THE POLYNESIA PARADISE YOU NEVER HEARD OF
Have you ever seen the ocean turn day-glo pink? It does here naturally during a sunset (this is not photoshopped). Between Samoa and Tonga in the South Pacific is a raised coral atoll, 100 square miles of old limestone between 60 and 200 feet high: the island of Niue (new-way), and it’s is uniquely fabulous.
With no silty river runoff, the water is incredibly clear – visibility can reach over 200 feet. There are a multitude of chasms through which you clamber to these out-of-a-movie tidal pools perfect for snorkeling surrounded by colorful reef fish. The limestone cliffs encircling the coast are riddled with caves with multi-colored stalactites and stalagmites.
You can snorkel or dive with spinner dolphins and humpback whales. The big game fishing is world class – within a few hundred yards off shore. The Niueans are unfailingly friendly and welcoming, the beautiful Matavai Resort is the best bargain in the Pacific, the food and beer is inexpensive, the weather is balmy. It’s a Polynesian paradise you never heard of. (Glimpses of Our Breathtaking World #48 Photo ©Jack Wheeler)
THERE IS NO GOP CIVIL WAR
Let’s be perfectly clear: there is no civil war in the GOP, no major schism, no two sides battling for control of the party of Lincoln.
Poll after poll shows us that Republican voters overwhelmingly see Donald Trump as the leader of the party. Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell and Rep. Liz Cheney’s hopes that voters would abandon Trump have been dashed on the cliffs of reality.
So why is the media pretending that some major battle for the future of the GOP has been joined? The Republican Party is Donald Trump’s party. It is today and it will be tomorrow.
THE LESSONS OF STRENGTH AND WEAKNESS THAT TRUMP TAUGHT AND XIDEN WON’T LEARN
What causes wars?
Innately aggressive cultures and governments, megalomania, the desire for power, resources, and empire prompt nations to bully or attack others. Less rational Thucydidean motives such as fear and honor and perceptions of self-interest are not to be discounted either.
But what allows these preemptive or aggressive agendas to reify, to take shape, and to leave tens of thousands, or even millions, dead? Ignoring this lesson, taught by Trump which Xiden refuses to learn:
Nothing is more dangerous than stronger powers, even inadvertently, sending signals that are interpreted as weakness by weaker powers.
DEAD VLEI, NAMIBIA
Many consider this the most surrealistic place on earth. The clarity of the air turns the sky deep cobalt blue, the dunes are so old they’ve rusted red, combining with the white clay floor to give the skeletal trees a scene out of a Dali painting or a science fiction movie. But it’s real.
A thousand years ago the river watering these trees dried up, leaving a white clay pan amidst red sand dunes almost as tall as the Empire State Building. It’s so dry here these acacia trees can’t decompose, their skeletons standing scorched in the sun for ten centuries.
Dead Vlei is in a region of enormous dunes called Sossusvlei. It’s a mind-boggling experience to float over Sossusvlei in a hot air balloon. Namibia, in fact, is full of such experiences – the largest fur seal colony anywhere at Cape Cross, the marvelous abundance of African wildlife at the Etosha Pan, the dramatic shipwrecks dotting the Skeleton Coast, traditional people living untouched by the modern world like the Himbas.
Plus it’s one of the safest and best-run countries in all Africa – certainly worth consideration for your bucket list. (Glimpses of Our Breathtaking World #47 photo ©Jack Wheeler)
KEEPING YOUR SANITY VI
You’re in a nice restaurant with friends with the waiter taking orders for wine, appetizers, entrées or main courses. Then before the meal begins, the waiter presents everyone with a gift on the house from the chef, a bite-size artfully prepared concoction as a glimpse of the chef’s style.
Such a free “pre-appetizer” is called an amuse-bouche (French for mouth-amusement). This morning (2/22) I received a trilogy of the latest tyrannies by FPX minions from a friend who asked of them, “Can it get any worse?”
I replied: “Any worse???? These fascist thieving pigs are just warming up. These are just their amuse-bouches, much less an hors d’oeuvre, much less an entrée, with their main course a dog's breakfast poisonous beyond imagination.”
So a critical part of Keeping Your Sanity is to develop a strategy for the long haul – for America’s current saga of Freedom Lost – Freedom Regained has barely begun.
THE WORLD’S REMOTEST INHABITED ISLAND
That would be Tristan da Cunha in the middle of the South Atlantic Ocean. Some 260 Tristanians live here, all British citizens as the island is a UK Territory, in the island’s only community of Edinburgh-of-the-Seven-Seas. There’s no way to fly here – you have to take a boat for at least a week from Cape Town (and then a week back).
Tristanians are among the world’s most special people. Since the island was first settled in 1810, there has never been a single murder, abortion, or divorce among them. They are at peace with themselves, unfailingly cheerful, hospitable, and contented. If you are lucky enough to reach here, you may not want to ever leave. (Glimpses of Our Breathtaking World #42 Photo ©Jack Wheeler)
THE MAN WHO ORDERS THREE BEERS
An Irishman moves into a tiny hamlet in County Kerry, walks into the pub and promptly orders three beers. The bartender raises his eyebrows, but serves the man three beers, which he drinks quietly at a table, alone.
An hour later, the man has finished the three beers and orders three more. This happens yet again. The next evening the man again orders and drinks three beers at a time, several times. Soon the entire town is whispering about the Man Who Orders Three Beers.
Finally, a week later, the bartender broaches the subject on behalf of the town. "I don't mean to pry, but folks around here are wondering why you always order three beers?"
HALF-FULL REPORT 02/19/21
We should not bemoan Rush’s passing – although we sure could use his Golden Mike insights right now – but rather celebrate that we were gifted his “Talent on loan from God” for so many years. Indeed, that we were gifted with him at all.
If you read his Wikipedia bio, you see his early years consisted of one failure after another, getting repeatedly fired by radio stations. How easily he could have been sidetracked with his life taking an entirely different direction, over 16 years of failure (from age 20 in 1971) to age 36 in 1987. But he wasn’t, so he was ready when President Reagan got rid of the libtard Fairness Doctrine.
For a full third of a century, from 1988 to 2020, he led the charge for America’s conservative principles of liberty, decency, and patriotism like no other. Time to reflect on how all those years might never have been. Then take a moment to read a young college girl’s Ode to Rush for a personal story on what a profoundly good human being he was.
Thanks for being such an extraordinary inspiration to so many millions of us for so long, Rush. We’ll always live in gratitude for you.
FLASHBACK FRIDAY – JOHNNY AND THE TSANTSA
November 17, 1976. When I wrote my book “The Adventurer’s Guide,” it was a fantasy of mine to go on the Tonight Show and have Johnny Carson hold a “tsantsa,” a human shrunken head – as a book chapter was “How To Live With Headhunters.” As you can see, that fantasy came true. I still can’t believe how relaxed I was in the studio photo. That’s because Carson had a magical ability to put a guest like me, no professional performer, at ease. The cameras and lights, the audience, millions watching on TV all went away. It was just me talking to this friendly fellow with no one around. An amazing experience. Some dreams can really happen! (Glimpses of Our Breathtaking World #40 photo ©Jack Wheeler)
SKYE’S LINKS 02/18/21
China Joe says, "Nothing to see here, just move along.":
Biden ends disclosures on China institutes
WHO do you believe?
You can't say that: