Yearly Archives: 2022
HALF-FULL REPORT 12/30/22
Three Megatrends to Watch in 2023
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A lot happened during 2022, from Russia’s invasion of Ukraine to political shenanigans, even worse economic shenanigans, and the nationwide breakdown of law and order.
Each is connected to a widespread loss of trust in governments, businesses, schools, and the neighbor down the street. We are rapidly changing from a high-trust society to something else.
Three megatrends are emerging. The first is the sudden step-like change in chatbot sophistication that threatens to replace the great libraries of free and open-source information with machine-curated global narratives. Drag shows in public libraries intended to withdraw public support and the destruction of monuments are features of the shift to the singular narrative.
Loss of trust in commercial institutions is everywhere. We long suspected and compiled evidence of the collaboration of big tech with big government. Now that Elon Musk is telling the world what has been happening behind the curtain, everything is suspect. Musk is a crack in the narrative; he is the point of failure exposing the massive effort devoted to information control.
The problem for the government is apparent: Propaganda ceases to work once it is known to be propaganda.
All over the world and within most corporations, technology has been used to centralize decision-making at the expense of decision quality. The current trend is to replace the mind with a computer algo. The consequence is a dramatic decline in innovation.
Without innovation, there is nothing to prevent entropy from expanding.
Breaking trust with the current systems creates a foundation for the future. Those that understand this will prosper. Others, including entire corporations and governments, will fail.
Come to the HFR, and most of all, Happy New Year!
FLASHBACK FRIDAY: THE SKY CAVES OF MUSTANG
Yes, that’s me, waving from one of the cave openings on the cliff face honeycombed with 2,000 year-old Sky Caves in a remote region of the Himalayas called Upper Mustang. The photo was taken by one of your fellow TTPers on our most recent Himalaya Helicopter Expedition last May.
Upper Mustang is ruled by the Tibetan Kingdom of Lo, created by Tibetan warrior-king Amne Pal in 1380, with its sovereignty protected today by Nepal from the Chicoms right across the border in Chinese-Occupied Tibet. Lo, with its capital the medieval walled city of Lo Manthang, is where you will find the most traditional Tibetan culture left on our planet.
You can experience it yourself on our Himalaya Helicopter Expedition this spring. If not now, when? Carpe diem.
(Glimpses of Our Breathtaking World #250 photo ©Jack Wheeler)
WHO WOULD SLAUGHTER INNOCENT CIVILIANS ON CHRISTMAS DAY?
THE CASTLE PRISON OF RICHARD THE LIONHEART
This is Durnstein Castle, perched on a precipice high above the Danube River in Austria some 60 miles upriver from Vienna. Built in the early 1100s, here is where King of England Richard the Lionheart was imprisoned, having been captured by his enemy Leopold V of Austria on his return from the Third Crusade in the Holy Land.
The story is well known of how Richard’s brother John had usurped the throne and impeded paying Richard’s ransom – and the legend of Robin Hood raising the money pilfering it from thieving nobles. The ransom was finally paid in 1194, with Richard returning to be crowned King of England once again. The castle fell into disrepair, uninhabitable since the late 1600s. It is an eerie journey back into history to explore it today. (Glimpses of Our Breathtaking World #197 photo ©Jack Wheeler)
SKYE’S LINKS 12/29/22
Welcome to the final 2022 edition of Skye’s Links! After all the downers of this year, there’s plenty of good news to report at year’s end. We start with something written by a man known as The Sea Gypsy Philosopher, who strives to be The Three Ps – Powerful, Provocative and Poetic. I think you’ll agree he succeeds.
Here is a lovely Christmas message to Greta Thunberg. Her puppet masters will never allow her to see it, but you should do so. It is a message of hope. It is also a message that the oligopoly of censorship can no longer control. And that is very good news:
Good news! Honest liberal Tabbi, the man that Musk chose to release and explain the Twitter Files, is optimistic that we are finally moving in the right direction for information freedom. It isn't just Deep State/Twitter cooperation; there are far more quislings, and they will soon be exposed:
Matt Taibbi Reflects On "Repulsive, Horrifying, Dystopian" World Run By 'Anti-People'
Come on in! There’s lots more!
THE END OF FREE ELECTIONS
This week, Arizona leftists and RINOs admitted, under oath, that they changed the print settings, on election morning, so Republican votes would not be tabulated, on the one day most Republicans vote -- and the Maricopa County judge said “…it wasn’t intentional.”
A Republican governor candidate who easily won by multiple points was denied her rightful election. Several million Arizona voters were disenfranchised.
Not a word from Republican leaders!
Wake up, America.
Leftists and RINOs have spent the last 40 years transforming election machinery to end your right to vote -- and they are about to finish the job.
TEN REVELATIONS OF THE BIG GOVERNMENT-BIG TECH COLLUSION AGAINST AMERICA
Two hundred and thirty-one years ago this month, America's founders enshrined free speech as the first protection in the ratified Bill of Rights with a declaration that the government could not infringe expression.
A series of blockbuster revelations at the end of 2022 show just how imperiled those protections have become in the era of Big Tech.
From Elon Musk’s "Twitter files" to an FBI agent's candid testimony, Americans have gotten a glimpse into a once-hidden enterprise where federal agencies pressured social media platforms – directly and through proxies – to censor content under their terms of service.
The goal, it appears, was to preserve the ruling elite's favored narratives on everything from the pandemic to election integrity.
THE LION ROCK OF SIGIRIYA
Rising 600 feet above the jungles of central Ceylon (Sri Lanka) is a gigantic rock column revered for millennia as Sigiriya – Lion Rock from Sanskrit. It’s flat on top, used over centuries as a Buddhist monastery and a fortress by kings. In 480, King Kashyapa had the image of a lion carved into the rock as the entrance gate to his fortress-palace on top. All that’s left are the lion’s paws that you see.
It was a risky climb via stone stairs carved into the rock getting to the top. Today there’s a much safer wooden staircase. It’s a pilgrimage site for Sri Lankans where they get to celebrate their history and enjoy the gorgeous view on top. It’s a marvelous experience for you to participate in. (Glimpses of Our Breathtaking World #158 photo ©Jack Wheeler)
YOUR GOVERNMENT HATES YOU
Did you know that in fiscal year 2022, federal tax receipts as a share of gross domestic product (GDP) hit a near record high of 19.6 percent?
According to the U.S. Treasury, in FY 2022, total federal tax receipts and additional federal government revenue topped $4.90 trillion. Yet, over this time, Congress spent $6.27 trillion. The difference, the 2022 deficit, was $1.37 trillion.
Presently, the U.S. national debt is over $31.4 trillion. In December 2000, the national debt was $5.6 trillion. Over the last 22 years the U.S. national debt has increased 460 percent. U.S. GDP over this same time, however, increased just 157 percent, from about $10 trillion to 25.7 trillion.
That’s how the U.S. government works in the 21st century, where near record tax receipts will never be enough. Why? Because your government hates you so much it thinks it has a moral right to steal as much as they want from you.
THE GOP’S MORONIC HOUSE SPEAKERSHIP FIGHT
After four years of legislative malfeasance by Nancy Pelosi and her Democrat myrmidons, the Republicans will soon have a 222–213 majority in the House of Representatives.“Who are these five boneheads? How can they be so stupid?”
Fox News host Mark Levin
It should be obvious to anyone with a 3-dight IQ that, to accomplish anything useful with such a narrow majority, the House Republican Conference has to close ranks and prepare for a war with a radicalized Democrat minority that will continue its ongoing effort to undermine the will of the voters.
The new Republican majority will get its first chance to present a unified front on Jan. 3, when the House meets to elect a new speaker to replace Pelosi. Yet a small cadre of GOP opportunists vows not to vote for the only realistic choice — current Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.).
Here’s why this is moronic.
AMONG A MILLION PENGUINS IN SOUTH GEORGIA
The Antarctic island of South Georgia is home to a million King penguins, plus countless fur seals, gigantic elephant seals, staggering numbers of seabirds such as albatrosses, amidst a backdrop of towering mountains with massive glaciers spilling off them.
Nothing can prepare you for the incomprehensible size of the penguin rookeries here, densely packed as far as the eye can see (all those white dots on the hills behind are penguins). Nor for the size of bull elephant seals weighing up to 8,000 pounds, especially when they rise up and crash their chests against each other in mating challenges emitting deafening bellows. Nor being surrounded by a thousand fur seals unafraid of you. The density of wildlife combined with the magnificent beauty of the island is completely overwhelming.
