JASON ALDEAN’S PRIMAL SCREAM
On July 13, 2023, a country western artist little known outside his genre stepped into the national spotlight when he released a video of a song that channeled the feelings of more than 100 million Americans. Maybe a lot more.
In less than a week it was ranked #1 on iTunes and as of July 25 it is the #1 trending music video on YouTube. But you won’t see it on Country Music Television, because it’s been banned.
By now the story line is well established. Jason Aldean, 46 years old, who already had 24 number 1 hits on the US country charts, has released a music video where against a backdrop of protests and rioting, he sings “don’t try that in a small town, see how far you make it down the road…”
Reaction to Aldean’s alleged endorsement of vigilantism and allegedly coded racist undertones has been swift and unrelenting. Which is why what Aldean’s song represents, and the reason for its popularity, is much bigger than the song itself, or the artist who sings it.
KUANG SI
In the jungles of Laos less than 20 miles from the Laotian Royal Capital of Luang Prabang, you will find the entrancing waterfalls of Kuang Si. Multi-layered cascades of emerald green pure water pour into a series of pools ideal for swimming. The warm sun filters through the dark green jungle canopy. The laughter of Laotian children combined with that of the rushing waters adds to a unique serenity. Here is a place that will wash away all your woes. (Glimpses of Our Breathtaking World #185 photo ©Jack Wheeler)
FIVE WAYS AYN RAND PREDICTED AMERICA’S CURRENT POLITICAL CRISES DECADES AGO
Ayn Rand, 1957
Many foundational pillars of society in the United States appear to be crumbling right now before our eyes, weakened by an erosive array of social, economic and political forces.
The deterioration of traditional cultural norms and the social upheaval that’s followed — from the living room to classroom the boardroom — is no surprise to Ayn Rand scholars.
The celebrated Russian-born American author and philosopher predicted with haunting accuracy many of the nation’s current crises.
Among her observations: Government would encroach on parental rights, stifle academic and scientific research, and fuel a dangerous mentality of victimhood.
Even her biggest fans might be surprised at her prescient insight into the state of America today.
THE ACHILLES HEEL OF MAIL-IN BALLOT FRAUD
The difference between the Republican ballot operation and that of the Democrats is that the Democrats manufacture ballots, whereas Republicans only collect them.
Democrats learned early that running out of ballots to cast on election day is like running out of beer on July 4. They took that lesson and improvised in ingenious ways.
Ballot-manufacturing appears pretty easy at first but has lots of little complexities. Mastering those complexities gives our leftist pals unlimited numbers of ballots to handle any surging MAGA candidate.
Manufacturing ballots requires two ingredients: an address and a person. Here’s the key: Addresses cannot be manufactured. Voters can.
Democrats can create all the voters they want from homeless shelter lists, but they face a constraint: every voter must tie to an address. It is this constraint — fixed addresses — that is the Achilles heel for mail-in voter fraud.
THE MOST BEAUTIFULLY PEACEFUL PLACE IN IRELAND
St. Finnbarr’s Oratory, Gougane Barra, County Cork. St. Finnbarr (550-623) is the patron saint of the city of Cork, now Ireland’s second largest city, on the south coast of the Emerald Isle. He established this tiny church in the late 500s, and has been built and rebuilt on a small island on Lake Gougane, with the one you see finished some 150 years ago.
Gougane Barra is a remote valley distant from Cork, almost uninhabited, of legendary beauty. The oratory or chapel has been a holy place of summer pilgrimage for Christians for fifteen centuries, revered for its complete serenity and peacefulness. Rarely visited outside of summer due to its remoteness, you may have this holy place all to yourself. Here is where you come to rest and reinvigorate your soul. (Glimpses of Our Breathtaking World #218 photo ©Jack Wheeler)
MY MARCH MADNESS
March 30, 1964 issue
[This Monday’s Archive was originally published on March 29, 2006. It is a personal story meant to be fun and entertaining, but like all good stories, has an important moral to the story at the end. I hope you enjoy it and take the moral to heart.]
