THE MANCHIN CHILD SAFETY CAP
WHY IS THE LEFT WORRIED SUDDENLY ABOUT THE END OF DEMOCRACY?
New Dem Party Slogans
What is behind recent pessimistic appraisals of democracy’s future, from Hillary Clinton, Adam Schiff, Brian Williams and other elite intellectuals, media personalities, and politicians on the Left?
Some are warning about its possible erosion in 2024. Others predict the democracy downturn as early 2022, with scary scenarios of “autocracy” and Trump “coups.”
To answer that question, understand first what is not behind these shrill forecasts. After seeing all the reasons what is not, you see why:
The Left is fearful and angry not because democracy does not work, but because it does -- despite their own media and political efforts to warp it.
THE SLOW MELTDOWN OF THE CHINESE ECONOMY
The dictator is unhappy
China is experiencing a slow-motion economic crisis that could undermine stability in the current regime and have serious negative consequences for the global economy. Despite the many warning signs, Western analysts and policy makers are optimistic that Xi Jinping is up to the task of managing the crisis.
Such optimism is misplaced.
The U.S. and its allies have many tools to influence China’s economy and need to weigh the consequences of an acute crisis against the threat its current trajectory poses to the U.S. Policy makers should be thinking of how best to deploy these tools, instead of passively assuming the rapid growth and stability of the Chinese economy will continue.
THE JADE ROAD
The oldest part of the Silk Road was originally called the Jade Road along the string of oases watered by runoff from the Kunlun mountains of northern Tibet on the southern edge of the Takla Makan desert in Chinese Turkestan. This is where the finest jade was to be found, washed down from Tibet. This is the route that Marco Polo took with his father and uncle in 1272 to reach the court of the Mongol Emperor Kublai Khan.
This is what the Jade Road looks like today, near the fabled oasis of Khotan. Save for the road being asphalted and the farmer’s cart being towed by a small tractor instead of a donkey, Polo would recognize it. (Glimpses of Our Breathtaking World #179 photo ©Jack Wheeler)
A SULTAN’S ARABIA
Nakhal Castle, Oman. If you want to see an ultra-rich Arab sheikdom with exotically designed skyscrapers, you go to Qatar or Dubai. But if you want a more genuine Arabia of Sultan’s palaces, of forts and castles perched on rocky crags, of traditional villages tucked away in mountain fastnesses, of rock pools and grottoes gushing with spring water hidden in secret valleys, a place out of Arabian Nights rather than one of garish ostentatiousness – then you come here to the Sultanate of Oman.
Omanis are a polyglot people from all over Arabia, Persia, and India who’ve lived here for millennia, creating a cosmopolitan trading society that adheres to its traditional culture. There are fabulous hotels with great bars, concerts by the Omani Philharmonic Orchestra, and once outside the capital of Muscat, an Arabian wonderland so exotic it seems out of a movie. We’ll be here in the Spring of ’22. (Glimpses of Our Breathtaking World #119 Photo ©Jack Wheeler)
IS FAUCI A MASS MURDERER?
Does responsibility for the deaths of over 1 million Americans make Tony Fauci a mass murderer? It’s actually worse than that. Consider the basic evidence. It’s all laid out in Democrat Robert F. Kennedy, Jr.’s remarkable book, “The Real Anthony Fauci: Bill Gates, Big Pharma, and the Global War on Democracy and Public Health.”
Haven’t seen Kennedy being interviewed on the network news shows or the late-night talk shows? No book tours? It’s no wonder. There is a wall of silence and fear throughout the media.
Simply put, there is certainly no way the Big Pharma-supported media is going to challenge a primary source of revenue. To Amazon’s credit, Kennedy’s book is available online and currently shows 3,000 ratings with 94% of them earning five stars. So the word on Fauci and his multiple misdeeds has not been totally contained.
JOE MANCHIN RESCUES THE DEMOCRATS
[Note by Jack Wheeler: As the Dems go Full Woketard Freakout, the Wall Street Journal Editorial Board here explains how Joe Manchin can save them from political extinction. With any luck, the Dems will ignore the advice.]
Joe Manchin’s decision on Sunday [12/19] to oppose the Build Back Better Act is a service to the country, sparing it from huge tax increases and new entitlements that would fan inflation and erode the incentive for Americans to work. Paradoxically, it is also a blessing for Democrats if they get the message, and it offers President Biden a chance to reboot.
KEEPING YOUR SANITY WITH COMPASSION FOR YOURSELF
There are lots of tricks and techniques for making changes in our lives: goal setting strategies, setting priorities, structuring support for new and better habits, to name just a few. But one of the most important elements has less to do with what we do, and much more to do with how we do it.
If you want to change things for the better, be compassionate with yourself. By not having compassion for ourselves, in a sense we are expecting a miracle to happen… that we can somehow go back in time and have done things differently. But there’s no time machine, and no ability to do this in reality. The best that we can do is to stop doing the harmful behavior, make amends, and do better things now.
And then accepting ourselves, accepting what we’ve done, and having compassion for where we went wrong, will allow us to get on with a better life. And it gets better…
SPITUK GOMPA
The Tibetan Monastery or “Gompa” of Spituk overlooks the Upper Indus as it flows out of Chinese Tibet and towards Baltistan in Pakistan. The Indus here is the geological dividing line between the ancient Karakorum mountains and the younger Himalayas (40+ million years old and growing: Mount Everest rises 2 inches every ten years).
We’re in Indian Tibet here, a region called Ladakh where Tibetan culture flourishes freely. Wheeler Expeditions first explored Indian Tibet – including running the remote Zanskar River tributary of the Upper Indus, one the world’s most thrilling whitewater experiences – in 1992. We’ll explore it once more in the summer of 2022. (Glimpses of Our Breathtaking World #128 Photo ©Jack Wheeler)
TIME TO GIVE UP PRETENDING TO BE SANTA, JOE
