Author: Mark Docherty

80th Anniversary of the Bombing of Hiroshima

August 6, 1945. Could we have at least afforded them a demonstration detonation offshore beforehand? They still would not have surrendered, but we would have met a certain moral obligation. -nvp

Thanks to Dr. Mazza for the following:

“…the use of the A-bomb on the Japanese cities
in 1945 was immoral. Too many civilians were
killed in comparison with the military objectives
gained. Some…argue that by killing so many
civilians our armies terrorized the people…to
surrender…more lives were spared than were
destroyed by the bomb. But such an argument…
results in a bad means to a good end.”

–Fr. Francis J. Connell, Dean School of Theology, CUA,
Outlines of Moral Theology, 1958

As for the eight priests who miraculously survived at Ground Zero (ICYMI):

Fr. Hubert Schiffer had just finished Mass, went into the
rectory and sat down at the breakfast table. He had just
sliced a grapefruit and put his spoon into it when there
was a bright flash of light. His first thought was that it was
an explosion in the harbor (this was a major port where
the Japanese refueled submarines.)

Then, in the words of Fr. Schiffer: “Suddenly, a terrific
explosion filled the air with one bursting thunderstroke.
An invisible force lifted me from the chair, hurled me
through the air, shook me, battered me, whirled me ’round
and ’round like a leaf in a gust of autumn wind.”

…

To the doctors’ amazement, Father Schiffer and the other priests had no
radiation or ill-effects from the bomb. When asked to account for this
incredible situation, in which he and his companions were spared, he
said: “We believe that we survived because we were living the message
of Fatima. We lived and prayed the Rosary daily in that home.”

He felt that they received a protective shield from the Blessed Mother,
which protected them from all radiation and ill-effects. (This coincides
with the bombing of Nagasaki, where St. Maximilian Kolbe had
established a Franciscan Friary which was also unharmed because of
special protection from the Blessed Mother, as the brothers, too, prayed
the daily Rosary and also had no effects from the bomb).

Father Hubert Schiffer died on March 27, 1982, 37 years after that fateful
day. He gave his account of the Hiroshima bombing at the Eucharistic
Congress in Philadelphia in 1976. At the time, all eight members of the
Jesuit community from Hiroshima were still alive.

 

 

Saint Alphonsus Liguori, Doctor of the Church, please pray for us very much

Happy Feast, blessed First Saturday, get to Mass.

http://praybenedictus.com

“A fearful commotion arose. Alphonsus himself was not spared. Vague rumours of impending treachery had got about and had been made known to him, but he had refused to believe them. “You have founded the Congregation and you have destroyed it”, said one Father to him. The Saint only wept in silence and tried in vain to devise some means by which his Order might be saved. His best plan would have been to consult the Holy See, but in this he had been forestalled. The Fathers in the Papal States, with too precipitate zeal, in the very beginning denounced the change of Rule to Rome. Pius VI, already deeply displeased with the Neapolitan Government, took the fathers in his own dominions under his special protection, forbade all change of rule in their houses, and even withdrew them from obedience to the Neapolitan superiors, that is to St. Alphonsus, till an inquiry could be held.

A long process followed in the Court of Rome, and on 22 September, 1780, a provisional Decree, which on 24 August, 1781, was made absolute, recognized the houses in the Papal States as alone constituting the Redemptorist Congregation. Father Francis de Paula, one of the chief appellants, was appointed their Superior General, “in place of those”, so the brief ran, “who being higher superiors of the said Congregation have with their followers adopted a new system essentially different from the old, and have deserted the Institute in which they were professed, and have thereby ceased to be members of the Congregation.” So the Saint was cut off from his own Order by the Pope who was to declare him “Venerable”. In this state of exclusion he lived for seven years more and in it he died. It was only after his death, as he had prophesied, that the Neapolitan Government at last recognized the original Rule, and that the Redemptorist Congregation was reunited under one head (1793).

Alphonsus had still one final storm to meet, and then the end. About three years before his death he went through a veritable “Night of the Soul”. Fearful temptations against every virtue crowded upon him, together with diabolical apparitions and illusions, and terrible scruples and impulses to despair which made life a hell. at last came peace, and on 1 August, 1787, as the midday Angelus was ringing, the Saint passed peacefully to his reward. He had nearly completed his ninety-first year. He was declared “Venerable”, 4 May, 1796; was beatified in 1816, and canonized in 1839. In 1871, he was declared a Doctor of the Church.”

https://www.newadvent.org/cathen/01334a.htm

AI is big business, about to get much bigger, and much more sinister

In the fresh Episode 231 of the Barnhardt Podcast, Ann provides a sneak preview of a major essay she is preparing on AI. Spoiler alert: Where AI is going is so much worse than you currently imagine, you probably won’t believe it at first. Destroyer of Worlds comes to mind, in a way that is much worse than The Terminator.

