THE REMOTEST SWIMMING POOL
This is St. Paul’s Natural Pool on Pitcairn Island, where in 1790 Fletcher Christian and his mutineers of the Mutiny on the Bounty settled, and where their descendants live to this day. They were awed by the uninhabited island’s lush beauty, with huge banyan trees rising above them like giant cathedrals, and thought it a Garden of Eden where anything grew, coconuts, bananas, taro, breadfruit, mangoes, guavas, passion fruit, yams and sweet potatoes in the rich volcanic soil.
Pitcairn has no beaches, though, so this was their swimming hole – and still is for Pitcairners today. They are happy to take you here, and to the island’s colorfully named spots, like Where Dick Fall, Oh Dear, Break Im Hip, Down the Hole – and to Fletcher Christian’s Cave, his lookout for British warships hunting them (they failed for 25 years) .
It’s not easy to get here – fly to Tahiti, then remote Mangareva from where you sail for two days on a supply ship. But you’ll be so welcome upon arrival. You stay in one of their homes in Adamstown and be treated like family. It’s a travel experience like none other. (Glimpses of Our Breathtaking World #63 photo ©Jack Wheeler)
FADING JOE’S VERY BAD DAY
At a campaign stop in Toldeo, Ohio, he actually forgot he was running for president, saying what you just saw: “I’m running as a proud Democrat for the Senate.”
When Biden was confronted with a poll that said 56 percent of registered voters believe they are better off than they were four years ago (when he was vice president), Biden said they shouldn’t vote for him. And this was Joe just warming up – there’s lots more!
EVEN DEMOCRATS ARE IMPRESSED WITH ACB
Now, on day two of her testimony before the Senate Judiciary Committee, Dems are telling reporters are impressed with what they see.
While Barrett was still being grilled Tuesday (10/13), even liberal reporters on CNN and NBC had to admit that she was doing a good job answering the Senators’ questions.
WHAT HAPPENS WHEN YOU GET TOO CLOSE TO A 6,000 POUND ELEPHANT SEAL
The Antarctic island of South Georgia is one of the most extraordinary places on earth. Square miles of king penguin rookeries, thousands of fur seals, hundreds of gigantic elephant seals amidst a backdrop of massive glaciers and snow-capped mountains.
All of the animals here have no fear of you whatever and ignore your presence – except if you make the mistake of getting too close to a bull elephant seal for his comfort. It’s a mistake I made as you can see. Luckily, with several tons of blubber to carry, this fellow can’t move as fast as me, so I hightailed it quickly. That satisfied him, and all was soon back to placidly normal again. (Glimpses of Our Breathtaking World #62 photo ©Jack Wheeler)
NO FEAR OF THE EVIL EYE: The Brotherhood of Marx, Hitler, and the American Left Today
Ninth Installment: Chapter Nine of Part I: Envy. Forum comments welcome!
THE BROTHERHOOD OF MARX, HITLER, AND THE AMERICAN LEFT TODAY
In October of 1965, Ronald Reagan came to speak at UCLA, where I was a graduating senior. The UCLA Student Union was packed, SRO. There was a buzz that Reagan was considering running for governor against the entrenched Democrat, Pat Brown. My buddy Bill Anthony and I sat expectantly in the audience.
As Reagan began to speak, he filled the room with an energy that was both exciting and soothing, and the thousand-plus students were entranced. Then he caught us by surprise. He said the conventional political spectrum of Left vs. Right made no sense and he rejected it. He explained:
"Rather than Communists and Marxists on the extreme ‘Left' and Nazis and Fascists on the extreme ‘Right,' I think the political spectrum should be ‘Up' and ‘Down' – Up towards individual freedom and Down towards control of the individual by the State.I turned to Bill and whispered, "That settles that." "Settles what?" he whispered back. "That's my man," I answered. "I've always dreamed of someone publicly saying just that."
"The extreme Up would be Anarchy, no government at all, while the extreme Down, at the bottom of the spectrum, would be all forms of totalitarianism: both Fascism and Communism, Nazism and Marxism, which together in common advocate the abolishment of individual freedom.
On this spectrum, I place myself on the Up side, far from the extremism of anarchism, but as an advocate of individual liberty in accordance with a constitutional democracy and rule of law."
In all the years since, I’ve remained puzzled why our political, media, and academic elites have maintained a perverse insistence on denying the obviousness of Reagan’s Up/Down spectrum, constantly repeating the robotic mantra of Left/Right instead.
The only explanation must be that, as advocates of ever more government control over people’s lives, they can’t handle the bald truth that Hitler – the apotheosis of evil – is one of theirs.
THE MONEY THAT MADE US HUMAN
On display in the National Museum of Congo in Brazzaville: “Ancient Money.” I took the picture because this is the money that made us human 90,000 years ago. They are tiny Nassarius gibbosulus estuarine snail shells too small for food, perforated with small holes to string on a necklace, used as money “before the establishment of the CFA” as the sign says, the Central Africa Franc in 1945.
These are the same species of shell that was the first jewelry in history unearthed at seashore sites in Morocco and hundreds of miles inland in Algeria some 90kya (thousand years ago) – meaning they were traded. For the first time in history, a species began to exchange things between unrelated unmarried individuals to share, swap, barter and trade, and over great distances.
Other animals do not barter. This, maintains science author Matt Ridley, is what made us distinctly human, enabling us to cooperate with other groups or tribes, to innovate, to evolve ever more complex cultures. This little shell, used as money, is the founding of human culture. (Glimpses of Our Breathtaking World #61 photo ©Jack Wheeler)
TESTING POSITIVE
HALF-FULL REPORT 10/09/20
Enter “joe biden” + “little girls” on YouTube and you’ll get a ton of video clips on his “inappropriate touching” and “sexual allegations.” The most disgusting one of all is the one above, where he pinches an 8 year-old girl’s nipple during a swearing-in ceremony for Senator Steve Daines of Montana in January 2015.
If you have the misfortune of knowing someone who intends to vote for this pervert to be President of the United States, please consider sending the video link above to them – together with this handmade sign which hopefully might just shake them out of their stupor:
Meanwhile, it’s been quite a week for Donaldus Magnus.
FLASHBACK FRIDAY – MEETING THE DALAI LAMA
Seventeen years ago today, October 9, 2003, I had the privilege to meet and have an unforgettable conversation with His Holiness the Dalai Lama. It was at a luncheon hosted by India’s Ambassador to the US at his residence in Washington. His Holiness loved my telling him how I had passed out over a thousand pictures of him during my three overland expeditions crisscrossing Tibet. “Illegally, yes?” he asked, as the Chinese make this a crime. “Oh, very illegally!” I answered as we both chuckled.
The Ambassador asked where he was born. His answer, “very remote village in far northern Tibet.” He was startled when I interjected, “Yes, I know, I’ve been there – I even bought a doonchen (telescoping 15 foot-long Tibetan prayer horn) in your village.” “A doonchen?” he exclaimed. “You mean…?” and put his hands to his lips to make this really loud WHOOOH like the horn makes. I nodded and did the same, WHOOOH. We belly laughed, while all the diplomats and Congressmen did not know what was going on.
Then he wrapped his hands around mine and I felt an electric energy run through my body. It was his blessing. I will treasure it all my life. (Glimpses of Our Breathtaking World #60 photo ©Jack Wheeler)
THE PENCE TAKEDOWN OF KAMALA
This means that Harris was auditioning for president. And despite Trump's robust energy, his getting the virus was a reminder that he too is mortal. Fortunately, Pence was superb. More than superb – it was a total takedown, not with bombast and bludgeon, but with a thin stiletto smoothly inserted between her third and fourth ribs.