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)
DOJ GUN CONTROL OVEREACH TO TAKE FIREARMS
President Joe Biden’s Department of Justice announced on Saturday the launch of the National Extreme Risk Protection Order Resource Center — to the surprise of some congressional Republicans.
Attorney General Merrick Garland said in a Saturday press release that the new national resource center “will provide our partners across the country with valuable resources to keep firearms out of the hands of individuals who pose a threat to themselves or others.”
Extreme Risk Protection Orders (ERPOs), commonly referred to as “red flag” laws, allow authorities to confiscate firearms from a person whom a court deems to be a risk to himself or others. ERPOs also prevent a person from buying or possessing a gun for the duration of the order.
“The establishment of the Center is the latest example of the Justice Department’s work to use every tool provided by the landmark Bipartisan Safer Communities Act to protect communities from gun violence,” Garland said.
OUTSQUATTING THE SQUATTERS
[TTP: It’s delightful to see Americans taking steps to protect their own property and rights in the face of Judicial refusal to do their proper duty. Inertia (and feeling powerless) resists action, but every person who stands up and takes action encourages more people to do the same. Americans are waking up and gathering new self-determination!]
Landlords are now beating squatters at their own game. They are learning how to turn the tables by squatting on the squatters.
This concept of invading the homes of the squatters was made very public by Mr. Flash Shelton: He became a national inspiration to landlords when he employed bold strategies to evict a mother-daughter grifter team from his mother’s family home.
The dramatic event was recorded by Mr. Shelton and uploaded on YouTube.
THE ROCK OF ZANZIBAR
It would be hard to find a more exotic restaurant than The Rock, perched on a coral outcropping off Michanwi Pingwe beach on the east coast of Zanzibar in the Indian Ocean. Start off with what I found to be the world’s best (and largest) piña colada, then tuck in to marvelous fresh caught grilled lobster along with an excellent French chardonnay. Finish with coconut tiramisù and a large cup of great Tanzanian coffee. Rebel and I will always fondly remember our experience here – and so will you should you ever visit the extraordinary island of Zanzibar. (Glimpses of Our Breathtaking World #287, photo ©Jack Wheeler)
NO APOLOGY, NO FUTURE
[This Monday’s Archive was written on April 28, 2005. It could not be more relevant today. Because more than ever, the world at large is recognizing that Putin is a narcissistic psychopath who cannot be reasoned with like a normal human being. Unfortunately, too many Russians have been infected with his psychopathy, such that the dissolution of the Soviet Union will now be the fate of Russia itself.]
TTP, April 28, 2005
Budapest, Hungary, October 1997. It was a gorgeous fall day, the sun sparkling off the Danube, the domed Royal Palace glinting on Buda Hill, smartly dressed shoppers strolling along the Vaci.
Just a few years ago this place had been a fear-ridden Russian colony. Now everyone on the street was chattering away on a cell phone. Back in the Soviet days, only the Nomenklatura – the Communist elite – could get a telephone, and even they were terrified of talking freely.
I was in Budapest speaking to a conference of international business leaders. Another speaker was a Moscow television news commentator well-known in Russia, Boris Notkin. He informed his audience about how humiliated Russians felt, losing their Empire and the Cold War, not winning many medals in the Olympics, and having their Mir space station go belly-up.
He warned of a dangerous anti-Americanism emerging among Russians, who resentfully blamed America for their problems.
A gray-haired gentleman with a Central European accent stood up and asked Boris a question:
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)
HALF-FULL REPORT 03/22/24
Holy Week 2024
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Censorship is falling upon the world like a gloomy darkness, from coordinated Lawfare at the highest levels of government used to destroy political opposition to the electronic control of an individual's emotions. Unelected powers demand complete control of the political narrative and threaten arbitrary, extrajudicial power over life and death.
We have seen deep states come and go throughout history and watched them become tyrannical when the people resisted. Deep states do deep-state things.
Welcome to Holy Week 2024: This is the most important time of the year for Christians, starting with Palm Sunday on March 24, 2024, and proceeding through Easter on March 31. We look at the deep state then and the deep state today. While the banal nature of today's events cannot, in any way, stand as significant as those from two millennia ago, there are some commonalities behind the motivations of the bureaucratic state.
Let's have a look…
GET THE FLOCK OUT
Democrats always accuse their enemies of what they themselves are guilty of, right out of Saul Alinsky’s “Rules For Radicals.” Democrats have been beating the “Trump is a danger to Democracy” drum because it is all they have in their war chest with Biden as their candidate. It is actually the Democrats that are the real threat to freedom of speech, the 2nd Amendment, and our constitutional republic as a whole.
SKYE’S LINKS 03/21/24
We all suffer from Political Overload at times, but we cannot afford to poke our heads in the sand hoping it will go away! Here are links to what’s happening at the border; Congressional votes on social media; malfeasance by the CIA, Boeing, and Hamas (I’m sure that will surprise you – sarcasm font); the usual DC insanity; plus the economy. The best news is that we’re all here together!
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)