BEYOND THE PALE
[This Monday’s Archive is TTP’s celebration of St. Patrick’s Day with its “nutshell history” of Ireland, first written in 2006. Happy St. Patrick’s Day to all TTPers!]
Ronald Reagan’s origins are even more humble than Abraham Lincoln’s log cabin.
His great-grandfather, Michael O’Regan, was born in a hut of mud and slats in farmland called Doolis near the village of Ballyporeen, County Tipperary, in 1829.
In June 1984, Ronald Reagan came to Ballyporeen as President of the United States. In his speech to the townspeople in the village square, he said, “I can’t think of a place on the planet I would rather claim as my roots more than Ballyporeen, County Tipperary.”
A friend of mine was there as a member of Reagan’s staff. After the speech, the President commented to him, “I really am proud to be from here.” With a wink, he explained: “You see, I’m from Beyond the Pale.”
HALF-FULL REPORT 03/14/25
Tariffs, Markets, and Traditions
I'm thrilled to share that St. Patrick's Day is just around the corner on Monday, March 17th. It's a day when my family, like so many others, absolutely loves getting together with our extended clan. We go the extra mile (quite literally) to join in the fun at various events, parades, and convention-style gatherings. And let me tell you, these get-togethers are more than just a good time. They're a powerful display of the Irish diaspora's political clout. Our leaders definitely take notice when hundreds thousands take to the streets in all types of cities, representing all walks of life.
President Trump recently posted on his social media platform, Truth Social, about communication with Russian President Putin. Diplomats apparently had a productive chat and there might be a chance to pause the ongoing Russia-Ukraine war. But, there are thousands of Ukrainian troops currently in a tight spot in Kursk, surrounded by Russian forces. Trump urged Putin to spare their lives to avoid a horrific massacre.
A recent ruling by a federal judge has reinstated a member of the board overseeing personnel disputes for federal workers. The judge ruled that President Donald Trump did not have the authority to remove her without proper justification. This situation highlights a constitutional conflict between the branches of government, as Trump claims the power to hire and fire all members of the executive branch. Congress places limits on the removal of leaders of independent agencies like the Merit Systems Protection Board.
As of publishing time, we have a 25% tariff on goods from Mexico and Canada scheduled to launch next month, except for Canadian energy which has a 10% tariff. These apply to finished products in the automotive, manufacturing, and retail sectors, but not to higher order goods that aren't sold directly to consumers.
The stock market experienced another turbulent day due to new tariff threats and mixed inflation news. The S&P 500 fell by 1.4%, entering its first correction since October 2023, which is a drop of over 10% from its record high on February 19. The NASDAQ Composite went down by nearly 2%, and the Dow Jones Industrial Average decreased by 1.3%.
It was a tough week. Next week will surely be better.
FLASHBACK FRIDAY – THE POTALA
Lhasa, Tibet, 1986. Built in the mid-1600s, the Potala in Lhasa, Tibet was the home of the Dalai Lama as the incarnation of Avalokiteśvara, the Buddhist deity of compassion, until the Communist Chinese colonized Tibet in 1959.
The Potala is one of the world’s great architectural wonders, thirteen stories high with molten copper poured into the foundation to stabilize it from earthquakes, 1,000 rooms, 10,000 shrines, 200,000 statues. I’ve been here several times since 1986, and it’s always such a powerful experience. Yet to Tibetans, this is a “dead” building as the Dalai Lama is gone. It is my hope that someday, the Dalai Lama will live here in a Free Tibet once again. (Glimpses of Our Breathtaking World #114 Photo ©Jack Wheeler)
NOOOO!
THE HYPOGEUM OF MALTA
The extraordinary rock-cut necropolis known as the Hypogeum (hi-po-gee-um) is the only prehistoric underground temple in the world. For over a thousand years (3500-2500 BC), the temple and burial complex (eventually housing 7,000 skeletons) was carved out and down – dozens of chambers, with rock-cut replicas of above-ground temples including simulated corbelled roofs. (A corbelled roof uses stone slabs that progressively overlap each other until the room is roofed over.)
The Megalthic Maltese learned to cut from the limestone bedrock with tools of stone and antler horn for they had no metal. These folks figured out all by themselves how to build extraordinary temples to their gods and goddesses close to six thousand years ago. Nobody taught them. They were the first. Only one reason Malta is one of our planet’s most fascinating places. (Glimpses of Our Breathtaking World #109 photo ©Jack Wheeler)
TAKING YOUR TIME AT THE START
When we see someone who truly excels at what they do, one quality often jumps out: they make it look easy.
But what is it that gives us the impression of ease?
They seem to take their time. Even when you’re seeing an elite athlete making lightning quick moves, it seems to be moving more slowly than the actual elapsed time. They’re not panicked, they’re not forcing things; the moves look fluid.
