Yearly Archives: 2023
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)
THE SICKNESS OF OUR UNIVERSITIES – AND THE CURE
The sheer madness that has gripped many elite universities since October 7 and the butchery, rape, torture, and mutilation of some 1,000 Israeli civilians by Hamas murderers have shocked the public at large.
Campus craziness is, of course, nothing new. But quite novel for campuses was the sudden jettisoning of prior campus pretenses. Universities have brazenly dropped their careful two-faced gymnastics to reveal at last–unapologetically, proudly, and defiantly–the moral decay that now characterizes American higher education.
Recent news stories have exposed this rot to the world, and will have grave repercussions for higher education in the next few years.
The Nazis once desecrated the tombstones of dead Jews. Our campuses have updated that hatred. Students now tear down pictures of Jewish captives kidnapped or murdered by Hamas. University presidents do not condemn the hate-filled rallies supporting the killing of Jews in Israel. Here’s the cure for it all.
ANOTHER NAIL IN THE GLOBAL WARMING COFFIN
Drilling ice cores on the Greenland ice cap
Statistics Norway, the government agency that produces official statistics for that country, released a report last month titled “To What Extent Are Temperature Levels Changing Due To Greenhouse Gas Emissions?” The report concludes:
“[T]he results imply that the effect of man-made CO2 emissions does not appear to be sufficiently strong to cause systematic changes in the pattern of the temperature fluctuations. In other words, our analysis indicates that with the current level of knowledge, it seems impossible to determine how much of the temperature increase is due to emissions of CO2.”
The Norwegians’ defection is important because climate alarmism can survive only if it is deemed an official “consensus,” so that people who point out inconsistent facts can be censored. Once the purported consensus is punctured, it rapidly becomes clear that the Climate Emperor is unclothed.THE AMAZIGH
They call themselves Amazigh – meaning “the unconquered” – who are the original people of Morocco having lived there for over 12,000 years. You’ve heard of them as Berbers, a name they find offensive. Another people you’ve heard of are the Lapps, the reindeer-herders of far northern Scandinavia, who call themselves Saami.
Astoundingly, they are directly related, for both are descended from the same stock of Cro-Magnon Ice Age hunters in Western Europe that split in two 15,000 years ago – one moving thousands of miles far north, the other thousands of mile south crossing the Gibraltar Strait to North Africa. Geneticists know this because the Amazigh and Saami share the same mitochondrial DNA haplogroup U5b1b. (See Saami and Berbers – An Unexpected Mitochondrial DNA Link, American Journal of Human Genetics, March 2005.)
So when you visit Morocco and meet a gentleman like that pictured above amidst a display of spectacular Amazigh artwork, you’ll know what incredible history resides within him. (Glimpses of Our Breathtaking World #242 photo ©Jack Wheeler)
DOES IRAN REALIZE ITS OWN GROWING DANGER?
Iran understandably believes it is riding quite high.
It is flush with cash. It hints it almost has the bomb—and might use it soon. The Iranians are bragging about their new tyrannical allies like Russia and China.
Iran boasts of now being the self-proclaimed leader of jihad on behalf of all Muslims. It gloats that it is feeding the Russian war-machine in Ukraine by exporting its own drones.
But above all, Iran is giddy over the appeasing Biden administration.
This mollification of Iran also led its appendages Hamas and Hezbollah to believe that if any of them started a war against Israel, then Iran would guarantee their victory, the U.S. would do nothing— and likely force Israel to do the same nothing.
Yet a delusional Iran still is not fully aware how its loud bragging about and support for its client Hamas’s barbaric killing of Jewish civilians have put it into an unprecedented dangerous predicament.
THE GAZA-UKRAINE KREMLIN CONNECTION
On October 7, following the brutal attack by Hamas terrorists on Israel, the Palestinian-Israeli conflict began evolving into a full-scale war. The Kremlin’s propaganda does not hide the fact that this escalation in the Middle East benefits the Russian state. This raises questions as to what real benefits the Israel-Hamas war brings Moscow beyond its use in propaganda.
