FLASHBACK FRIDAY: A REAL RUSSIAN CHURCH
This is the wooden Russian Orthodox Church in Karakol, Kyrgyzstan. I was here years ago and now again today. It was built in the 1890s when Karakol was a garrison town in the furthermost reaches of the Russian Imperial Empire with China just on the other side of Tien Shan Mountains. In the atheist/communist Soviet Union it was used variously as a school, gymnasium, and warehouse, anything but a church.
After Kyrgyzstan gained its independence with the collapse of the Soviet Union, it was lovingly restored by the people of Karakol. All the various ethnicities comprising Karakol are welcome here – Christian Russians and Christian Kyrgyz, Uighur Moslem refugees escaping Chicom China, ethnic Han Chinese Moslems called Dungans escaping for the same reason, Buddhist and pagan Kazakhs. The interior is lavishly decorated with Christian art and paintings of Christian saints – no Islamic or Buddhist or any other religious art, just Christian. Yet all are welcome to pray in this haven of refuge and peace in their own way.
This is a Russian Church very distinct from those controlled by Moscow run by the Kremlin as a propaganda arm of the KGB/FSB. It is a real Russian Christian Church instead. Come here to feel to the spiritual serenity for yourself. (Glimpses of Our Breathtaking World #221 photo ©Jack Wheeler)
MASTERS
HALF-FULL REPORT 04/19/24
On Wednesday (4/17), the London Economist ran: America’s Trust In Its Institutions Has Collapsed. This is extremely good news. Now add this metric Gallup has to its April 17 report:
So now you can see why all this is such good news: the blame for the current and sudden collapse of confidence falls squarely on the Dems and the electorate knows it.
Like an alcoholic who must fall to rock bottom before he realizes he has to quit, so now have many Latinos, Blacks, Independents, and non-woke Dems realize they can’t vote Dem this November. The best news of all is that this results in such a wide voter disadvantage for the Dems it cannot be overcome by cheating. You know the adage: If the vote isn’t close, the enemy can’t cheat enough to win.
Except for this……
LOOKING INTO A BABY LEOPARD’S EYES
There are not many places in Africa where you can do this, where a leopard mother has no fear of your getting this close to her cub. The best place in all Africa is a region of Zambia called South Luangwa, where iconic African wildlife is in vast profusion yet uninhabited by people. And where you can stay in a safari lodge so luxurious it’s hard to believe you’re way out deep in the African bush.
I’ve been traveling to Africa for 50 years now – since 1971 – and have been to every country on the continent, so I know how unique a South Luangwa safari is. If you have a dream of experiencing an African safari once in your life, you might consider here. I can hardly wait to come here again. Care to join me, to look into a baby leopard’s eyes yourself? (Glimpses of Our Breathtaking World #117 Photo ©Jack Wheeler)
SKYE’S LINKS 04/18/24
This week has much more good news than last week. Israel magnificently held off Iran’s first direct attack, SCOTUS comes through for both the Fifth Amendment and for Property Rights. Another state ends sales taxes on precious metals, and NASA has found aliens…or has it?
Though inflation is still ugly, at least Powell is doing the right thing. Even some lefties are coming to realize how bad Leftist policies are. And while jocks aren’t normally known for their economic prowess, a winning UFC fighter certainly knows his stuff and isn’t afraid to f’ing say it! [profanity alert]
Very impressive! Great accomplishment!
IDF: 'Significant Strategic Achievement' as Israel Stopped 99% of Iran's Missiles, Drones
THE INSPIRATION OF AMERICA
Next to the entrance of The Red House, the Parliament of Trinidad and Tobago in the capital of Port of Spain, there is this marble inscription. It is clear that it is inspired by our 1776 Declaration of Independence and America’s founding principles. Trinidad’s population is 99% either Indian (from India), African, or a mix of the two. 64% are Christian, 21% Hindu, 6% Moslem, others undeclared – and all have these principles as a common bond between them.
Here in the Caribbean’s Trinidad is such a clear example of how America’s founding moral principles are such an inspiration to all humanity, of all cultures, creeds, and ethnicities. They are universal, America’s heritage as a gift to the world. This is the heritage of all Americans – something we need to hold on to and hold dear as we persevere during this current period of our country’s cultural, moral, and political lunacy. (Glimpses of Our Breathtaking World #152, photo ©Jack Wheeler)
DISMANTLING THE “TRANSGENDER” NARRATIVE
Common sense and the realization that trans activism is the tyranny of the few are starting to make public opinion swing back to sanity.
Science continues to prove common sense on the gender front. A new study has reaffirmed what has already been posited: that most children who struggle with gender confusion grow out of it by adulthood.
This study comes from the Netherlands. Over the span of 15 years, researchers followed 2,700 children. Starting at age 11, they asked the participants every three years whether or not they felt confused about their gender. The results are what one might expect.
Discomfort in their own bodies began to manifest at around age 11 (the onset of puberty). Girls were more prone to this feeling of gender discontent than boys. But by age 25, a significant majority of these children — 96%, in fact — no longer felt discomfort with their biological sex.
CCP GETTING AWAY WITH MURDER IN PLAIN SIGHT
WASHINGTON—The Chinese Communist Party is “getting away with murder” as it expands its tentacles in international bodies like the United Nations to shun criticism, according to Rep. Chris Smith (R-N.J.).
“They are getting away with, literally, murder in plain sight, and too many countries are acquiescing or running, sadly, away from the issues that China is notoriously known for,” he told The Epoch Times, citing the regime’s repression of religious freedom and pervasive use of torture.
“Everywhere you look, it is bad and getting worse, and they are doing a full court press at the United Nations to cover it up.”
Mr. Smith, who chairs the U.S. Congressional-Executive Commission on China, on April 10 presided over a hearing examining Beijing’s decades-long effort to subvert the United Nations system.
The United States remains the largest funder to the United Nations, contributing as much as $18 billion in 2022—the latest year with full data available.
Despite its outsized payments, the United States’ generosity hasn’t translated to commensurate influence at the United Nations when compared to China.
Chinese officials headed four of 15 U.N. specialized agencies, with deputies in nine others as of 2020. Leadership roles at the U.N. system prove a handy tool for Beijing when its interests are on the line.
AFRICA’S CLUB OBAMA
The ramshackle Club Obama is a shed on stilts above a garbage dump of a beach in Conakry, the capital of the West African country of Guinea. It doesn’t get much business anymore because Obama is no longer popular here. Guineans thought he would flood them with US taxpayer dollars but he didn’t. “Obama did nothing for us,” they’ll tell you.
The sad truth is that Guineans have done nothing for themselves. Independence from France came in 1958, and the place has been run by one party dictatorships, military juntas, and ridiculously corrupt leaders ever since. It’s the size of Oregon, with 12 million people who have a per capita GDP of $800 a year. Yet is has up to half the world’s reserves of bauxite (source of aluminum) and is #3 in world production, has diamonds, gold, and many other resources – which all goes into the bottomless pockets of whoever the ruling elite are at the moment.
It’s the tragedy of so much of Africa writ large. In 1974, after Cassius Clay had his “Rumble in the Jungle” in Zaire with George Foreman, he was asked by a reporter upon his return to America, “Champ, what did you think of Africa?” With wit and wisdom he replied, “Thank God my Granddaddy got on that boat!” (Glimpses of Our Breathtaking World #84 Photo ©Jack Wheeler)
IRAN ATTACKS ISRAEL (AGAIN)
“Don’t.” That was Joe Biden’s one-word tough-guy warning on more than one occasion regarding whether Iran would strike Israel. It blew up in his face over the weekend as Iran launched hundreds of drones and ballistic missiles at civilian targets in Israel — the first time Iran struck Israel from its own soil, largely skipping using proxies like Hamas. Fortunately, Israel was ready and, along with U.S., British, and Jordanian assistance, foiled nearly all of the incoming fire.
“Well, he said ‘Don’t’ multiple times,” said former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, “and ‘Don’t’ isn’t a national security policy. It’s not even a deterrent.”
It’s practically an invitation from this president. In fact, the Biden administration reportedly conveyed to Iran through Turkey that its action against Israel must be “within certain limits.”