Nota bene
@notatebene.bsky.social
Catholic German. Lawful good. Nerd. Studiosus Theologiae. Friend of Liberty and Democracy. CDU&CDA. Subsidiarity. Personalism. Solidarity. Integral ecology. Uphold the Miyazaki-Tolkienist thought.
Pinned
Reposted by Nota bene
That's why I think it's good to consume a lot of great Christian art and literature because you see that being depressed or melancholy is just a part of being human, especially for certain personality types like mine (hence the Nick Drake recently).
Classical music is especially important for me.
Classical music is especially important for me.
Thus, while mental illnesses can occur for no particular reason, many Christians (including Catholics) tend to interpret them as signs of a not truly Christian life.
And therefore, they assume that simply adopting a more Christian way of life will resolve the problems.
And therefore, they assume that simply adopting a more Christian way of life will resolve the problems.
February 5, 2026 at 5:51 PM
That's why I think it's good to consume a lot of great Christian art and literature because you see that being depressed or melancholy is just a part of being human, especially for certain personality types like mine (hence the Nick Drake recently).
Classical music is especially important for me.
Classical music is especially important for me.
That is like heroin to me. Thanks😅
February 5, 2026 at 6:30 PM
That is like heroin to me. Thanks😅
Reposted by Nota bene
What is so striking about tech billionaires like Musk and Bezos is that there is nothing there, no class, no grace, no humour, no empathy, no style, no wit, no depth, no charm. Empty avatars of materialist greed and techno-capitalist authoritarianism devoid of all meaning.
February 5, 2026 at 9:57 AM
What is so striking about tech billionaires like Musk and Bezos is that there is nothing there, no class, no grace, no humour, no empathy, no style, no wit, no depth, no charm. Empty avatars of materialist greed and techno-capitalist authoritarianism devoid of all meaning.
Reposted by Nota bene
An extraordinary amount of discussion in the Epstein files about how Epstein and his inner circle (especially Steve Bannon) despise the Catholic Church and Pope Francis, and view the church as an institutional enemy of their projects. Getting loads of attention in Italy and Spain, but none in US.
February 5, 2026 at 1:18 AM
An extraordinary amount of discussion in the Epstein files about how Epstein and his inner circle (especially Steve Bannon) despise the Catholic Church and Pope Francis, and view the church as an institutional enemy of their projects. Getting loads of attention in Italy and Spain, but none in US.
My current train read
February 5, 2026 at 9:10 AM
My current train read
Reposted by Nota bene
You cannot overstate how big this development is. Communication is vital in any war, but it has been never so decisive as in this one, where the fight in the electromagnetic spectrum is raging on levels unseen before.
February 5, 2026 at 8:30 AM
You cannot overstate how big this development is. Communication is vital in any war, but it has been never so decisive as in this one, where the fight in the electromagnetic spectrum is raging on levels unseen before.
There is no bigger hoax than meritocracy.
well here's one news story about the thing I've been obsessively tweeting about for days (gift link) www.nytimes.com/2026/02/04/u...
Epstein Helped Woody Allen’s Daughter Get Into College, Emails Show
www.nytimes.com
February 5, 2026 at 8:33 AM
There is no bigger hoax than meritocracy.
Reposted by Nota bene
Next thing that the Trump administration will do is bring back indented slavery.
"Far from headlines and social-media feeds, the Trump administration is quietly replacing one group of cheap foreign workers with another."
unherd.com/2026/02/how-...
unherd.com/2026/02/how-...
How Trump scams border hawks
unherd.com
February 5, 2026 at 6:24 AM
Next thing that the Trump administration will do is bring back indented slavery.
I think the Western 4 books are Nomoi,Nicomachean Ethics, De officiis, and de civitate dei.
What do you think about this collection?
What do you think about this collection?
February 5, 2026 at 12:30 AM
I think the Western 4 books are Nomoi,Nicomachean Ethics, De officiis, and de civitate dei.
What do you think about this collection?
What do you think about this collection?
Reposted by Nota bene
getting rid of the world factbook is so galactically stupid
Need some data hoarders to save the CIA's World Factbook—a definitive source on many topics—since they're now killing it www.cia.gov/stories/stor...
Spotlighting The World Factbook as We Bid a Fond Farewell - CIA
www.cia.gov
February 4, 2026 at 9:33 PM
getting rid of the world factbook is so galactically stupid
My current reading
February 4, 2026 at 10:06 PM
My current reading
Wild stuff. Like, do they are memory holed how the last 500 years were?
There’s a humorous graph created by Peter Kwasniewski (I’ve deleted it off my phone, not sure if I included it in my photo dumps) where he makes up this idea that the Holy Spirit was inspiring the development of Rites and prayers (until 1500) and since then “maintains them” basically
February 4, 2026 at 5:57 AM
Wild stuff. Like, do they are memory holed how the last 500 years were?
Reposted by Nota bene
I just got off the phone with Elizabeth's dad...she and her mom were freed tonight! Updated story: sahanjournal.com/education/co...
