THE POLISH SAVIOR OF WESTERN CIVILIZATION
On 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)
SKYE’S LINKS 11/03/22
Nice place for a clean modern nuclear power plant?
How about a bit of good news to start the links today? Sanity is returning to energy plans in Poland. Westinghouse has been tapped for Poland’s first production of nuclear energy, built on the Pomeranian Coast of the Baltic Sea. It’s a beautiful place as you can see, where it will be supplying beautifully clean energy for the Polish people. All part of Poland’s plans to have 0% dependence on energy from Russia.
Poland chooses US to build its first nuclear power plant
And sanity may be returning to Germany, too. “It would be rather irresponsible to avoid fracking for ideological reasons,” Christian Lindner, Germany’s Federal Finance Minister says. Meaning, “Screw your climate change agenda, we need to stay warm in the winter!”
Govt Minister Demands Fracking Legalized to Boost German Gas Supply
Remember the First Amendment case that I urged you to follow in Skye’s Links last week? To jog your memory, I attached this unforgettable photo to it:
Now you remember, right? Well, there’s more breaking good new this week. Here we go – jump right on in to Skye’s Links!
THE PAINTED CHURCHES OF THE TROODOS MOUNTAINS
For 500 years, from Ca. 1000 to 1500 AD, the Byzantine Christians on the eastern Mediterranean island of Cyprus labored with love to decorate the interior of their humble churches tucked away in hidden valleys of the Troodos Mountains.
There are a total of 10 such churches which are today a UNESCO World Heritage Site. The one you see here is the church of the Kykkos Monastery, with its extravagantly painted vaulted ceiling preserved immaculately for centuries. Christianity remains very much alive in these mountains. Come here to be awed yourself. (Glimpses of Our Breathtaking World #235 photo ©Jack Wheeler)
DEMOCRATS FACE CRUSHING DEFEAT EVEN IN SENATE
This is today’s (11/02) RCP Senate projection. Note projected victories for Laxalt in Nevada, Masters in Arizona, Walker in Georgia, Johnson in Wisconsin, Vance in Ohio, Oz in Pennsylvania, and Bolduc in New Hampshire.
With the most accurate pollster, Trafalgar, reporting Tiffany Smiley is only 1% behand and gaining on Dem Sen. Patty Murray in Washington, we just might end up with a 55-seat GOP majority.
Thus it is with infinite reluctance and lingering disbelief, what calls itself the progressive media is starting to concede the outlines of the overwhelming rejection the Democrats, the Biden administration, and Congress have earned and are likely to sustain next week.
Here’s why this crushing defeat is so well deserved.
12,000 RUSSIAN TROOPS DEFENDING KALININGRAD WENT TO UKRAINE TO DIE
Six years ago, the Russian navy formed a new army corps whose job it would be to defend Kaliningrad, Russia’s geographically separate outpost on the Baltic Sea between Poland and Lithuania.
This year, when the war in Ukraine began to go badly for Russia, the Kremlin yanked the entire 11th Army Corps from Kaliningrad and sent it into Ukraine. Where the Ukrainian army quickly destroyed it.
The formation, deployment and destruction of the 11th Army Corps tell a story that’s bigger than the tragic tale of Russia’s war in Ukraine. The corps, sandwiched between two NATO countries along a strategic sea, was supposed to give Russian forces an advantage in a global war.
Instead, it became cannon fodder for a Ukrainian army that, on paper, was weaker than the Russian army was. Now Kaliningrad is all but defenseless, and the threat the oblast’s troops once posed to NATO … has evaporated.
THE PARADISE OF ZIHUATANEJO
Once a small Mexican fishing village far from everything, Zihuatanejo (zee-wah-tan-ay-ho) – Zee-wat to locals – has become a paradisical escape hatch for many seeking refuge from our pressure-cooker world. 150 miles up the northwest coast of Acapulco, Zee-wat is its own world of peace and serenity.
Stroll on the beach or along the Paseo del Pescador (Fisherman’s Path) with its shops, bars, and restaurants unbothered. Just relax surrounded by flowers, warm water, and blue sky. All the worries elsewhere in Mexico, much less in the US or anywhere else are not here.
The time to come is now, the dry season November-May. Prices are a bargain with the dollar way up on the peso. Non-stop flights from multiple cities in the US and Canada. Just a few days here will do wonders for your soul. (Glimpses of Our Breathtaking World #182 photo ©Jack Wheeler)
THE SWITCHEROOS OF THE TWO PARTIES
Our two parties have both changed, and that explains why one will win, and one lose in the midterm elections.
The real rulers of the Democrat Party are the hyper-rich of Big Tech, Wall Street, Hollywood, the corporate boardroom, the administrative state, the media, and the legal world. Almost all these institutions have lost public confidence and poll miserably.
In contrast, Republicans this election cycle concerned themselves mostly with material issues of the battered middle classes—inflation, the price of fuel and energy, a secure border, crime, parental control of schools, and realist foreign policy.
Donald Trump also recalibrated the Republican Party and helped to turn it into a nationalist-populist movement that would rather win rudely than lose politely. Thus on Nov 8, the party of rich regressives is going to on the canvas with the party of middle-class populists standing triumphantly above them.
ARE REPUBLICANS PREPARED FOR THE AFTERMATH OF THE ‘RED FLOOD’?
It is my opinion that this midterm election will not be a "red wave" or a "red tsunami." I predict a Red Flood of almost Noahic proportions.
First will come the overwhelming rejection of the Biden agenda on November 8. Then will come the rejoicing by most of Red America. But after that, the illegalities will begin, starting with challenging the vote counts and the calls for recounts. Then it will escalate to violence unless there is a plan to nip it in the bud.
They have demonstrated that nothing is too outrageous, illegal, or demonic when it comes to cheating and violence, so those two tactics will be at the forefront of efforts to negate the massive Red Flood come Wednesday morning. After all, with Biden stopped in his tracks, no more of their insanity will likely get passed.
So how is the uproar likely to happen?
THE TREE OF JESSE
The Igreja de São Francisco (Church of St. Francisco) was built 800 years ago on a ledge overlooking the Douro River in Porto, Portugal. 500 years later in the early 1700s, the people of Porto devoted themselves to making its interior supremely magnificent.
Most breathtaking is the polychrome wood carving depicting The Tree of Jesse springing from the reclining body of Jesse of Bethlehem, the father of King David, and showing the genealogy of Jesus through the branches of the tree that are the Twelve Kings of Judah, ending with Joseph and above him the Virgin and Child. Above the Tree to the ceiling is intricately carved woodwork deeply covered with hundreds of pounds of gold leaf.
This masterpiece of baroque art is an awesome tribute to the importance of Christianity to Western Civilization. To experience the power of this masterpiece yourself, come with us on our next exploration of Portugal this coming March. (Glimpses of Our Breathtaking World #234 photo ©Jack Wheeler)
KEEPING OUR SANITY BY MANAGING EXPECTATIONS
We have a unique capacity to envision an immense variety of possible future states. This allows us have ideals and strive for them, to plan, to learn and grow… and to want things.
This has everything to do with how we spend our money… and the joy or misery we experience from it.
In an essential way this orientation toward the future is what makes us human. We can imagine something we want to achieve, something we want to avoid, something we want to have, and then we can plan and aim ourselves toward achieving, avoiding, or gaining possession of whatever it is.
But there’s a downside. A really big downside that happens to huge numbers of people today, that can lead to depression, shame, and self-loathing. Let’s talk about how to avoid this.