KEEPING YOUR SANITY VII
Benjamin Disraeli (1804-1881), one of Victorian England’s most prominent Prime Ministers (1868/1874-1880), once commented to a friend: "There are two things that the public should never be allowed to see how they are made: sausage and the law."
We are witnesses today of just how immortally trenchant Disraeli was back in the 19th century. For in truth, politics in America now is a far more repulsive sight than the inside of a sausage factory.
Yet if Disraeli were here now, he’d smile sardonically and remind us that (he was fluent in French) plus ça change, plus c’est la même chose – the more things change, the more they stay the same.
TWO COOL MOUNTAIN TAJIK KIDS AT THE FIRST PEARL OF SHING
The high hidden Valley of Shing in western Tajikistan holds, as we learned in yesterday’s Glimpse #52, a series of seven stepping-stone lakes called the Seven Pearls of Shing. The valley is dotted with tiny villages of Mountain Tajiks, descendants of the ancient Sogdians who fought Alexander the Great.
Alexander fell in love with and married a Sogdian princess named Roxanna – and the girls of Shing are often named Roxanna to this day. The Mountain Tajiks of the Shing are a special people – strong, independent and free. They are also warm and welcoming. The kids – the girls just like the boys – grow up vibrant and confidant. These two young brothers exemplify that.
Each of the seven pearls have a unique breathless beauty, for they are of different colors and change according to the time of day. We are here at Mijnon (Eyelash), the first pearl, followed by Soya (Shade), Hushnor (Vigilance), Nophin (Navel), Khurdak (Little One), Marguzor (Blossoming), and Hazor Chasma (Thousand Springs). Towering above us are snow-laced mountains 18,000 feet high.
Perhaps you’d like to join your fellow TTPers to make the Seven Pearls, and so much else, a part of your life next May? Let me know! (Glimpses of Our Breathtaking World #53 photo ©Jack Wheeler)
CHILD SACRIFICE
FLASHBACK FRIDAY – WITH THE ANTI-COMMUNIST GUERILLAS IN CAMBODIA
July, 1984. The KPNLF – Khmer People’s National Liberation Front – was the Anti-Communist guerrilla movement fighting the Soviet-backed Vietnamese Communists in Cambodia. When I was first there in 1961, Cambodia was then a land of serenity, with a gentle and tranquil people who were at peace with themselves and the world. Now it was a land of indescribable Communist horror.
It was such a privilege to be with these brave men willing to wage war against that horror and bring freedom to their country. I told their tale in Turning Back the Terror, the February 1985 cover story for Reason magazine. (Glimpses of Our Breathtaking World #20 photo ©Jack Wheeler)
HALF-FULL REPORT 02/26/21
In this scene from Casablanca, when French Capt. Renault (Claude Raines) introduces Rick (Bogart) to Major Strasser of the Nazi Gestapo, he says, “Major Strasser is one of the officers who has earned the Third Reich the reputation it has today.”
This week, TTP dispensed with any double meaning to describe what the most renowned law enforcement agency in America has tragically become: Can We Reform a FBI That Behaves Like A Gestapo?
A good friend of mine since the 80s, TTPer Steve Baldwin, just gave me a personal example…. Here we go with a simply sizzling HFR!
CAN WE REFORM A FBI THAT BEHAVES LIKE A GESTAPO?
FBI arrests Roger Stone at his home and Gestapo officials
Short answer – I doubt it.
But it is a legitimate question to raise because there are still some patriots serving within the ranks of the FBI who are beyond distraught over the gross politicization of their once proud, respected organization. There is genuine, deep seated hatred for Christopher Wray and his coterie of lackeys.
The final straw for many in the bureau is FBI leadership doing everything in their power to paint honest, law-abiding Trump supporters as nascent “white supremacist” terrorists, the frontline agents are finding no evidence for this whatever.
BRANDON WHEELER AT THE DOOR TO HELL
We camped here overnight in May a year ago crossing Turkmenistan’s Kara Kum (Black Sand) Desert, and we’ll be here again in May next year. The Darvaz Gas Crater – known to locals as “The Door to Hell” – has been burning nonstop since 1971, when Russian engineers set it on fire expecting it to burn off and it never has. This is a night -- and a sight -- you’ll never ever forget. My son Brandon can vouch for that! (Glimpses of Our Breathtaking World #44 Photo ©Jack Wheeler)
SKYE’S LINKS 02/25/21
Lies piled upon lies; this will not end well for the Dems. History written from your standpoint?
Once Upon A Presidency - From Populist To Dissident
The near future may be considerably brighter than you think; there are LOTS of people who want to give the elitists the shaft, and there will be LOTS of brand new 21st century ways to do it:
Pinkerton: Just as Politics Has Come to GameStop, So GameStop Activism Will Come to Politics
Are flu hospitalizations really 500 to 1,000 times lower than in previous years or are the Wuhan virus numbers of hospitalizations exaggerated to the Moon?
CDC: Flu Activity Unusually Low, 165 Hospitalizations in Last 4 Months
WILL PUTIN’S LATEST SCHEME BE LIQUID GOLD OR FOOL’S GOLD?
Lake Baikal
[Prefatory note by Jack Wheeler. Four questions on lakes: What is the world’s oldest lake? The world’s deepest? The world’s clearest? The world’s largest by freshwater volume? The answer to all four is: Lake Bailkal in Russian Siberia. My friend of almost four decades, Paul Goble, here focuses on the last question. Baikal has more water than all of the Great Lakes combined – over 5,600 cubic miles of clear drinkable freshwater. Putin thinks he can sell it to the Chicoms. Paul discusses the pitfalls.]
Will Putin’s selection of water as “liquid gold,” “the new oil” that it can sell to water-short China recapitulate some of the steps the Communist leaders fatefully took in the years preceding the disintegration of the Soviet Union?
NORTHEAST CHINA: THE NEXT SECESSIONIST THREAT TO BEIJING LIKE TIBET?
[Note by JW: The 100+ million people of Northeast China are chronically and seriously short of water. They would be Putin’s prime customers for Russian Siberia water. Or would they prefer to secede and join Russia instead?]
As people in northeastern China grow increasingly dissatisfied with the central government’s neglect of the region’s economic development, authorities are worried that mass protests could soon break out, according to an insider I know personally. We’ll call him Mr. Lee
The Chinese government is worried that northeastern China will follow Tibet and Xinjiang and seek independence,” Mr. Lee said. “This is one of the biggest concerns that the regime has right now.”