THE CAMEL MEAT MARKET IN THE FEZ BAZAAR
Sometimes you run across something that no matter how it grosses you out, you have to take a picture of it. The thousand year-old medina or walled city of Fez is a World Heritage Site as the spiritual and cultural capital of Morocco. Uniquely epitomizing this is the stall of the camel butcher in the medina’s vast bazaar. To garner the attention of ladies shopping for their family’s dinner, he proudly displays the head of the camel whose fresh meat is on sale. Traveling in Morocco is always an adventure. (Glimpses of Our Breathtaking World #188 photo ©Jack Wheeler)
BEETHOVEN AND TRUMP
[This Monday’s Archive was originally published in TTP on November 18, 2016, shortly after Donald Trump won his first stunning victory of the presidency. The Dems succeeded with their theft of the White House in 2020 and did everything they could to ruin our country for four years. That’s over now with Trump back where he belongs, so we can take the message here to heart more than ever.]
TTP, November 18, 2016
There is no word in the English language for schadenfreude – a German word that translates to “joy in the misfortune of others.”
British writer Alistair Cooke calls schadenfreude "an unworthy emotion, which may be why we don't admit to it by having a word in English."
Yet only saints don’t feel or enjoy schadenfreude. This is particularly so when we feel the misfortune and misery of others is deserved. That’s why audiences cheer when the villain in a movie gets his in the end.
Or how about this news: Oregon Official Who Persecuted Christian Bakers Loses Election. Don’t you feel like shouting, “Hallelujah!”?
That’s why it’s fun to see celebrities and college crybabies going bananas protesting Trump’s landslide victory. They hate America, want to see it ruined, and fully deserve all the heartache and despair they’re feeling.
Right? However…
Even though schadenfreude is fun to feel, we don’t want it to linger in our hearts. The longer it lingers, the more corrosive it is to our souls. Okay, laugh at the losers, but then start feeling something better. What would that be?
Let’s look to Beethoven for the answer.
FLASHBACK FRIDAY: THE HOLE OF SORROWS
Let’s flashback 2.2 million Fridays to 4,000 BC, six thousand years ago, when the original inhabitants of post-Ice Age Ireland erected this megalithic “dolmen” or portal tomb. It consists of three standing portal stones suspending a massive horizontal capstone, the limestone entrance to a tomb originally covered with an earthen mound.
Eventually the mound weathered away revealing the stone “skeleton” which was a sacred shrine for the Megalithic Irish all the way to the medieval Celts even though in a remote barren rocky region of far western Ireland found now in County Clare.
When it was finally excavated in 1986, the remains of 33 humans were found in the burial chamber below who lived between 3,800 and 3,200 BC. Thus it became known as “The Hole of Sorrows.”
When you come to gaze upon The Hole of Sorrows, you realize that this massive stone structure, one thousand four hundred years older than Egypt’s Great Pyramid, has stood here for all of recorded human history and beyond. All the kings and empires of all history have come and gone, while it still stands. It’s megalithic creators of millennia ago would be proud. (Glimpses of Our Breathtaking World #219 photo ©Jack Wheeler)
LIBERALS WARN ENFORCING IMMIGRATION LAW IS A SLIPPERY SLOPE THAT MAY LEAD TO ENFORCING OTHER LAWS
U.S. — With politicians and pundits still involved in heated debates over the legality of the deportation of an MS-13 gang member, liberals warned the public that enforcing immigration law was a slippery slope that could lead to enforcing other laws.
Congressional Democrat leaders urged caution in the enforcement of long-existent laws that prevent foreign nationals from entering and residing in the United States illegally, citing the risk posed by setting a dangerous precedent of prosecuting other people for committing different crimes.
"This is a perilous road to go down," said Senator Chuck Schumer. "Today, you're talking about enforcing immigration laws to keep Americans safe. The next thing you know, you'll be saying we should stop letting people loot and pillage stores and homes as a form of social protest, or telling everyone that falsifying votes in elections should be prosecuted. That's a precedent I don't think we want to set."
Other Democrats warned of a dire future filled with peace and safety if conservatives continued to take a hardline stance on wanting laws to be enforced.
"Expecting people to abide by laws and face consequences if they violate them is unreasonable and dangerous," said Senator Cory Booker. "What's next? Are you going to propose wild, radical ideas that physical assaults should be prevented and people who break laws should be held accountable? That's not my America."
At publishing time, liberals clarified that the only crimes that should be prosecuted should be the ones they make up to destroy political opponents.
~ Babylon Bee reporting.
HALF-FULL REPORT 04/18/25
Welcome to the Good Friday HFR. This is a solemn day – not of celebration for that comes overmorrow on Easter Sunday, but the opportunity for Christians across the world to reflect upon the deep significance of what Christianity means to their lives, and to recommit themselves to it. For TTPers, may you all have a most meaningful Good Friday.
I’ve been away from the HFR for a long time – my last HFR was on February 28, and now it’s April 18. There is simply no way I can adequately thank Mike Ryan enough for his six straight HFRs while I was in Africa and Bhutan. Especially since each was so exceptionally profound, phenomenal, even awe-inspiring.
The same goes for the TTP Team – Miko, Mellie, Deuce, Joel, Greg & Michelle – who, along with Mike, made sure TTP remained superlative over the last six weeks. I am so very appreciative to you all.
So here we go – where do we start? Well, how about the Dems picking the absolutely stupidest, most ludicrously counter-productive and self-destructive hill for their party to die on?
THE SACRED MONKEY FOREST OF BALI
Near the town of Ubud on Indonesia’s paradise island of Bali there is a sanctuary of spectacularly luxuriant rain forest providing a haven for over 1,000 Balinese long-tailed monkeys. Here’s one communing with a group of moss-covered monkey statues that dot the sanctuary.
This is a sacred place for the Balinese people, as it contains three temples over 600 years old, and is devoted to the Hindu principle of Tri Hata Karana – “three ways to reach spiritual and physical well-being” -- harmony between people, harmony between people and nature, harmony between people and God.
There is perhaps no place on earth in which to better experience the blissful harmony of Tri Hata Karana than Bali. It is a marvelous privilege to be here and experience it for yourself. (Glimpses of Our Breathtaking World #106 photo ©Jack Wheeler)
THE COMING RECKONING WITH ADVANCED ALIEN LIFE
[Note by JW: When Deuce first sent this in earlier in the week, I thought not only is this his Wildest by far, it’s just too off the wall to handle. Then suddenly, what headlines do we see today – today, 4/17? Here are two.
Reuters (and numerous media outlets worldwide): Scientists Find Strongest Evidence Yet Of Life On An Alien Planet.
Fox News: UFO Footage Captured By US Navy Shows Mysterious Aircraft Launching From Sea.
Out of the blue, UFOs and alien life are big news. How prescient can Deuce get? Very impressive. Enjoy his thoughts on the matter.]
Your author puzzled over the best way to lead this article in a way that would get everyone’s attention and be accurate to the material to be discussed—even if that material currently leaves many more questions than answers to those who look at it.
Put simply, the citizens of the United States and the other people of the world have a problem. A big one; one might say, the most significant problem that we have ever faced.
That is the uncomfortable fact that, for a long time and most definitely in recent years, a myriad of highly credible witnesses have been encountering non-human intelligent forms of life and vehicles that appear highly advanced and are not based on any materials or engineering the human race has ever made or discovered.
Furthermore, we have highly credible people who are telling us that the United States and other powers have been in contact with them and have been obtaining their biological matter and technology in what can only be described as an arms race.
If I have gotten everyone’s attention, for better or for worse, then I invite you to dive further in with me and reach your own conclusions at the end.
DURK PEARSON: THE BRAIN BEHIND BETTER BRAIN HEALTH
Durk and Sandy
In the ever-evolving world of health and wellness, there are a few pioneers who’ve been ahead of their time—designing solutions before most people even realized there was a need. One of those innovators was Durk Pearson (Skye as you may remember), a name synonymous with cutting-edge longevity science and optimal brain performance.
Durk Pearson wasn’t your average supplement formulator. Not with an IQ that MIT was unable to measure as it was so far above 200!
A physicist, author, and renowned life extension scientist, Durk spent decades diving deep into the mechanics of the human brain. His mission? To empower people with smarter, science-backed strategies for boosting mental performance, enhancing mood, and fighting fatigue—naturally.
Together with his life-long research partner Sandy Shaw, Durk has been a leading force in the field of cognitive enhancement since the 1970s. Their bestselling book "Life Extension: A Practical Scientific Approach" was more than a bestseller—it was a call to arms for those seeking better living through better science.
And one of their signature contributions to the world of nutritional innovation? Lift or Lift Caps™.
DARK HEDGES
You’ve seen this spooky place called King’s Road in HBO’s The Games of Thrones – but where is it and what is it really? It’s in Country Antrim in Northern Ireland near the town of Armoy. Originally it was the driveway to a mansion built in 1775 by James Stuart, descendant of King James I of England (1566-1625), who lined either side with beech trees. Now almost 250 years old, their branches intertwine eerily, giving rise to its name of “Dark Hedges,” and legends of ghosts haunting it like the “Grey Lady.”
Northern Ireland has had its terrible Troubles as we all know, but that’s history now. It’s a place of stunning scenery and natural wonders like the Devil’s Causeway and Marble Arch Caves, and those man-made in addition to Dark Hedges, such as Dunluce Castle and Carrick-a-Rede Rope Bridge. Then there’s the Victorian opulence of the Crown Liquor Saloon in Belfast. All in all, Northern Ireland is a marvelous place to visit. (Glimpses of Our Breathtaking World #43 photo ©Jack Wheeler)
THE FALL OF HARVARD
Statue of John Harvard at Harvard University
For well over a century, Harvard was considered the crown jewel of American education. Presidents came from its halls, and Nobel laureates filled its lecture rooms.
It was the kind of place that turned ambition into achievement and ambition into legacy. It symbolized something enduring: excellence, discipline, and elite leadership. The very name carried an air of unimpeachable credibility.
Those days are gone. Long gone.
What was once a training ground for future statesmen and scientists has become a bloated, self-satisfied bureaucracy. Harvard’s leaders now prioritize activism over academics, show greater loyalty to foreign interests than their own government, and are more focused on preserving a brand than protecting the country that created it.
If in doubt, consider Harvard’s outright defiance of the Trump administration’s call to rein in campus activism, antisemitism, and ideological extremism. The response from the administration was swift.