AMERICA DESERVES BETTER THAN A CRACKED-OUT CLOWN CAR DEMOCRAT PARTY
America deserves better than the degenerate propaganda machine that passes for “elite” journalism. We deserve better than the evil “cracked-out clown car” the Democrat Party has become.
The New York Times and the Washington Post all but ignored DNI Tulsi Gabbard’s bombshell press conference yesterday (Wednesday 7/23), at which she announced that she had sent criminal referrals to the DOJ and FBI implicating former President Barack Obama and his national security team in the “seditious conspiracy” of the Russia collusion hoax.
As time goes on, and more evidence is painstakingly chipped out of hiding, we see just how rotten the apex Democrats are: Obama, Hillary Clinton and Joe Biden.
No wonder their party is a shambles: “Constipated. Leaderless. Confused. A cracked-out clown car. Divided,” wrote veteran Democrat strategist James Carville in the Times this week, warning of an impending “civil war” between whatever is left of the moderate rump and the parasitical radical faction that is sucking the party dry.
MYSTERY LAKES OF THE GOBI
The southernmost portion of the Gobi Desert is called the Alashan in Inner Mongolia. Traversed by Marco Polo in 1273 on his way to meet the Mongol Emperor Kublai Khan, he said it contained a “mystery.”
For in the hidden center of the Alashan is an area known as Badain Jaran, “Mystery Lakes” in Mongolian. There are some 140 of these small lakes surrounded by enormous sand dunes. The photo you see is of one of these lakes, taken in late afternoon on a windless day, with the giant dunes above reflected on the water.
We were there in October 2017. Traversing the dunes to explore these lakes is a mesmerizing experience. (Glimpses of Our Breathtaking World #32 Photo ©Jack Wheeler)
RUSSIA’S SUMMER OF DOUBT AND FOREBODING
Russia Faces Intense Barrage Of Ukraine Drones Shutting Down Moscow Airports | Sunday July 20, 2025
Ukraine drone attacks on Moscow and all over Russia are a regular occurrence now.
No wonder, then, that the fourth summer of Moscow’s war against Ukraine has brought feelings of tiredness and hopelessness, rather than the usual seasonal optimism, to Russia.
The spring expectations of a probable cessation of hostilities are gone, and the messages from the Kremlin about the firm determination to stay the course aimed at subjugating Ukraine undercut the longing for a normal life.
Opinion polls cannot fully capture this shift in public mood, particularly when conducted by “foreign agents.” They still indicate a decline in feelings of pride and hope, however, and an increase in indifference and fear (Levada Center, July 18).
PROTECT YOUR DEUCE — ASSEMBLING EVERY DAY EMERGENCY SUPPLIES
End of the world scenarios are bad enough to consider. You have the entire nature of the American social and legal contract hinging on the outcome of every election. You can’t bend down to get anything without asking the people behind you who they voted for.
It is true that aliens, Al Qaeda, or just your nutty neighbors may attack in the middle of the day and plunge you into a Battle Los Angeles situation, but the more likely scenario is that some ridiculously common issue is going to have you sweating and going wee-wee-wee-all-the-way-home before the apocalypse happens.
Today, we’re going to talk about that.
IMPRESSIONISM’S ISLAND
Bangaram Atoll, Laccadive Islands, India. The “Lacquered” islands or Laccadives are legendary for the glossiness of the Indian Ocean surrounding them. There are three dozen of these coral atolls over 150 miles off the coast of southwest India – but moorkh Indian bureaucrats insist on calling them “Lakshadweep,” Sanskrit for “100,000. Go figure.
Paintings of the French Impressionists of the 19th century merged dreams and reality. Here that is for real. The beauty in the Laccadives can be so astonishing that it seems surreal – like when the ocean and sky merge into one in a palette of pastels straight from the brush of Monet. Come to Bangaram and you’ll find yourself living inside a painting. (Glimpses of Our Breathtaking World #172 photo ©Jack Wheeler)
THIS MAKES WATERGATE LOOK LIKE AMATEUR HOUR
In recent days, new evidence has emerged showing that the Obama administration intentionally manipulated and politicized intelligence to advance the Russian collusion hoax — despite conflicting assessments from within the intelligence community itself.
Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard has accused former President Barack Obama of orchestrating a “manufactured, politicized piece of intelligence” to undermine Donald Trump’s presidency before it began. A cache of over 100 declassified documents that her office released includes a December 2016 President’s Daily Brief reportedly confirming that Russia had neither the intent nor capability to alter the outcome of the 2016 election.
According to Gabbard, Obama’s political appointees deliberately suppressed that document. The next day, Obama convened a National Security Council meeting and instructed top intelligence officials, including James Clapper, John Brennan, James Comey, and Susan Rice, to produce an assessment that would support a predetermined conclusion: that Russia interfered in the election to help Trump.
The emerging narrative makes Watergate look like amateur hour.
THE WAR BETWEEN TRUMP’S CHEMOTHERAPY AND BIDEN’S CANCER
Dr. Trump will see you now
Chemotherapy can be a life-saving though sometimes toxic effort to eliminate lethal cancer cells before they kill the patient. As such, it can serve as a bitter metaphor for the often-controversial efforts of the Trump administration to undo the metastasizing damage caused by the Biden administration.
The Democrats and their media, however, wish to convince America that the remedy for four years of catastrophe is worse than the catastrophe itself.
Take the border. It was literally destroyed over the last four years. After welcoming in some three million illegal aliens per year—none with legal permission, health audits, or criminal background checks—there was no sign that the then-current or a second Biden administration was ever going to stop radically altering the demography of the U.S.
It was apparently not enough for Biden and his puppeteers that there were a record 50-million-plus foreign-born U.S. residents, comprising nearly 16 percent of the population, among them likely more than 30 million illegal aliens. What number would have been sufficient for a putative eight-year Biden administration—40, 50, or 70 million illegal aliens?
MONGOLIA SUNSET
On a grassy plain in a wide valley of the Altai Mountains in far western Mongolia, we set up a private ger camp near a nomad encampment. This was my “ger” – a Mongol nomad round tent with a wooden frame – that was my home while we learned about the nomad way of life, including, out here, hunting with eagles. It’s hard to describe how peaceful and serene it is in this remote place – like we had a whole world to ourselves.
There are very few places left on earth where a truly nomadic life still flourishes, a life that uniquely experiences a special freedom. You find it here. (Glimpses of Our Breathtaking World #305 photo ©Jack Wheeler)
A MALTESE ODYSSEY
The Sleeping Goddess of Malta ca. 3500 BC
Preface by Jack. The Sleeping Goddess carved by the ancient megalithic people of Malta close to six thousand years ago has an entrancingly soothing beauty, symbolic of Malta itself. Richard Bangs has been a dear friend of mine for over 40 years. In addition to being the world’s foremost river explorer, he is a gifted composer of poetic prose. Richard will be co-leading with Rebel and me our Magic of Malta exploration this coming November. This is possibly the most beautiful description of Malta ever written.
There are places that murmur with the ghosts of time. There are places that sing with the laughter of the present. And then, there is Malta—a sun-dappled jewel adrift in the Mediterranean, a stage where the drama of civilization has played out for over 7,000 years.
Malta doesn’t simply invite you; it summons you. It’s a clarion call to the curious, the seekers, the wanderers who wish to touch the pulse of history and the poetry of place.
Malta is not merely a speck on the map. It is a living palimpsest, a manuscript written and rewritten by the hands of empires and dreamers.
Malta is the island that seduced myth itself. Homer, that old spinner of tales, cast Odysseus upon these shores, held captive by the enchantress Calypso for seven languid years. And who could blame him for lingering? Malta is more than a waypoint; it is a spell, a place that holds you fast.
FLASHBACK FRIDAY – WASHINGTON POST, APRIL 16, 1986
This is the story on me in WaPo that chronicled my creation and implementation of The Reagan Doctrine and established my reputation in DC. The WaPo writer was very gracious and genuinely interested in my story. He told it straight and accurately quoted the people in the Reagan White House with whom I worked. I had no idea, though, that the story would be so large, spread across the front page of the Style section and continuing for another full page.
Unfortunately, you need get behind the WaPo paywall to read the entire article: https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/lifestyle/1986/04/16/jack-wheelers-adventures-with-the-freedom-fighters/7869872b-a5db-4acf-9ed9-7bc14dac9e9e/. . (Glimpses of Our Breathtaking World #301, photo ©Jack Wheeler)