PUTIN’S ESCALATING THREATS IN UKRAINE
Russia’s strategy in executing its aggressive war against Ukraine, passing the 1,000-day mark last week (11/19(, puts the country’s economy, society, and armed forces under enormous pressure that Moscow’s militaristic propaganda cannot quite cover.
Relentless attacks, necessary for proving Russia’s control of the strategic initiative, produce Russian casualties so heavy that recruitment based on outlandish payments cannot compensate for the number of losses ( Mediazona, November 22). Public support for the war cannot be measured with any accuracy, but opinion polls show a steady increase in preferences for immediate peace talks (Levada.ru, November 6; The Moscow Times, November 22).
For Putin, escalation is the only way to alter the pattern of fast-progressing attrition.
THE MONTE PALACE GARDENS OF MADEIRA
The island of Madeira in the Atlantic some 320 miles west of Morocco was first discovered, uninhabited, by Portuguese explorers in 1418. It has been a part of Portugal ever since. In the 1600s it became renowned for its Madeira wine, with English wine makers settling there and exporting it to England and the American colonies. The English consul Charles Murray built a beautiful estate, "Quinta do Prazer", Pleasure Estate, high above the capital of Funchal, which by the late 1800s was converted into the Monte Palace hotel.
100 years later, Portuguese entrepreneurs developed the property into one of the most spectacular tropical gardens in the world, with lakes, waterfalls, and exotic tropical plants turning it into a fantasy wonderland. You can spend hours wandering around relaxing and luxuriating in this peaceful paradise. Which is just what we do whenever we are here. We’ll be here again next May of 2025. You should plan on being with us. (Glimpses of Our Breathtaking World #243 photo ©Jack Wheeler)
THE IMMORALITY OF ILLEGAL IMMIGRATION
Weekly we read of thousands of illegal immigrants arriving from areas controlled by violent Mexican cartel gangs or failed, strife-torn South American countries that have emptied their jails to send their felons northwards. Hundreds of thousands of them have been committing violent crimes while demanding still more free housing and support from strapped American taxpayers.
Big-city left-wing mayors and city councils boast that they will do all their best to nullify federal immigration laws, even as their cities face near insolvency housing, feeding, and monitoring the influx. Virtue-signaling Democrat governors have so far not dared to utter a word of criticism about what has been the Biden administration’s truly historic “massive importation” of illegal aliens into the U.S. over the last four years.
Why? Because they could. Very soon they won’t be able to any longer. Their war on legality and morality is about to end...
THIS TRUMP PICK CAN SILENTLY STRANGLE THE DEEP STATE
The Office of Management and Budget is a less well-known entity within the executive branch, but few are as critical for ensuring the implementation of the president’s agenda. President-elect Donald Trump has once again placed that awesome responsibility in Russ Vought’s hands.
OMB is not just the president’s budget division. While OMB oversees the structure and execution of the budget, it also has oversight powers over federal agencies and federal regulations to ensure the commands of the president, bestowed executive powers by the American people, are being followed.
In a recent interview with Tucker Carlson, Vought explained how OMB can use those powers to kill the deep state—a death by a thousand cuts.
THE EMPRESS WHO LOVED ACHILLES
On a mountain top on the island of Corfu in 1890, Empress Elizabeth of Austria built a magnificent marble palace called the Achilleion, dedicated to her hero, the legendary Achilles of Homer’s Iliad. Here she retreated from the world, amidst the palace’s gorgeous gardens overlooking the Mediterranean abundant with larger-than-life statues of her ideal man, “who despised all mortals and did not fear even the gods."
All of Europe knew her as Sisi. Adored by her husband Emperor Franz Joseph I, renowned as the most beautiful – and most beloved -- woman of her time, she was Austria’s Empress for 44 years. Her life ended tragically, murdered at random by an anarchist who wanted to “kill a royal.”
The Achilleion today is maintained immaculately in all its original glory as a museum you can visit. Don’t pass the chance to see it for yourself. (Glimpses of Our Breathtaking World #76 photo ©Jack Wheeler)
BORNEO SUNSET
[This Monday's Archive was originally published on July 26, 2007. I thought it would be nice to take a break from all the hither and thither in Washington that everybody’s fixated upon with one of my “Histories in a Nutshell.” Everyone has heard of Borneo, but few know something of its fascinating history. Now you’ll be among those few. Enjoy.]
TTP, July 26, 2007
Kuching, Sarawak, Borneo. This is a tale of tattooed headhunters and White Rajahs, of fantastically rich sultans and weirdly demented princes, of spectacular natural wonders and their destruction, of Chinese Christians, Malay Moslems, and Javanese imperialists, of impossibly beautiful sunsets in the South China Sea.
This is a tale of Borneo. It is also a tale of Christians under siege.
Today, the island of Borneo is politically divided into three parts: Indonesian Borneo or Kalimantan, Malaysian Borneo comprised of Sarawak and North Borneo or Sabah, with the Sultanate of Brunei wedged between. Quite a story how that came to be.
FLASHBACK FRIDAY – JOHNNY AND THE TSANTSA
November 17, 1976. When I wrote my book “The Adventurer’s Guide,” it was a fantasy of mine to go on the Tonight Show and have Johnny Carson hold a “tsantsa,” a human shrunken head – as a book chapter was “How To Live With Headhunters.” As you can see, that fantasy came true. I still can’t believe how relaxed I was in the studio photo. That’s because Carson had a magical ability to put a guest like me, no professional performer, at ease. The cameras and lights, the audience, millions watching on TV all went away. It was just me talking to this friendly fellow with no one around. An amazing experience. Some dreams can really happen! (Glimpses of Our Breathtaking World #40 photo ©Jack Wheeler)
THE THEME
HALF-FULL REPORT 11/22/24
We could say Christmas came early in America with the massive win of T47, but it seems that every day it’s Christmas now. The signs of our country returning to ordinary plain normalcy are popping up everywhere.
Nowhere is this more clear than the aphorism, “politics is downstream from culture,” and Trump’s shifting the culture to our side – with his now iconic Trump Dance.
LUANGWA LAGOON SUNSET
It’s hard to find a better example of the glory of nature than here – a lagoon off the Luangwa River in Africa’s Zambia. It’s also hard to believe I took this picture just a few days ago – and now I’m back home, and Africa so far away.
It was so fulfilling, so rewarding for me to provide a life-memorable experience of real Africa to eight TTPers – they’ll never forget it ever. There’s a primordial magic in Africa that grips your soul like nowhere else. The wisdom of those most familiar with the world is: “If you can visit only two continents in your life, go to Africa – twice.” How about the Serengeti Safari of your dreams with Rebel and me next March: Serengeti Luxury Birthing Safari-2025-Mar 8-19? (Glimpses of Our Breathtaking World #145 Photo ©Jack Wheeler)