Yearly Archives: 2022
THE NIGHTMARE IS ALMOST OVER
FLASHBACK FRIDAY – THE TIGER’S NEST OF BHUTAN
November 1990. The “Tiger’s Nest” or Taktsang monastery is built in front of caves on a vertical cliff-face high above the Paro Valley in the Himalayan Kingdom of Bhutan. Originally a meditation site of the founder of Tibetan Buddhism, Padmasambhava in the 700s, the monastery temples were first constructed in the 1600s.
Bhutan is arguably the most fabulously exotic country on earth, still adhering to the ancient traditions of Ningma (Red Hat) Tibetan culture. It is quite a steep hike to the Tiger’s Nest but certainly worth it. We’ll be conducting an in-depth exploration of Bhutan this coming November. (Glimpses of Our Breathtaking World #133 Photo ©Jack Wheeler)
HALF-FULL REPORT 10/28/22
On Wednesday evening (10/26), Elon posted a video of himself marching into Twitter’s San Francisco headquarters physically carrying an actual kitchen sink, then posting: Let that sink in.
Then yesterday evening (10/27), immediately after finalizing his personal ownership of Twitter came:
Freed of what, you may ask. We immediately found out – Musk fired all of Twitter’s top wokesters: CEO Parag Agrawal, hyper-leftie from India; CFO Ned Segal; and General Counsel Sean Edgett, all of who were escorted out of Twitter HQ by security guards. Bret Taylor is no longer Board Chairman, but most important of all, Twitter’s Censorship Czarina, Vijaya Gadde, is gone along with her $17 million-a-year job.
It was Indian-born Gadde who ran Twitter’s censorship teams that banned Trump, stymied any mention of China’s Wuhan Lab being the source of Covid, rigorously whitewashed conservatives out of Twitter, and blocked the Hunter Biden Laptop story just before (and thereafter) the 2020 election that caused millions of votes not to swing for Trump.
Good riddance – for that alone, the Twitter Bird is freed.
GRANDMA AND GRANDPA NEED NOT FIGHT IN THE CAUCASUS
This is “Tatik-Papik” (Grandmother-Grandfather), a stone monument built in Soviet days as homage to the mountain people of the Transcaucasus Highlands of Armenia and Azerbaijan. After both became independent with the fall of the USSR, Armenia seized the Azeri part, known as Nagorno Karabagh. Since late September, war has broken out anew, with Turkey supporting the Azeris and Russia supporting the Armenians.
The dispute could be settled easily with a “land swap.” There is an exclave of Azerbaijan called Nakhchivan (see The Land of Noah, Glimpse #3) separated by a sparsely inhabited corridor of Armenia called the Mehgri Strip running to the border with Iran. It could be swapped for the Armenian-populated portion of Karabagh. Result: Azerbaijan and Nakhchivan are united and whole, Armenia and Armenian Karabagh are united and whole.
Should be win-win achievable given recent peace agreements achieved by our genius POTUS between Serbia and Kosovo, plus between Israel and the UAE, Bahrain, and Sudan don’t you think? (Glimpses of Our Breathtaking World #71 photo ©Jack Wheeler)
SKYE’S LINKS 10/27/22
Information Warfare
Propaganda, Persuasion, Censorship, and Deplatforming define the modern world. This week on Skye’s links, we discuss how globalists use information tools to manipulate individuals. Long ago, our leaders thought that China would be democratized through trade with the West. We have found; however, the West is becoming increasingly repressive.
Covid and the jabs remain relevant because of the tremendous propaganda intent on setting neighbor against neighbor, destroying incomes, and redefining truth to be whatever the government says, which is still the best display of global psychological warfare.
The problem for the statists and propagandists is the creation of Groupthink among those that increasingly censor and deplatform opposing opinions. The issue has long occurred in cults and is on display with the lefties ahead of the midterms.