People have already gotten themselves inextricably caught up in this, and it has barely been out there for six months. It is everywhere, and already hard to avoid. You are probably thinking about things like cheating on term papers, fake audio/video that no one can detect, and porn. But the future is personal: AI relationships. The comment I made on the podcast is that there is a reason this is all free… for now.

So it should come as no surprise that all the usual big tech suspects are out way over their tips to procure the best and brightest 20-somethings to lead their efforts in this field, since world domination/submission is now the state of play. Hence, trillions of dollars also at stake, a fraction of which is being offered out to these whiz kids.

Right on cue, the following story appeared at NYT. The link might bring you to a paywall, so I will paste a few paragraphs here:

By Mike Isaac, Eli Tan and Cade Metz

Over the summer, Matt Deitke got a phone call from Mark Zuckerberg, Meta’s chief executive.

Mr. Zuckerberg wanted Mr. Deitke, a 24-year-old artificial intelligence researcher who had recently helped found a start-up, to join Meta’s research effort dedicated to “superintelligence,” a technology that could hypothetically exceed the human brain. The company promised him around $125 million in stock and cash over four years if he came aboard.

The offer was not enough to lure Mr. Deitke, who wanted to stick with his start-up, two people with knowledge of the talks said. He turned Mr. Zuckerberg down.

So Mr. Zuckerberg personally met with Mr. Deitke. Then Meta returned with a revised offer of around $250 million over four years, with potentially up to $100 million of that to be paid in the first year, the people said. The compensation jump was so startling that Mr. Deitke asked his peers what to do. After many discussions, some of them urged him to take the deal — which he did.

Silicon Valley’s A.I. talent wars have become so frenzied — and so outlandish — that they increasingly resemble the stratospheric market for N.B.A. stars.

Young A.I. researchers are being recruited as if they were Steph Curry or LeBron James, with nine-figure compensation packages structured to be paid out over several years. To navigate the froth, many of the 20-somethings have turned to unofficial agents and entourages to strategize. And they are playing hardball with the companies to get top dollar, much as basketball players shop for the best deals from teams.

The difference is that unlike N.B.A. teams, deep-pocketed A.I. companies like Meta, OpenAI and Google have no salary caps. (Mr. Curry’s most recent four-year contract with the Golden State Warriors was $35 million less than Mr. Deitke’s deal with Meta.) That has made the battles for A.I. talent even wilder.

Over the past few weeks, recruiting A.I. free agents has become a spectacle on social media, much like the period before a trade deadline in sports. As Meta, Microsoft, Google and OpenAI have poached employees from one another, job announcements have been posted online with graphics resembling major sports trades, made by the online streaming outlet TBPN, which hosts an ESPN-like show about the tech and business world…

https://www.nytimes.com/2025/07/31/technology/ai-researchers-nba-stars.html?unlocked_article_code=1.ak8.NFwG.8fiTFz0F3t1D&smid=url-share

“Pray as if everything depended on God, and work as if everything depended on you”

Today is the Feast of Saint Ignatius of Loyola. I wish I had known him better when I was muddling through a ruined Jesuit institution back in the 80s. Perhaps I would have been even more confrontational with my apostate professors. Or is it better that I just graduated in ignorance? Happy feast, everyone! -nvp

“Go forth and set the world aflame”

“Teach me to be generous, teach me to serve you as you deserve, to give without counting the cost, to fight without fear of being wounded, to work without seeking rest, to labor without expecting any reward but the knowledge that I am doing your most holy will”

“To conquer himself is the greatest victory that man can gain”

“We must speak to God as a friend speaks to his friend, servant to his master; now asking some favor, now acknowledging our faults, and communicating to Him all that concerns us, our thoughts, our fears, our projects, our desires, and in all things seeking His counsel”

“Take, Lord, and receive all my liberty, my memory, my understanding and my whole will. All that I am and all that I possess, you have given me. I surrender it all to you to be disposed of according to your will. Give me only your love and your grace; with these I will be rich enough, and will desire nothing more.”

“Pray as if everything depended on God, and work as if everything depended on you”