FIVE ISSUES PUTIN DOESN’T WANT TO TALK ABOUT
Putin delivers “State of the Nation” address, February 20, 2019
The annual presidential “State of the Nation” address to the Federal Assembly (upper chamber of the Russian parliament) is a big political show in Russia, which tells little about the state of the country but much about the mood in the ruling elite.
The address, delivered by President Vladimir Putin last week (2/20), revealed worries in the Kremlin about the spreading discontent and declining popularity of the leader who took charge nearly 20 years ago (Moscow Echo, 2/20). His keen attention to particular social problems was supposed to restore the population’s confidence in the benevolence of the supreme ruler (Newsru.com, 2/22).
Putin made no clear attempt to present a coherent ideology purportedly underpinning his reign. Moreover, in his speech, the Russian president only briefly touched on foreign policy. It is, therefore, quite illuminating to note the international matters of major importance to Moscow that he specifically omitted.
And the one domestic issue that everyone except the ruling elite cares most about.
THE ATLANTIC PARADISE OF MADEIRA
At Wheeler Expeditions, we define an “expedition” as an adventure with a purpose, with a mission to be accomplished.
We have hard core adventure expeditions exploring the Gobi Desert or the Amazon, overland expeditions across Central Asia or the Sahara, helicopter expeditions through the Himalayas or the Albanian Alps, cultural expeditions to Israel’s Holy Land or tribal people in Southeast Asia, safari wildlife expeditions to Zambia or Borneo.
Then there’s a fun expedition – with the purpose and mission to simply enjoy being in magical places with luxury accommodations, wonderful food and wine, surrounded by natural beauty, Goldilocks weather (not too hot, not too cold, just right), exploring something cool to see and do around every corner, just relax and have fun.
Ideally, such places would be easy to get to and nearby – not half-way around the world. And where it won’t cost an arm and a leg to have a life-memorable experience you’ll always remember with a smile. Oh, without a lot of time, say in about 10 days or so.
Well, there are such places – and we’re going to a trio of them this coming June. We call them Atlantic Paradises. We’re going to focus on one this week – the Portuguese island territory of Madeira.
THEY MUST BE STOPPED
Hi y’all,
After a brief hiatus from writing, Tex is back! Believe me I’ve missed my fellow TTPers. While traveling the world extensively the past several months, attempting to save corporate IT from themselves, I’ve kept my eyes and ears on a very disturbing trend:
The clear censorship by Silicon Valley of anyone they consider “offensive” and any speech they consider “hate”.
In other words, any political ideas to the right of Mao are now heresy, along with thoughts that go against the constantly-morphing, “intersectional”, twisted orthodoxy of snowflake Millennials or 90% of their GenX college professors.
And large tech corporations, replete with the kinds of “leadership” teams Ayn Rand so accurately predicted, composed of James Taggart wannabes all too willing to burn conservatives on a virtual stake. (Hey, you’ve read Atlas Shrugged, right?)
“So, Tex, why should I care about a few commentators not getting to use Twitter anymore? Heck, I’ve never tweeted in my life and I’m doing great!”
Well, because it doesn’t end there.
HALF-FULL REPORT 02/22/19
So, last May Roseanne Barr gets fired within hours by ABC after SJWs freak out condemning one single short tweet as “racist” (which it wasn’t, she was ridiculing ValJar’s looks, not her race, thought she was Saudi, not black).
And what do we wake up to this morning with the huge lead headline on Drudge? A disgustingly obscene photo of a disgustingly depraved Trump-hating scumbag who was arrested yesterday (2/21) for his disgusting crime linking to this story: Jussie Smollett Returns to ‘Empire’ Set as Fox Struggles to Decide His Fate.
“Struggles”? The evidence of Smollett’s hoax is overwhelming. The retard wrote a check to pay his two accomplices staging his phony MAGA attack. The two perps have confessed. Fox pretending to be a conservative media company is as much a hoax as Smollett.
In announcing Smollett’s arrest yesterday, Chicago Police Superintendent Eddie Johnson said Smollett orchestrated a "phony attack" in order to take "advantage of the pain and anger of racism to promote his career." Visibly upset, Johnson said to reporters:
"I'm left hanging my head and asking why? Why would anyone, especially an African-American man, use the symbolism of a noose to make false accusations? How could someone look at the hatred and suffering associated with that symbol? How can an individual who has been embraced by the city of Chicago turn around and slap everyone in this city by making this false claim?"
The noose is the key to all of this. Take a look at this picture:
OUR CHILDISH MEDIA
Pro-Trump memesmith genius Carpe Donktum’s latest masterpiece – he entitled it Childish Media – This Is America. Didn’t know Jussie Smollett could dance like that though…
BLACK SWANS AND GRAY RHINOS IN CHINA
During the Lunar New Year holidays this month, political circles in Beijing were abuzz with this question: “Who, or what, are ‘black swans’ and ‘gray rhinos’?”
This followed a major speech given by President and Chinese Communist Party (CCP) General Secretary Xi Jinping at the Central Party School (CPS) last month, in which the 65-year-old leader raised the highest alert for Party officials to “be on guard against black swans and keep watchful for gray rhinos” (jingti hei tian’e, fangfan hui xiniu / 警惕黑天鹅, 防范灰犀牛) (People’s Daily, January 22).
Noting that China’s national security and stability were under multiple threats from within and without, the “core leader” warned: “We must keep our highest alert about ‘black swan’ [i.e., unforeseen] incidents and take steps to prevent ‘gray rhino’ [i.e., known risks that are ignored] incidents.”
At first, the Beijing buzz was these threats are external, coming from an increasingly successful Trump administration in confronting China. Now comes the realization that Xi means internal threats to his power and that of the Chinese Communist Party.
THE GOOD, THE BAD, AND THE UGLY
Last week, there was the pitiful scene of Gov. Andrew Cuomo of New York begging President Trump to restore a tax provision which unfairly benefitted New Yorkers.
It seems that many high-income New Yorkers have been moving their tax homes to Florida, undermining the New York tax base.
Those who live in New York City may be paying state and local income tax rates, in addition to the federal tax, of over 12 percent, giving some an overall tax burden of approximately 50 percent.
Florida imposes no state and local income taxes in addition to the federal income tax — yet Florida is booming, with a budget surplus, while New York is mired in debt. Only 50 years ago, New York had four times the population of Florida, and now Florida is larger than New York.
New York was the great “Empire State” for well over a century. It’s flipped from being the Good state to the Bad, replaced by Florida. As for Virginia…
THE JUSSIE SMOLLETT OF THE TRUMP RUSSIA HOAX
He helped conceive a hoax so outlandish that only the most gullible, craven, or witless person could believe it.
The attack, as he called it, allegedly was executed by mysterious and politically motivated thugs with the intent to inflict harm. It exploited the political climate of the moment given that the chief goal of the ruse—and of the perpetrator himself—was to sow division in an already-fractured American populace for his own gratification.
Lawmakers, journalists, and celebrities acted as accomplices, allowing themselves to be duped and conferring immediate legitimacy to the event. As authorities began to expose the hoax, the mastermind lashed out, blasting his detractors and making incendiary accusations.
No, I am not talking here about Jussie Smollett, the “Empire” actor who concocted an elaborate story about how MAGA-hat wearing hoodlums attacked him in the middle of a frigid night on an underground street in downtown Chicago. I am talking about…
POTUS AND THE HAMMER
Former FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe’s interview on Sixty Minutes aired Sunday (2/17), previewed last Wednesday (2/13), is the strongest evidence yet hammers are now poised to drop on the evildoers.
McCabe confessed to orchestrating a coup to oust a duly elected president. Would he do that unless he knew proof of his sedition is about to be made public?
The only possible defense McCabe can mount is the coup attempt was justified. The purpose of the Sixty Minutes interview was to get his spin out before he’s indicted, and to throw shade on his arch enemy, Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein.
It’s not working, the coup plotters know it, and they know Mueller will not lay a glove on POTUS. They’re in a panic, they see the hammer coming down above them.
THE ROUTE TO DHAULAGIRI
Dhaulagiri – North/Northeast Face ©2019 Jack Wheeler
For the past three weeks, in our exploration of the greatest mountains of the Himalayas, we’ve learned the route to Everest, Lhotse, and Cho Oyu, that to Makalu and Kanchenjunga, and to Manaslu and Annapurna. In our final route, we’ll explore Dhaulagiri – and two fascinating regions nearby.
Remember this sat photo from last week?
This week, we’re not only going to the 7th highest mountain on earth, but the Hidden Tibetan Kingdom of Lo in Mustang, and the Sacred Blue Lake of Phoksundo in the wilds of Dolpo – yes, it really is that unbelievable color of blue.
By the end, we’ll have been to all eight of the “eight-thousanders” (8,000 meters+) in the Himalayas of Nepal – a feat few people have ever experienced.