Along with censorship and propaganda, this week, we learned more about the outright fabrications and false evidence created by the FBI to frame Trump and his team. Why would Bill Priestep and his counterintelligence arm over at the FBI place the reputation and very future of the bureau in such peril? Was it a quid pro quo from Hillary – public corruption – or an illusion that Trump’s plan to restructure the Executive Branch would reduce the income of senior government officials? Folks, this is getting interesting.
Fauci and the CDC, along with many others, lied. They knew well ahead of the mandates that the jabs were marginally effective and dangerous. Yet they pushed the drugs anyhow. They had little to fear as they collaborated with the public corruption watchdogs in the DOJ not to investigate the most significant misuse of public money in the history of the world.
Elon is vowing to end censorship, and the spoiled little pricks over at Twitter are throwing a tantrum.
Come over to Skye’s Links, where we discuss these things and the impact of all this dishonesty and corruption on economics and investing.
AFTER NOVEMBER 8, WELCOME TO MAGA AMERICA
All indications now are that the Democrats are finally about to pay for using hate of Donald Trump as a substitute for governing for two years, just as, for four years prior to that, they used Trump hate as a substitute for normal opposition.
The entire fabric of myths, frauds, and defamations that the national political media have conveniently held up as a safety net for the Democrat Party and this terribly incompetent administration is about to disappear.
The Democrats will finally carry the can for 14 years of incompetence and venality—10 failed years under Barack Obama and Joe Biden, with a four-year interlude when frenzied antagonism to the Trump administration was a divertissement of shamefully unconstitutional and obstructive opposition.
So focus on this: If the Trump-backed Senate candidates win any two of Georgia, Ohio, and Pennsylvania, Trump is almost certainly the next president.
ADVICE TO DEMS: NEVER SEND A STROKE VICTIM TO DEBATE A TV STAR
The Fetterman campaign may have just watched what remained of its prospects in Pennsylvania circle the drain after last night's (10/25) sole debate between him and PA Senate candidate Dr. Oz.
Fetterman, who suffered a severe stroke days before the May primary and cast his vote from a hospital bed, appeared unable to put together nearly a single coherent sentence throughout the entire debate while TV veteran Dr. Oz deftly and "surgically" sliced and diced his way through an hour of questioning, using Fetterman as a lifeless sparring dummy for a majority of the debate.
Recovering from his stroke, Fetterman's answers ranged between somewhat inept and completely incomprehensible. The ugly performance started right from the beginning, with Fetterman bidding viewers "good night" as part of his opening statement.
Fetterman opens the debate:
"Hi. Good night everybody." pic.twitter.com/mg0X3Iwf5D
— Greg Price (@greg_price11) October 26, 2022
It only got worse from that point forward.THE FORTRESS OF LUXEMBOURG
Originally built upon Roman fortifications on a rocky promontory in the 900s by the Counts of Luxembourg, the Luxembourg Fortress gained strategic importance located between the French Kingdom and the Hapsburg Empire. By the 1600s it became so impregnable it was called the “Gibraltar of the North.” It was fought over by so many armies that finally, in establishing the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg’s full independence and neutrality in 1867, Luxembourgers agreed to tear it down.
What you see here is what is left, and is now a World Heritage Site. The Chemin de la Corniche – the promenade along the top of the ramparts overlooking Alzette River and the Old City – is renowned as “Europe’s most beautiful balcony.”
Wedged between France, Belgium, and Germany, small 1,000 square-mile Luxembourg is a haven of peaceful beauty. Come here to stand on these ramparts to experience it yourself. (Glimpses of Our Breathtaking World #233 photo ©Jack Wheeler)
WILL DEMOCRACY DIE IN DARKNESS IN NOVEMBER?
The Republicans were always going to win big in November, regardless of what biased pundits professed.
There was likely never a sudden “blue resurgence” or “red collapse” of late summer.
Those fantasies were mostly Democrat Party talking points. They were readily regurgitated by the fusion media and biased pollsters. The ruse was transparently designed to dampen conservative turnout and fundraising, while fueling interparty squabbling over supposedly “unelectable MAGA candidates.”
As it turns out, all the Dems’ efforts and those of their minions will be to no avail.
Yes, the Democrats will soon chant democracy is dying because they are terrified it is thriving as never before.
WHY HOLLOW JOE WENT FAR LEFT
Bill O’Reilly has reached a conclusion that has probably occurred to many people recently, namely that although Joe Biden always represented himself as a moderate regular guy with blue-collar sensibilities from Scranton, he “fooled a lot of folks, including me.”
For, O’Reilly observes, Biden has recently been full of praise for extremists, saying that he agrees with everything Rep. Maxine Waters says, which includes, after the George Floyd killing, justifying violence and praising “one of the biggest haters on television,” Joy Behar.
Although I certainly understand O’Reilly’s reasoning, I must disagree. My view is that the situation is far worse than he envisages. Here’s why.
THE WORLD’S MOST UNIQUE BIRD
This is a Hoatzin. I took this picture in the Amazon jungles of Colombia, its native habitat. It has no genetic relationship to any other bird, and thus has its own family, the Opisthocomidae, and its own suborder, the Opisthocomi. Extensive DNA-sequencing demonstrates that “the hoatzin is the last surviving member of a bird line that branched off in its own direction 64 million years ago, shortly after the extinction event that killed the non-avian dinosaurs.”
The Hoatzin is the Dinosaur Bird, the only bird on earth directly descended from the dinosaurs. It makes weird noises – grunts, hisses, groans and croaks – no melodious birdsongs. It emits an awful smell due to its fermentation digestive system, and tastes just as awful so no one hunts it for food. Yet it is distinctively pretty in a hyper-funky way. Spend enough time exploring the Amazon, and you may be lucky to see one. (Glimpses of Our Breathtaking World #186 photo ©Jack Wheeler)
KEEPING YOUR SANITY BY MANAGING STRESS WELL
Man should not try to avoid stress any more than he would shun food, love or exercise. - Hans Selye
It is common knowledge that too much stress is bad for us; yet stress is also a necessary and vital part of living well.
Anything that you do that involves challenging yourself, confronting situations that require your best efforts, or pushing yourself beyond your comfort zone will involve a degree of stress.
So it’s really important to understand that happiness is not the absence of stress. In fact, happiness or our well-being requires living with a degree of stress that we can manage.
And there’s new research that turns what we thought we knew about stress on its head – what’s most important for our health and well-being is not the stress itself, but what we believe about stress. Let’s think about that.
THE CARRICK-A-REDE ROPE BRIDGE
One of the most dramatic sights along the Antrim Coast of Northern Ireland is the Carrick-a-Rede Rope Bridge. Originally built in the 1660s by salmon fishermen to get to their nets on the tiny islet of Carrick, it spans 70 feet across and 100 feet above the ocean waters surging below. It’s still used by the fishermen to this day. And while it’s been sturdily reinforced since it was a simple rope bridge, it’s still an invigorating experience to negotiate – especially in the wind and rain when I was there. Don’t pass it up if you’re ever in Northern Ireland. (Glimpses of Our Breathtaking World #232 photo ©Jack Wheeler)
FLASHBACK FRIDAY – CANNIBAL TREEHOUSE
August 1977. High in the mountains above the source of the April River, a tributary of the Sepik in Papua New Guinea, I had a First Contact with an undiscovered tribe calling themselves the Wali-ali-fo. They ate “man long pig,” cooked human meat and lived in thatch dwelling built up in trees. Here I am in one with my Sepik guide Peter who got me here.
Peter translated a description of their practice: “When a man dies, we take a pig to his wife and exchange it for the body of the man. We take the body out into the forest and…cook ‘im eat ‘im. We do this so the man will continue to live in the bodies of his friends.”
Not something we’ll do but something we can understand, yes? These are people we could laugh and joke with, tell stories with, enjoy being with. A very different culture, but human all the same. (Glimpses of Our Breathtaking World #148 Photo ©Jack Wheeler)
THE RESEMBLANCE
HALF-FULL REPORT 10/21/22
One of the favorites from their 1967 Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band album, Getting Better is the theme of this week’s HFR… at last.
