Yearly Archives: 2022
FLASHBACK FRIDAY: THE TURFAN OASIS
The Turfan Oasis in East Turkestan is far older than the Silk Road. Sitting in the Turfan Depression, second lowest on earth at over 500 feet below sea level) with a climate perfect for agriculture (like grapes for wine!), it was first settled by the Caucasian Tocharians some 4,000 years ago.
Over time it was absorbed into various empires ruling the Tarim Basin encircling the empty Takla Makan desert – proto-Mongols, the Tang Dynasty, the expanded Tibetan Empire at its height in the700s AD, Buddhist Uyghurs, and Genghiz’s Mongols. By the 1400s, the people of Turfan were mostly Buddhist or Nestorian Christian. By the end of the 15th century, they were ruled by the Moslem Moghuls who converted them to Islam.
Turfan was a key trading oasis on the Northern Silk Road which Marco Polo’s father and uncle, Niccolo and Maffeo traversed in 1266 to meet Mongol Emperor Kublai Khan. (Marco’s route with them in 1271 took the less-traveled Southern Silk Road underneath or south of the Takla Makan). I traversed both Silk Roads in 2008. Here I am at the Emin Minaret in Turfan. It’s a fabulous place to explore. Maybe some day again? (Glimpses of Our Breathtaking World #239 photo ©Jack Wheeler)
KATIE HOBBS PROJECTED TO WIN ARIZONA GOVERNORS RACE WITH 108% OF PRECINCTS REPORTING
Katie Hobbs, advocate of the Josef Dzhugashvilli Voting System
Babylon Bee News Bulletin -- PHOENIX, AZ — In a stunning outcome to a highly scrutinized race, Katie Hobbs, Arizona’s Secretary of State who counts the votes, has emerged victorious after 108% of the state's voting precincts reported in. Though mathematicians were puzzled by the plausibility — and, indeed, possibility — of the results, Democrats were quick to hail Hobbs's win as a victory for democracy itself.
"We knew things looked really bad for weeks leading up to election night, what with abysmal approval ratings for our party, Americans feeling negatively about the overall direction of the country, and Ms. Hobbs being afraid to debate her opponent or even appear in public," said Hobbs's campaign spokesperson Hailey Barber-Berger-Jorgensen. "But we felt very confident that once we got our vote tallies from all 108% of precincts, including those in other states and overseas, we would come out victorious."
Republicans were quick to point out that it's not actually possible to have more votes than voters. Democrats roundly condemned them for denying an election that was 8% more democratic than the last election.
At publishing time, Arizona election officials had notified all voting precincts that their tallies would not be needed and it was time to install even more drop-boxes for the 2024 election.
HALF-FULL REPORT 11/18/22
Just as the motto on the New York Times masthead – “All the news that’s fit to print” – is mendacious, so is WaPo’s. That’s why the sardonic meme above best describes the 2022 midterms farce.
Democracy in America really did die in darkness as election results have trickled in since Nov 8. How this happened is simple – the 2022 Midterms were The Voldemort Elections.
J.K. Rowling’s character of Voldemort, as Harry Potter’s arch-nemesis, strikes such fear within the wizard world that his name cannot be spoken, only referred to as He Who Cannot Be Named.
It is the same phenomenon the GOP world, in fear of being cursed as Election Deniers – an absolutely brilliant locution tainting all those who claim the 2020 presidency was rigged and stolen from Trump as on a despicable moral level as Holocaust Deniers. So brilliant that it worked like a black magic charm in 2022.
There’s only one thing to do about it.
LUANGWA LAGOON SUNSET
It’s hard to find a better example of the glory of nature than here – a lagoon off the Luangwa River in Africa’s Zambia. It’s also hard to believe I took this picture just a few days ago – and now I’m back home, and Africa so far away.
It was so fulfilling, so rewarding for me, over the past weeks, to provide a life-memorable experience of real Africa to eight TTPers – they’ll never forget it ever. I plan to be here again soon – perhaps you’ll be with me. There’s a primordial magic in Africa that grips your soul like nowhere else. The wisdom of those most familiar with the world is: “If you can visit only two continents in your life, go to Africa – twice.” (Glimpses of Our Breathtaking World #145 Photo ©Jack Wheeler)
SKYE’S LINKS 11/17/22
George Gascon – from Havana to LA
And just when you thought that the 'Crats' election shenanigans couldn't become more blatant. “Soros DA” George Gascon is an America-hating Castro Communist from Havana who got the LA County Clerk to invalidate enough recall petition signatures (27%!) last August to prevent his recall. Election-rigging is hard-wired into Los Angeles.
