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Dr. Jack Wheeler

HALF-FULL REPORT 10/15/21

put-out-the-fire-trumpHang on tight, we’re in for a Cornucopia HFR – so much awful news for Bidenista fascisti and Leftie woketards, so much awesome news for us.

What you’re going to see in the coming weeks and months is a steadily spreading inverse ratio between China Joe’s popularity sinking like the Titanic and Trump Nostalgia.

“Our latest polling shows President Biden with a 36% positive job performance rating, while his negative rating is 61%. Worst of all for him, women are abandoning the president, followed by independents,” reports pollster Jonathan Zogby of Zogby Analytics.

This will continue at an accelerating rate until the Biden Regime sinks beneath the waves.  Meanwhile, last Saturday (10/09): President Trump Breaks Records for Unprecedented Crowd Size at Iowa Rally

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BADAB-E-SURT

springs-of-intensityThe “Springs of Intensity” in Persian are a series travertine terraces in remote northern Iran of such impressionist beauty they look like a masterpiece of Claude Monet. For thousands of years, water flowing down a mountainside from two hot mineral springs depositing carbonates have built these natural multi-colored staircases.

Iran is an enormous country – almost the size of Alaska, four times the size of California – filled with wonders, natural and cultural. We were welcomed in every part of the country in our exploration of it in 2014. While the current political climate does not allow that today, the day will come before long when we will return. (Glimpses of Our Breathtaking World #130 Photo ©Jack Wheeler)

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WHAT WOULD HE THINK OF US?

xikrin-kayapo-tribesmanThis Xikrin-Kayapo tribesman and his people live in the deepest heart of the Brazilian Amazon on tributaries of the Xingu River. You wonder what he would think of us as panic, fear, and madness engulfs our civilization. Having spent time in his village not long ago, I’m confident he would simply shake his head in bewilderment and say, “Please just let us live our lives in our forest, that’s all we want.”

True indigenous tribes who keep to their traditional way of life are so rare now in the Amazon or anywhere else where they once flourished. Each one is a precious living cultural heritage of humanity. It is such a privilege when they share their way of life with you. They deserve to have their wish granted, as my tribesman friend would express it. (Glimpses of Our Breathtaking World #4 photo ©Jack Wheeler)

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BIRTHPLACE OF A GODDESS

rock-of-aphroditeThis is the Rock of Aphrodite – where Greek mythology says the Goddess of Love was born fully formed from the sea-foam surging around it – and makes Cyprus the Island of Love. It is south of Paphos on the island’s west coast.

Adjacent is the Temple Sanctuary of Aphrodite, where pilgrims came from every Greek city and kingdom for 2,000 years to worship her. The ancient Greeks prayed to Aphrodite more than any of their other gods, for she was the apotheosis of love, desire, and fertility or having children. Which explains why today couples travel from all over the world to get married here.

Folks have been living in Cyprus for a really long time. So long that they were the first people in the world to domesticate cats over 9,000 years ago. A Neolithic village has been unearthed called Choirokoitia that’s surprisingly sophisticated for being 8,000 years old. In Roman times, after Jesus rose Lazarus from the dead, he went to Cyprus -- there is a beautiful church, the Agios Lazaros, built over his tomb.

The Painted Churches of Troodos are adorned with magnificent medieval art. The ruins of a Crusaders’ fortress inspired the fairy tale castle of Walt Disney’s Snow White. I hope Cyprus’ inspirational history will inspire you to explore it someday. (Glimpses of Our Breathtaking World #101 photo ©Jack Wheeler)

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HAPPY COLUMBUS DAY!

christopher-columbus

Christopher Columbus 1451-1506

October 12 is for celebrating the 525th anniversary of Columbus’ discovery of America, for on that day in 1492, the Great Admiral landed on Guanahani (now known as San Salvador or Watlings) island in the Bahamas.

We commemorate this as a true discovery in contrast to all the claims of Vikings, Chinese, Irish, and others who supposedly came earlier – for once and only after  Columbus discovered America, it stayed discovered.

What it should be is a commemoration and celebration of Western Civilization – which is why the Left hates Columbus and his holiday, with self-hating White Liberals masochistically condemning their own civilization.

