WHAT TO READ 2023
Fearnside & Holther’s Fallacy: The Counterfeit of Argument is the book that launched my interest in philosophy. I got a copy shortly after it was first published in 1959 when I was still in High School. It’s pretty beat up by now but remains in a pride-of-place in my library.
It’s still being published – last edition in 2020 – and as you can see from the Amazon reviews, continues to get high praise. I want to start this iteration of What to Read by suggesting you get a copy for any young person you know whom you value – son, grandson/daughter, cousin, child of a friend. At least by the time they’re 12 or even late grade school.
It’s critically important for anyone to learn how to reason and think properly, the earlier they learn to do so the better. More so today, obviously, with our culture and educational system awash in woketard fallaciousness. Order today and Amazon will get it to whomever you want in time for Christmas – could be the most valuable Christmas present you’ve ever given.
Before we continue, I just went over the last issue, What to Read 2021, and there are a lot of books still very relevant and worth your while. Take a look! Okay, then, let’s proceed.
THE SOURCE OF DONALD TRUMP’S RESILIENCE
Why is Donald Trump so resilient? Here’s a clue – its source goes back centuries.
As 2023 draws to a close, the ex-president is on track to win the Republican nomination and beat Joe Biden come November.
If the election were today, Trump would get his second term.
Yet he’s charged with crimes that run a gamut from election interference to mishandling classified information. He’s under gag orders and lost a $5 million civil suit this year.
Why don’t voters care — or if they do, why are they rewarding Trump, not punishing him?
A hint can be found in the work of a great historian who died last week at age 99, J.G.A. Pocock.
THE MARBLE MOSAIC FLOOR OF SIENA CATHEDRAL
Italy’s Siena Cathedral, built from 1215 to 1263 is one of the great masterpieces of medieval architecture. It contains works of art by Renaissance greats from Donatello, Bernini, and Michelangelo. Most stunning of all, however, is the cathedral floor, entirely covered with marble mosaics depicting scenes from the Old Testament, Greek and Roman myths and history. No one photo does it justice, it’s so immense. Here you see Crates of Thebes (265-285 BC) atop the Mount of Wisdom casting riches into the sea for a life of tranquil simplicity.
The floor is covered over for most of the year and is only unveiled during (plus a few days before and after) September. So plan to be there then to witness a truly magnificent artistic creation of Western Civilization. (Glimpses of Our Breathtaking World #282 photo ©Jack Wheeler)
AUTO-RACIST AMERICA
[This Monday’s Archive was originally published on December 4, 2014. Above, we’re running the same photo as that of the Get Whitey! Article last week (12/13). That’s because it so perfectly exemplifies the cause of the Get Whitey! problem: the people holding the two signs in front are white themselves! They personify America’s greatest and most damaging racial problem: whites being racist towards themselves, what I call auto-racism. And it’s worse now than it was 9 years ago. Here’s the analysis and the cure.]
TTP, December 4, 2014
The “narrative” or meme of Racist America is all that counts for the white media-academia establishment. Everything must be twisted into it or ignored.
What is clear is that the white media-academia establishment is determined to aggravate racial tension and hatred of blacks against whites in America – they want violence and riots and protests against whites.
Why? It’s too facile to simply answer, “white guilt.” For that begs the question, “What is the cause of white guilt?” Why should whites feel guilty? Guilty for what?
FLASHBACK FRIDAY – TRANS-SAHARA EXPEDITION
January 2003. Our campsite at dawn in the center of the Sahara called the Téneré in Niger. We found hand stone axes here 8,000 years old when the Sahara was green. Crossing the world’s greatest desert is a true expedition, one of the most astounding adventures to be had on earth, geographically, culturally, and historically. Unfortunately, it is too dangerous with lawless and ideological banditry today. I can hardly wait to do it once more when it is safe again. (Glimpses of Our Breathtaking World #70 photo ©Jack Wheeler)
EMBARRASSING
HALF-FULL REPORT 12/15/23
Looks like, as Skye noted yesterday, even the ACLU is figuring this out: “Beyond Shocking”: ACLU Will Represent NRA In Free Speech Supreme Court Case.
More likely, though, is the ACLU libs are worried that DemWoke attacks on the 1st A will be used against them if the GOP gains control of both ends of Pennsylvania Avenue in 2024 – so they are being preemptive. Smart, not woketard. They may be “woke” and go back to attacking guns as Cain’s rock, but they’re not “tard”.
Moving right along… Now let’s talk about an empty room. An empty courtroom. That’s what famed constitutional lawyer Jonathan Turley surmises Special Counsel Jack Smith may be facing in his kangaroo prosecution of Donald Trump: What If Jack Smith Held A Trial And No One Came?
We’re going to have a great time in this HFR. Dive right in !
CERRO CAMPANARIO
This is the view of the lakes of Bariloche in Argentine Patagonia. It was taken in January of this year from a viewpoint called Cerro Campanario. This really is one of the most beautiful places on Earth. I was here exploring Patagonia with your fellow TTPers. Hope to visit this place again sometime soon! (Glimpses of Our Breathtaking World #251 photo ©Jack Wheeler)
SKYE’S LINKS 12/14/23
All the shock and headlines over presidents of three of our most prestigious universities – Harvard, UPenn, and MIT – turning out to be woke fascisti comes as no surprise to famed conservative historian, Niall Ferguson. He explains how academics helped to destroy Western Civilization nearly a century ago, and the lessons that we can learn from this as a very similar racist academic treason unfolds again today.
History doesn't repeat itself, but it sure does rhyme with a period of about 90 years. A must-read of the week!
Niall Ferguson: The Treason of the Intellectuals
And if you’re an investor: from Rabobank; why the tolerance of rabid antisemitism on campus is a challenge to future investment strategies:
Western Academia Is Just As Morally And Intellectually Corrupt As Congress, If Not Worse
Here we go – another mind-grabbing edition of Skye’s Links. Jump on in!
NEGOTIABLE AFFECTION IN SKAGWAY
When gold was discovered in the Klondike of Canada’s Yukon in 1896, the fastest way to get there was a tiny hamlet at the end of a long inlet of Alaska’s Inland Passage coast called Skagway. By 1898, Skagway was a lawless Wild West boom town flooded with prospectors who needed entertainment and release from the arduous travails of gold searching – and ladies who would provide it for a price.
The Brass Pic (as in a miner’s pic & shovel) was one of many Houses of Negotiable Affection in Skagway that flourished until the gold panned out in 1900. It’s preserved as a museum today in fond memory of those days of commercially consensual delight. Skagway is a terrific place to experience, drawing over a million visitors a year. Come here to see what draws them. (Glimpses of Our Breathtaking World #198 photo ©Jack Wheeler)