February 4, 2026 at 3:50 AM
I just got off the phone with Elizabeth's dad...she and her mom were freed tonight! Updated story: sahanjournal.com/education/co...
Reposted by Nota bene
Floored by this story. A man wrote a pollite email to a federal prosecutor objecting to the deportation of an Afghan seeking asylum. DHS responded with an administrative warrant to get the man's info from Google, then visited his home to intimidate him.
DHS Hunts Down 67-Year-Old U.S. Citizen Who Criticized Them in Email
The Department of Homeland Security is using a little-known tool to go after its critics.
newrepublic.com
February 3, 2026 at 11:14 PM
Floored by this story. A man wrote a pollite email to a federal prosecutor objecting to the deportation of an Afghan seeking asylum. DHS responded with an administrative warrant to get the man's info from Google, then visited his home to intimidate him.
Reposted by Nota bene
Legend for a reason 💪
February 4, 2026 at 4:45 AM
Legend for a reason 💪
I know I sound like the most annoying German poddible, but why do you need voter registration at all?
Ofc, I know why you need them, but it is something that baffles my mind sometimes
Ofc, I know why you need them, but it is something that baffles my mind sometimes
More specifically, he's lying that the SAVE Act is "voter ID." It creates a requirement at the time of *registration* to vote which is deliberately calculated to make traditional voter registration drives impossible. It is not what people usually think of and many states have, ID check at the polls.
Mike Johnson lies that voter ID "is an 80 or 90 percent issue on the polling nationwide"
February 3, 2026 at 9:28 PM
I know I sound like the most annoying German poddible, but why do you need voter registration at all?
Ofc, I know why you need them, but it is something that baffles my mind sometimes
Ofc, I know why you need them, but it is something that baffles my mind sometimes
The Nazi Leaders and SS members are the only guys where I get really tempted to endorse the death penalty.
In 1946, cartoonist & illustrator Noel Sickles was sent by Life magazine to sketch the Nuremberg trials. Here is his sketch of the execution of Joachim Von Ribbentrop, who claimed at trial that his boss had made all of the important decisions, & that he was only following orders.
February 3, 2026 at 4:55 PM
The Nazi Leaders and SS members are the only guys where I get really tempted to endorse the death penalty.
Always repost trebuchet
I submit the trebuchet my son built for pumpkin launching, but I have threatened to repurpose it as a manure launcher should ICE find their way to our farm.
February 3, 2026 at 4:52 PM
Always repost trebuchet
Always repost trebuchets.
I, like other I have seen, have made jokes and comments about using guillotines to 'solve' the billionaire problem.
I no longer support using a guillotine against the ultra-rich. Especially not when trebuchets exist.
I no longer support using a guillotine against the ultra-rich. Especially not when trebuchets exist.
February 3, 2026 at 4:52 PM
Always repost trebuchets.
What I wonder is: Is there a way to pull this off without obvious use of force and coercion?
"Are Trump and his mooks going to try to steal the midterm elections? Trump himself is saying more openly than ever that he’d like to do just that...We’ll just keep asking: Does that sound like a guy who’s going to sit back and let the people vote for a blue wave?" open.substack.com/pub/thebulwa...
10 Years of Trump, and the Alarm Keeps Going Off
Every day of the past decade has felt like Groundhog Day.
open.substack.com
February 3, 2026 at 3:56 PM
What I wonder is: Is there a way to pull this off without obvious use of force and coercion?
Reposted by Nota bene
1/ "Die Taliban führen ein neues Strafgesetzbuch ein – mit der Gleichheit vor dem Gesetz ist es vorbei." www.nzz.ch/internationa...
Die Taliban legalisieren die Sklaverei und schaffen die Gleichheit vor dem Gesetz ab
Geistliche und Stammesführer werden in Afghanistan künftig anders bestraft als einfache Arbeiter. Die Unschuldsvermutung gilt nicht länger, ein faires Verfahren ist fraglich. Und dies sind längst nich...
www.nzz.ch
February 2, 2026 at 5:15 PM
1/ "Die Taliban führen ein neues Strafgesetzbuch ein – mit der Gleichheit vor dem Gesetz ist es vorbei." www.nzz.ch/internationa...
So, how is Thomas Merton? Is he kosher as theologian?
February 3, 2026 at 6:04 AM
So, how is Thomas Merton? Is he kosher as theologian?
Like this car
Daihatsu debuts mini commercial EVs with industry-leading 257-km range
trib.al/KcBbg1E
trib.al/KcBbg1E
February 3, 2026 at 4:41 AM
Like this car
Reposted by Nota bene
Australia’s social-media ban is the first of its kind—but evidence from drug and alcohol bans suggests it could work, Keith Humphreys and Jonathan Caulkins argue.
A Social-Media Ban Really Could Do a Lot of Good
Australia’s experiment is the first of its kind, but the evidence from alcohol, drug, and other bans is promising.
bit.ly
February 3, 2026 at 1:15 AM
Australia’s social-media ban is the first of its kind—but evidence from drug and alcohol bans suggests it could work, Keith Humphreys and Jonathan Caulkins argue.