TTP, March 29, 2006
I don’t know when the term "March Madness" regarding the NCAA Men’s Basketball Championship came into usage, but it was well after my UCLA college days in the 1960s. This year’s madness is focused on the sympathetic favorite, George Mason, and the nostalgic favorite, UCLA. It certainly has caused me to recall a March Madness of my very own.
It was 10am Thursday, March 19, 1964. The Bruins were in the Final Four. UCLA was to play Kansas State in the semi-finals at Kansas City, Missouri tomorrow, Friday, March 20.
And I was bummed. My friend John Peterson and I groused about how what a stupid shame it was that we weren’t going to see UCLA make history. "Do you think we could do it?" I asked John. "With our thumbs? Hitchhike to Kansas City? Why not?" came his reply. John got his girlfriend to drop him off at the Sigma Nu house, and with $50 between us in our pockets, we were off.
By 8pm we were stranded in the California desert on Route 66 between Barstow and Needles.
THE VOODOO MARKET OF TOGO
The Akodessawa Fetish Market in Lomé, Togo has to be seen to be believed. Here on display is a vast array of animal parts -- heads, skulls, bones, horns, skins et al – for sale to the adherents of Togo’s official religion of Voodoo. They are used to communicate with and pray to the huge variety of spirits and deities they believe in.
What you see here is a very small fraction of the market – there are thousands of animal parts here from entire elephant skulls to small mummified rodents. Behind the displays are stalls where voodoo priests cater to devotees for healing potions or being an interlocutor to the spirits. This is not sticking pins in dolls of enemies. The people of Togo and neighboring Benin believe deeply in their religion. Togo in West Africa is the size of New Jersey and has over 130 fetish markets in the country, with the largest here. This is an experience you never forget.
(Glimpses of Our Breathtaking World #273 photo ©Jack Wheeler)
WOKELAND IS NOT OUR KIND OF COUNTRY
FLASHBACK FRIDAY – AT THE NORTH POLE WITH MY 10 YEAR-OLD SON
April, 2003. On my 21st expedition to 90 North, the geographic North Pole, I took my son Jackson. He was nine, but handled it like a trooper. And no wonder – it was his third time! The first was when he was just six, following his brother Brandon whom I had taken to the Pole back in 1990.
We landed our ski-equipped Twin Otter on the sea ice – and as it’s featureless with the ice slowly moving on the Arctic Ocean surface, nothing stays there for long. So if you want a physical candy-stripe North Pole, you have to bring your own! It is so indescribable to actually be on the very top of our planet that it has to be experienced to be understood. (Glimpses of Our Breathtaking World #95 photo ©Jack Wheeler)
HALF-FULL REPORT 07/21/23
Schadenfreudelicious, folks. Read and enjoy the NY Post’s cover story: House Oversight Chairman Comer: ‘Ultimate White Privilege Guy’ Hunter Biden Could Be Hit With 10 Criminal Referrals.
Yesterday (7/20), Senator Chuck Grassley released an official declassified FBI Reporting Document (FD-1023) dated June 30, 2020, describing conversations a highly-paid and trusted FBI informant had with Burisma owner Mykola Zlochevsky who said he was “coerced” into bribing both Hunter and Joe $5 million each to get Ukrainian prosecutor fired for investigating Burisma corruption: Biden $10 Million Bribe FBI File Released.
Check the front pages of the New York Times and WaPo, or the CNN home page today (7/21) and there is a complete absence of this story. Nary a whisper either on Comer saying on Breitbart Monday (7/17): James Comer: Bidens Owned over 20 Shell Companies to Hide Payments, Launder Money; nor on Oversight member Andy Biggs on Fox Tuesday (7/18): GOP Rep. Estimates Up To $100M Flowed Through Biden Family Accounts: Views The Biden Family As A 'Massive' Crime Syndicate’.
Yet however much the Dems and their media shills close their eyes in denial, they’ll end up being dragged kicking and screaming and victimizing into recognizing that Joe Has To Go.
Once this happens, the entire energy of the ’24 race shifts – for the Dems, and especially the GOP. Read on find out how – betcha you’ll be surprised! Also… find out what reminds me of the bumper sticker I had on my car when I was a UCLA undergrad in the mid-60s: ComUNism!