Russian narratives regarding the Palestinian-Israeli conflict are closely related to the complex situation the Kremlin found itself in leading up to its full-scale invasion of Ukraine.
Moscow used highly controversial conspiracy theories, with anti-Semitic undertones, to justify its aggression. These theories included the idea that the West was determined to destroy Russia at any cost, as it represents the last bastion of Orthodox Christian values resisting globalization (Tsargrad.tv, November 2, 2022).
At the onset of Russia’s invasion, similar conspiracy theories began to proliferate on mainstream Telegram channels. These theories described an alleged Jewish plot aimed at “expanding living spaces at the expense of Ukraine and Russia” (Т.me/kremlinprachka, April 23, 2022).
A foundational myth of Russian propaganda is distinguishing the “good Jews” from the “bad Jews.”
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)
THE PERSIAN RATCHET
Tomb of Cyrus the Great (600-530 BC), Pasargadae, Iran
[This Monday’s Archive was originally published on August 18, 2005. This “nutshell history” of Persia is obviously relevant to the current war against Israel being sponsored by Mullah Iran. The links to the secessionist movements in Iranian Kurdistan and Iranian Azerbaijan are still good for these movements are active and growing.]
TTP, August 18, 2005
The war between Persia and the West is very ancient, well over a thousand years older than the war between Islam and Christianity.
Western Civilization originated in a strip of land 90 miles long and 30 miles wide along the Mediterranean coast of Asia Minor (Turkey today) known as Ionia. The Greeks who settled there in the 9th and 8th centuries BC colonized such cities as Ephesus and Miletus, where the first philosophers in history (like Thales, 635-543 BC) offered natural explanations of the world rather than superstition and myth.
The founder of the Persian Empire, Cyrus the Great incorporated Ionia within his rule but gave it autonomy. This freedom vanished under the tyranny of Darius I (550-486 BC), Ionia revolted in 502, Darius crushed the revolt, then invaded and attempted to conquer all of Greece.
On September 21, 490 BC, on the beach at Marathon, under the command of the Athenian general Miltiades, the Greeks destroyed Darius’ army, with 6,400 Persians killed versus 192 Greek hoplites.
THE TOMB OF THE FRAGRANT CONCUBINE
Princess Iparhan, granddaughter of the ruler of the Silk Road oasis of Kashgar, was so famous for her beauty and the intoxicating natural aroma of her body that the Manchu Emperor far to the east called for her. She was 22, the year was 1756. The Emperor became completely infatuated with her, making Iparhan his Imperial Noble Consort, loving her deeply until her death 33 years later in 1789.
In mourning, the Emperor kept his promise to her that her body would be returned to Kashgar and buried in the mausoleum of Apak Hoja, built in 1640 by her Apaki family. And there she rests today. Everyone in Kashgar and beyond, however, knows the mausoleum as The Tomb of the Fragrant Concubine.
It’s a wonderfully romantic legend, and even though there are several conflicting versions, let’s hope this one is true. Regardless, a visit to this peaceful shrine is certainly memorable. (Glimpses of Our Breathtaking World #54 Photo ©Jack Wheeler)
HALF-FULL REPORT 10/20/23
Christmas Island, Indian Ocean, Australia. Now what might these be. “Ocean Protector” they are labeled. Protector from what? Settle in your most comfortable chair and get ready for an amazingly cool story from this tiny remote island that has 100% relevance to what’s happening to our country right now.
There’s a series of exceptional events occurring in various places around the world this week, the clown show in Washington continues, and you won’t believe who gave the best speech he’s ever made. Jump right on in, the water’s fine.
Just watch out for the Lionfish I spotted – those pretty spines have strong poison in them!
BIRDS OF A FEATHER
FLASHBACK FRIDAY: WHAT DO YOU SEE HERE?
A young boy playing among rocks on a stream, yes. But where? I took this photo in a nature park in Pyongyang, North Korea.