If it’s your misfortune to run into any of these folk bemoaning the nightmare and tragedy of our coming here, you might suggest to them that they abandon every vestige of the civilization they hate as so evil.

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PANTELLERIA’S MIRROR OF VENUS

pantellerias Between Sicily and Tunisia in the Mediterranean lies a secret hideaway of Europe’s rich and famous – the small Italian island of Pantelleria.  Peaceful and quiet, the opposite of glitzy places like Ibiza, wealthy elite retreat here in luxurious yet very understated villas to get away from it all.  It helps that the shoreline is all volcanic rock cliffs, which dissuades  hordes of African “migrants” attempted to claim “asylum” in the EU welfare state by landing here.

The most beautiful spot on Pantelleria is this volcano crater lake known as “The Mirror of Venus” – of such magic color that, the legend goes, the goddess Venus would admire herself in its reflection.  Come here for a tranquil escape of your own.  (Glimpses of Our Breathtaking World #164 photo ©Jack Wheeler)

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FLASHBACK FRIDAY – MEETING THE DALAI LAMA

jw-dalai-lamaSeventeen years ago today, October 9, 2003, I had the privilege to meet and have an unforgettable conversation with His Holiness the Dalai Lama. It was at a luncheon hosted by India’s Ambassador to the US at his residence in Washington. His Holiness loved my telling him how I had passed out over a thousand pictures of him during my three overland expeditions crisscrossing Tibet. “Illegally, yes?” he asked, as the Chinese make this a crime. “Oh, very illegally!” I answered as we both chuckled.

The Ambassador asked where he was born. His answer, “very remote village in far northern Tibet.” He was startled when I interjected, “Yes, I know, I’ve been there – I even bought a doonchen (telescoping 15 foot-long Tibetan prayer horn) in your village.” “A doonchen?” he exclaimed. “You mean…?” and put his hands to his lips to make this really loud WHOOOH like the horn makes. I nodded and did the same, WHOOOH. We belly laughed, while all the diplomats and Congressmen did not know what was going on.

Then he wrapped his hands around mine and I felt an electric energy run through my body. It was his blessing. I will treasure it all my life. (Glimpses of Our Breathtaking World #60 photo ©Jack Wheeler)

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HALF-FULL REPORT 10/08/21

french-deliverance_savonarola Florence, Italy.  Below the Palazzo Vecchio, Florence’s town hall built in the 1300s on the Piazza della Signoria, Florence’s main public square, you find this granite/bronze plaque embedded in the pavement stones.  It is ignored by the hordes of tourists anxious to take photos and selfies of all the statues adorning the Piazza, such as the copy of Michelangelo’s David.

Yet this is where the real history took place, for at this spot on May 23, 1498, the people of Florence put an end to the destructive insanity destroying their city.  The plaque commemorates where the leader of the Taliban of the Renaissance, a mad monk named Savonarola and two accomplices, were hung on a gallows cross and burned to ashes.

portraits-of-evil

Portraits of Evil

As Savonarola was Florence’s #1 Domestic Terrorist of his day, so Joe Biden is America’s #1 Domestic Terrorist today.

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THE NDIKI DRUM

ndiki-drumFamboun, Cameroon. This is a Ndiki Drum. It is used by the Sultan of Bamoun to call his subjects to their end-of the-year Nguon festival over which he presides. It can be heard for miles.

The carved wooden forearms and hands propped up at the drum’s end are not the original drumsticks. They are symbolic for what the real drumsticks used to be. Until the British and French put an end to the custom in the 1920s, the Ndiki drumsticks were human arms, amputated at the elbow off captured slaves. Four drummers were needed to properly pound the drum, each requiring two drumsticks: eight amputated human arms in total.

The horror of slavery in Africa was ended by Western colonialists. In its place they introduced roads, railroads, electricity, an impartial rule of law instead of law favoring one tribe over another, and other benefits of civilization. They did a lot of stupid damage to African cultures, true.