We’ve got 18 days to go before America’s Do or Die Day of Nov 8 – and while there still may be many a slip ‘twixt cup and lip, it’s looking good for the good guys, while those on the Dark Side of the Force are sliding into ever deeper gloom. Yes, for every day this week, it’s getting better all the time.
BIRTHPLACE OF A GODDESS
This is the Rock of Aphrodite – where Greek mythology says the Goddess of Love was born fully formed from the sea-foam surging around it – and makes Cyprus the Island of Love. It is south of Paphos on the island’s west coast.
Adjacent is the Temple Sanctuary of Aphrodite, where pilgrims came from every Greek city and kingdom for 2,000 years to worship her. The ancient Greeks prayed to Aphrodite more than any of their other gods, for she was the apotheosis of love, desire, and fertility or having children. Which explains why today couples travel from all over the world to get married here.
Folks have been living in Cyprus for a really long time. So long that they were the first people in the world to domesticate cats over 9,000 years ago. A Neolithic village has been unearthed called Choirokoitia that’s surprisingly sophisticated for being 8,000 years old. In Roman times, after Jesus rose Lazarus from the dead, he went to Cyprus -- there is a beautiful church, the Agios Lazaros, built over his tomb.
The Painted Churches of Troodos are adorned with magnificent medieval art. The ruins of a Crusaders’ fortress inspired the fairy tale castle of Walt Disney’s Snow White. I hope Cyprus’ inspirational history will inspire you to explore it someday. (Glimpses of Our Breathtaking World #101 photo ©Jack Wheeler)
SKYE’S LINKS 10/20/22
Narrative Control vs. Reality
This week on Skye's Links, we look at the many cases where false narratives are being pushed hard to manipulate us,
We start with the radically left AMA and move on to issues in politics, society, freedom of speech, environment, energy, and investments.
The bad guys have that old will to power and expect complete obedience to the narrative. However, the Constitution, economic laws, and the Majesty of the Earth as a Testament to its Creator continue to foil those that would be our masters.
Come on over to Skye's Links. It's been a tough week for the propagandists.
PENA PALACE
Built as the summer residence of the Portuguese Royal family almost 200 years ago, Pena Palace stands atop the highest hill of the Sintra mountains with stunning views of the Atlantic Ocean far below.
Today a museum showpiece and World Heritage Site, it is one of the most spectacular castles in all Europe. I am here with your fellow TTPers completing another marvelous exploration of the wondrous land of Portugal. We’ll be here again next Spring - hope you’ll be with us. (Glimpses of Our Breathtaking World #231 photo ©Jack Wheeler)
TRANSGENDERISM, THE LEFT’S OFFENSIVE AGAINST WESTERN CIVILIZATION
Who among us could have guessed a few years back that today gender ideology would be the clearest, most divisive matter of contention separating the American left from the right? To those reasonably grounded in reality, the notion that gender is fluid, that a Supreme Court Justice would be unable to define the word “woman,” that men can give birth, and that children can and should be mutilated if they are confused about their own gender identity is not only sheer lunacy, it is barbaric.
But the left’s commitment to those ideas is total; it’s the hill on which they are willing to die. Those who disagree with them are vilified as transphobic, haters or terrorists. Trans activists may well be the least tolerant “community” in the country.
Recently, a young trans girl/boy posted a video of what five years of testosterone have done to her; she regrets her transition. The comments posted below her video are vicious. There are probably hundreds of similar regret videos but there are many more videos that promote gender transitions, even for the very young. Planned Parenthood promotes cross sex transition and has become a giant of the industry.
Matt Walsh, who made the film that asks “What is a Woman,” began taking the film to college campuses this past week, and shockingly, is filling auditoriums. But the events draw angry protesters, some of them Antifa, who scream and chant their profanities in their attempt to disrupt the screenings. They have not been successful.