LA's 'Soros DA' Gets Charges Dropped Against Election Software CEO
This FBI whistleblower has a lot to say:
The FBI's Transformation, From National Police To Domestic Spy Agency
WHAT WOULD HE THINK OF US?
This Xikrin-Kayapo tribesman and his people live in the deepest heart of the Brazilian Amazon on tributaries of the Xingu River. You wonder what he would think of us as panic, fear, and madness engulfs our civilization. Having spent time in his village not long ago, I’m confident he would simply shake his head in bewilderment and say, “Please just let us live our lives in our forest, that’s all we want.”
True indigenous tribes who keep to their traditional way of life are so rare now in the Amazon or anywhere else where they once flourished. Each one is a precious living cultural heritage of humanity. It is such a privilege when they share their way of life with you. They deserve to have their wish granted, as my tribesman friend would express it. (Glimpses of Our Breathtaking World #4 photo ©Jack Wheeler)
DONALD TRUMP’S ANNOUNCEMENT SPEECH FOR 2024 STRIKES THE RIGHT TONE
Well, it is official. President Donald Trump is making another run at the White House in 2024. In front of a crowd at his home in Mar-a-Lago, Trump gave a speech in which he excoriated the ineptitude of the Biden administration while striking a hopeful message for the future.
There can be no doubt that Trump’s speech has already caused immense triggering on the left. Indeed, The Washington Post published an article titled “Trump, who as president fomented an insurrection, says he is running again” during the former president’s speech.
WaPo is sooooooooo mad right now. pic.twitter.com/ymsq7WjLtC
— The Redheaded libertarian (@TRHLofficial) November 16, 2022
During his speech, Trump reminded the audience of the prosperity America enjoyed under his presidency. He said:WILL TRUMP RIDE OFF INTO THE SUNSET OR PLAY THE TRAGIC HERO?
After the midterms, the Republican Party and half of the conservative movement are now furious with Donald Trump. Their writs are many — even though the party establishment shares much of the blame.
Indeed, in near hysterical fashion, Trump became stigmatized and scapegoated as the culprit for nearly every Republican race lost. Yet many of his endorsed candidates won. And some who lost did so quite independently of anything Trump said or did.
An unspoken paradox arose among many that Trump’s vital MAGA agenda might be better continued and advanced by those others than its creator — even as Trump insisted that there can no more be a MAGA party without him than there could be sunshine without the sun.
One explanation of the Trump dilemma is that like all classical tragic heroes and western gunslingers, Trump solved problems through means unpalatable to those in need of solutions beyond their own refinement. It is the lot of such tragic figures to grate and wear out their welcome with their beneficiaries — but only after their service is increasingly deemed no longer needed.
In this moment of wishing the wounded Shane would ride off into the Tetons and leave the more civilized alone, we should remember Trump’s four historical accomplishments that will only grow in light of Biden’s subsequent disastrous four years.
WE’RE GETTING PLAYED WHEN IT COMES TO WHO’S THE REAL 2022 WINNER
Following the dismal midterm showing, there’s a lot of blame to go around.
While I can and will sum up the issue, I want to focus more narrowly on the way in which the entire Republican machine is turning from Trump, who is now anathema, to Ron DeSantis, who is the new god.
Considering that we still have a long time before the primaries and then the 2024 election, this kind of decision-making is premature and dangerous—and that’s why we’re being forced into it.
Here's a short list of leading blame topics:
GUILTY CONSCIENCES? DEMOCRATS SUDDENLY PUT ON A REPUBLICAN SKIN SUIT
Less than a week after Democrats "won" most of the midterm election, something pretty weird is going on in various Democrat power centers, in a curiously counterintuitive pattern of acts and weather balloons.
In three instances below, we see Democrats starting to act like Republicans, adopting the Republican line, which is strange stuff, given that they insist they "won" the election in what they claimed was a voter mandate for their current style of governance -- despite poll after poll confirming Joe Biden's unpopularity and voters convinced that America is on the wrong track.
Elsewhere Democrat after Democrat is suddenly moderating their stance, adapting the Republican agenda on enforcing the open border, doing something about crime, and firing up oil production. What’s going on?
TIJI — CASTING OUT THE DEMONS
Once a year in the capital of the Tibetan Kingdom of Lo, the medieval walled city of Lo Manthang, the Lo-pa Tibetans hold a ceremony called Tiji (tee-gee), meaning casting out of demons. It’s meant to prevent any demons or malicious spirits from destroying their barley and buckwheat harvests.
Tiji is colorfully spectacular and dramatic, but this is no tourist show – Tiji is a deeply serious religious ritual. The Kingdom of Lo is in a very remote and roadless region of the Himalayas known as Mustang, lying north of the Himalayan giants of Annapurna and Dhaulagiri in Nepal on the border with Chinese-occupied Tibet.
We were privileged to witness it on a Himalaya Helicopter Expedition. We hope to be so privileged again next year. (Glimpses of Our Breathtaking World #238 photo ©Jack Wheeler)
PATAGONIA WONDERLAND
WWX-Patagonia Wonderland 2023 Jan 7-17
A land of people who live life to the brim, who eat marvelous food with gusto, who drink fabulous wine merrily, who party exuberantly, who will welcome you graciously with both arms.
Experience all of this luxuriously with Wheeler-Windsor Expeditions as we explore Patagonia together.
You won’t believe what a safely thrilling adventure this is, how much fun you’ll have. To find out all about it, for lots of photos of what you’ll see and do, it’s all right here: WWX-Patagonia Wonderland 2023 Jan 7-17
Start the year off right with a life-memorable experience with your fellow TTPers… See you soon in fabulous Patagonia!
KEEPING YOUR SANITY THROUGH SELF-MASTERY
Washington and Franklin – Exemplars of Self-Mastery
A certain degree of struggle, inside or outside, is part of life. At least two of America's founders paid attention to their own struggles and wrote about them, in very different ways.
George Washington, from a psychological perspective today, would be said to have had "anger issues." He could have quite a temper, but that wasn't something most people saw. Why is that? Read his Rules for Civility and Decent Behavior in Company and Conversation, and you'll find out. He worked hard and mastered his temper, and his other emotions.
Benjamin Franklin also took a conscious approach to self-mastery. In his Autobiography, he mapped out a strategy to practice and achieve several areas of virtue. These two great men exemplified self-mastery. Let’s talk about how you can too.
FLASHBACK FRIDAY: ASTRIDE WHERE AFRICA IS SPLITTING APART
It looks like a crack in a road, but this is in the Afar Triangle of Djibouti, where a triple junction of tectonic plates is tearing Africa in pieces. Plates spreading apart is called a Rift. I’m standing over where three gigantic rifts – the Red Sea that has split Arabia and northern Africa in two, the Gulf of Aden that will split off Somalia from the rest of Africa, and the Great Rift Valley of East Africa currently ripping Africa itself asunder – originate. Here the once intact Africa Plate began to tear in three directions.
Ironically, here is where humanity did the same. Genetic scientists have determined that some 60,000 years ago a small band of Africans (less than 200) rafted from what is now Djibouti to what is now Yemen in Arabia – and that incredibly, every human on earth today except for those who stayed, is descended from them. That means, e.g., all Europeans, Chinese and Asians, Australian Aborigines, North and South Native Americans, descended from those 200 people long ago.
Two amazing facts from this tiny country. There’s a third – it’s the best place in the world to swim with whale sharks, an unforgettable experience. All in Djibouti! (Glimpses of Our Breathtaking World #238 photo ©Jack Wheeler)
AT LEAST THERE’S THE REDSHINE STATE
HALF-FULL REPORT 11/11/22
This is the current election results graphic as of 9am EST this morning (11/11) on RealClearPolitics. It’s been frozen for some 36 hours now, never changes. That can mean only one thing – blue cities and counties in purple states are desperately trying to create enough cheat-by-mail ballots to win. Here’s how it works…
But that the midterms were close enough to cheat means they were an IQ test that America failed at. In other words:
Oh, and this just in from the Babylon Bee: Trump Bid To Be DeSantis’s VP Pick Off To Rocky Start.
THE DUNES OF SOSSUSVLEI
The gigantic sand dunes of Sossusvlei in Namibia are among the world’s tallest – and oldest at some five million years old. Many consider them the world’s most beautiful, with ancient sand filled of iron oxide turning them bright ochre. The one you see here is named Dune 45.
You can climb the dunes, float high above them in a hot air balloon, or just revel in their beauty. Sossusvlei is only one of the many wonders of Namibia. We’ll have another exploration of Namibia in another year or two. You should mark Namibia down on your bucket list. (Glimpses of Our Breathtaking World #237 photo ©Jack Wheeler)
SKYE’S LINKS 11/10/22
For crying out loud, can’t we operate a robust, transparent election system?
Paper ballots in blue states are an issue again, as well as mysterious shutdowns of voting machines in contentious districts. Some devices suffered denial of service attacks from their internet connections, while others had sudden software instability.
There might be some justice for service members forced to take the jab or face dishonorable discharge. Good, they deserve it, and it was an epic mistake in order to maintain the allusion of American military readiness, a psyop.
The Federal Reserve will have its revenge, too, as they now hint that the Covid response was in the hands of the national security state and not the health care people all along. The Fed was forced to print money or endure secret treason charges. Now we face years of inflation caused by the deep staters acting beyond their expertise.
Twitter faces pressure to maintain official narratives and censorship or else. Musk does not appear sure how to respond, or maybe he has an undisclosed plan. In any event, the national security arms of many governments are laying claim to Twitter and the greater internet. The truth of who is running things is emerging.
Elections have consequences, and we failed to correct 2020; there is a long slog ahead. There are signs of a new Enlightenment emerging as the historic Enlightenment fades away. To the incredible frustration of Klaus Schwab, Freedom will find a way.
Come on over to Skye’s links. We are eager to hear from you.
TUESDAY TAKEAWAYS
What, if anything, did the midterms tell us about the country -- other than underwhelming Republicans could still take the House and Senate albeit barely?
During the COVID-19 lockdowns, American elections radically changed to mail-in and early voting. They did so in a wild variety of state-by-state ways. Add ranked voting and a required majority margin to the mess and the result is that once cherished Election Day balloting becomes increasingly irrelevant.
Election Night also no longer exists. Returns are not counted for days. It is intolerable for a modern democracy to wait and wait for all sorts of different ballots both cast and counted under radically different and sometimes dubious conditions.
The Democrats -- with overwhelming media and money advantages -- have mastered these arts of massive and unprecedented early, mail-in, and absentee voting. Old-fashioned Republicans count on riling up their voters to show up on Election Day. But it is far easier to finesse and control the mail-in ballots than to "get out the vote."
A FATHER IN CHAD
This is the most anti-Marxist picture I have ever taken. I am a White American. He is a Black African in N’Djamena, Chad. And those differences mean nothing compared to our both being fathers.
Look into his soul through his eyes. Look at the tranquility and peaceful joy his soul feels in being the father of his two beautiful children. It is the same with me.
The Left’s purpose is to divide us into tribal differences of hate – white vs. “people of color,” rich vs. poor, employers vs. workers, exploiters vs. exploited, victimizers vs. victims, the anti-white racist hate of Critical Race Theory. Always, always, they focus exclusively on differences, to separate people apart, to hate other different than them. All in the ancient “divide and conquer” scheme to control people’s lives.
Yet the differences between us are so unimportant compared to what we all have in common, our basic humanity. The bond that I have with this man from Chad is so much greater than anything that separates us. Focusing on what we all have in common with our fellow human beings is the way to rid the world of the anti-human hate of the Marxist Left. (Glimpses of Our Breathtaking World #157, photo ©Jack Wheeler)
WHY THE RED WAVE NEVER REACHED THE SHORE
If you stand on the beach watching these gigantic waves rise above you, with surfers taking off into the wave’s tube or wiping out, you are sure the wave is going crash right down on you and sweep you off to sea.
But no, that inner reef smothers the wave and without warning the wave is suddenly gone to gently foam over your feet in the sand.
I saw that many times when I lived in Hawaii years ago, and immediately thought of it when I saw the news this morning.
Except, at Banzai, the waves don’t cheat.
A RED RIPPLE POSTMORTEM
Vote Counting by Thomas Nast (1871)
Well, that was disheartening, dispiriting, and demoralizing.
We went into the party with a president with some of the lowest approval ratings in history and Americans (at least according to the polls) focused like lasers on issues that could be chalked up to Democrat policy failures — namely, inflation and crime.
And yet Republicans are hanging on by a thread, and, as of this writing, it's still possible that Democrats will retain their majority in the House and gain a full majority in the Senate. If that happens, the American experiment is over, and the Marxist experiment truly begins.
So how did we get here?
HOW THE DEMOCRATS LOST THEIR WAY
Life in Normalville
Normalville PA. Yes, there really is a town named Normalville, in Pennsylvania about 60 miles south of Pittsburgh with a zip code of 15469. It was founded in 1843.
If there were a way to illustrate the beginning, middle, and end of this election cycle in four powerful moments, I’d start here with the faces of the men and women working on the construction of the Keystone pipeline, and the owners of the small businesses who supported them, that I witnessed days after President Joe Biden terminated their livelihoods.
These are people who work with their hands in the harshest of weather conditions digging trenches, cleaning feeder pipes, laying concrete, ensuring the proper fittings on the connecting pipes, and loading and unloading heavy materials by hand. That's not including the faces of the people who run the motels, diners, machine shops, and barber shops and the mechanics who make sure they are fed, housed, cleaned, and able to get home when the job is done.
What Joe Biden and the Democrat Party did to the people of Normalville will break your heart. Do you think Biden and the Dems care?
WATCH FOR DELAYED ELECTION RESULTS
The polls all say the same thing: Republicans will reclaim the House and Senate.
The Republican know this. The Democrats know this. And most alarming, the political operatives know this. They also know what the internal polls say, which are inevitably worse for Democrats because such things aren't push polls done for public relations purposes.
What's a Democrat to do? We know that the Democrats are determined. They are fighting. They've got the big guns of their party, President Obama, Kamala Harris, Hillary Clinton, Bill Clinton, and Joe Biden, out there on the campaign trail, each unwittingly blundering it up in his own way.
Based on their common talking point about "saving democracy," it's pretty obvious they feel "entitled" to win, too. By their argument, the opposition is evil. And when you’re fighting evil, that gives you the moral right to cheat, right?
AMERICA AT MOUNT RUSHMORE
I took this photo of Mount Rushmore looking straight on from a helicopter – so it may be from an angle you have not seen before. This election week and on Veterans Day this Friday (11/11), it may be worthwhile to think of these four heroic Americans from a different perspective, to reflect on the almost unimaginable -- in the light of our comfortable lives we live today – challenges they faced and triumphed over to create and sustain our America.
It is worth asking what would they say to us today, what advice and counsel would they give us on how to face and triumph over what unimaginable – to them during their lives – challenges of ours as Americans today.
Look into their eyes. What are they saying to you? Election week and Veterans Day is a time of deep reflection on the meaning of being American. (Glimpses of Our Breathtaking World #173 photo ©Jack Wheeler)
THE CALL OF THE WORLD
JW’s world travel map up 2013, needs updating to the present
As you may know, I’ve had memorable experiences in every country in the world. Ever since I was a young teenager, the world has been calling me to explore it – and I’ve been responding deeply to that call for well over sixty years now.
And yet… and yet… I must confess to you that I’ve barely begun, barely scratched the surface of the wondrousness of our Earth.
There is a literal endlessness to what there is to learn, witness and infuse your soul about the history, culture, people, and sheer magical beauty that surrounds our planet.
Can you feel it – the world calling you to experience and explore it? The call may be loud and persistent. It may be faint, drowned out by the daily humdrum of life – or under the illusion that you’re too old or somehow unable. But however loud or faint, it’s there in most of us – for how else did we humans populate the entire globe? To seek, to know, to experience, to explore is a very deep part of what it is to be a human being.
The Call of the World is part of the glory of being human – of using our unique, unique of all life on earth, capacity for self-consciousness, of our human ability to appreciate and live in gratitude for being a part of this glorious Earth and Universe.
You know that for almost a half-century now that I’ve made a living enabling people to respond to the Call of the World. This year, with the two year-long Dark Covid Winter ending, that response will be in the Himalayas, Central Asia, Atlantic Paradise Islands, and so much more.
I am hoping, of course, that you will be joining me on at least one of these explorations. More than that, however, I want you to answer the Call of the World that most resonates within you.
Is there a forest, a scenic wonder, a historical town or place near you that you haven’t been to and wondered about? Bet there is. What about somewhere nearby that your kids or grandkids don’t know about and would think is very cool?
Whether the Call of the World in you is to the back of beyond or around the corner, life-memorable experiences await once you answer. In all history that’s been or will be, our earthly existence happens only once for a tiny moment in time. I urge you to answer the Call of the World while you still have that time. Carpe diem. (Glimpses of Our Breathtaking World #187 photo ©Jack Wheeler)
REGAINING YOUR SANITY IN A TIME OF MORAL INVERSION
Afghan Mujahaddin with destroyed Russian T-62 tank, 1983 ©Jack Wheeler
This week, Joel and his family are on a well-deserved vacation in Hawaii. So my turn today.
Every week on TTP Joel Wade gifts us with his wisdom on how to keep your sanity amidst the stresses of life we all experience.
Yet such is the bizarre moral inversion that has been occurring for over eight months now that it has caused some of us to lose their sanity. You cannot keep what you have lost. It must first be found, then you can keep it once more. This is a discussion, then, on how to regain one’s sanity that has been lost.
When one has suddenly become morally demented, factually delusional, and spiritually grotesque; when one suddenly lives in an Orwellian world where slavery is freedom, lies are truth, and evil is good, then one’s sanity has been lost.
Now what if this happens regarding one issue, one set of circumstances in the world – and regarding everything else, one retains their normal moral, factual, and spiritual good sense? What’s going on here?
And what if this happens to people in reverse? To those who on so many issues are morally demented, factually delusional, and spiritually grotesque suddenly become paragons of sanity fully on the side of freedom, truth, and moral decency on one single issue and that alone?
This is the puzzle of moral inversion that needs to be recognized and dealt with, for the issue that is causing it happens to be one of the most dangerous and critically consequential the entire world faces at this very moment. And what is that issue?
HALF-FULL REPORT 11/04/22
Mitch announced that he plans to retire if MAGA wins the election. So long, Mitcheroo… it's time for you to go. We have a country to save, and there is heavy lifting ahead.
Elon is firing about half of Twitter employees and canceling the famous Twitter rest days just before the midterm elections.
Brazil is telling the world that everyone is tired of rigged voting machines. It turns out that the thefts are so simple that even a child can steal an election. Voting machine tampering projects at school science fairs have students demonstrating the problems with SQL Injection. A type of database manipulation.
Pfizer is rerunning their political script while a new epidemic is created to justify its recently patented vaccine. This time for the kids.
Russia and China seem to be showing a high-level interest in DNA warfare, as in perhaps Manhattan Project levels of interest. War is changing fast, but the Russian Officer Corps is bugging out. Nobody is quite sure why.
DEMS’ CLOSING ARGUMENT TO THE MIDTERMS
FLASHBACK FRIDAY – SERA GOMPA, LHASA TIBET
July 12, 2001. I took my son Jackson when he was nine years old on an overland expedition across Tibet this summer. Here he is at the Sera Gompa, a Gelugpa (Yellow Hat) Tibetan Buddhist Monastery just outside Lhasa, Tibet’s capital.
Several hundred monks live here, teaching young acolytes and conducting prayer ceremonies for villagers in the area – albeit under the watchful eye of Chinese Communist government agents. Being here was a very educational experience for Jackson, which he still remembers. Always try to take your kids or grandkids on travel adventures when they are young – they’ll never forget them either.
Another benefit of doing this – particularly with grandchildren – is the exceptional bonding that happens on such adventures. They cement an emotional closeness in a powerful and lasting way. (Glimpses of Our Breathtaking World #236 photo ©Jack Wheeler)
THE POLISH SAVIOR OF WESTERN CIVILIZATION
On September 12, 1683, Ottoman Sultan Mehmet IV as the Caliph of all Islam was on the verge of realizing the great Moslem dream of conquering all of Christian Europe for the glory of Allah. The great obstacle in his way – the city of Vienna – was about to be overwhelmed by the Sultan’s gigantic army of 140,000 Islamic Taliban of their day.
On the Kahlenberg hilltop above Vienna, the commander of the Christian forces, King Jan III Sobieski of Poland, gave the order to attack. Twenty thousand armed horsemen galloped down the slopes of Kahlenberg, the largest cavalry charge in history, with the Polish King and his Winged Hussars in the lead. The cavalry trampled the Ottomans and made straight for their camps.
Ottoman commander Kara Mustafa fled out of his tent and barely escaped with his life (it didn’t last long – the Sultan ordered him strangled). With the Christian victory at The Battle of Vienna, the Moslem threat to Europe was over. Sobieski wrote a letter to Pope Innocent XI, paraphrasing Julius Caesar:
“Venimus, Vidimus, Deus vincit” – “We came, We saw, God conquered.”
In turn, the Pope hailed Sobieski as “The Savior of Western Christendom.” Indeed he was, and still is so revered by the Polish people to this day – with no apology.
For the people of Poland stand out among those of all Europe for their pride in being part of Western Civilization – symbolized for them by this statue of their Hero King trampling the Ottomans in the beautiful Royal Baths Park in Warsaw. They will make sure visitors to the statue note that underneath the right forearm of the fallen Turkish soldier is a book – the Koran.
You owe it to yourself to visit Poland and meet the Polish champions of Christian liberty, having freed themselves from the Ottomans, the Russians, and the Soviets. We need more like them today. (Glimpses of Our Breathtaking World #159 Photo ©Jack Wheeler)
SKYE’S LINKS 11/03/22
Nice place for a clean modern nuclear power plant?
How about a bit of good news to start the links today? Sanity is returning to energy plans in Poland. Westinghouse has been tapped for Poland’s first production of nuclear energy, built on the Pomeranian Coast of the Baltic Sea. It’s a beautiful place as you can see, where it will be supplying beautifully clean energy for the Polish people. All part of Poland’s plans to have 0% dependence on energy from Russia.
Poland chooses US to build its first nuclear power plant
And sanity may be returning to Germany, too. “It would be rather irresponsible to avoid fracking for ideological reasons,” Christian Lindner, Germany’s Federal Finance Minister says. Meaning, “Screw your climate change agenda, we need to stay warm in the winter!”
Govt Minister Demands Fracking Legalized to Boost German Gas Supply
Remember the First Amendment case that I urged you to follow in Skye’s Links last week? To jog your memory, I attached this unforgettable photo to it:
Now you remember, right? Well, there’s more breaking good new this week. Here we go – jump right on in to Skye’s Links!
THE PAINTED CHURCHES OF THE TROODOS MOUNTAINS
For 500 years, from Ca. 1000 to 1500 AD, the Byzantine Christians on the eastern Mediterranean island of Cyprus labored with love to decorate the interior of their humble churches tucked away in hidden valleys of the Troodos Mountains.
There are a total of 10 such churches which are today a UNESCO World Heritage Site. The one you see here is the church of the Kykkos Monastery, with its extravagantly painted vaulted ceiling preserved immaculately for centuries. Christianity remains very much alive in these mountains. Come here to be awed yourself. (Glimpses of Our Breathtaking World #235 photo ©Jack Wheeler)
DEMOCRATS FACE CRUSHING DEFEAT EVEN IN SENATE
This is today’s (11/02) RCP Senate projection. Note projected victories for Laxalt in Nevada, Masters in Arizona, Walker in Georgia, Johnson in Wisconsin, Vance in Ohio, Oz in Pennsylvania, and Bolduc in New Hampshire.
With the most accurate pollster, Trafalgar, reporting Tiffany Smiley is only 1% behand and gaining on Dem Sen. Patty Murray in Washington, we just might end up with a 55-seat GOP majority.
Thus it is with infinite reluctance and lingering disbelief, what calls itself the progressive media is starting to concede the outlines of the overwhelming rejection the Democrats, the Biden administration, and Congress have earned and are likely to sustain next week.
Here’s why this crushing defeat is so well deserved.
12,000 RUSSIAN TROOPS DEFENDING KALININGRAD WENT TO UKRAINE TO DIE
Six years ago, the Russian navy formed a new army corps whose job it would be to defend Kaliningrad, Russia’s geographically separate outpost on the Baltic Sea between Poland and Lithuania.
This year, when the war in Ukraine began to go badly for Russia, the Kremlin yanked the entire 11th Army Corps from Kaliningrad and sent it into Ukraine. Where the Ukrainian army quickly destroyed it.
The formation, deployment and destruction of the 11th Army Corps tell a story that’s bigger than the tragic tale of Russia’s war in Ukraine. The corps, sandwiched between two NATO countries along a strategic sea, was supposed to give Russian forces an advantage in a global war.
Instead, it became cannon fodder for a Ukrainian army that, on paper, was weaker than the Russian army was. Now Kaliningrad is all but defenseless, and the threat the oblast’s troops once posed to NATO … has evaporated.
THE PARADISE OF ZIHUATANEJO
Once a small Mexican fishing village far from everything, Zihuatanejo (zee-wah-tan-ay-ho) – Zee-wat to locals – has become a paradisical escape hatch for many seeking refuge from our pressure-cooker world. 150 miles up the northwest coast of Acapulco, Zee-wat is its own world of peace and serenity.
Stroll on the beach or along the Paseo del Pescador (Fisherman’s Path) with its shops, bars, and restaurants unbothered. Just relax surrounded by flowers, warm water, and blue sky. All the worries elsewhere in Mexico, much less in the US or anywhere else are not here.
The time to come is now, the dry season November-May. Prices are a bargain with the dollar way up on the peso. Non-stop flights from multiple cities in the US and Canada. Just a few days here will do wonders for your soul. (Glimpses of Our Breathtaking World #182 photo ©Jack Wheeler)
THE SWITCHEROOS OF THE TWO PARTIES
Our two parties have both changed, and that explains why one will win, and one lose in the midterm elections.
The real rulers of the Democrat Party are the hyper-rich of Big Tech, Wall Street, Hollywood, the corporate boardroom, the administrative state, the media, and the legal world. Almost all these institutions have lost public confidence and poll miserably.
In contrast, Republicans this election cycle concerned themselves mostly with material issues of the battered middle classes—inflation, the price of fuel and energy, a secure border, crime, parental control of schools, and realist foreign policy.
Donald Trump also recalibrated the Republican Party and helped to turn it into a nationalist-populist movement that would rather win rudely than lose politely. Thus on Nov 8, the party of rich regressives is going to on the canvas with the party of middle-class populists standing triumphantly above them.
ARE REPUBLICANS PREPARED FOR THE AFTERMATH OF THE ‘RED FLOOD’?
It is my opinion that this midterm election will not be a "red wave" or a "red tsunami." I predict a Red Flood of almost Noahic proportions.
First will come the overwhelming rejection of the Biden agenda on November 8. Then will come the rejoicing by most of Red America. But after that, the illegalities will begin, starting with challenging the vote counts and the calls for recounts. Then it will escalate to violence unless there is a plan to nip it in the bud.
They have demonstrated that nothing is too outrageous, illegal, or demonic when it comes to cheating and violence, so those two tactics will be at the forefront of efforts to negate the massive Red Flood come Wednesday morning. After all, with Biden stopped in his tracks, no more of their insanity will likely get passed.
So how is the uproar likely to happen?
THE TREE OF JESSE
The Igreja de São Francisco (Church of St. Francisco) was built 800 years ago on a ledge overlooking the Douro River in Porto, Portugal. 500 years later in the early 1700s, the people of Porto devoted themselves to making its interior supremely magnificent.
Most breathtaking is the polychrome wood carving depicting The Tree of Jesse springing from the reclining body of Jesse of Bethlehem, the father of King David, and showing the genealogy of Jesus through the branches of the tree that are the Twelve Kings of Judah, ending with Joseph and above him the Virgin and Child. Above the Tree to the ceiling is intricately carved woodwork deeply covered with hundreds of pounds of gold leaf.
This masterpiece of baroque art is an awesome tribute to the importance of Christianity to Western Civilization. To experience the power of this masterpiece yourself, come with us on our next exploration of Portugal this coming March. (Glimpses of Our Breathtaking World #234 photo ©Jack Wheeler)
KEEPING OUR SANITY BY MANAGING EXPECTATIONS
We have a unique capacity to envision an immense variety of possible future states. This allows us have ideals and strive for them, to plan, to learn and grow… and to want things.
This has everything to do with how we spend our money… and the joy or misery we experience from it.
In an essential way this orientation toward the future is what makes us human. We can imagine something we want to achieve, something we want to avoid, something we want to have, and then we can plan and aim ourselves toward achieving, avoiding, or gaining possession of whatever it is.
But there’s a downside. A really big downside that happens to huge numbers of people today, that can lead to depression, shame, and self-loathing. Let’s talk about how to avoid this.