HADZA – THE LAST OF THE FIRST
Humanity – Homo sapiens – began evolving from our Homo ergaster hominid ancestors in East Africa around a quarter-million years ago. In all that time since, only one group of us is directly descended from those first of us, still living in East Africa, practicing the original nomadic hunter-gather lifestyle of countless millennia, their DNA unrelated to any other people on earth, their language unrelated to any other.
They are the Hadza. It is with good reason anthropologists call them “the last of the first” – for there are less than a thousand of them left as cattle-herding and farming tribes continually encroach on the hunting grounds they need to survive.
The Hadza men hunt with bow and arrows, the Hadza women gather roots, tubers, fruits and berries. They have no villages. Living together in bands of 20-30, they encamp in small shelters of boughs and leaves wherever the men have killed an animal like an eland (their favorite), warthog or some baboons, make a fire (the ancient hand-twisted stick method) and feast on it until it’s time to move and hunt again.
They wear animal skins, supplemented with clothes they trade for with nearby tribes like the Datoga. They love to sing and dance around the campfire. They smile easily and laugh freely. The only metal I saw them have was Datoga-made arrowheads and knives traded for, and a couple of pots for cooking. It’s hard to imagine a more utterly basic and simple existence. Yet they live a far happier, purposeful, and satisfied life than a great, great many of our species elsewhere.
The Hadza live around Lake Eyasi on the floor of the Great Rift Valley at the base of the Serengeti Plateau in Tanzania. It’s in the deep South Serengeti where our Wheeler-Windsor Safaris are during the late Birthing Season of February-March before the Great Migration begins. You witness the most extraordinary wildlife spectacle on earth. Can you imagine seeing 200-300,000 wildebeest stretching across the Serengeti as far as the eye can see?
No picture does that justice, so you focus on the individual, like this mommy cheetah watching her cub’s reflection in a small pool.
Here is where humankind began amidst this primordial scene. And the Hadza have been here since that very beginning. It is such a privilege and honor to be with and learn from them. It is having life-memorable experiences like this that we aspire to give those who go on safari us. We are currently on our Wheeler-Windsor Serengeti Birthing Safari right now.. but let me know if you’d like to meet “the last of the first" in our next trip to this amazing place. (Glimpses of Our Breathtaking World #288, photo ©Jack Wheeler)
ACTBLUE PROBES MAY SHUT DOWN THE DNC’S MONEY LAUNDRY
Before the recent election, the House Committee on Oversight and Accountability asked then-Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen to turn over all Suspicious Activity Reports (SARs) relating to ActBlue — not much happened. An SAR is a document that banks file with the Treasury Department pursuant to potentially fraudulent or illicit financial activity.
Yellen stalled, presumably in the hope that the Democrats would win the House back in November and halt the investigation. That obviously didn’t happen and the new Secretary of the Treasury, Scott Bessent, is of course cooperating with the committee.
This may well be what precipitated the sudden departure of seven senior officials from ActBlue in February. The New York Times reports that the exodus included “the associate general counsel — who was the highest-ranking legal officer at ActBlue — the assistant research director, a human resources official, the chief revenue officer and an engineer who had spent 16 years building and maintaining the electronic pipes through which the group’s donations flow.”
These “electronic pipes” are clearly of particular interest to the Chairman of the Oversight and Accountability Committee, Rep. James Comer (R-Ky.), who included the following forewarning in his letter to erstwhile Treasury Secretary Yellen:
TRUMP’S DEMOCRATIC “ALLIES”
Former Clinton strategist James Carville has reinvented himself at age 80 as a sage Democrat podcaster. His predictions—remember, a victorious Kamala Harris?—are usually wrong.
He enjoys engaging in public duels with celebrities to gain online clicks and media appearances. Yet sometimes he appears judicious in his effort to return his party to the Clinton glory days of 1992-2000, before the takeover of the party by the lunatic left.
That said, he too has become part of the new left nihilism he supposedly despises.
Most recently, Dr. Carville diagnosed Donald Trump as suffering from tertiary syphilis. Carville’s “proof” was his identification of a bruise on Trump’s much-used shaking hand, along with his supposed brain dementia.
As confirmation, Carville described Trump as a “fat f—ing slob” with a “beached whale body.” So, a once top Democratic strategist has gone from his 1992 iconic campaign reminder, “It’s the economy, stupid,” to smearing Trump as a fat slob with syphilis.
Carville’s descent sums up his entire party.
THE MONSTER OF SEFAR
Charlatans like Erich von Daniken convinced many gullible readers of his books this “monster” was of an alien in a space suit. Real archaeologists know it’s of an ancient tribal shaman, to be found among the greatest profusion of prehistoric rock art on earth over 10,000 years old in a remote plateau of the Algerian Sahara called the Tassili n’Ajjer.
There are no roads – you must climb up here with pack mules carrying your supplies. No one lives up here, it’s uninhabited. You’ll be among spectacularly gigantic rock formations with over 300 huge natural rock arches, so geologically unique it seems unworldly. In the center of Tassili n’Ajjer known as the Tadrart is a vastly deep gorge, like a knife sliced open the mountain. Clamber down to the bottom and you will discover a forest of 2,000 year-old Saharan cypress trees – yes, a forest in the Sahara, remnants of when the Sahara was green millennia ago.
My son Jackson and I explored here in 2003. Perhaps it’s time to be here again. (Glimpses of Our Breathtaking World #28 photo ©Jack Wheeler)
A SHORT HISTORY OF RUSSIA
A SHORT HISTORY OF RUSSIA
Jack Wheeler
January 1985
[Note the date. Written in 1985 during the Cold War, Russia formed the basis of the Soviet Union]
At various times in her history, America has been at war with and has had as deadly enemies: the French, the English, the Spanish, the Germans, the Italians, the Mexicans, and the Japanese. All are today our friends and allies. There is nothing in the nature of things that makes it impossible for this to someday be the case with the Russians as well.
Yet it is important to understand how the Russians are not like us -- how their history enabled them to transform themselves into Soviets running an Evil Empire called the Soviet Union.
FLASHBACK FRIDAY: SMUGGLERS PARADISE
Khasab, Musendam, Enclave of Oman, October 2006. The sharp tip of Arabia, known as the Musandam Point, sticks into the Persian Gulf, separating it from the Indian Ocean. The Strait of Hormuz is only 30 miles wide from Musandam Point to the coast of Iran, and through it passes a substantial fraction of the world's crude oil.
I came here to see the Persian smugglers. Go down to the wharves in Khasab and you will see them piled high with waterproof-wrapped bales of clothes, cases of soft drinks and juice, cartons of children's toys and electronic goods, an entire shopping mall of stuff, all ready to be crammed and tied down into 20 ft. long open speedboats with powerful outboard motors capable of outrunning Iranian Navy patrols.
There are dozens, scores, of waiting speedboats. The run from Khasab harbor to coves on the Iranian coast or the Iranian island of Qeshm takes about three hours. An average night will see dozens of speedboats racing across the Strait of Hormuz smuggling goods into Iran. The smugglers couldn’t have been more friendly to me. They hate the mullahs and are proud they are helping poor people in Iran. I had a great time with them. (Glimpses of Our Breathtaking World #169 photo ©Jack Wheeler)
LOOK, SON!
HALF-FULL REPORT 03/07/25
The Address to Congress _____________________________
On Tuesday, President Trump addressed a joint session of Congress, an event that was met with outstanding reactions from the public and boos and hisses from the mean-girl Democrats.
During the session, many Democratic lawmakers displayed signs and mini whiteboards expressing their dissent. Frankly, they looked juvenile. Representative Al Green from Texas's 9th Congressional District was removed from the session by the Sergeant at Arms due to his behavior, as instructed by Speaker Johnson. Discussions are occurring among House members about potentially removing Representative Green from his committee assignments and formally censuring him. The Freedom Caucus has expressed that they believe censure is not a sufficient punishment.
This is a going to turn into a FAFO moment for Rep. Al Green.
During the session, several official guests were introduced. Among them was a child cancer survivor from Representative Al Green's district, who was made an honorary Secret Service agent. The young man's reaction was one of pure joy. Other guests included a female athlete who suffered brain damage while competing against a tranny, and the parents of victims of serious crimes committed by illegal immigrants.
Throughout, the snarky and hissing snake pit of Democrats refused to stand or applaud as they put there vile politics ahead of human decency. The nation watched them and was disgusted.
During his address, President Trump outlined his intention to impose tariffs on nations that do not take significant measures to curb fentanyl smuggling. Following this announcement, Mexico agreed to enhance its efforts in this area, and the tariffs on Mexican goods have been rolled back for thirty days. Trust but verify.
In Canada, where an election is imminent, the political landscape is heating up. The liberal faction is intensifying its campaign against Trump, possibly in an attempt to undermine the conservative candidate, Pierre Poilievre. The Canadian strategy is to deny the existence of a fentanyl problem and possibly terminate the sale of electricity from Ontario Hydro to the Northeastern and Midwestern American grids.
Come on over to the HFR, and share your insights on the forum.
THE SHTARKER AND THE SHTOONKS
Watching President Trump speak to both Houses of Congress, two colorful Yiddish words kept floating into my mind.
I believe that each captures an aspect of the reality of that unprecedented gathering that the English language fails to convey with the same level of nuance.
As President Trump spoke, I kept thinking that he’s a real shtarker, which is often translated as “tough guy,” but which carries considerable historical context.
At Quora, Wolf Krakowski explains:
“In Europe, studious, myopic Jews who spent their days warming a yeshivah bench were easy pickins for their loutish, violent anti-Semitic neighbors and were often attacked and beaten. Every community had their tough guy (shtarker = strong one) who could be summoned to prevent or mitigate a beating, by showing up….”
LION ON A CAT
Ngorongoro Crater, Serengeti, Tanzania. Ngorongoro is one of the world’s great natural wonders, created over two million years ago when the cone of a gigantic volcano collapsed in on itself. The crater floor is over 100 square miles, teeming with African wildlife that includes the densest population of lions in the world. You’re only allowed to drive on certain dirt roads to see them, but lions sometime have different ideas.
Here’s a lioness we found sunning herself on the hood of a Caterpillar road-grader, completely unconcerned by our presence. We spend a few days exploring Ngorongoro to cap off our safaris in isolated roadless areas of the Serengeti. (Glimpses of Our Breathtaking World #286, photo ©Jack Wheeler)