Blumudus

From Volare to dhimmitude

Sanremo Festival. Source: RAI TV via Facebook

Politically correct submission is the new normal. Italian Pop Music Competition won by a guy called Mahmoud. Imagine that. The week-long Sanremo Music Festival is the most important event of Italian television, and it has been for decades. Including obsessive media coverage and assorted side scandals. (I’ve previously discussed a Sanremo scandal that didn’t happen: an obviously Satanic-themed song no one but yours truly seems to have identified as such.) If you’re old enough you may remember , the 1958 Festival winning song by Domenico Modugno that stayed atop the US Billboard Hot 100 for 5 weeks and sold 22 million copies across the planet. But those were different times,…

The toxic Democrat-Media Complex is reaching new lows

Reza Aslan on Twitter commenting on the photo of the elder Native American harassing the smiling Catholic boy: suggesting the boy should be punched

This week in crazy. A group of young teenagers from a Kentucky Catholic high school went to Washington for the annual March for Life. Which is both commendable from the point of view of decent human beings and a grave sin as seen from the Left. After the March, waiting for their bus, they began to sing a few songs from their school repertoire. Most of them were wearing a MAGA hat, which these days means asking for trouble. They were recognizable as Christians and Right wing, therefore apparently became a magnet for all sorts of crazies wandering the area. On one side there was a tiny group of loony…

Shattered Christmas, 20 Years After.

This short story represents the sequel to last year’s Christmas tale, Shattered Christmas; I’d strongly encourage you to read it first. Opening. Searching my folder, trying to make sense of all this mess. Photos of Nicole: remnants of another blue Christmas. Oh, who cares about Nicole. You want to go, then go! No one was holding you back. I’m trashing the photos. Where am I headed? Two years. It’s been two years. Reminiscing about my old self. Look at me, staring at the yellow wall, the flash message blaring “Connection refused”. In a week I’ll be back in Italy, in ***, my hometown. To participate in the funeral ceremony for my father. Crazy…

Please don’t mix traditionalism with anti-vaxxers

Observing the evolution of the civil debate, which is neither civil nor a debate anymore. There are two camps. A mainstream where intellectual elites reign, handing down their indisputable truths. The dreaded populists as a reactionary force, reacting vehemently. Against everything. There’s little room for dialogue or perspective: as a predictable consequence plenty of mistakes are made, although the former errs in a more sophisticated manner, the latter’s blunders are easier to unmask. The same phenomenon is underway within the Catholic Church, in parallel. Judging by appearances the World has already won the war. Key players in the hierarchy blabber about immigration, ecology, the European Union, “social justice”, inclusion (which is a code word…

Of trains, violent thugs, Arabic insults and partial journalism

A seemingly insignificant, albeit disturbing, local news episode. On a regional train near Milan. Five youngsters brazenly lying down on their seats, despite the train being packed with commuters, lots of people standing. A passenger rebukes them, they immediately proceed to beat him savagely. He’ll spend a month or so in the hospital due to multiple facial fractures. He’s been saved by an off-duty policeman who happened to be on the same car. Three of the offenders have been arrested. They’re Italian. First of all. They’ve been presented by the media as “ragazzi”, i.e. a word that indicates young teenagers or boys, but they’re between 18 and 25 years old.…

Trump’s magic wand

It’s not what you think it is. In my latest article I highlighted how dysfunctional and violent the Left has become, connecting together angry mobs and callous Washington Swamp Dwellers. But I suggested that Donald Trump is becoming stronger nonetheless. Even after losing the House of Representatives to the Democrats. How come? I asked the following question: What would you do if a good 40% of your citizens were used to the idea that you’re literally comparable to Hitler? An oppressive regime where virtually everybody that matters is attacking the President. And getting praised for the supposed courage implied by such a conformist act of defiance. As Scott Adams announced: As Trump…

The poisoned well of American politics

But the genius of Trump morphed a disaster into an opportunity. In the next article I’ll try to explain how this is possible in my estimation. Side Note to the election results. I’m not used to American television. You Americans surely put up with a shocking (and I mean, shocking, exhausting) amount of commercials! At times I thought that the entire point of election coverage was insurance plans and prescription drugs, with frequent interruptions informing us about Arby’s, pillows, windshield wipers, a crooked penis condition (!) and, yes, repetitive announcements about the upcoming interview with a politician… Midterm: Everybody Wins? The political climate that lead to this US general…

Why all those Saints?

Let me open with one of the few Oscar Wilde quotes that actually make sense: The Roman Catholic Church is for saints and sinners alone – for respectable people, the Anglican Church will do. Yesterday was All Saints’ Day in the Catholic Church liturgy. Some may consider it an outdated feast; the celebration of a concept almost incomprehensible in today’s dynamic and enlightened world. I’m afraid this just means we desperately need more saints but we don’t know it yet. The modern ordinary man has forsaken heroism, has no use for eccentrics who chose humility and obscurity in service of their brethren. Saints are the true nonconformists. Also, the only…

Incredible electoral systems: Usa vs. Sweden

Swedish ballots in full display, forcing people to vote openly

Voting procedures, a race to the bottom: Fascist Regime Style vs. Banana Republic Quirks. This article contains the ultimate argument in favor of Voter ID laws in the US. Please sit back and enjoy the ride; alternatively you can skim it, relax and skip entire chapters. I’m not used to being surprised anymore. But I was floored by the revelation that international observers, called to oversee the Swedish election for the first time due to fears for a victory for the party of xenophobes, found an unbelievable flaw in the system. One that is obviously favoring the establishment. A hideous ulcer hiding in plain sight. This is as good an occasion…

The broken bridge

Reflections on a tragedy. August 14 in my mind was already associated to the image of a broken bridge. Don’t ask, it’s personal. You may have heard how my hometown of Genoa was struck by a disaster: the collapse of a significant portion of the Morandi Bridge, a highway overpass 1200 meters long (3/4 of a mile) that meant a lot to us. Not just a vital thoroughfare necessary for traffic coming and going from, to and through the city, the port and the rest of the region. A cumbersome acquaintance, a familiar sight, a piece of our lives. The intersection between beautiful and ugly. A source for apprehension. So many…

The birth of Fake News

Have you ever wondered how the expression originated? I mean, in a wider sense the dissemination of fabricated stories, mostly for propaganda reasons, dates back at least to Ancient Greece, and that’s just because we have limited data from earlier civilizations. But why the sudden alarm for the spread of fake news? Not all TED conferences are created equal. Some even contain inconvenient truths. Sharyl Attkisson is a tough cookie: a investigative journalist who worked in the mainstream media, a respectable voice that can’t be silenced by pretending she comes from the unwashed fringe. Although of course she left CBS when her tough stance and pointed critique of Obama’s administration…

Imaginary conversation on a plane in Sweden

This young student, Elin Ersson, became an instant celebrity because she took a stand against the deportation of an Afghan man from Sweden to Afghanistan: she boarded the passenger plane with which he was being sent out of the country and refused to sit down, protesting the deportation while recording the incident on a Facebook video. Teary eyed, she must have felt immensely proud for her bravery and humanitarian commitment while the sheepish Goteborg airport authorities caved in and disembarked the man. This is 2018: people her age have no memory of a world before 9/11. Nowadays air travel is subject to all sorts of security checks: you can be…