But that is vastly outweighed by getting rid of slavery – exemplified by how this drum was pounded until less than 100 years ago. If you have a child or grandchild in school with woke teachers, you might have them bring this picture to class, and explain how the benefits of Western Civilization so greatly outweighs its liabilities. (Glimpses of Our Breathtaking World #124 Photo ©Jack Wheeler)

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THE WORLD’S MOST SACRED MOUNTAIN

mt-kailas-north-faceThis is the North Face of Mount Kailas (6,638 m/21,778 ft) in a remote region of far western Tibet inhabited only by Changpa nomads. For 22% of all people on Earth – 1.2 billion Hindus, 510 million Buddhists and many millions of others – it is the spiritual Center of the Universe, the Navel of All Creation.

Kailas and surrounding glaciers are considered the source of four of Asia’s great rivers radiating out from it: the Indus, Tsangpo-Bhramaputra, Sutlej, and Karnali-Ganges. As a sacred mountain it has never been climbed.

For thousands of years, people from all Asia have made the arduous pilgrimage to Kailas to perform the sacred act of circumambulating around the mountain – most clockwise, counterclockwise for others such as the Changpa adhering to the ancient Bön Tibetan religion.

It is not easy. Huffing over the high point of the pilgrimage route with TTPer Big John Perrot, our altimeter said we were as high as Kilimanjaro, over 19,000 feet. The highlight, however, is being among so many pilgrims from so many diverse cultures. This is one of our world’s thrilling adventures, and such a privilege to participate in. (Glimpses of Our Breathtaking World #38 Photo ©Jack Wheeler)

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THE DONGBA SPIRIT OF NATURE

shv-statueOriginally nomads from the Tibetan Plateau, the Nashi people settled in the fertile Himalayan foothills of Yunnan over 2,000 years ago.  From the ancient Tibetan religion of Bön, they developed a unique religion of nature-worship called Dongba.  The progenitors of humanity and nature were two half-brothers, two mothers with the same father.  Nature is controlled by a human-snake chimera called Shv – a statue of whom you see here.

The Nashi are a peaceful gentle people whose ideal is living in accordance with nature.  They dress very colorfully, women have equal respect with men, they write with the world’s only still-functioning pictographic script, and are proud of preserving their culture for millennia.  It is an enchanting experience to be among them.  (Glimpses of Our Breathtaking World #163 photo ©Jack Wheeler)

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ANOTHER WORLD OF AWE

underwater-catalina-islandReading Joel’s beautiful Keeping Your Sanity with a Sense of Awe today (10/04), with its mention of the sun reflecting off the kelp beds of Monterey Bay, I couldn’t help thinking of a similar experience I had.

I learned how to scuba dive off the California coast, particularly in the waters off Catalina Island.  Kelp plants grow to spread their leaves on the ocean surface, but it’s underwater you experience their true beauty.  They rise from the bottom rocks of the shallow ocean floor near the coast as a forest, and when the sun’s rays shine through them, it is a magical sight to see them turn the color of gold.

The first time I saw this on a dive off Catalina I was transfixed in a true moment of absolute awe, in a transport of appreciation of the Creation in which we are privileged to exist.

The photo you see is not mine as I did not have an underwater camera, I could only take a picture with my mind’s eye which I have never forgotten.  So the photo is an approximation of what I saw, yet it brings back that memorable moment of awe I had almost sixty years ago.  Thanks, Joel. (Glimpses of Our Breathtaking World #162)

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FLASHBACK FRIDAY RIDING A YAK AT RANGDUM

yak-riding-at-rangdumRangdum Gompa, Zanskar, August 1993.  Ever ridden a yak?  Brandon did when was 10 at the Rangdum Tibetan Monastery or Gompa atop a small hill at 13,225 feet high in an extremely remote region of the Himalayas in India called Zanskar.  It was part of our Indian Tibet expedition which will be repeating next summer (2022) – and this time Brandon will be leading the expedition.  I’ll just be along for the ride.  (Glimpses of Our Breathtaking World #161 photo ©Jack Wheeler)

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FISHING AT DAWN IN HA LONG BAY

ha-long-bayHa Long Bay near Haiphong, Vietman – meaning Descending Dragon – is a World Heritage Site as one of our planet’s great scenic wonders, with thousands of limestone karst rock pinnacles, towers, and islets.  The most beautiful time is dawn, peaceful and serene, with small fishing boats of local villagers out for the morning catch.  A few days aboard a comfortable junk cruising Ha Long will do wonders for you. (Glimpses of Our Breathtaking World #160 ©photo Jack Wheeler)

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THE TIBETAN KINGDOM OF LO

This is one of the magical places we experience on our Himalaya Helicopter Expeditions. An independent kingdom for 650 years in the remote Mustang region of Nepal, it is one of the last places of traditional Tibetan culture on earth, unchanged for centuries. There are sky-caves here – apartment complexes carved out of vertical cliffs 2,000 years ago – Drok-pa nomads in the high pastures, spectacular sacred ceremonies, all in a mysteriously beautiful setting where the Himalayas meet the Tibetan Plateau. We’ll be here again next April. (Glimpses of Our Breathtaking World #86 Photo ©Jack Wheeler)

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THE MOTHER LEATHERBACK

leatheback-turtleThe leatherneck sea turtle is the world’s largest turtle, weighing up to 1500 pounds. This female was about half that. They have an enormous range, all the way from the North Sea to South Africa in the Atlantic, spending their lives at sea eating jellyfish – except when a female comes ashore to her hatching beach and bury her clutch of eggs in the sand above high tide.

Dropping several dozen glistening white golfball-size eggs into a depression scooped out with her flippers, she covers them up with sand, and heads back to sea, never to see them again. More than two months later, the born hatchlings dig out of the sand and wiggle their way into the sea, where the lucky ones survive.

I was able to watch this mommy’s entire egg-birthing process at dawn on a remote beach in the West African country of Gabon. It was such a privilege to witness an act of elemental nature by such an extraordinary creature. (Glimpses of Our Breathtaking World #127 Photo ©Jack Wheeler)

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KEEPING YOUR SANITY XXIX

river-crossing-illegals I just had lunch today with one of the biggest donors to the Republican Party.  Actually, that’s the wrong tense for he is no longer, he’s stopped giving them a dime.  The more he explained why, the more steamed he got. Here’s what he said.

“Jack, I have completely lost it with these candy-asses.  And I don’t mean just those on Capitol Hill.  I mean those in governor’s mansions, specifically those in Austin and Phoenix.  Yes, I mean Governors Abbott and Ducey.  They’ve got to grow the stones for what it takes to shut this Democrat invasion of illegals down.

And this is what it takes:  to call out their states’ National Guard and state police to close their borders down with Mexico. Any federal judge’s injunction against this policy, any order whatever from any branch of the federal government to stop this and let the invasion continue is, by order of the governor to be ignored.

This is the absolute critical tipping point, because it will demonstrate the powerlessness of DC to order governors around…

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THE SHERMAN TANK THAT’S STILL THERE

tank-at-tarawaThe horrifically heroic Battle of Tarawa was fought November 20-23, 1943, with the US Marines determined to take the entrenched Japanese – which they did, both sides suffering ghastly losses. The Marine amphibious force assaulted the Japanese garrison on the small island of Betio in Tarawa Atoll of the Gilbert Islands – now the country of Kirimati.

The spearhead of the assault was led by the Marine’s Charlie Company, 1st Corps Tank Battalion and its M4-A2 Shermans on what was codenamed Red Beach. One particular Sherman sank a few yards offshore and lies there to this day. It’s easy to wade out and clamber upon it, as these friends of mine did when I brought them there in 2016.

We hear a lot about “climate change” causing “the oceans to rise.” But as you can see, the sea level at Tarawa has been the same for the past 77 years. (Glimpses of Our Breathtaking World #124 Photo ©Jack Wheeler)

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FLASHBACK FRIDAY – THE CRUSADER FORTRESS IN THE CAUCASUS

This is the fortress town of Shatili in an extremely remote Caucasus region in Georgia called Khevsureti. It was built by the Crusaders 1,000 years ago. The Khevsur people who live here trace their ancestry back to these Crusaders and until the 1930s still wore chain mail in feud-battles with other towns. I took this picture in 1991.

American traveler Richard Halliburton (1900–1939) saw and recorded the customs of the Khevsurs in 1935. The Khevsur men, dressed in chain mail and armed with broadswords, wore garments full of decoration made up of crosses and icons. They don’t do that anymore, but they proudly retain their Crusader Christian heritage – for Georgia adopted Christianity in the 4th century AD. (Glimpses of Our Breathtaking World #85 photo ©Jack Wheeler)

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HALF-FULL REPORT 09/24/21

on-a-leashYou may have seen this meme before, but it’s here now as it explains every single one of the multiple disasters currently befalling our America.

It was Xi who carefully wove a web of blackmail around their puppet using his utterly corrupt drug-addict son, so that once installed in the Oval Office, the puppet would follow orders to unleash a cornucopia of catastrophes upon America – all with the unwavering support of key media/social media leaders and influencers on the Chicom payroll.

Yes, all this is treason.  The man inaugurated as President of the United States is a bona fide traitor to his country.  To what extent those in cahoots with him are knowing accomplices or merely useful idiots only time will tell.

What the coming chaos of the next few weeks will tell is whether the Xiden Presidency will survive or not.

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THE POLISH SAVIOR OF WESTERN CIVILIZATION

king-jan-iii-sobieski-of-polandOn September 12, 1683, Ottoman Sultan Mehmet IV as the Caliph of all Islam was on the verge of realizing the great Moslem dream of conquering all of Christian Europe for the glory of Allah.  The great obstacle in his way – the city of Vienna – was about to be overwhelmed by the Sultan’s gigantic army of 140,000 Islamic Taliban of their day.

On the Kahlenberg hilltop above Vienna, the commander of the Christian forces, King Jan III Sobieski of Poland, gave the order to attack. Twenty thousand armed horsemen galloped down the slopes of Kahlenberg, the largest cavalry charge in history, with the Polish King and his Winged Hussars in the lead.  The cavalry trampled the Ottomans and made straight for their camps.

Ottoman commander Kara Mustafa fled out of his tent and barely escaped with his life (it didn’t last long – the Sultan ordered him strangled).  With the Christian victory at The Battle of Vienna, the Moslem threat to Europe was over.  Sobieski wrote a letter to Pope Innocent XI, paraphrasing Julius Caesar:

Venimus, Vidimus, Deus vincit” –  “We came, We saw, God conquered.”

In turn, the Pope hailed Sobieski as “The Savior of Western Christendom.”  Indeed he was, and still is so revered by the Polish people to this day – with no apology.

For the people of Poland stand out among those of all Europe for their pride in being part of Western Civilization – symbolized for them by this statue of their Hero King trampling the Ottomans in the beautiful Royal Baths Park in Warsaw.  They will make sure visitors to the statue note that underneath the right forearm of the fallen Turkish soldier is a book – the Koran.

You owe it to yourself to visit Poland and meet the Polish champions of Christian liberty, having freed themselves from the Ottomans, the Russians, and the Soviets.  We need more like them today.  (Glimpses of Our Breathtaking World #159 Photo ©Jack Wheeler)

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THE LION ROCK OF SIGIRIYA

lion-rock-of-sigiriyaRising 600 feet above the jungles of central Ceylon (Sri Lanka) is a gigantic rock column revered for millennia as Sigiriya – Lion Rock from Sanskrit.  It’s flat on top, used over centuries as a Buddhist monastery and a fortress by kings. In 480, King Kashyapa had the image of a lion carved into the rock as the entrance gate to his fortress-palace on top.  All that’s left are the lion’s paws that you see.

It was a risky climb via stone stairs carved into the rock getting to the top.  Today there’s a much safer wooden staircase.  It’s a pilgrimage site for Sri Lankans where they get to celebrate their history and enjoy the gorgeous view on top.  It’s a marvelous experience for you to participate in.  (Glimpses of Our Breathtaking World #158 photo ©Jack Wheeler)

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THE LIQUID RAINBOW – WORLD’S MOST BEAUTIFUL RIVER

cano-cristalesThis is Caño Cristales, a river flowing through an ancient tableland in a remote roadless region deep in the forests of Colombia. Known as The Liquid Rainbow, geologists consider it the world’s most beautiful river.

The colors are due to endemic riverweeds that grow only here, clinging to the rocks of the riverbed, and the crystal clarity of the water. It is not easy to get to – fly a light plane to an airstrip, take a boat upriver for miles, then walk a few miles more. But then you get to explore one of the most beautiful sights nature has to offer – replete with dozens of small fun waterfalls, surrounded by an uninhabited forest teeming with tropical birds.

No wonder National Geographic calls Caño Cristales “the River of the Garden of Eden.” Yet it is only one of the many extraordinary experiences in this huge country – for Colombia is larger than Texas and California combined. Wheeler Expeditions will be conducting an exploration of Hidden Colombia in 2022. Hope you can be with us. (Glimpses of Our Breathtaking World #22 photo ©Jack Wheeler)

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A FATHER IN CHAD

chad This is the most anti-Marxist picture I have ever taken.  I am a White American.  He is a Black African in N’Djamena, Chad.  And those differences mean nothing compared to our both being fathers.

Look into his soul through his eyes.  Look at the tranquility and peaceful joy his soul feels in being the father of his two beautiful children. It is the same with me.

The Left’s purpose is to divide us into tribal differences of hate – white vs. “people of color,” rich vs. poor, employers vs. workers, exploiters vs. exploited, victimizers vs. victims, the anti-white racist hate of Critical Race Theory.  Always, always, they focus exclusively on differences, to separate people apart, to hate other different than them.  All in the ancient “divide and conquer” scheme to control people’s lives.

Yet the differences between us are so unimportant compared to what we all have in common, our basic humanity.    The bond that I have with this man from Chad is so much greater than anything that separates us.  Focusing on what we all have in common with our fellow human beings is the way to rid the world of the anti-human hate of the Marxist Left. (Glimpses of Our Breathtaking World #157, photo ©Jack Wheeler)

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FLASHBACK FRIDAY – RETRACING HANNIBAL OVER THE ALPS WITH ELEPHANTS

retracing-hannibalSeptember 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)

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HALF-FULL REPORT 09/17/21

senile-warningunvaxxed-placement It’s critical to understand the Dem agenda here.  They need a plague.  A plague providing a rationale to suspend the constitution and rule by emergency decree.  A plague that diverts voter attention away from their multiple disastrous failures. A plague with a scapegoat to blame it on, to divide Americans against each other.

And that’s just the start of what the DemFascist agenda is all about.  This may be the most revelatory HFR ever.  Read on…

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THE IDEAL ESCAPE HATCH

portugal-rivieraWhat would be an ideal place to escape from all the lunacy washing over our country – for a few days to a second home?

Let’s see… it would have to be a First World country with all the civilized amenities of modern life, and a cultured, educated, and welcoming people many, many of whom speak English.

A First World country that brushes aside all Woke nuttiness engulfing the US as silly rubbish to be ignored, and traditional Christian family values revered instead.  That is not much farther away than a US cross-country flight.  That has Goldilocks weather, not too hot, not too cold.  That has sunsets in the ocean, fabulous food and wine, incredible castles in the sky, history that’s thousands of years old yet so hip and current it’s the cultural capital of its continent.

We’ve had Glimpses of this place before:  The Europe That’s Still There, and The Portuguese Riviera.  Yes, the Ideal Escape Hatch for us is Portugal – a quick overnight flight getting there, a morning flight return.

At the end of October, Rebel and I are conducting a Portugal Exploration for TTPers.  We have room for only one more couple and one solo. Please consider joining us – Rebel and I and your fellow TTPers will love to have you.  Just click on Portugal Exploration -- you owe it to yourself to be entranced by the photos, for a glimpse of this ideal place.  (Glimpses of our Breathtaking World #157 ©photo Jack Wheeler)

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DEAD VLEI, NAMIBIA

dead-vleiMany consider this the most surrealistic place on earth. The clarity of the air turns the sky deep cobalt blue, the dunes are so old they’ve rusted red, combining with the white clay floor to give the skeletal trees a scene out of a Dali painting or a science fiction movie. But it’s real.

A thousand years ago the river watering these trees dried up, leaving a white clay pan amidst red sand dunes almost as tall as the Empire State Building. It’s so dry here these acacia trees can’t decompose, their skeletons standing scorched in the sun for ten centuries.