Here also is the abandoned whaling station of Grytviken where the heroic explorer Ernest Shackleton is buried. You can only get here by expedition cruise ship. South Georgia is one of the great experiences on our planet. (Glimpses of Our Breathtaking World #96 photo ©Jack Wheeler)
MAURITANIA FISH MARKET
Go down to the Atlantic coast beach of Mauritania’s capital Nouakchott at sunset, and you’ll see a very unusual fish market. A fishing boat laden with the day’s catch is ready to come ashore, but the crew is afraid the wind and surf may capsize the boat as they do, losing their catch in the process.
So they float just outside the surf line so buyers with boxes and baskets can wade out to buy the fish right off the boat, and wade back. Only when the boat is empty will the crew attempt to beach it. Just one of this West African country’s intriguing sights.
.(Glimpses of Our Breathtaking World #249 photo ©Jack Wheeler)
KEEPING YOUR SANITY BY UNDERSTANDING THE CONNECTION BETWEEN FEAR, FAMINE, AND FINANCES
Money troubles can tap into the most primitive emotions, including intense fear, and even reactions of flight and panic. But there are ways of using these signals, so we don’t get lost in them.
Matt wakes up in the middle of the night, anxious and troubled. Breathing shallow and high in his chest, thoughts racing… The severity of his financial troubles has just hit him. His investments have dropped significantly, and his spending has been putting him deeply into debt surprisingly quickly.
He’s in trouble, big trouble. Yet the panic is Matt’s friend; his own awareness trying to break through his defenses so he can face the real problems. And there are ways of solving these problems. But nothing happens until he’s willing to acknowledge the reality first.
Why is this panic around money so severe? And how can you use the panic to find solutions? Let’s talk about it….
FLASHBACK FRIDAY – TIGER LEAPING GORGE
Many centuries ago, a tiger was plaguing the Naxi people who live in the mountains where the Yangtse River cascades off the plateau of Tibet. He was eating the goats the Naxi needed to feed themselves. So Naxi hunters chased the tiger into a deep narrow gorge of the Yangtse where they were sure they had him trapped. Suddenly, the tiger sprang onto a large rock in the center of the raging river and from there leapt to the other side and escaped, never to be seen again.
Ever since, where this took place has been known as Tiger Leaping Gorge. Here you see Tiger Leaping Rock. I was first here in July 2002 on our overland expedition across eastern Tibet. Last time 2015. Maybe again? (Glimpses of Our Breathtaking World #141 Photo ©Jack Wheeler)
PUTIN HUILO!
Ukrainians call Putin a huilo. In England, the term is bellend. The townspeople of Rowley Regis in the West Midlands went one step further. Every year they give The Bellend of the Year Award to the biggest jerk, schmuck, putz, or d-head they can think of.
This year they made a Putin effigy as a bellend, and nearby, free eggs to throw at it. You can read about it here. One resident said, “There was one person who has universally been a bellend this year – and that’s Vladimir Putin," adding "You could just throw eggs at the statue, which people did so willingly and quite happily."
HALF-FULL REPORT 12/23/22
Welcome to the Christmas HFR!
Sorry to open with a bummer, but it’s unavoidable. For the whole year of 2022 has been one obscene bummer after another, and this is just the last ludicrous straw.
Note what’s carrying the insane $1.7 trillion 4,000-page Omnifarce – the GOP elephant that’s responsible for it. 21 GOP senators voted for it (3 by not voting). And in doing so, by locking in federal spending through next September, they prevented themselves by having any control over spending when the House take spending over 11 days from now.
That’s suicidally stupid, especially when considering the thousands of goodies for lobbyists and woke causes.
Late today (12/23) the House passed with 9 Rinos voting for it. Speaker-to-be McCarthy denounced the vote as “a monstrosity.” Chip Roy of Texas noted that 226 absentee proxy votes were cast, meaning the House lacked a physical quorum as required by the Constitution.
Can we have a lawsuit demanding SCOTUS declare the vote void?
There’s lots, lots more to come in this Christmas HFR….
