quarrels.  The Orthodox Christians of eastern Europe, the Middle East, and northern Africa were under the heavy yoke of the Muslims, while the Orthodox in Russia were being oppressed by Empress Catherine II.

All of this together helped create a spiritual vacuum in the West, which was filled by new atheistic and humanistic theories (i.e., the Enlightenment).  Among them was the one that has become central to the United States, that the unhindered exercise of freedom here in the world is the sine qua non of human existence, that history unfolds as the quest of humanity towards greater, more expansive liberty.

But Christianity teaches us something different.  St. Seraphim Rose of Platina, California, says in the first lecture of his Orthodox Survival Course:

 

If you read the Old Testament, you will find a remarkable history which is different from the history of any other country. In other countries there are rulers [who] rise and fall: there is tyranny, there are democratic paradises, there are wars, sometimes the righteous triumph, sometimes the unrighteous triumph; and the whole of history is extremely sceptical. Historians will tell you their chronicle of crimes and savagery — and no meaning. And what happens to come out is some chance event which no one can see any meaning for. But in the History of Israel we see a very deep thing which is the history of the chosen people of God which is now following God’s commandments, and now falling away; and its history depends upon how it is, whether it’s following God or falling away from Him. . . .

 

The whole history of Israel is this history between belief and unbelief, between following God and turning away from God. And the history of Israel becomes in the New Testament the history of the Church, the new Israel. And the history of humanity from the time Christ came to earth until now is the history of the Church and of those peoples who either come to the Church or fight against the Church, or come to the Church and fall away from it. World history, from that time to this, makes sense only if you understand there is some plan going on, which is the plan of God for the salvation of men.

History, according to the Church, is about the peoples of the world accepting or rejecting the salvation made available to man through the incarnation, birth, crucifixion, resurrection, and ascension of Jesus Christ, the God-man.  This is actually the essence of what it means to be human – to be united to the Lord Jesus and to His Church, to acquire fully the Grace of the Holy Spirit, not simply the exercise of freedom.

But since the peoples of the States have divinized human freedom, they have also necessarily divinized the political system in which that freedom is exercised.  This has led to an interesting reversal:  When Christian faith was strong, adherence to the teachings and traditions of the Holy Apostles was paramount, and every deviation was strongly contested.  Hence the intense doctrinal debates from the 4^th to the 8^th centuries, that led to the Seven Ecumenical Councils, those gatherings of the bishops from throughout the Christian world that established the dogmas of right belief about the Holy Trinity and other matters.  But now when Christian faith is weak and humanistic faith is strong, adherence to the proper political traditions has become paramount, with corresponding anathemas and denunciations of heretics who hold to this or that ‘false teaching’ about constitutional matters; meanwhile, one may believe whatever he likes about religious matters with hardly a care by anyone.

Thus we have created in a real sense in the States a substitute church for that of Christ’s, and we diligently preach the gospel of this church around the world:  not that of Christ crucified for our sins, but of mankind’s liberation from tyranny through constitutional government, with its holy trinity of legislative, executive, and judicial branches, man’s salvation being in the mutual antagonism (rather than mutual love) of these three towards one another.

George W. Bush admitted as much in his second inaugural address in 2005:

 . . .

The rest is at https://thehayride.com/2024/04/garlington-building-on-a-foundation-of-sand/.

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Holy Ælfred the Great, King of England, South Patron, pray for us sinners at the Souð, unworthy though we are!

Anathema to the Union!