THE IMMOVABLE OBJECT OF THE STATE OF ISRAEL
David Ben-Gurion and the Jewish Agency established the State of Israel on May 14th, 1948, with the backing of the United Nations and particularly Britain. The United States immediately recognized them. The initial effort had started years before, with the Balfour Declaration, in which Britain supported and helped establish a national homeland for Jews in Palestine. Israel was established according to “international law.”
Within 24 hours of Israel declaring independence, it was attacked. Israel survived, and also survived more wars in 1956, 1967, and 1973—despite their adversaries getting bountiful shipments of arms from the Communist Bloc, as well as some Western nations.
Israel would show down with the Palestinian Liberation Organization (fronted by Otto Skorzeny’s alumnus Yasser Arafat) in 1982 and in Lebanon again in 2006 versus Iran’s proxy Hezbollah. Throughout the time discussed here, Israel was subjected to other cross-border small unit and terror attacks too numerous to name, and perfidy from many ostensibly democratic nations, to include France and Britain ripping them off over the Mirage fighter and the Chieftain tank.
Israel, despite its victories in the major wars, and surviving the long one with few good friends alongside, has been magnanimous to the losers; passing up opportunities to hold conquered land including the entire Sinai Peninsula. They also allowed the hostile Arab residents to remain in the West Bank and Jerusalem, and to hold the Temple Mount following the Six Day War.
None of these locations have gotten more peaceful for it.
LAKE BLED
First Lady Melania Trump would instantly recognize Lake Bled, for it is considered the most beautiful place in her home country of Slovenia. It’s a glacial lake up in the Julian Alps near the border with Austria. The small lush island you see has been a pilgrimage site for millennia – first to the Temple of Ziva, the Slovene goddess of love and fertility, then until now to the Church of the Mother of God. For all that time, Slovene couples came here to get married.
There are 99 steps from the rowboat landing to the church, and from ancient times to today, the tradition is that for a happy and long-lasting marriage, the groom must carry his bride up all 99 steps while she must remain silent while he does.
Lake Bled is a place of deep serenity and joyous calm. Come here to experience both. (Glimpses of Our Breathtaking World #178 photo ©Jack Wheeler)
HOSTAGES RESCUED, AND MANY TRUTHS REVEALED
“There was a knock on the door. A voice said, ‘It’s the IDF. We’ve come to take you home.’”
This is how former hostage Noa Argamani described her rescue from Hamas on the Sabbath — Saturday, June 8 — which also happened to be her father’s birthday.
Israelis spent the weekend cheering her rescue, along with the rescues of three other former hostages — Almog Meir Jan, Andrey Kozlov, and Shlomi Ziv.
All four, ranging in age from 22 to 41, were kidnapped from the Nova music festival on October 7, Hamas’s notorious day of atrocities.
Israeli intelligence recently determined with certainty that they were being held in two separate buildings in Nuseirat, in the Gaza Strip.
Israeli command — which rose to the level of the prime minister and the war cabinet itself — decided to conduct two raids simultaneously, at 11:25 a.m.
Both buildings were heavily guarded by Hamas fighters, though the buildings looked, to all appearances, like regular civilian apartments.
TO THE CLASS OF 2024: YOU ARE ALL DISEASED
[TTP: Whoa! Don’t pass over this article because you aren’t graduating this year. This professor from the University of Virginia’s McIntire School of Commerce offers some marvelous (and amusing) reality here, that can be used to speak with liberal children of all ages. Besides, you’ll enjoy reading it! He even points out that the problem is envy, not inequality.]
If you are graduating from college this year, I suspect you’re not too familiar with George Carlin. So before you become inflamed about the (intentionally) harsh title, let me tell you I plagiarized it from Carlin, who was one of the best American comedians of the last 100 years.
His show, You Are All Diseased is available on YouTube, and it is so good that I was willing to start by alienating you a bit just to plug it here. You’re welcome. It is especially recommended if you’re in any kind of altered state of mind.
Speaking of states of mind: I’m worried about yours.
Rates of anxiety, depression, and suicide among people your age in the U.S. are skyrocketing. I myself lost a student to suicide a few years ago—an experience I wish on no one.
I’m here to tell you that I think it’s partly our (your professors’) fault. We, along with others, have been feeding you a distorted view of the world and your place in it, and I think this has caused a considerable part of the existential angst you all feel.
THE OLD MAN OF STORR
Enter “The Old Man of Storr” in Wikipedia, and it wants to talk about the steep rocky face of the mountain in the background called “The Storr.” Google or Duckduckgo the images and you’ll get all these photos of rocky pinnacles and spires. So where’s the Old Man? It’s the most famous feature on Scotland’s Isle of Skye, yet you never see the Old Man himself. Well, here he is.
Look at the three sections of rocks in the foreground. They form a man sleeping on his back. In the first section on the left, you can see in order his forehead, eyebrows, large nose, both lips open snoring, and chin. In the third section on the right, you see his feet with his toes sticking up. In the middle section – well, now we know why he’s embarrassingly renowned, for there is the Old Man’s manhood standing tall and proud.
Ask any Scottish friend of yours if he knows why the Old Man of Storr on Skye is so-named. Then send this to him. He’ll no doubt say, “Well, laddie, this calls for a wee dram or two for us to properly toast the Old Man!” (Glimpses of Our Breathtaking World #297, photo ©Jack Wheeler)
A BOUNTY ON COYOTES
[This Monday’s Archive was published on May 23, 2006. A bounty on human coyote smugglers of illegals into the US is obviously needed now more than ever – and not just Sheriff Arpaio’s methods described below. Sniper teams tracking them down so they end up like the photo above would be helpful, es verdad?
TTP, May 23, 2006
If you Google "coyote hunting," you'll get 2,790,000 hits. It's a popular sport among outdoorsmen, and a necessary one. As one hunter puts it:
"Coyote populations across the country are exploding and taking an unprecedented toll on wildlife. Zero predator control by state and federal agencies and low fur prices have kept trapping to a minimum, hence predator populations are booming. The opportunity to add some prime coyote pelts to your trophy collection and reduce the predator pressure on the local game and bird populations have never been better."
Coyotes are pests, varmints, hated not only by cattle and sheep ranchers, but by anyone with a regard for all the wildlife they kill. In many states, they can be shot on sight with no permit required in a year-round open season. Ed Boggess, Minnesota's Department of Natural Resources fish and wildlife policy chief explains:
"Coyotes are an unprotected species and can be taken at any time of year, in any quantity, by almost any methods."It's time this perspective is applied to human coyotes - for "coyote" is what smugglers of illegal aliens from Mexico into the US are called.
FLASHBACK FRIDAY – RETRACING HANNIBAL OVER THE ALPS WITH ELEPHANTS
September 1979 – my Hannibal Expedition took two elephants over the same pass Hannibal used in 218 BC across the Alps to attack Rome. There is only one pass that fits the contemporary descriptions of both Greek historian Polybius and Roman historian Livy: The Col du Clapier on what is now the French-Italian border.
Unrecognized as Hannibal’s Pass in 1979, it is still a roadless trail today crossed only on foot or mountain bike. But since our expedition, there are now signs proclaiming it La Route d’Hannibal, and even a life-size statue of an elephant at the French village of Bramans where the track over the pass begins.
The photo you see is us climbing high above Bramans (I’m the one in front with the red backpack). It took us five days to carefully guide our elephants (from an Italian circus) over Clapier and down to the Italian village of Susa. First time in 2,197 years and never repeated 41 years since.
Hannibal’s crossing the Alps with elephants is one of the most epic events of world history. To retrace it yourself with elephants is to make that famous history a part of your life in the most uniquely powerful way. (Glimpses of Our Breathtaking World #15 photo ©Jack Wheeler)
BIDEN DISAPPOINTED AFTER HUGE SCOOP OF VANILLA ICE CREAM TURNS OUT TO BE POPE FRANCIS
FASANO — Sources close to President Biden said he was "highly disappointed" to find out that what he thought was a huge, free scoop of vanilla ice cream at the G7 Summit was in fact only Pope Francis.
Eyewitnesses claimed it was the white papal garments that first caught the 81-year-old Biden's attention. Allegedly, Biden began licking his lips and asking the other world leaders if anyone had an ice cream cone before wandering over to the pontiff while muttering about how long it had been since he'd had a good scoop of vanilla.
"It was a big disappointment for the big guy," said Belinda Gyrth, a member of the presidential staff. She paused to comfort the president, who was standing behind her whining for ice cream. "It's okay, buddy. I know you're disappointed, but maybe we can stop by McDonald's on our way to the airport, okay?"
Sources said Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni came over to offer Biden her condolences and cheered him up by promising him a scoop of authentic Italian gelato if he was good and signed the deal with the nice president of Ukraine.
At publishing time, Biden had reportedly extended the ten-year security deal with Ukraine after Zelensky had promised him a banana split.
- Babylon Bee reporting.
HALF-FULL REPORT 06/14/24
As FJB sinks ever more rapidly into full-blown senility, here’s yet another revelation driving Dems into apoplectic panic. Yesterday (6/13): Trump Makes Stunning Inroads with Young Voters, Not Seen in 24 Years.
In 2016, Hillary won the 18-34 vote by 16 points, Biden in 2020 by 24 points over Trump. Polls released this week shows he’s even or slightly ahead. It’s the same with other critical demos the Dems can’t win without, Blacks and Hispanics.
Everything the Dems try to ruin Trump like their orgy of lawfare makes him stronger. Everything they do to prop Biden up makes him weaker. Worse, they have no alternative. It’s not that the Dems have a thin bench of possible presidential candidates – it’s that they have no bench at all.
Get ready for great fun HFR. Seriously informative too. And it has quite possibly the funniest joke you’ve heard in a long while. Here we go!
MAYA RUINS AND STAR WARS
This is Temple IV at the ancient Mayan capital of Tikal, now in northern Guatemala. It was from the top of Temple IV that the shot in the original 1977 Star Wars movie was filmed of the Millennium Falcon landing (at 44 seconds) near jungle temples (Temples II and III) at the Rebel Base on the moon of Yavin 4.
Built in 740 AD, at 230 feet it is the tallest pre-Columbian structure in all the Americas. While Tikal’s earliest buildings date to the 4th century BC, it was from 300 to 800 AD that Tikal flourished as one of the Mayan Empires most powerful kingdoms.
Then decline set in, with drought, deforestation, overpopulation, and constant warfare with rival kingdoms. With Tikal abandoned by the end of the 900s, it remained covered by rainforest jungle for over a thousand years. American archaeologists began excavations in the 1950s. Today with its major temples restored, Tikal is the most impressive example you can visit of Mayan civilization. (Glimpses of Our Breathtaking World #118 Photo ©Jack Wheeler)