FLASHBACK FRIDAY – TIGER LEAPING GORGE
Many centuries ago, a tiger was plaguing the Naxi people who live in the mountains where the Yangtse River cascades off the plateau of Tibet. He was eating the goats the Naxi needed to feed themselves. So Naxi hunters chased the tiger into a deep narrow gorge of the Yangtse where they were sure they had him trapped. Suddenly, the tiger sprang onto a large rock in the center of the raging river and from there leapt to the other side and escaped, never to be seen again.
Ever since, where this took place has been known as Tiger Leaping Gorge. Here you see Tiger Leaping Rock. I was first here in July 2002 on our overland expedition across eastern Tibet. Last time 2015. Maybe again? (Glimpses of Our Breathtaking World #141 Photo ©Jack Wheeler)
PUTIN HUILO!
Ukrainians call Putin a huilo. In England, the term is bellend. The townspeople of Rowley Regis in the West Midlands went one step further. Every year they give The Bellend of the Year Award to the biggest jerk, schmuck, putz, or d-head they can think of.
This year they made a Putin effigy as a bellend, and nearby, free eggs to throw at it. You can read about it here. One resident said, “There was one person who has universally been a bellend this year – and that’s Vladimir Putin," adding "You could just throw eggs at the statue, which people did so willingly and quite happily."
HALF-FULL REPORT 12/23/22
Welcome to the Christmas HFR!
Sorry to open with a bummer, but it’s unavoidable. For the whole year of 2022 has been one obscene bummer after another, and this is just the last ludicrous straw.
Note what’s carrying the insane $1.7 trillion 4,000-page Omnifarce – the GOP elephant that’s responsible for it. 21 GOP senators voted for it (3 by not voting). And in doing so, by locking in federal spending through next September, they prevented themselves by having any control over spending when the House take spending over 11 days from now.
That’s suicidally stupid, especially when considering the thousands of goodies for lobbyists and woke causes.
Late today (12/23) the House passed with 9 Rinos voting for it. Speaker-to-be McCarthy denounced the vote as “a monstrosity.” Chip Roy of Texas noted that 226 absentee proxy votes were cast, meaning the House lacked a physical quorum as required by the Constitution.
Can we have a lawsuit demanding SCOTUS declare the vote void?
There’s lots, lots more to come in this Christmas HFR….
PANTELLERIA’S MIRROR OF VENUS
Between Sicily and Tunisia in the Mediterranean lies a secret hideaway of Europe’s rich and famous – the small Italian island of Pantelleria. Peaceful and quiet, the opposite of glitzy places like Ibiza, wealthy elite retreat here in luxurious yet very understated villas to get away from it all. It helps that the shoreline is all volcanic rock cliffs, which dissuades hordes of African “migrants” attempted to claim “asylum” in the EU welfare state by landing here.
The most beautiful spot on Pantelleria is this volcano crater lake known as “The Mirror of Venus” – of such magic color that, the legend goes, the goddess Venus would admire herself in its reflection. Come here for a tranquil escape of your own. (Glimpses of Our Breathtaking World #164 photo ©Jack Wheeler)
SKYE’S LINKS 12/22/22
Automating the Narrative
Bad Ideas, But Faster
_____________________________________________________The Machine That Controls the World
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Over the past decade, a vast capability was built to manipulate and control the global narrative using computer networks between government, social media, and contractors.
Elon Musk exposed the incredible depth and breadth of the government’s effort to weaponize narrative control. The system appears to be under the direction of the intelligence community, especially the FBI.
Narrative control emerged in its modern form during Occupy Wall Street; it demonstrated greatly improved capability in 2016 after the election. It grew again and lit the nation on fire with George Floyd.
By those early days of Covid-19, the system was competent as it replaced reasoned science with political dogma. Millions died due to faulty advice, while real scientists with deep credentials were marginalized and arrested.
We saw the real purpose behind the machine as government insiders chose the president for the nation, President Dunsel. A dunsel is part of a ship or vessel that serves no purpose.
By the time Russia invaded Ukraine, the system had so overgrown itself that it lacked any form of a speed brake; it had driven public policy according to its wishes while creating deep confusion worldwide.