RUSSIA IS GIVING A MASTER CLASS ON HOW NOT TO FIGHT A WAR
Vladimir Putin’s war in Ukraine will be studied for centuries by military historians — as a master class in how not to fight. His latest tactic — bombing Ukrainian cities — is yet another desperate and despicable gambit that is likely to backfire.
THE WORLD’S MOST BEAUTIFUL BOOKSTORE
This is the Livraria Lello bookstore in Porto, Portugal where I am right now. Built in 1906, its Neo-Gothic/Art Noveau architecture and design make it the world’s most beautiful place to buy books. Not only was J.K. Rowling inspired to write her Harry Potter books here, but she based the dramatic staircase at Hogwarts on the work of art staircase at “The Lello” that you see above. Porto oozes with such beauty, charm, and entrancement. You deserve to experience it for yourself. (Glimpses of Our Breathtaking World #230 photo ©Jack Wheeler)
SHELLACKING TIME FOR DEMS, AND OBAMA SUDDENLY PLAYS MR. MODERATE
With Democrats facing a "shellacking" in November, President Obama is out and about, campaigning for Democrats, in various ways.
He made some headlines with this:
Former President Barack Obama thinks Democrats can be a bit of a "buzzkill," too easily offended over accidental slights and the complicated scenarios of modern life, he said in a podcast interview late last week.
"How does politics even — how is it even relevant to the things that I care most deeply about? My family, my kids, work that gives me satisfaction, having fun, not being a buzzkill, right?" Obama said in an interview with "Pod Save America."
"And sometimes Democrats are, right? You know, sometimes, people just want to not feel as if they are walking on eggshells. And they want some acknowledgment that life is messy and that all of us at any given moment can say things the wrong way, make mistakes."
Obama is publicly addressing a concern voiced by Democratic strategists privately for quite some time now — that the liberal base of the party is so focused on "wokeness" and the possibility of offending certain interest groups that they lose the broader thread of speaking to what voters actually care about.
That's a little rich, coming from him. The wokester culture era was ushered in on his watch, and it's spiraled downhill since then.THE TENTACLES OF THE SOCIAL MEDIA OCTOPUS
A shared theme in all dystopian explorations of future and current totalitarian regimes—whether China, Russia, Iran, North Korea, or Cuba—is government control of all media information, fueled by electronic surveillance.
A skeptical public learns to say one thing publicly but quite another privately. It nervously nods yes at the news while at work, but at home cynically assumes the opposite of whatever is publicly said to be true.
RIP, First Amendment
Such electronic propaganda has sadly become characteristic of the world’s oldest consensual government.In America we once believed our First Amendment prevented a government monopoly on information. But in the age of globalization, the Internet, and social media, the state has become the enemy—not the protector—of free speech.
WHERE AN ANCIENT WONDER ONCE WAS
This is where The Colossus of Rhodes once stood, at the entrance to the Old Harbor of Rhodes. Standing as high as today’s Statue of Liberty – 108 feet from feet to crown – it was of the Greek god of the Sun, Helios. Completed in 280 BC, travelers from all over the Mediterranean flocked to see it – as they did all Seven Wonders of their world.
They marveled at the Great Pyramid of Cheops and the Lighthouse of Pharos at the entrance to Alexandria, both in Ptolemaic Egypt; the massive Tomb of King Mausolus or Mausoleum at Halicarnassus and the Temple of Artemis at Ephesus, on the Ionian (western) coast of present-day Turkey; the giant Temple of Zeus at Olympia in mainland Greece; and the Hanging Gardens of Babylon – in addition to The Colossus on the Greek island of Rhodes, now still Greek right off the coast of Turkey.
The Colossus only stood for sixty years, and was then toppled by a great earthquake. One by one, the others were destroyed by earthquakes, floods, fires and other disasters, until only one of the Seven is left – the Great Pyramid, already over 2,000 years old when the other six were built.
All seven sites where the wonders stood are worth visiting today. We’ll be organizing such an exploration soon. (Glimpses of Our Breathtaking World #132 Photo ©Jack Wheeler)
KEEPING YOUR SANITY BY BUILDING A FOUNDATION OF SAFETY AND TRUST
There’s a vow that, if taken by romantic couples, would go a long way toward establishing safety and trust, and limiting much of the pain that couples commonly experience - much of the pain that couples commonly inflict upon one another.
There will be pain in any relationship, we hurt each other without even trying. There’s plenty of conflict in the very best of relationships. John Gottman has found in his research that in successful marriages about 69% of conflicts never get resolved. So a happy marriage isn’t about the absence of conflict, or an absence of hurt.
It all comes down to how we treat each other given that there is conflict, and that there are times we unintentionally hurt each other.
In other words, it’s what we do or do not do intentionally that makes the difference.
The vow that I suggest to make between the two of you is this:
FLASHBACK FRIDAY: AMAZON INITIATION
August, 2002. In the remotest Amazon jungle of Brazil, along a tributary of the Upper Xingu River, live the Xicrin-Kayapo people. They live traditionally as they have for centuries, isolated in their forests from the world. Here the young boys, painted and adorned, apprehensively await their initiation ceremonies into becoming young men. They are to be tested to show they have what it takes for the village to be proud of them.
In some of their eyes, there is confidence. In others less so. This is an ancient Rite of Passage, an enthralling experience to witness. (Glimpses of Our Breathtaking World #229 photo ©Jack Wheeler)
THE LONE HORSEMAN
HALF-FULL REPORT 10/14/22
Early this morning (10/14), the lead headline story was: New Video Shows Pelosi Threatened To 'Punch Out' Trump On January 6.
That would be "he's sliding into an ever-deeper legal hole." Oh. "The walls are closing in" mantra the Lying Swine media have been repeating ad nauseam for years, which brings us to the dog that's not barking 25 days before November 8.
SKYE’S LINKS 10/13/22
The Truth is Emerging, and what was first hidden in the darkness is being uncovered by the light.
Sunlight is the best disinfectant. Please look at Skye’s links this week, where we learn the results of sworn testimony about the lack of ANY Covid transmission testing before the jabs were forced on the world.
The midterms are coming, and dirty tricks are emerging. The FBI was caught red-handed, repeatedly tipping the scales for the Democrats. What’s to come of this?
Here is a hint, in the end, Freedom wins.
A KYRGHIZ EAGLE HUNTER
A Kyrghiz eagle-hunter doesn’t hunt for eagles to eat. He hunts with an eagle he has trained from infancy to hunt food for his family.
Female eagles adapt to training the best and are fierce huntresses. Retrieved as a young chick from their mother’s nest when she’s out hunting, it takes one or two years to train them. The eagle the hunter is holding is age six. When they are too old to hunt at around age 20, they are released back into the wild, where they can live free for up to age 50.
That would be among the high rock outcroppings dotting the high grasslands of Kyrghizstan in Central Asia. That’s where the hunter’s assistant (usually his son) climbs up with the eagle gripping his forearm high enough to launch. Upon the hunter waves thee command on horseback, the hood is removed from the eagle’s head so he can see and is released.
Soaring high, the eagle searches for game like rabbits which are plentiful in the grasslands. Upon spotting one, the eagle swoops down to snare it on the run with her amazingly powerful talons. Allowing her to eat a bite or two as her reward, she’s re-hooded and the rabbit soon to be on the family dinner table. If you want to see this for yourself, come with us to Kyrghizstan on our next exploration of Central Asia. (Glimpses of Our Breathtaking World #228 photo ©Jack Wheeler)
THE DEAD MAN’S HAND
This is where Wild Bill Hickok was shot and killed by assassin Jack McCall on August 2, 1876 in Deadwood, South Dakota.
The No. 10 Saloon is where Hickok had been playing five card draw that day. He was uncomfortable with his back to the bar (the furthest chair in the photo) and asked another player, Charlie Rich, twice if he could switch seats so his back would be to the wall behind – and twice Rich refused (the chair on the left).
A miner who had lost at cards with Hickok so badly that Wild Bill gave him money to eat, Jack McCall, came in, walked to the bar behind Hickok seeming to ask for a drink, and suddenly without warning pulled his pistol shot Wild Bill in the back of the head, killing him instantly.
Four cards in Hickok’s hand were showing – two black aces and two black eights, forever to be known as The Dead Man’s Hand. (The fifth or hole card was down and is not known.)
McCall was hung for the murder, buried with the noose still around his neck. Hickok is reverentially interred at Deadwood’s Mount Moriah Cemetery with a large bronze monument immortalizing the single most renowned man for whom the Wild West was named – James Butler “Wild Bill” Hickok. (Glimpses of Our Breathtaking World #227 photo ©Jack Wheeler)
HOW REPUBLICANS CAN EARN NATIONAL SUPERMAJORITY STATUS
America’s Democrat Party is beyond redemption, and with increasing momentum, Americans are recognizing this. Can Republicans offer a serious alternative?
How does the Republican Party reunify, project a shared vision that attracts independent voters (and libertarians), cut through the media bias, and start winning by landslides all over America?
Why hasn’t the GOP attracted tens of millions of independent voters? Estimates vary, but according to Pew Research, in 2020 independents were 34 percent of registered voters nationwide—more than Democrats at 33 percent, or Republicans at 29 percent.
With that in mind, it’s time for Republican candidates to quit hedging on the big issues. Here are some soundbites that ought to be coming out of the mouths of every GOP candidate in America:
TODAY, OCTOBER 12, IS A CELEBRATION OF WESTERN CIVILIZATION
TODAY, October 12, is the 530th anniversary of Christopher Columbus' landing on Guanahani (now known as San Salvador or Watlings) island in the Bahamas on October 12, 1492.
We commemorate this as a true discovery in contrast to all the claims of Vikings, Chinese, Irish, and others who supposedly came earlier – for once and only after Columbus discovered America, it stayed discovered.
Unfortunately, Columbus Day is for most Americans just an excuse for a three-day weekend, which is why it fell ereyesterday, Monday, October 10.
What it should be is a commemoration and celebration of Western Civilization – which is why the Left hates Columbus and his holiday.
If it's your misfortune to run into any of these folk bemoaning the nightmare and tragedy of our coming here, you might suggest to them that they abandon their myths about it. Start reeducating them by explaining why there were no Indians in America when Columbus discovered it.
AZENHAS DO MAR
A cliff-top fishing village on the Italian Riviera? Nope, Azenhas (ah-zhane-yas) do Mar – Watermills of the Sea – is on the Portuguese Riviera. This is a magic place of fairy tale castles, thousand year-old fortresses, luxury boutique hotels, fabulous food, great wine, gorgeous beaches, and postcard-perfect scenery everywhere.
The Portuguese people are among the kindest in Europe, while Portugal is one of the safest countries in the world. Of all the planet’s First World countries, it’s hard to find one more calm and serene than here.
If you’d like a personal experience of the best of Portugal, Wheeler Expeditions can arrange it for you. (Glimpses of Our Breathtaking World #87 Photo ©Jack Wheeler)
THE QUAGMIRE OF CLIMATE CHANGE DIPLOMACY
An old gospel song attacks the hypocrisy of a certain Mr. Brown, who “prays for Prohibition, but votes for G-I-N.”
That’s not a bad description of the Biden administration’s climate policy. The president took office vowing to make Saudi Arabia a pariah nation and to reduce the world’s dependence on fossil fuels. After a brief fist-bumping détente last summer, he is back on the attack because the Saudis don’t want to produce as much oil as he wants.
Meanwhile, even as it prays for a global energy transition, the administration is scouring the world for new sources of carbon-spewing fossil fuels, relaxing sanctions enforcement against the murdering mullahs in Tehran and looking to steer new revenue into the coffers of the crime lords of Caracas.
Mr. Biden isn’t the only one sending mixed climate messages.
WHY IS THE DEMOCRAT PARTY AFFLICTED WITH COGNITIVE IMPAIRMENT?
For much of the Trump presidency, leftist opponents sought to remove him by the 25th Amendment. A Yale psychiatrist diagnosed Trump in absentia and declared him deserving of a straitjacket forced intervention. Partisan charges grew so intense that Trump voluntarily took — and aced — the Montreal Cognitive Assessment.
Strangely, the same Left arm-chair psychiatrists offer no such worries about Biden’s clear mental decline. Needless to say, Biden refuses to take any cognitive assessment test.
One reason Biden enjoys immunity from removal is that his 57-year-old vice president, Kamala Harris, is seen to be even more incoherent and ill-informed. Then there’s Nancy Pelosi, 82. Here’s a scary thought. As House Speaker, she’s third in line for the presidency.
KEEPING YOUR SANITY BY MAKING GOOD ENOUGH CHOICES
Having choices is wonderful. Today we have more options in terms of goods and services to choose from than any time in the history of the human race, and the options for spending money are nearly endless. This is part of the Great Enrichment I’ve written about earlier, and when we manage it well, it can contribute to our quality of life.
When we don’t manage it well, it can ruin our quality of life – even in the midst of incredible abundance.
On one end of the spectrum, we can get into trouble with our money when we don’t think enough - we spend too much on things we don’t really like once we have them.
On the other end, we can devote too much time and emotional energy on making absolutely sure that we’ve bought the very best thing, at the very best price, with everything we buy.
THE SALVATION OF WESTERN CIVILIZATION ON OCTOBER 10, 732 AD
On this day, October 10th, 1,290 years ago in central France a few miles north of the town of Poitiers, two armies met with the fate of Western Civilization at stake.
On a forested hill stood 30,000 Christian knights led by their king Charles Martel awaiting the onslaught of an invading horde of 60,000 Islamic Jihadis determined to extinguish Christianity from all of Europe and replace it with their Religion of the Sword.
For the last hundred years, they had exploded out of the wasteland of Arabia to conquer the Christian Middle East, Zoroastrian Persia, and all of Christian North Africa from Egypt to Morocco. For the last twenty years after crossing the Strait of Gibraltar in 711, they had swept through the Iberian Peninsula of Spain and Portugal in Islamic conquest of the ruling Christian Visigothic Kingdom.
In just six years (711-717), Islamic armies had reached the Pyrenees, the mountainous border between Spain and France. Pouring through them, for the last 15 years they had been steadily seizing more and more of Christian France – old Roman Gaul. Now Gaul was ruled by the Franks, who had been fervent Christians ever since their Founder King, Clovis (466-511), was baptized in 496.
Thus it was that on this day almost 13 centuries ago, all that stood between the Islamic horde and conquering all of Europe was this infidel army half their size that didn’t even have any cavalry – most all of their soldiers fought on foot. Surely the infidels would be annihilated as all their enemies had from Persia to the Pyrenees.
FLASHBACK FRIDAY – A GLACIER IN THE GOBI
June 2002, the Vulture’s Mouth Glacier. In the deepest heart of the Gobi Desert of Mongolia, south of the Flaming Cliffs where Roy Chapman Andrews discovered dinosaur eggs in the 1920s, there is a naked spine of mountains called the Gurvan Saihan. In the Gurvan Saihan there is a deep gorge called Yol Alyn, the Vulture’s Mouth. And in the Vulture’s Mouth, there is a glacier.
It is not a big glacier, the continual ice buildup of a stream that never melts even in the heat of the Gobi summer. Yet it is a glacier nonetheless, thick enough for my son Jackson and I to walk on for more than a mile. The Vulture’s Mouth Glacier is just one of a multitude of extraordinary experiences Mongolia has to offer the explorer. Are you up for exploring it with me this summer of 2023? (Glimpses of Our Breathtaking World #90 photo ©Jack Wheeler)