PANTELLERIA’S MIRROR OF VENUS
Between Sicily and Tunisia in the Mediterranean lies a secret hideaway of Europe’s rich and famous – the small Italian island of Pantelleria. Peaceful and quiet, the opposite of glitzy places like Ibiza, wealthy elite retreat here in luxurious yet very understated villas to get away from it all. It helps that the shoreline is all volcanic rock cliffs, which dissuades hordes of African “migrants” attempted to claim “asylum” in the EU welfare state by landing here.
The most beautiful spot on Pantelleria is this volcano crater lake known as “The Mirror of Venus” – of such magic color that, the legend goes, the goddess Venus would admire herself in its reflection. Come here for a tranquil escape of your own. (Glimpses of Our Breathtaking World #164 photo ©Jack Wheeler)
SKYE’S LINKS 12/22/22
Automating the Narrative
Bad Ideas, But Faster
_____________________________________________________The Machine That Controls the World
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Over the past decade, a vast capability was built to manipulate and control the global narrative using computer networks between government, social media, and contractors.
Elon Musk exposed the incredible depth and breadth of the government’s effort to weaponize narrative control. The system appears to be under the direction of the intelligence community, especially the FBI.
Narrative control emerged in its modern form during Occupy Wall Street; it demonstrated greatly improved capability in 2016 after the election. It grew again and lit the nation on fire with George Floyd.
By those early days of Covid-19, the system was competent as it replaced reasoned science with political dogma. Millions died due to faulty advice, while real scientists with deep credentials were marginalized and arrested.
We saw the real purpose behind the machine as government insiders chose the president for the nation, President Dunsel. A dunsel is part of a ship or vessel that serves no purpose.
By the time Russia invaded Ukraine, the system had so overgrown itself that it lacked any form of a speed brake; it had driven public policy according to its wishes while creating deep confusion worldwide.
Please join us at Skye’s links as we explore the consequences of global narrative control on health, science, and investments. We are witnessing the unraveling of something as vast as the Manhattan Project, and so far, the results have been a global disaster.
TEN STEPS TO SAVE AMERICA
Most Americans know something has gone terribly wrong—and very abruptly—with the United States. They are certain that our wounds are almost all self-inflicted. The current pathologies are not a result of a natural disaster, an exhaustion of natural resources, plagues, or an existential war.
Crushing national debt and annual deficits, spiraling food and fuel costs amid “normal” seven-percent-plus annual inflation, bread-and-circuses entitlements, a nonexistent border, a resurgence of racial tribalism, pandemic violent criminality, and humiliation abroad—all these pathologies are easily cited as symptoms of a sick patient.
So, what are the therapies and prognoses for America?
In the spirit of constructive rather than blanket criticism, here is a partial, 10-point plan of national recovery.
A 16,000-BALLOT DISCREPANCY IN ARIZONA? ANOTHER CHIP FALLS FOR KARI LAKE
Fresh from a court victory granting her the right to examine a random sample of Arizona's ballots from its skeezy midterm election, Kari Lake has managed to notch another advance in her quest to halt the obviously fraudulent election of her Democrat rival, Katie Hobbs.
According to Just The News, citing the results of a public records request from America First Legal Foundation:
“Recently disclosed internal communications between top election officials in Arizona's Maricopa County in the immediate aftermath of Election Day reveal that they struggled to reconcile a discrepancy of almost 16,000 in outstanding ballot totals…
‘Unable to currently reconcile SOS listing with our estimates from yesterday,’ state elections recorder Stephen Richer wrote, showing that Maricopa County estimated having 392,000 ballots left to be counted, while the secretary of state's website said there were 407,664 ballots left. ‘So there's a 15,000 difference somewhere’.”
Let us first note just where the extra 15,664 supposed votes came from: the Arizona secretary of state, who just happens to be Katie Hobbs, who claims she defeated Kari Lake by 17,116 votes (1,287,890 to 1,270,774).THE GREEK GODS OF SICILY
The Ancient Greeks began settling in the Mediterranean’s largest island around 750 BC. They called it Sikelia, after the Sikani and Sicel tribes that lived there. They flourished, building numerous cities, all with temples to their Olympian gods. The city of Akragas – now called Agrigento on the south coast – grew to a population of 200,000 by the 500s. It was here that the Greeks built the most outstanding examples of monumental Greek architecture that still exist today.
Along a ridge outside the city, they erected temples to Zeus, Hera, Heracles (Hercules) and many others. The one you see here the Romans called the Temple of Concordia (harmony), for by the time they showed up in the 200s, the Greek name was lost. In the foreground lies a remnant of a bronze statue to one of the Greek gods – perhaps Apollo. The glory that was Greece has been gone with winds of millennia. It can be a very emotional experience to be here.(Glimpses of Our Breathtaking World #248 photo ©Jack Wheeler)
WHY LEFTISTS AREN’T CAPABLE OF SURVIVING ECONOMIC COLLAPSE
In two years or less, our system, which is already dealing with a number of threats including high prices and supply chain instability, will not remain functional in the manner most people are accustomed. If we accept this inevitability, we must then ask a logical question:
Who is going to rebuild? Whoever inherits the mantle will either bring America back to freedom and prosperity, or plunge our society into perpetual tyranny. It all depends on who survives the crisis.
One thing that gives me some hope is the fact that leftists as a sub-group of our population are completely incapable of surviving a major economic crisis event.
This is not to say that I wish them all to die; I’m only pointing out the reality that most of them won’t make it because they are ill equipped to handle a calamity. Here are the reasons why a post-collapse world would probably be devoid of common leftists:
PUTIN ON THE WANE
Putin’s annual marathon end-of-the-year press conference has been canceled, as has the traditional “direct line” with carefully trained audiences, and his constitutionally prescribed annual address to the Federal Assembly has been postponed indefinitely (RTVi.com, December 15).
Speculation discussed by many watchers-in-exile is that Putin does not want to hear even slightly uncomfortable questions and cannot find a positive or reassuring theme for his typically pompous address (Svoboda, December 15).
This is primarily due to unfolding failure of his invasion of Ukraine, exemplified by such ridicule as:
LETHAL BEAUTY
Want to get this close to a leopard – and safely? Come with me on a safari in Africa and I’ll show you how. Yes, she’s lethal – to the animals she hunts, not you. Yes, you can make such lethal beauty an indelible part of your life.
We really do only live once on this Earth. You really do owe it to yourself to make the most of it. You really can’t take it with you. It really is time to live your dream, to fill your soul with life-memorable experiences. Life lasts but a snap of the finger.
So what adventures have you always dreamed of? Let me know and maybe you and I can make them become real together. I’m only an email away: [email protected]. (Glimpses of Our Breathtaking World #204 photo ©Jack Wheeler)
THE PILLARS OF HERCULES
On either side of the entrance to the Strait of Gibraltar there are two small mountains known since great antiquity as the Pillars of Hercules. The pillar on the northern, European side is the famous Rock of Gibraltar. That on the southern, African side is Mount Abyla, Phoenician for “lofty mountain.”
The legend for the Phoenicians, Greeks, and Romans was that Hercules pushed the two pillars apart to join the Mediterranean with the Atlantic. We think today of Hercules as a comic-book bodybuilder, while the truth is opposite. The entire ancient Mediterranean world very seriously worshipped him. For the Phoenicians, he was Melqart, King of the Earth. For the Greeks, he was Heracles, Divine Protector of Mankind. He was the same for the Romans, who pronounced his name as Hercules.
The Phoenician trading port of Abyla has a history of 3,000 years, from Phoenician to Carthaginian to Roman to Byzantine to Christian Visigoths to Islamic Berbers to Portuguese – and since 1668 to Spain, which continues to govern it today as the Spanish Autonomous City of Ceuta on the Mediterranean coast of Morocco.
Ceuta is a charming European city with beautiful beaches, open air cafés with great sangria, very relaxed and pleasant. It is here you find the statue of Hercules separating his Pillars commemorating the legend pictured above. Easy to get to with high-speed ferries from Algeciras near Gibraltar, Ceuta is definitely worth your while to experience. (Glimpses of Our Breathtaking World #137 Photo ©Jack Wheeler)
KEEPING YOUR SANITY BY FINDING THE BEST WITHIN US
Nevil Shute (1899-1960) was my mom’s favorite author. He mirrored her sense of optimism and perseverance, so for me they are a kind of time capsule, with an emotional quality and a spirit of life that I learned, in part, from her.