Please join us at Skye’s links as we explore the consequences of global narrative control on health, science, and investments. We are witnessing the unraveling of something as vast as the Manhattan Project, and so far, the results have been a global disaster.
TEN STEPS TO SAVE AMERICA
Most Americans know something has gone terribly wrong—and very abruptly—with the United States. They are certain that our wounds are almost all self-inflicted. The current pathologies are not a result of a natural disaster, an exhaustion of natural resources, plagues, or an existential war.
Crushing national debt and annual deficits, spiraling food and fuel costs amid “normal” seven-percent-plus annual inflation, bread-and-circuses entitlements, a nonexistent border, a resurgence of racial tribalism, pandemic violent criminality, and humiliation abroad—all these pathologies are easily cited as symptoms of a sick patient.
So, what are the therapies and prognoses for America?
In the spirit of constructive rather than blanket criticism, here is a partial, 10-point plan of national recovery.
A 16,000-BALLOT DISCREPANCY IN ARIZONA? ANOTHER CHIP FALLS FOR KARI LAKE
Fresh from a court victory granting her the right to examine a random sample of Arizona's ballots from its skeezy midterm election, Kari Lake has managed to notch another advance in her quest to halt the obviously fraudulent election of her Democrat rival, Katie Hobbs.
According to Just The News, citing the results of a public records request from America First Legal Foundation:
“Recently disclosed internal communications between top election officials in Arizona's Maricopa County in the immediate aftermath of Election Day reveal that they struggled to reconcile a discrepancy of almost 16,000 in outstanding ballot totals…
‘Unable to currently reconcile SOS listing with our estimates from yesterday,’ state elections recorder Stephen Richer wrote, showing that Maricopa County estimated having 392,000 ballots left to be counted, while the secretary of state's website said there were 407,664 ballots left. ‘So there's a 15,000 difference somewhere’.”
Let us first note just where the extra 15,664 supposed votes came from: the Arizona secretary of state, who just happens to be Katie Hobbs, who claims she defeated Kari Lake by 17,116 votes (1,287,890 to 1,270,774).THE GREEK GODS OF SICILY
The Ancient Greeks began settling in the Mediterranean’s largest island around 750 BC. They called it Sikelia, after the Sikani and Sicel tribes that lived there. They flourished, building numerous cities, all with temples to their Olympian gods. The city of Akragas – now called Agrigento on the south coast – grew to a population of 200,000 by the 500s. It was here that the Greeks built the most outstanding examples of monumental Greek architecture that still exist today.
Along a ridge outside the city, they erected temples to Zeus, Hera, Heracles (Hercules) and many others. The one you see here the Romans called the Temple of Concordia (harmony), for by the time they showed up in the 200s, the Greek name was lost. In the foreground lies a remnant of a bronze statue to one of the Greek gods – perhaps Apollo. The glory that was Greece has been gone with winds of millennia. It can be a very emotional experience to be here.(Glimpses of Our Breathtaking World #248 photo ©Jack Wheeler)
WHY LEFTISTS AREN’T CAPABLE OF SURVIVING ECONOMIC COLLAPSE
In two years or less, our system, which is already dealing with a number of threats including high prices and supply chain instability, will not remain functional in the manner most people are accustomed. If we accept this inevitability, we must then ask a logical question:
Who is going to rebuild? Whoever inherits the mantle will either bring America back to freedom and prosperity, or plunge our society into perpetual tyranny. It all depends on who survives the crisis.
One thing that gives me some hope is the fact that leftists as a sub-group of our population are completely incapable of surviving a major economic crisis event.
This is not to say that I wish them all to die; I’m only pointing out the reality that most of them won’t make it because they are ill equipped to handle a calamity. Here are the reasons why a post-collapse world would probably be devoid of common leftists:
PUTIN ON THE WANE
Putin’s annual marathon end-of-the-year press conference has been canceled, as has the traditional “direct line” with carefully trained audiences, and his constitutionally prescribed annual address to the Federal Assembly has been postponed indefinitely (RTVi.com, December 15).
Speculation discussed by many watchers-in-exile is that Putin does not want to hear even slightly uncomfortable questions and cannot find a positive or reassuring theme for his typically pompous address (Svoboda, December 15).
This is primarily due to unfolding failure of his invasion of Ukraine, exemplified by such ridicule as:
