SKYE’S LINKS 07/07/22
I think that West Virginia v EPA is the most consequential SCOTUS decision in the past century. No exaggeration! This 6-3 decision doesn't just affect coal burning power plants - it will eventually affect auto mileage mandates and a vast array of appliance, furnace, hot water heater, and so many more administrative state mandates. Breitbart has no conception of what this means in the long run:
https://www.breitbart.com/news/us-supreme-court-limits-government-powers-to-curb-greenhouse-gases/
While here is the full text of WV v EPA, the Gorsuch concurrence is simply superb.
Justice Gorsuch Concurrence to SCOTUS West Virginia v EPA Majority Decision
Supreme Court Follows Concealed Carry Decision With Pro-2A Rulings In 4 States
GETTING PUTIN THE CHICAGO WAY
Or, to put it in the simpler words of Jim Malone, Eliot Ness’s counselor in The Untouchables, “You wanna know how to get Capone? They pull a knife, you pull a gun. He sends one of yours to the hospital, you send one of his to the morgue. That’s the Chicago way!”
Al Capone is an apt analogy for what the West confronts in Vladimir Putin: a particularly noxious mix of Mafia mentality, hypernationalist ideology, and totalitarian technique. Elegance is not the Putin/Russian way, and it cannot be our way.
This is the light in which one should measure the accomplishments of NATO’s Madrid Summit last week (6/28-30).
SEEKING TO CRACK WESTERN UNITY, PUTIN SUCCEEDS IN SINKING THE RUSSIAN ECONOMY
On the Donbas battlefields, Russian troops still strive to advance, but in the global arena of confrontation with the collective West, Russia keeps losing ground.
A sequence of heavy blows breached Russian defensive geopolitical positions last week, and Moscow’s attempts at counterstrikes only aggravated the sustained damage.
All attempts of Putin to exacerbate the economic difficulties that are supposed to erode Western unity are now inevitably backfiring for Russia, cutting down its petro-revenues and further squeezing crucially needed imports.
TEENAGERS OF BUKHARA
Bukhara is the oldest city on the fabled Silk Road. You’ve seen Glimpses of The Well of Job, where legend says Job of the Old Testament struck the ground with his staff, creating a well bubbling with fresh pure water that still flows today.
And of The Ark of Bukhara, the palace-fortress of Bukhara rulers since 500 BC. The ancient Silk Road oasis has a history of 5,000 years. I was first here in 1963, a 19 year-old teenager with a summer job of filming fabulously exotic places in Central Asia unknown to the West for a Hollywood stock film company.
I was not much older than these teenage ladies back then. I took this picture of them when I was last in Bukhara in 2019. It was so extraordinarily lucky of me to experience such magical places as Bukhara when young. It’s enabled me to stay young at heart so many decades later.
If you remain young at heart, please consider joining me on my next exploration of Central Asia this September. And perhaps you have a teenage child or grandchild with whom you could experience its wonders together. It will be a life-long treasured memory for you both. Carpe diem: The Heart of Central Asia – Sept 18-Oct 4, 2022. (Glimpses of Our Breathtaking World #214 photo ©Jack Wheeler)
FINALLY! A WHINY WOKE EMPLOYEE GOT FIRED FOR WHINY WOKENESS
Michael Lopez worked for a huge subdivision of an even bigger multinational entertainment corporation, the place that most of us imagine as a hotbed of woke virtue-signaling. Certainly, Lopez thought he was taking a snowflake's stand about the Dobbs decision, only to find his employer slapping him down like a mosquito on the wall.
It's just one person, but it's another small sign that the corporate world's love affair with its bullying woke employees is finally ending.
For when his exquisite woke sensitivities made it impossible for him to work after the Dobbs decision, his employer was not at all sympathetic but, instead, fired him. How glorious.
SCOTUS TARGETS THE REAL ENEMY
Justice Gorsuch
The flurry of rulings from the Supreme Court has everyone’s head spinning. The most significant among them, even if it doesn’t capture all the headlines, is West Virginia v EPA. The majority opinion is impressive, but the part I found truly wonderful is the concurring opinion by Justice Neil Gorsuch.
This is where we see things headed, toward a major and much-welcome curbing of the power of the administrative state.
Just to review what this thing is, it’s an unelected bureaucracy that rules the country without oversight from voters or legislatures. It writes its own laws, polices its own laws, and has its own courts to punish you if you disobey its own laws. Gorsuch thinks the whole thing is unconstitutional and he’s right.
THE WORLD’S MOST UNUSUAL VINEYARD
The grape vines of Pico Island, one of nine islands of the Azores in the Atlantic, are enclosed within walls of black basalt rocks called currais (corrals). For over 500 years, the Portuguese villagers have been constructing thousands of miles of these currais wall enclosures to protect the vines from wind and sea spray.
The vineyards of Pico are so extraordinary that they are a UNESCO World Heritage Site. And the wine is uniquely good! You can order a bottle here. Best, though, is to experience Pico and its viticulture yourself. That’s what we did last week on our Atlantic Paradises adventure with your fellow TTPers. We had a wonderful time – and you will too.
(Glimpses of Our Breathtaking World #213 photo ©Jack Wheeler)
THE FOURTH OF JULY 2022
I took this photo of Mount Rushmore looking straight on from a helicopter – so it may be from an angle you have not seen before. This Fourth of July of 2022, it may be worthwhile to think of these four heroic Americans from a different perspective, to reflect on the almost unimaginable — for us today – challenges they faced and triumphed over to create and sustain our America.
Two years ago, the July Fourth of 2020, our Real POTUS gave a magnificent speech at Mount Rushmore, commemorating America’s founding and warning us of the grave dangers our nation faced from its enemies within its gates.
Frankly, the comparison with the elation we felt back then and what we are suffering now is painful. However, it is less painful today than it was a few days ago, i.e., before June 24. Since then, we’ve seen our nation’s highest court deliver a series of 6-3 decisions thrillingly pro-Constitution.
It’s the Left’s karma: “Live by the sword, die by the sword” is now for them, “Live by unconstitutional Court rulings, die by constitutional Court rulings.”
The July 4th of two years ago was one of elation. The July 4th of one year ago was one of heartbreak. The July 4th of today is one of justifiable hope.
KEEPING YOUR SANITY WITH CURIOSITY
An essential ingredient for success at anything – beyond the most mundane of rote tasks – is curiosity.
Curiosity is about exploration and discovery; it creates energy, possibilities, and movement. It also allows us to create relationships, and to grow more deeply and delightfully connected with one another. It allows us to play – and excellence in work can be like play for adults.
Let’s talk about how to expand and grow your curiosity – and how to be aware of the opposite of curiosity. What do you think that might be?
FLASHBACK FRIDAY — “THIS IS YOUR LIFE”
June 15, 1961. It was quite a shock to me when I was the surprise guest on Ralph Edwards’ famous television show. My “Life” at age 17? How could that be? The show’s producers were intrigued by a recent Life Magazine story of my swimming the Hellespont as did Leander in Greek mythology (December 12, 1960 issue) that also had photos of me on top of the Matterhorn and with a Jivaro headhunter.
Without my knowing, they flew my guide for the Hellespont swim, Huseyin Uluarslan, from Turkey to LA, the same for my guide on the Matterhorn, Alfons Franzen, from Switzerland, to be on the show. Most amazing of all, they got the Chief Prefect of Police for Ecuador, Jaime Duran, to pick up Tangamashi (the Jivaro who adopted me) and his brother Naita by helicopter from their Amazon encampment, then fly them from Quito to LA.
I was dumbfounded. So there we are in the photo, left to right: Ralph Edwards, Jaime Duran, Tangamashi, Naita, a very young yours truly, and Ralph Ferguson, son of medical researcher Dr. Wilburn Ferguson who translated for Tangamashi. Quite a moment for a 17 year-old boy – and no doubt for Tangamashi! (Glimpses of Our Breathtaking World #10)