Dead Vlei is in a region of enormous dunes called Sossusvlei. It’s a mind-boggling experience to float over Sossusvlei in a hot air balloon. Namibia, in fact, is full of such experiences – the largest fur seal colony anywhere at Cape Cross, the marvelous abundance of African wildlife at the Etosha Pan, the dramatic shipwrecks dotting the Skeleton Coast, traditional people living untouched by the modern world like the Himbas.

Plus it’s one of the safest and best-run countries in all Africa – certainly worth consideration for your bucket list. (Glimpses of Our Breathtaking World #47 photo ©Jack Wheeler)

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THE HANI RICE TERRACES

hani-rice-terracesThe Hani people in the mountains of Yunnan have been carving out rice terraces on dozens of steep mountainsides for over a dozen centuries.  After the late fall harvest, in winter they flood the terraces in preparation for spring planting.  At sunrise and sunset,  the light reflecting off them creates a scene of phantasmagorical surrealism.  Unknowingly, the Hani have created one of humanity’s most magnificent works of natural art the world has ever seen.  What you see here is only one of hundreds of terraced areas.  It is a sight beyond belief. Glimpses of Our Breathtaking World #156 Photo ©Jack Wheeler)

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THE MONEY THAT MADE US HUMAN

ancient-shell-moneyOn display in the National Museum of Congo in Brazzaville: “Ancient Money.” I took the picture because this is the money that made us human 90,000 years ago. They are tiny Nassarius gibbosulus estuarine snail shells too small for food, perforated with small holes to string on a necklace, used as money “before the establishment of the CFA” as the sign says, the Central Africa Franc in 1945.

These are the same species of shell that was the first jewelry in history unearthed at seashore sites in Morocco and hundreds of miles inland in Algeria some 90kya (thousand years ago) – meaning they were traded. For the first time in history, a species began to exchange things between unrelated unmarried individuals to share, swap, barter and trade, and over great distances.

Other animals do not barter. This, maintains science author Matt Ridley, is what made us distinctly human, enabling us to cooperate with other groups or tribes, to innovate, to evolve ever more complex cultures. This little shell, used as money, is the founding of human culture. And after 90 millennia, it was still in use in Africa until 75 years ago! (Glimpses of Our Breathtaking World #61 photo ©Jack Wheeler)

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KEEPING YOUR SANITY XXVIII

fjb-shirt They’re selling like hotcakes, folks!  We’ve gone from FTC to FJB!

“FTC” was our code in the Reagan White House for what the press called The Reagan Doctrine strategy for getting rid of the Soviet Union: F the Commies.  Today the code is FJB for getting rid of the Dirtbag Impostor infesting the White House.

Actually, no code is needed for these times – everything is spelled out including the F-word.  Google “F*** Joe Biden” – spell it out – and you’ll get 14,600,000 hits. Go to Images and you’ll see an amazing array of flags, posters, banners, coffee cups, t-shirts, etc. proudly and fully announcing it.

This weekend at college football games around the country, “F*** Joe Biden” was such a popular chant by massive mask-free crowds in the stadiums it made national news:

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FLASHBACK FRIDAY – JOHNNY AND THE TSANTSA

jw-on-carsonNovember 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)

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HALF-FULL REPORT 09/10/21

disaster-relief-for-administrationMore accurately, the Biden Regime.  Since 12 Noon EDT last January 20, there has not been a legitimate presidential administration in Washington, and every day since has proven its illegitimacy.

Yesterday (9/09) in TTP, Roger Simon puzzled over The Mystery of California.  Today, on the eve of the 20th anniversary of 9/11, the HFR puzzles over The Mystery of America.

Roger is mystified how the most beautiful piece of real estate arguably in the entire globe turned into rubbish heap.  Now the question becomes – will Americans do the same to their country or not?

Another way to ask the same question:  When do we reach Peak Enough?  The tipping point, the trip wire, the last straw?  How much more fascist, illegal, unconstitutional ruination of our country can Americans stand before they pull the trigger on it all?

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THE MONSTER OF SEFAR

monster-of-sefarCharlatans 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)

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THE FLATTEST PLACE ON EARTH

salar-de-uyuniThe Salar de Uyuni, 12,000 feet high in the Altiplano of Bolivia, is a 4,000 square mile expanse of salt so flat it is used to calibrate the altimeters of NASA observation satellites of the earth. After a rain, it becomes the world’s largest mirror, 80 miles across. The incredible reflective surface extends to the horizon in every direction – it is both hallucinatingly disorienting and makes for amazing mirror-to-horizon photos (especially at sunrise/sunset).

The brine underneath the salt crust contains 70% of the world’s lithium – critical to our battery-fueled global economy – produced in evaporation pools that are a kaleidoscope of colors.

You can stay here in relative luxury at one of the world’s most unique hotels – the Palacio de Sal, built entirely of salt: walls, floors, ceilings, furniture, sculptures. Being here is one of South America’s more astounding experiences. Let me know if you want a Wheeler Expedition to take you there! (Glimpses of Our Breathtaking World #39 Photo ©Jack Wheeler)

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THE DAM JUST BURST

Folks, I am really trying to get a grip on myself right now.  Thank heavens I have TTPers to whom I can write and will understand.  Many of you if not most may be going through something similar. I have been trying to write and post TTP articles since last November with some sense of objectivity and dispassion. Today the dam burst.

Earlier today (9/07), we posted Ice Cream Joe’s Culture of Death.  It starts by referring to a sermon ereyesterday (Sunday 9/05) by Pastor Jack Graham at Dallas’ Prestonwood Baptist Church paying tribute to the Martyred Thirteen at the Kabul Airport.

The TTP article then segues to Pastor Graham’s praise of the “culture of life” Texas Heartbeat Law.  But before he did, Pastor Graham had his audience watch a video of US Congressmen who had served in Afghanistan themselves talking about what the loss of these thirteen Service Members meant to them.

Watching it, I simply broke down.

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KEEPING YOUR SANITY XXVII

THE FEARPORN QUACK

THE FEARPORN QUACK

Quack doctors are a particularly despised species of proto-hominids.  The one pictured above made headlines around the world last week claiming people overdosing on a horse medicine were overwhelming hospital emergency rooms in rural Oklahoma.

It turns out that this quack completely invented the story whole cloth, yet it suckered the entire Global Libtard Media.  This afternoon’s (9/06) Fox headline: Rachel Maddow, Liberal Media Figures Slammed For 'Taking The Bait' On False Story About Ivermectin Overdoses.

This is beyond weird.  This is an unverified story of about horse medicine in small hospitals in rural Oklahoma that goes worldwide.  WTH is going on here?  It’s the Fascist Covid Cult at work.

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THE ITCHAN KALA OF KHIVA

itchan-kalaThe inner town (Itchan Kala) of the ancient Silk Road oasis of Khiva has been unchanged for centuries. Surrounded by 40ft-high snake walls that writhe around the city, its labyrinth of narrow lanes adorned with blue and aquamarine tile mosaics is a living museum for you to explore.

On the Oxus or Amu Darya River in deepest Central Asia, Khiva was ancient when Alexander the Great seized it in 329 BC. It survived the depredations of Arabs in the 7th century, Mongols in the 12th, Tamerlane in the 13th. The Khanate of Khiva continued to flourish on the Silk Road until conquered by the Russians in the 19th. Today in Uzbekistan, it remains as the best-preserved of the ancient oases of the Silk Road, yet unknown to the outside world. We’ll be here once again this coming September. (Glimpses of Our Breathtaking World #118 Photo ©Jack Wheeler)

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FLASHBACK FRIDAY – THE POTALA

the-potalaLhasa, Tibet, 1986. Built in the mid-1600s, the Potala in Lhasa, Tibet was the home of the Dalai Lama as the incarnation of Avalokiteśvara, the Buddhist deity of compassion, until the Communist Chinese colonized Tibet in 1959.

The Potala is one of the world’s great architectural wonders, thirteen stories high with molten copper poured into the foundation to stabilize it from earthquakes, 1,000 rooms, 10,000 shrines, 200,000 statues. I’ve been here several times since 1986, and it’s always such a powerful experience. Yet to Tibetans, this is a “dead” building as the Dalai Lama is gone. It is my hope that someday, the Dalai Lama will live here in a Free Tibet once again. (Glimpses of Our Breathtaking World #114 Photo ©Jack Wheeler)

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