If you have never read him, you’re in for a treat. Not just because they’re great stories; I recommend them for the sense of life they convey.
Nevil Shute’s stories are about ordinary people doing extraordinary things.
Crises have the effect of forcing us to do things that we would otherwise not have done – for better or worse. We can have talents, strengths, and abilities that lie dormant unless and until we are challenged with an unavoidable problem to solve.
We all need this message in the troubling times all of us are facing today.
FLASHBACK FRIDAY: EXPLAINING THE WORLD WITH A SHRUNKEN HEAD
Back in 2007, I gave a talk to a small group of conservatives in Washington DC. It was recorded by C-Span. I hope you find it informative and entertaining. My talk lasted 26 minutes, the rest is Q&A, during which I was asked good questions. Enjoy!
WHITE HOUSE LIT UP WITH SYMBOL OF RELIGIOUS CULT
WASHINGTON, DC — The White House was lit up with the colors of a fanatical cult this week, officially signaling the Biden Administration's establishment of a new state-sponsored religion: Same-Sex and Tranny Worship. The move has received both widespread applause and serious concerns about the First Amendment implications.
Mainstream media sources hailed the move as a significant victory in the crusade for inclusivity and acceptance of all people, except for anyone who disagrees, in which case dissidents should be removed from society. Critics, however, questioned whether the adoption of an official national religion violates the First Amendment.
"Establishing a religion in no way violates the Constitution's mandate that the government not establish a religion," said White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre. "Any questions regarding this issue will be considered bigoted, racist, and other horrible things I can't think of right now."
At publishing time, the Biden administration was believed to be in discussions to require all churches in the country to follow suit and be lit up with the same colors in a show of solidarity with the new State Religion. Babylon Bee reporting.
HALF-FULL REPORT 12/16/22
Commie scumbag John Brennan, Obama’s CIA Director who was in charge of the Deep State/Twitter/Facebook et al war on Trump, Russia Hoax, Hunter Laptop suppression, and Dem theft of the 2020 presidency, ticked off the wrong guy.
Musk knows he has a lever that can move the world – that’s why he spent $44 billion buying it – and he plans to use it to kill off the Woke Mind-Virus.
There’s a lot of good news this week, like two silver linings right now. The first will make you smile, the second… a belly laugh.
There’s a Hurray! for two true American ladies you should know about this week. And one for the winner of this year’s Nobel Peace Prize. And another for a beauty queen turned deadly sniper known as her country’s Joan of Arc.
Here w go – lots to enjoy in this week’s HFR!
THE DEATH OF PAN
At the foot of Mount Hermon in northern Israel you find the Grotto of Pan, the Greek God of Nature, where pilgrims came from all over the ancient world to worship. Remnants of the huge Temple of Pan are here, together with the cave grotto where he lived when not at Olympus. The spring that gushes forth from the grotto is one of the sources of the Jordan River.
If Pan was ever disturbed, he would groan so loudly it would cause anyone who heard it to “panic” (panikos in Greek) – the origin of the term. Loudest of all was his last. The legend is that with the advent of Christianity replacing belief in the Olympian Gods, Pan died for lack of worshippers, emitting a death groan of agony from the mouth of the cave you see here so loud and terrifying it was heard throughout the Mediterranean. It’s a beautiful and peaceful place today. (Glimpses of Our Breathtaking World #51 photo ©Jack Wheeler)
SKYE’S LINKS 12/15/22
The Truth is Emerging
Let Freedom Ring!
So far, Elon Musk has dropped five tweets exposing the massive corruption and collusion between Twitter, government agencies, and big finance.We knew it was terrible, but it was horrible.
Every government agency had its finger in the pot while the founder, Jack Dorsey, retreated to smoke pot and found himself in a yurt.
He put a staff of the most radical, most transvestite, most anti-reality people possible in charge with the intent of changing reality from objective truth into whatever the government required.
They did this by tailoring the Twitter experience to the individual user by keeping track of past comments and reading cookies left behind from other web activity.
They made a big mistake as they boiled the frog too hard and fast, and now Musk is in control of their entire work product.
Elon Musk lost his child to the wokesters. He has an axe to grind, a dog in the fight. The consequences for the central planners look to be pretty bad.
Alberta is reasserting its rights under federalism, and North Carolina is at the Supreme Court, asserting the rights of its legislature to organize elections per the US Constitution.
Stagflation is the economic order of the day, and it will be here for a while. Over sixty percent of living Americans were not yet born during the last period of stagnation, and it was scrubbed from their school curriculum. The young will need guidance.
All in all, the news is very good for Freedom.
Join us over at Skye’s links.
WHO’S ‘WE’? “WE OWE US!” 2022
This morning’s (12/15) Daily Mail has this story:
Of course, no one on the committee asked – because they’re all ridiculous Lefties – the obvious question: “Who’s ‘we’?”
The people who worked for free as slaves lived over 160 years ago. The cammie coat guy sure doesn’t look that old, so who’s he talking about? Oh, he’s a descendant, the great-great-great-great-great-grandson (counting 25 years per generation) of someone who worked for free, so he gets to be a paid now. Right.
So here we go again. The Reparations Scam has been around so long that I wrote it up in TTP not quite 19 years ago, February 2004: We Owe Us! The Real Case for Reparations. Time to revisit and revise it. Feel quite free to send this to anyone you know who could benefit from it.
THE COMING WAR OVER HUNTER BIDEN
"Committee Republicans have spoken with multiple whistleblowers from numerous schemes involving the Biden family, reviewed Hunter Biden's laptop, and received documents of previously unknown transactions," House Oversight Committee Chairman-to-be Rep. James Comer told a news conference on Nov. 17.
"What we found are business plans aimed at targets around the world based on influence peddling, including with people closely tied to foreign governments like China and Russia." The Bidens, Comer said, "flourished and became millionaires by simply offering access to 'The Family.'"
Press coverage of the investigation will likely fall into two categories. The first will focus on traditional coverage of what the committee discovers, what witnesses tell investigators, what documents are involved, etc. The second will ignore those developments or attack the investigation itself.
After all, it’s clearly possible that what these investigations reveal could put the Big Guy in an orange jumpsuit.
TWITTER FILES PAINTS A DAMNING PICTURE OF TWITTER’S MAOIST CULTURE
Bari Weiss has just published the fifth installment in Elon Musk’s exposé about the rampant corruption in Twitter, clearly showing Twitter employees were Maoists waging a cultural revolution against President Trump and anyone who voted for him.
I’ll load Weiss’s tweets below, but here’s the quick summary: On January 8, Trump loaded two tweets, with Twitter employees in charge of analyzing tweets concluded that Trump’s tweets had not violated any policy.
The zealots on Twitter’s bloated payroll (most of whom had graduated from America’s hard-left colleges), were adamant that Trump had violated the policy against incitement. As one employee stated in the company’s Slack channel, it was “pretty obvious he’s going to try to thread the needle of incitement without violating the rules.”
In other words, these proud products of America’s academic system firmly believed that they had to violate their own rules in order to prevent Trump from continuing not to violate their rules.
SKARA BRAE
North of Scotland are the Orkney Islands. On a windswept bluff above the North Atlantic, archaeologists have unearthed an intact Neolithic village of farmers and cattle herders that’s 5,000 years old (3200 BC) – centuries older than the Pyramids of Egypt. Their homes had beds, chairs, cupboards, flush toilets, running water, cozy, warm, and comfortable.
What you see here is just one section of the village. What I found particularly interesting was this sign at the entrance to the site.
These villagers enjoyed a warmer climate than today, more fertile land. Skara Brae is a 5,000 year-old refutation of the Global Warming Hoax. If you ever get to Scotland, be sure the Orkneys are on your itinerary. Skara Brae is only one of the places you’ll find fascinating. (Glimpses of Our Breathtaking World #210 photo ©Jack Wheeler)
OUR PARASITIC GENERATION
The Vandals Sack of Rome 455 AD
Are we sure that there is all that much ruin left in the United States?
We are $31 trillion in collective debt. The new normal is $1.5 trillion budget deficits. The military is politicized and short of recruits. We trade lethal terrorists for woke celebrity athletes as if to confirm our enemies’ cynical stereotypes.
Our FBI is corrupt and discredited, collaborating with Silicon Valley contractors to suppress free speech and warp elections.
The decrepitude of major blue state cities recalls the weedy forums and choked fountains of Vandal-era Roman cities, which is what happens when a later parasitic generation mocks but still consumes what it inherits but cannot create.
DON’T BE AFRAID OF A RUSSIAN COLLAPSE
Bush and Gorbachev shake hands in Moscow on July 31, 1991
In August 1991, then-U.S. President George H.W. Bush was in Kyiv to counsel Ukrainians against statehood. Only weeks before Ukraine declared independence and only months before the Soviet Union was dissolved, Bush worried about the collapse of Soviet authority.
These leaders, for all their achievements managing the end of the Cold War, were on the wrong side of history on this fundamental question of self-determination for Moscow’s captive peoples. Luckily, Ukraine and the other former Soviet republics that are now independent did not listen.
Today, we are witnessing similar fears in Western capitals. With Russian President Vladimir Putin’s regime in a downward spiral due to the Kremlin’s disastrous war against Ukraine, the Russian regime’s collapse and even Russia’s possible disintegration have become a major cause of concern. Here’s why it shouldn’t be.
THE MOST CHRISTIAN ISLAND
Waitangi Bay, Chatham Island. 530 miles east of New Zealand lies an isolated island of windswept rugged beauty that few people have ever heard of. Yet Chatham Island may be an ultimate Christian example of how to prevail over monstrous evil.
In the early 1400s, a Polynesian people calling themselves Moriori sailed from New Zealand across an unknown empty sea to reach an island they named Rekohu, meaning “misty sky.” For 400 years they lived in peace among themselves – and in utter isolation from the world.
But in 1835, another people arrived, and brought Hell with them. They were a group of 500 Maori cannibals from New Zealand determined to take Rekohu for themselves. The Maori killed them like sheep, men, women, children, and babies, and ate them.
The British Governor of New Zealand ignored the Maori Genocide. There were about 2,000 Moriori on Rekohu (renamed Chatham) when the Maoris arrived in 1835. Only 101 Moriori were still alive by 1862. It was Western Christian missionaries who put an end to Maori killing, eating, and enslaving Moriori. Today on Chatham Island there is a Moriori resurgence – but without rancor. The past is past, they say, what counts is the future. Like few other peoples on earth, the Moriori understand the Christian power of abandoning resentment and grievance.
Come to Chatham to experience a unique place in our world, and a people with their souls at peace. (Glimpses of Our Breathtaking World #176 photo ©Jack Wheeler)
KEEPING YOUR SANITY BY REPLACING WORRY WITH FINANCIAL EFFECTIVENESS
Worry is essentially a response to things that are outside of our control. We worry about our kids, we worry about world events, we worry about the economy… and we worry about certain money troubles.
Shifting our focus from worry to facing the specific obstacles in our path can move us from worry to genuine peace of mind.
Think about something that you do well. Do you ever worry about it? Sure, you think about it, you prepare for it, you act on it.
But do you worry? Do you sit helplessly thinking about all the things that could go wrong, and how awful it would be if they did go wrong? I doubt it. You probably just get to work.
SCANDERBEG
In the city of Lezhë overlooking the Adriatic Sea, there is a memorial to Albania’s national hero, Scanderbeg (1405-1468). Born Giorgi Kastrioti in this city of northern Albania, he earned the title of “Lord Alexander” – Scanderbeg in Albanian – for his military genius in leading his Christian army against the Moslem armies of the Ottoman Empire. For 25 years (1443-1468), his 10,000 Christian Knights consistently inflicted defeat after defeat upon always much larger Moslem forces.
His victory in the Battle of Albulena in 1457, where he destroyed an Ottoman army of 70,000, killing 15,000 and taking 15,000 prisoners, so astounded all of Christendom that Pope Calixtus III appointed him Captain-General of the Holy See, and gave him the title of Athleta Christi, Champion of Christ.
By the 1500s with Skanderbeg but a memory, the Ottomans conquered Albania and Islamized it for almost 400 years. With the rise of Albanian nationalism in the late 19th century, Scanderbeg’s memory was revived. Today he is revered by Albanians who only ostensibly remain Islamic yet idolize a Christian King who devoted his life to defeating their country’s Moslem oppressors. (Glimpses of Our Breathtaking World #247 photo ©Jack Wheeler)