Gives you a different perspective, doesn’t it? This young North Korean boy, how so innocently playing amidst beautiful streams and waterfalls, has no future except to grow up to be a human robot in subjection to a tyranny. He has no idea of the fate in store for him. That’s why, for me, this is one of the saddest pictures I have even taken.
Perhaps he will escape from his political prison, but the odds are gravely against him. Life does have its somber moments. (Glimpses of Our Breathtaking World #244 photo ©Jack Wheeler)
SKYE’S LINKS 10/19/23
Elon cheers for the Second Amendment. That is a semi-auto Barrett .50 BMG rifle that Musk is shooting. Reach out and touch someone at a mile - if you really know what you are doing. Note: the link has the video clip of Musk hip-firing multiple rounds.
Anti-Gunners About To Meltdown After Elon Musk Says 'Armed Citizens Vital For Democracy's Defense'
The First Amendment is poised to win again, while the Lefts’ contortion of the Fourteenth, along with climate change and net zero are all sinking like the Titanic. And wait ‘till you see how brilliantly Trump is skirting that fascisti judge’s gag order. Ready, set, go for Skye’s Links!
BUZKASHI
Song Kul. Kyrgyzstan. Here, 10,000 feet high along the shores of Lake Song Kul, Kyrgyz nomads play buzkashi, where men on horseback fight with whips, fists, elbows over a goat carcass (simulated for us in a heavy canvas bag) weighing some 40 pounds. There are no rules. Whoever gets the carcass to the goal line and drops it into the circle there, scores. This ancient game has been played for thousands of years by the nomads of Mongolia, Afghanistan, and Central Asia. The nomads who encamp at Song Kul are playing fiercely but actually having a lot of fun – laughter abounds. After the game, we had a cup of kumiss, slightly alcoholic fermented mare’s milk, with them. An experience never to be forgotten. (Glimpses of Our Breathtaking World #281 photo ©Jack Wheeler)
BIDEN’S WEAKNESS AND INCOMPETENCE STRENGTHENED IRAN AND HAMAS
The barbaric and evil terrorist attacks on Israel are a horrific reminder that the world is safe when America is strong—but when we have a weak president in the White House, the costs can be greater than our worst nightmares.
If we hope to prevent further shedding of innocent blood, the United States must learn the painful lessons of these savage atrocities.
As we pray for the Israeli people in this hour of anguish and give them our complete and total support, we must also confront the absolute failure of the Biden administration, whose incompetence and ignorance invited this heinous and deadly assault on civilization itself.
The only thing Biden is good at is the weaponization of the justice system against his political opponents. Every step of the way, Joe Biden has empowered and emboldened America's enemies the world over—and clearly none more so than the terrorist group Hamas, and their bloodthirsty sponsor, the villainous regime in Iran.
THE PHYSICS OF WHY CARBON DIOXIDE DOES NOT CAUSE WARMING
The climate-change scheme and net-zero carbon policy are based upon a false notion that carbon dioxide and other gases cause global warming. They do not. We don’t have to guess about this. We have empirical and scientific proof.
I owned a Weights and Measures gas-physics test-and-repair facility and conducted tests. We learned gas physics from engineers at factories that manufacture gas-physics instruments. They must understand gas physics, or their instruments won’t work.
Here’s why gas physics shows that carbon dioxide cannot cause global warming – because carbon dioxide is not a greenhouse gas.
THE MOST ANCIENT SYMBOL OF REVERENCE FOR EXISTENCE
Yesterday, I found this religious decoration on the outer wall of an old mosque in the three-thousand year-old Silk Road oasis city of Bukhara. I’ve seen it in many places throughout the world, such as ancient ruins of India and Rome. Yet this is far older – it was carved onto mammoth ivory by Ice Age hunters in Ukraine 12,000 years ago.
From time immemorial has it represented eternity, prosperity, the centeredness of all that is. Why? Look up into the sky on a clear dark night. All people have studied the heavens for eons. You could always know where you were by finding North, for the two front stars of what we call the Big Dipper point to it – always.
The Greeks called it Mega Arktikos, the Great Bear – why we call Far North the Arctic today. The ancients saw the Bear every year rotating around Celestial North – now occupied by Polaris, the North Star – through all four seasons, while all the stars in the sky circled around it every night. What do you see in this depiction of that seasonal rotation?
Yes, a Swastika -- Sanskrit for “the goodness of existence.” The most heinous perversion of symbolic art in world history was to take the symbol for the goodness of existence used by people for a dozen millennia – and still revered by Buddhists, Hindus, Moslems and many others to this day – and twist it into a symbol of horrific evil. It’s an informative lesson of history. (Glimpses of Our Breathtaking World #225 photo ©Jack Wheeler)
IT’S ‘1984’ ALL OVER AGAIN IN BIDEN’S ‘POLICE STATE’
But if it had, it’s doubtful that the FBI would have been much use, since it’s so distracted with an exaggerated domestic terrorism crisis in which conservatives are the bad guys and the Jan. 6 Capitol riot was a terrorist attack worse than 9/11.
This is the “ultra-MAGA-semi-fascist” threat Joe Biden likes to rail against and that he needs for his election campaign to divide the country further, and to justify indicting his main political rival, locking up Donald Trump supporters, and imposing an Orwellian level of mass surveillance, censorship and ideological indoctrination on Americans.
The “Police State” being created by this president, or those pulling his strings, is the title of a chilling new documentary by conservative filmmaker Dinesh D’Souza, which opens next week in New York and theaters across the country (trailer above).
In the words of former Trump speechwriter Darren Beattie, who features in the film: “We’re becoming China plus drag queens. [It’s a] hyper-ideological version of the police state that’s animated by wokeness … the worst of all worlds.”
WHAT ISRAELI VICTORY WOULD LOOK LIKE
The Fate of Hamas
“I’m driving south to the Gaza corridor, the place Hamas invaded on Saturday (10/07),” Yonah Jeremy Bob says in our first phone conversation. “But it’s a straight drive, so let’s talk.”
Mr. Bob is an expert on the Israeli shadow war with Iran, the subject of his new book, “Target Tehran,” and he covers the Israeli intelligence agencies and military for the Jerusalem Post. He’s busy tracking down answers to the questions every Israeli wants answered: How could this have happened? What’s the plan? Who will pay?
Saturday’s shock gave way to rage, “and then rage crystallized into a very steely determination,” Mr. Bob says. “It’s the thing Israel’s enemies never fully understand. They think of Israel as a weak Western state, where people care about their looks and money and all the things that will make them flee rather than fight.” Hamas often scoffs that “the Jews love life.” But that’s why they fight for it.
He sees a two-part story here. “Hamas took its best shot and it won big on the first day,” he says. “But it really doesn’t have anything else. It isn’t going to accomplish anything else close to what it has already done. From here on, it’s going to be Israel demolishing them.”
NASR OL-MOLK
What many consider the world’s most beautiful mosque is in Persia’s most captivating city, Shiraz. Over four millennia older than Islam, over two millennia older than Persia, Shiraz was "Shirrazish," a city of ancient Elam at the birth of civilization in Mesopotamia 5,000 years ago. Even then, Shiraz was famous for wine. A thousand years ago, it was considered the best in the world. Marco Polo praised it. No more. Prior to the Islamic Revolution in 1979, there were over 300 Persian wineries. Now there are none.
Shiraz is still a city of gardens and flowers. At the garden tomb of Persia’s most revered poet Hafez (1315-1390), young couples gather for discrete romance as they have for centuries. The beauty of Nasr ol-Molk – with the sun shining through its stained glass windows covering the floor carpets in color, and the interior a dazzling display of pink tile ornamentation – can be overwhelming. The same for the friendliness of the people – always welcoming with a smile for you.
Especially if you are American. All the people we met love America and despise their rulers. The Land of Persia is still here in today’s Iran, and someday it will be free, America’s ally again. The wine will flow here once more. (Glimpses of Our Breathtaking World #83 photo ©Jack Wheeler)
WEST OF THE DEAD SEA
[This week’s Archive was originally published on July 11, 2008. In response to last Friday’s HFR (HFR 10/13/23), TTPer Michael made this request: “Jack - Too many young people believe Israel was stolen from the Palestinians. You wrote an excellent article on the founding of Israel a few years back I wish you would republish with permission to share. It should have an opportunity to go viral as a counterbalance to the lies which have infected the narrative on the Israeli/Palestinian conflict.” Here it is, Michael. Note that it contains links to five previous TTP articles for background in greater depth. I’m looking forward to your and other TTPer comments in the Forum.]
TTP, July 11, 2008
All photos by Jack Wheeler
You're lazily swimming in the Mediterranean Sea just off a beautiful beach. The beach goes on for miles, lined with resort hotels, and it's crowded with people. Young fit men playing volleyball, beautiful bikini-clad young women sunbathing, families relaxing under umbrellas, children making sand castles, multitudes of folks peacefully enjoying themselves in the sun, the sand, and the gentle sea.
You swear you're at one of Spain's great beaches, like Valencia, Marbella, or Barcelona. But you've noticed that a small light plane has flown along the shoreline several times. Your son asks, "Dad, why does that plane keep flying by?"
"It's an IDF spotter plane," you tell him. "Watching for a boatload full of Arab terrorists who might land to machine gun to death as many Jews on this beach as they can. Stuff like that can happen here anyplace, anytime. That's life in Israel."
Nope, we're not in Valencia. We're in Tel Aviv.
STRANGLER FIG
Christmas Island, Indian Ocean, Australia. This huge banyan tree no longer exists. It’s been slowly strangled to death for up to a century. Seeds of fig vines were deposited by bird droppings in the upper branches of the tree, which sprouted and began to grow downward along the tree trunk, sucking nutrients from the tree along the way. Slowly year after year, they coil and wrap around the entire trunk to the ground, literally strangling the tree out of existence until all that’s left are the huge enveloping fig vines. It’s hollow inside – look carefully above the ground roots and you’ll see a shaft of vertical light.
I’ve seen a good many Strangler Figs in the rain forests of Central Africa and the Amazon – but the ones here on Christmas Island in the Indian Ocean are the most spectacular. (Glimpses of Our Breathtaking World #280 photo ©Jack Wheeler)
FLASHBACK FRIDAY: THE LOST CITY OF KUELAP
10,000 feet high in the Amazon cloud forests of northern Peru is a mysterious lost city built by an unknown people many centuries before the Incas existed. Known as Kuelap by villagers in the lowlands below, the Incas called the people who built it Chachapoyas, “Cloud Warriors.” I led an expedition here in 1994, climbing high up into the Amazon Andes to come upon gigantic stone walls 60 feet high surrounding hundreds of stone structures. Here you see Rebel among them. We’ll be here again in a year or two in another exploration of Peru. (Glimpses of Our Breathtaking World #153, photo ©Jack Wheeler)
QUESTION OF THE WEEK
HALF-FULL REPORT 10/13/23
Welcome to Cocos-Keeling Islands, a bit of Australia lost in the Indian Ocean. As I write this, I’m sitting in that chair you see watching a glorious sunset in solitude – and yes, with a very good oversized vodka mango juice tonic. This is an exceedingly funky place with just 600 friendly people. No crime whatever, relaxed and peaceful.
I’ve wanted to come here for years for its fascinating history (see the Wiki link above). So Rebel gave this experience as a birthday present. As you may imagine, though, an internet connection is very intermittent. So I better get to the HFR as quick as I can. Here we go…
CARAVAGGIO’S MEDUSA
This masterpiece, of Rennaisance painter Caravaggio (1571-1610) was completed in 1597 and hangs in the Uffizi Gallery in Florence where I took this picture. It is a genius portrayal of one of the most legendary Greek myths, the demigod hero Perseus slaying the gorgon monster Medusa. She was thought unconquerable with her head of snakes, for anyone who gazed upon her was turned to stone. Yet Perseus chose to battle her with a shield that was a bronze mirror on the outside. Thus when they fought, she saw herself in the shield’s reflection, turning herself into stone. The painting depicts the moment of horror she realizes what has happened, which Caravaggio painted on a simulated shield.
A visit to the Uffizi is an absolute must should you ever visit Florence. (Glimpses of Our Breathtaking World #279 photo ©Jack Wheeler)
SKYE’S LINKS 10/12/23
Is Elon Musk a Superhero or Supervillain? He could be either depending on the issue. But here’s once case where no doubt he’s the former. The Federalies have declared war on Elon Musk, and Elon has declared war back. This is a war all freedom advocates want Elon to win!
That sums it up doesn’t it? Yet, while there’s plenty more evidence of Federalie perfidy this week, there’s plenty of good uplifting news as well. And we’ll close with something special to celebrate on this day. So come on, jump right in, the water’s fine!
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)
THE ESTABLISHMENT’S ALTERNATE REALITIES
One common denominator that explains why previously successful societies implode is their descent into fantasies. A collective denial prevents even discussion of existential threats and their solutions.
Something like that is happening in the United States. Eight million illegal immigrants have entered the United States by the deliberate erasure of the southern border.
Apparently, the Biden administration sees some unstated advantage in destroying U.S. immigration law and welcoming in would-be new constituents.
Yet, the more the millions arrive, the more Joe Biden and his Homeland Security director Alejandro Mayorkas flat out lie that “the border is secure.”
They both live in a world of make-believe, passed off to the American people as reality.
PURE EVIL PAID FOR BY JOE BIDEN
On Saturday (10/07), Hamas attacked Israel, making it the bloodiest day in the country's history and resulting in more Jews dead since the end of the Holocaust. Meanwhile, the Biden administration's response was less than ideal in many ways.
This is especially with regards to the $6 billion that the United States released to Iran as part of a prisoner exchange, a move that was announced on the anniversary of September 11, no less. Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) in his Monday edition of "The Verdict," was among those calling out the administration for this, but also other, moves.
"This attack this massacre, this horrific assault on Israel, was funded by Iran. Hamas and Hezbollah are Iranian proxies. They work for Iran. They work under the direction of Iran. They are funded by Iran. The Wall Street Journal reported this weekend that these attacks were planned, were signed off on by the Iranian government," Cruz shared.
The role that the Biden administration played does not merely have to do with that $6 billion payment, though.
"The $6 billion is just a fraction of the cash that Joe Biden has flooded into Iran. Because a few weeks before the $6 billion, the Biden administration allowed $10 billion from Iraq to flow into Iran. That brings it up to $16 billion in cash that directly flowed into Iran. But that doesn't cover it all.
THE IRAN GAZA WAR
Israeli civilian taken hostage to Gaza
It is a rampage of unspeakable cruelty, the worst massacre of Jews since the Holocaust. It is also a security catastrophe of unprecedented proportions for Israel’s military and political class. Much time will be spent figuring out the causes and responsibility. For now, some broader observations:
First, call it the Iran-Gaza War. To be sure, Hamas bears responsibility, and any serious Israeli response will involve its total, unconditional defeat. But Hamas is an ally and instrument of Iran. An operation of such scale and complexity is unlike anything Hamas has previously attempted and strongly shows significant Iranian involvement. Hamas has publicly thanked Iran for its support, and Iran’s supreme leader applauded the invasion.
This is the war with Israel that it wants—on Israeli soil, through once-removed marauding militias. Thus: Any serious response must go through Tehran.
If the U.S. and the international community are truly outraged by the scenes of senior citizens gunned down on the street and women and children abducted, they must not only refrain from limiting Israel’s operation in Gaza but resolve to oust the genocidal regime in Tehran.
DID BIDEN WITHHOLD INTEL FROM ISRAEL?
Biden and Ayatollah Khamenei
Hamas terrorists in Gaza launched a massive and highly coordinated attack on Israel with incursions by land, air and sea. From a thousand miles away, Iran was funding and coordinating it. There had to be a lot of cyber chatter preceding the attack.
Yet Israel was apparently caught by complete surprise.
The question being rightly asked is, how could Israel’s intel operations – one of the most sophisticated in the world – have been caught so off-guard?
The answer may be in Washington. The Biden administration has never gotten along with the Israeli government, nor did the Obama administration where Biden was Vice President. Biden and Obama have both seemed determined to let Iran – a terrorist state that has vowed to destroy Israel – get a nuclear bomb, and experts think that at any given moment they could have one in a matter of months.
And as is well known, Biden just gave Iran six billion dollars in exchange for American hostages that Iran had taken.
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)
ISRAEL NEEDS ROWDY YATES
TTP, August 22, 2003
You know I’m not Jewish. And I’m not a supporter of Israel for Millennial Christian reasons (e.g., Jews have to get the Holy Land back before there can be a Second Coming). I support Israel because I support Western Civilization, of which Israel is a part and because of which she is under attack.
And also because I think proto-hominids who slaughter women and babies on purpose have no right to exist.
Rowdy Yates was the character played by Clint Eastwood in the 1960s television series “Rawhide in which he played second-in-command of a Texas cattle drive in the 1870s. It was Rowdy Yates’ job to implement the orders of the Trail Boss, Gill Faber, to “Head ’em up, move ’em out” — keep the cattle moving out of Texas and to the railhead in Kansas, fighting off Indians, rustlers, and assorted bad guys in the process.
The Rowdy Yates Solution for the Survival of Israel has three components:
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)
THE CLOWN SHOW
FLASHBACK FRIDAY – DEWAR’S AT THE NORTH POLE
April, 1979 – on the sea ice at 90 North latitude, the North Pole. I was one of the more unusual Profiles for Dewar’s Scotch. It was the 3rd of my 21 expeditions to the very top of our planet. One thing that stood out for me was the photographer brought false ice cubes of carved polished crystal for the photo you see of a glass of scotch perched on a small pressure ridge. That’s the way the pros do it. One genuine item he brought was a case of Dewar’s. We had one heck of a party on top of the world! (Glimpses of Our Breathtaking World #75 photo of Jack Wheeler)
HALF-FULL REPORT 10/06/23
Ubud, Bali. I’d like to introduce to you Theo Holiday Wheeler, born September 2 at 8.8 pounds, Rebel’s and my first grandchild. We are here at the home of his parents, our son Jackson and his wife Raya.
Theo is the 17th generation of Wheeler sons, starting (as far as our ancestral records show) with Henry Wheeler, born 1503 in Cranfield, Bedfordshire, England. This is a thrillingly happy occasion. And frankly, one of R&R for September was, ah, hectic.
The first three weeks we were operating our exploration of the Heart of Central Asia with a wonderful group of exceptional clients. Rebel and I were supposed to get to Bali immediately after, only to learn that the clinic in Lisbon that treats my prostate cancer insisted on a PET scan to locate a growing tumor.
So it was off from Ashgabat, Turkmenistan to Lisbon – they found the tumor, zapped it with precisely targeted radiation, and by last weekend, we made it here to meet Theo at last. Whew. Now I can look forward to being around for at least his formative years (as I’ll be 80 in a month).
So here we go for the HFR – a high hill to climb after Mike Ryan’s astounding last five, especially his series on the Left’s program of Beautiful Trouble.
SKYE’S LINKS 10/05/23
She’s not real. She’s a “virtual girlfriend,” AI designed to provide every fantasy a man could dream of. Enter “virtual girlfriend” in DuckDuckGo or Google and you’ll discover there are an uncountable number of them. Yet another example of the danger of AI replacing reality with fantasy, with real world consequences: AI girlfriends and the subsequent lack of children who would otherwise grow up and pay the bills:
Washington U. Prof: AI Girlfriends Are Ruining a Generation of Men
Welcome to another stirring edition of Skye’s Links! We have news that’s exhilarating, alarming, and informative. Learn what joke’s on Elon! We have to end on a sad note, however, but it’s important for you to know. Jump right on in!
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)