SKYE’S LINKS 07/22/21
A California state Appeals Court gets it right; a law requiring preferred pronoun usage under penalty of law violates the First Amendment:
California Appeals Court: Mandatory Transgender Pronouns Violate First Amendment
The Fourth Circuit Court rules that the Second Amendment isn't a second class civil right and that 19 to 20 year-olds who want to buy a handgun aren't second class citizens:
Federal Court Rules It Unconstitutional To Ban 18-To-20-Year-Olds From Buying Guns
THE NIGHTMARE THAT NEVER ENDS
Yesterday (7/21), Newsweek’s lead headline was: WHO Warns of Deadlier Variants Taking World Back to 'Square One' of Pandemic.
For a few months a lot of people were convinced that humanity’s efforts to defeat COVID were being successful, and many believed that the pandemic would soon be behind us for good. But now the “Delta variant” is spreading like wildfire all over the globe, with an endless succession of further variants promised to follow.
This is prompting national governments around the world to institute a new wave of restrictions and lockdowns. This promises to push the world economy into another major downturn during the second half of 2021 that is can in no way afford.
AMONG A MILLION PENGUINS IN SOUTH GEORGIA
The Antarctic island of South Georgia is home to a million King penguins, plus countless fur seals, gigantic elephant seals, staggering numbers of seabirds such as albatrosses, amidst a backdrop of towering mountains with massive glaciers spilling off them.
Nothing can prepare you for the incomprehensible size of the penguin rookeries here, densely packed as far as the eye can see (all those white dots on the hills behind are penguins). Nor for the size of bull elephant seals weighing up to 8,000 pounds, especially when they rise up and crash their chests against each other in mating challenges emitting deafening bellows. Nor being surrounded by a thousand fur seals unafraid of you. The density of wildlife combined with the magnificent beauty of the island is completely overwhelming.
Here also is the abandoned whaling station of Grytviken where the heroic explorer Ernest Shackleton is buried. You can only get here by expedition cruise ship. South Georgia is one of the great experiences on our planet. (Glimpses of Our Breathtaking World #96 photo ©Jack Wheeler)
HOW DEMOCRATS COULD STEAL THE MIDTERMS
A Sign of the Past?
By now everyone with two working brain cells knows, or pretends not to know, that Democrats cheated on a colossal scale to get Whispern' Joe into the White House. So it's safe to say that Republicans, having wised up to the Donks' stratagems and skullduggery, will capture both House and Senate in next year's midterms. Right? Yes.
That is, assuming elections actually take place on November 8, 2022.
Who doubts that Democrats, with a death grip on power now, are capable of anything to keep Pelosi and Schumer on top and Biden's cabal in the White House calling the shots? Well, in a takeaway from those absconding Dem Texas legislators, you can't be defeated if you don't show up for the game.
WHY WOKE CAPITALISM’S WAR ON OIL WILL LOSE
The Woke Capitalists of the World Economic Forum have declared war on the petroleum industry with the excuse of “climate change.” The vehicle they use is a corporate rating system called ESG (Environment, Social, and Governance) which has been characterized as the Road to Global Fascism. It’s a war they will lose.
Let’s start with the obvious: Oil is the world’s most important fuel, supplying 35% of all energy and over 95% of transportation needs. More than 6,000 everyday products contain oil as their core ingredient.
Simply put, oil has no significant substitute, and it won’t for a long time.
AMERICA’S DESCENT INTO MADNESS
Nations have often gone mad in a matter of months. In the last six months, we have seen absurdities never quite witnessed in modern America. Madness, not politics, defines it.
There are three characteristics of all these upheavals. One, the events are unsustainable. They will either cease or they will destroy the nation, at least as we know it. Two, the law has largely been rendered meaningless. Three, left-wing political agendas justify any means necessary to achieve them.
Let’s discuss just what is happening to us at this moment of national madness.
AN AGENCY OF CORRUPTION AND COWARDICE
More than 530 peaceful Trump supporters have now been arrested for their unauthorized tour of the Capitol on January 6. The incomparable Julie Kelly has covered in grueling detail their arrests, indefinite detainment, and the cruelty with which they’ve been treated by the federal government.
Many of these protesters have been arrested by the FBI, a once-revered federal law enforcement entity that at one point might have deserved your respect.
It doesn’t anymore. Here’s why.
THE SMALL-SPOTTED RING-TAILED GENET
It’s not a cat, nor raccoon, nor lemur. Genets are part of a small carnivorous mammal group called viverrids, distantly related to hyenas, mongooses, tigers and lions. They hunt animals smaller than them like mice both on the ground and in the trees which they are very good and quick at climbing. You see them in Tropical and Southern Africa, but rarely will one pose like this as he did for me. Going on an Africa safari is not all about seeing the big iconic animals, but being lucky enough to spot small yet beautiful creatures such as this. (Glimpses of Our Breathtaking World #144 Photo ©Jack Wheeler)
THE ISLANDS OF SERENITY
Mulafassur waterfall below the village of Gasadalur is only one example of the serenity of the Faroe Islands. They’re a self-governing Danish possession in the North Atlantic halfway between Norway and Iceland. You won’t find a place of more captivating serene and peaceful charm.
Warmed by the Gulf Stream, in the summer it’s so strewn with wildflowers the roads are known as “buttercup highways.” At every turn along them you’re stunned by the incredible scenery. The capital of Torshavn is so laid back the Prime Minister’s Office – the Løgmansskristovan – is a wood cabin with a green grass sod roof. Great beer from the Faroes’ two breweries is always flowing in the pubs, where the Faroese islanders welcome you like an old friend.
You can easily fly here from Edinburgh, London, Copenhagen, or Reykjavik, Iceland . A few days here will do wonders for your soul. (Glimpses of Our Breathtaking World #18 photo ©Jack Wheeler)
KEEPING YOUR SANITY XXI
The Left fills them with hate, anger, despondency, hopelessness, embarrassment and guilt for their country -- and personal existence if they are white. The result is so many young Americans are old – scared, timid, cynical, apathetic, pessimistic, and joyless. Anyone who inculcates this in America’s children, teenagers, and young adults are enemies of mankind and should be treated as such.
But how about you? How much of your soul is filled with joie de vie, the joy of life, the ecstasy and thrill of being alive? Making sure it is could hardly be a better way of keeping your sanity.