When someone has reached a state of mastery, with all the deliberate practice that requires, they’ve accumulated a vast store of knowledge and experience in their working memory. So when they get to work, they don’t need to take time to look things up; or when it’s a physical skill like athletics or music, they don’t have to think about the movements themselves.
Because of this, they also don’t feel rushed to act. They have time to orient to the problem or the task, and before they take action, they will have scanned their working memory for the information they need - the facts, the experience, the causes and effects they know – and then when they do act, they do so magnificently.
In my college astronomy course, our professor brought in a guest speaker one day who had once shared an office with Albert Einstein. He told us how Einstein had been on vacation for a couple of weeks, and during this time this (then very young) professor was working on a complex formula on the board in their office. He was stumped by one section of the formula...
HEADLINES HAVE CAUGHT UP TO MIKE ROWE. NOW WHAT?
JOHNSTOWN, Pennsylvania — Alex Bambino, 21, is the son of two educators.
He’s busy working, welding a piece of material that will be used on a heavily armored military vehicle when finished.
Despite two college-educated parents, who teach at the local Cambrian County schools, he wanted nothing to do with college following high school.
“I like working with my hands, being part of making something that is important, and I had no interest in starting my adult life in debt,” he said.
So he went to Greater Johnstown Career and Technology Center, and he became so good at what he did that he was recognized at the SkillsUSA championship as a national competitor.
He found work in his hometown at JWF Defense Systems, located in the old Bethlehem Steel plant along the Conemaugh River.
And he became part of something bigger than himself in the machines he helped make.
Bambino is just the kind of young person Mike Rowe has been talking about for the past few years in his tireless effort to inspire young people to consider a different path after high school.
THE CHURCH OF SAINT JOSEPH OF ARIMETHEA IN IRAN
In the early 1600s, some 150,000 Armenians fled persecution from the Ottoman Empire to settle in Isfahan, Persia under the protection of Shah Abbas. There they created an extraordinary trading network that stretched from Amsterdam to Manila, becoming prosperous in the process. This enabled them to build extraordinary Armenian Apostolic Church cathedrals – Armenian Christianity being one of the oldest Christian denominations originating in the 1st century AD.
Here you see the Armenian Apostolic Church in Isfahan, built in 1606 and dedicated to Saint Joseph of Arimathea, the disciple who took Jesus’ body off the Cross. The Armenian Quarter of Isfahan remains populated by thousands of Armenian Christians today who may freely practice their faith, albeit strictly within the confines of their neighborhood and never beyond. Nonetheless, it comes as a shock to see this in present-day Mullah Iran. (Glimpses of Our Breathtaking World #262 photo ©Jack Wheeler)
EVERYTHING YOU KNOW ABOUT THE USAID CASE MAY BE WRONG
Welcome to your chance to nerd out on the difference between process and merits in legal actions. Our case of interest is AIDS Vaccine Advocacy v. Department of State.
For non-lawyers, this is the case challenging President Trump’s order to freeze all payments from USAID until they can be fully reviewed for compliance with the law and the administration’s policies.
If your claim has merit, it will be paid. If not, pound sand.
And if you think you’re owed money that the government says they won’t pay, you can go to the Court of Federal Claims.
The District Court does not have jurisdiction to hear you. Nor does it have the power to order anyone to pay you.
After Donald Trump was elected, on December 2, 2024, Joe Biden hustled (I think that means he shuffled less slowly…) to appoint Amir Ali, a reliable left-wing lawyer, to a seat in the reliably left-wing District Court for the District of Columbia, a reliably left-wing locale.
Ali had barely gotten his chair adjusted when the USAID case landed on his desk.
SYRIA’S RULING ISIS ‘MODERATES’ COMMENCE SLAUGHTERING CHRISTIANS
Syria’s new head of state, Ahmed al-Sharaa
When Syria's dictator, Bashar al-Assad, was thrown from power last December and fled to Russia, Europe's elites, and its Washington swamp allies, rejoiced.
Sure, the new guys in charge, Head of State Ahmed al-Sharaa and an armed rebel group called HTS, had been members of al-Qaida in Iraq. But Assad was the bad guy -- evil, wicked, worst person in the world.
What's more, the rebels had changed. They were now Muslim “moderates” as they told the dancing gullibles at PBS who dutifully took them at their word.
Freedom would flow. They would govern as Jeffersonian democrats now. They were woke and “diversity-friendly,” too, and no, that's not a sarcastic phrase I made up.
All of the favorite things of blue rule were cited.
The Guardian suggested that feminism would flourish. Gays would be okay. Veils would be optional. The ever-diminishing Christian minority, which came to about 2% of the population, from about 20% two decades ago, would be fine.
As a result, European leaders from Germany and France came to court them, and the big EU cash streams flowed, at least $300 million worth. It was as if George Bush was president all over again.
Now the bearded beasts are back to their old form, targeting and slaughtering Christians, Alawites, Druze and Yazidi minorities now, not exactly concerned if anyone knows.
This is what is going on now: