HALF-FULL REPORT 08/21/20
Might as well start off with the Official Harris-Biden 2020 campaign logo.
How impossibly ludicrous was the DNC Virtual Convention hardly anybody watched during the last four days? Answer: last night, Biden was introduced by his son Hunter who praised his character and “honesty.” Franz Kafka couldn’t have dreamed that up.
So here’s the bottom line. No energy. No optimism. Nothing but doom and gloom, whining and moaning about “darkness,” blaming every problem in America and the entire world on Trump, while offering no solutions whatever, just bromides, platitudes, and memorized commie-fascist slogans. Not a word of criticism of BLM/Antifa burning Democrat cities down. That’s it.
Which tells you one thing, when combined with the most ridiculous senile corrupt buffoon ever nominated for president by a major party in US history: the Dems know the only way they can win in November is to cheat – and they are confidant of getting away with it. Period.
FLASHBACK FRIDAY – LIVING WITH HEADHUNTERS
Yes, that’s me at 16 (in 1960!) with Tangamashi, a Shuar Jivaro chief who adopted me into his clan. The Jivaros are the only people on earth who make a shrunken head of their enemies killed in battle – called a “tsantsa.”
They inhabit the Amazon rain forests of the Ecuador-Peru border; living with them was the first adventure I had by myself alone. Tangamashi accepted me, taught me how he made a tsantsa from an enemy’s head skin, took me blowgunning monkeys with curare-tipped darts, and introduced me into the Jivaro spirit world with a tea they called “natema” from the Banisteriopsis vine – a very colorful experience. How cool can you get for a 16 year-old kid?
It set me on a path of an adventurous life from which I have never wavered – and there’s no slowing down now. Another great adventure always awaits. (Glimpses of Our Breathtaking World #25, photo ©Jack Wheeler)
SKYES LINKS 08/20/20
Don't let anyone guilt you over the bad consequences of their own behavior; unwise shortsighted behavior that results in deadly consequences rather than systemic racism is causing more minority deaths from the Wuhan virus:
Social distancing responses to COVID-19 emergency declarations strongly differentiated by income
November 3, 2020; the shape of things to come:
Election Roulette: How To Rig An Outcome
Something about China; interesting correlation between crops, culture, and humans regulating human behavior:
Historically rice-farming societies have tighter social norms in China and worldwide
Good comments on inflation:
The Road To Inflation In Post-COVID Times
If you thought that the 737-MAX was as bad as it could get, just wait for airplanes designed by this generation of STEM graduates:
Students Claim 'Merit'-Criteria "Possess Inherent Bias"
This will fix it:
"That's Ridiculous": Jill Biden - Not Joe, Appears On Live TV To Defend VP's Cognitive Ability
There’s lots more!
THERE IS ONLY TRUMP STANDING IN THE BREACH
[This is long yet one of Victor’s best. There is an abundance of ammo here to clear the field of any woketards you may meet –JW]
What created the hatred of Trump and his supporters was not a rather heterodox political agenda (see below), but a style that took on the Left on its own terms, and shocked a Republican establishment — by shrugging as irrelevant his ostracism by the traditional conservative beltway insider.
I would prefer a supposed braggart cracking down on China, or a purported narcissist closing the border, or an alleged demagogue promising change in the Rust Belt than any more sermons from privileged gentlemen conservatives.
Such as Jeb Bush tolerating illegal immigration as “an act of love,” or silent agreement that those manufacturing “jobs are not coming back” as Obama put it, or wonkishly boy wonder Paul Ryan being drilled in a debate by the vacuous smiling Joker Joe Biden or Mitt Romney oblivious that Candy Crowley had just hijacked his debate momentum—and with it the election.
Crassness is not a requisite for needed change, but so often in a flawed world the two are shared, in the reverse fashion that gaseous pieties are frequently voiced by the sober and judicious.
But all this is irrelevant when we consider what Trump did rather than what he said. Here is a compendium.
HOW IS POOR SOMALILAND DEFEATING JIHADI TERRORISTS?
photo ©Jack Wheeler
[Having been to Somaliland three times, and writing about it in TTP for years – e.g., The Country That Does Exist (Feb. 2011) – I am so pleased to see Michael Horton explain how Islamic terrorists, while winning in Somalia, are being defeated in Somaliland – JW]
The tempo of Jihadist Al-Shabaab’s operations in Somalia has steadily increased, despite a dramatic escalation in U.S.-led drone strikes in Somalia. In fact, indications have emerged that al-Shabaab is gaining new capabilities and tactics, such as the use of hand-launched drones.
However, Al-Shabaab has failed to establish an enduring presence in the autonomous but unrecognized Republic of Somaliland. The government of Somaliland’s military budget is the equivalent of an accounting error when compared with what has been—and continues to be—spent in Somalia by its international backers.
Yet, with its limited resources, Somaliland has achieved what the military forces of Kenya, Turkey, Ethiopia, and the United States have failed to achieve in Somalia: it has denied al-Shabaab a foothold.
How has Somaliland achieved this?
THE NAGAS OF LUANG PRABANG
Nagas are multi-headed dragons who rise up to protect the former royal capital of Laos, Luang Prabang. The city along the Mekong River has been the center of Lao culture since the 600s. The Kingdom of Laos, “Land of a Million Elephants,” had to struggle for centuries to avoid being absorbed by the empires of Siam and Khmer (Cambodia). It was the French who wrested Laos from Siam (Thailand) in the 1890s, giving it independence in 1953.
For centuries, devout Buddhists have been building beautifully ornate shrines and temples called Wats here in Luang Prabang. Every day at dawn, hundreds of red-robed monks living in the Wats parade through the city streets for donations. Since the Pathet Lao seizure of power in 1975, moving the capital to Vientiane, Luang Prabang is free of politics, preserved as a religious haven and treasure house of Laotian culture.
A few days here is not to be missed. As you enjoy a glass of good French wine at a riverbank café watching the sunset over the Mekong, give thanks to the Nagas who are still protecting this sanctuary city. (Glimpses of Our Breathtaking World #24, photo ©Jack Wheeler)
NO ONE DESERVES THE NOBEL PEACE PRIZE MORE
The United Arab Emirates will establish full diplomatic relations with Israel, President Trump announced last Thursday (8/13).
It is a “huge achievement,” said Washington Post columnist David Ignatius.
A “key step for peace,” said Dennis Ross, who tried (and failed) to negotiate Middle East peace treaties during the Obama administration.
Others called the peace agreement “historic,” said it will bring “massive change” to the Middle East.
The Trump administration’s foreign policy has been disastrous, Democrats assert.
KAMALA AND RELIVING THE AGE OF LINCOLN
"From fanaticism to barbarism is only one step." —Denis Diderot (1713-1784) – leader of the French Enlightenment
Tonight (8/19) at the Virtual Democrat Convention in Milwaukee, Kamala Harris will virtually accept her party’s nomination for Vice-President (she will be in Chevy Chase, Maryland at the time).
Joe Biden's handlers opting for Kamala Harris as his running mate is downright entertaining. It's as though they let Trump choose Biden's V.P. candidate. Harris polled near the very bottom of all the Democrats who threw their hat in the ring as presidential wannabes.
Of all the women among consideration, Harris has the greatest dearth of character – which, when you think of it, is in character for the Democrats.
THE SANDS OF IWO JIMA
This is the black sand beach the US Marines stormed on February 19, 1945, beginning the legendary Battle of Iwo Jima. Overlooking the beach is Mount Suribachi, where four days later Joe Rosenthal took his iconic photo of six Marines planting the US flag on its summit.
You can come here once a year at a commemoration jointly held by the US and Japanese militaries. Guests of honor are the few Marine veterans of the battle still alive. To be here on these sands and on the summit of Suribachi, where the memorial lauds them – “On Iwo Jima, uncommon valor was a common virtue” – with these heroic men is an indescribable privilege. (Glimpses of Our Breathtaking World #23, photo ©Jack Wheeler)
KIM THE DEM SLAYER – THE NEXT REPUBLICAN SUPERSTAR?
Yesterday (8/17), Kim Klacik, running for Congress for Maryland 7th (Baltimore) posted this campaign ad on @KimKBaltimore. In less than 24 hours it’s gotten 4.5 million views. Watch and see why:
She proudly identifies herself as pro-Trump, pro-life, and “anti-Squad” as the antidote to AOC, Ilhan Omar and their ilk. As she walks by boarded up and rundown buildings, she says: