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FLASHBACK FRIDAY – MEETING THE DALAI LAMA

Published November 7, 2025 | By Dr. Jack Wheeler

Eighteen years ago, 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)

HALF-FULL REPORT 11/07/25

Published November 7, 2025 | By Mike Ryan

Mamdani's Triumph, Tariffs on Trial, and Cheney's Shadow

Zohran Mamdani’s 2025 mayoral win pits Islamic anti-usury principles against New York’s capitalist core. His base may push regulatory sabotage such as disclosure burdens, pension shifts to sukuk, and usury investigations, risking capital flight to Miami or Texas. Liberals like Schumer urge coexistence and positioning New York as a dual-finance hub while implementing sukuk banking reforms and Shariah options to tap Islamic sovereign wealth funds (for the Democrats).

Morris Katz of Fight.Agency ran Mamdani’s campaign using a political OODA Loop, syncing narrative, moral, and logistical energy. Targeting Gen Z women (81% of Mamdani voters), he built a decentralized “starfish” model utilizing TikTok dopamine feedback strategies that turned politics into social validation. Volunteers amplified content; door-knocking became performance art. CAIR funding fueled this globalist push.

In early 2025, President Trump imposed sweeping tariffs via IEEPA executive orders with 10% on most imports, up to 145% on Chinese goods, to counter IP theft and fentanyl. The policy raised $151 billion in six months but triggered lawsuits from businesses and states, claiming unconstitutional taxation without Congressional approval. The Supreme Court heard Learning Resources v. Trump on November 5, debating whether IEEPA allows tariffs as regulatory tools or if legislative approval is required under Article I of the Constitution.

Dick Cheney, dead at 84 on November 3, 2025, has long been suspected of waging Iraq 2003 for Israel’s benefit by fabricating WMD intelligence to neutralize Saddam. Critics cite The Israel Lobby, AIPAC speeches, and Iran strikes as Zionist-driven, costing 4,400 U.S. lives and trillions of dollars.

In his later years, his anti-Trump stance, endorsement of Kamala Harris, and calling Trump a "threat to the republic" positioned him as a defender of traditional GOP global engagement. His support of Kamala Harris only amplified populist views of him as a key "globalist establishment" figure and proponent of a borderless world.

FROM SKYE TO SKYE

Published November 6, 2025 | By Dr. Jack Wheeler

Skinigin Village, Loch Dunvegan, Isle of Skye. The Isle of Skye in the Inner Hebrides of Scotland is considered by many the most magically entrancing place in all Scotland. From charming fishing villages like this to gorgeously dramatic scenery to famous distilleries like Talisker, you come here for a few days and don’t want to leave the serenity of Skye that captures you.

There could not be a more beautifully opportune place from which to offer my appreciation and gratitude to TTP’s very own Skye, who provided us with his extraordinarily insightful Links and commentary every Thursday until his death last year. Skye was my dearest friend whom I loved and admired like a hero brother for well over half a century. I still treasure his friendship and am so grateful for his long contribution to TTP and to my life. So, From Skye to Skye, thanks, compadre!

(Glimpses of Our Breathtaking World #294, photo ©Jack Wheeler)

THE FREEDOM TO FAIL

Published November 6, 2025 | By Mark Deuce

The Nowheresville Texas Police Station: A long time ago.

[Some details altered to protect the innocent and guilty.]

I was in a police lieutenant’s office, watching a video taken from the body camera of one of our officers. The call had been a welfare check, where two of our people had approached a residence, heard nothing, and proceeded to make warrantless entry.

In Texas, and in the United States at large, warrantless entry of a residence by law enforcement is limited to a handful of justifications falling under “exigent circumstances.”

Basically, it needs to be an emergency that justifies breaching the curtilage [Editor: google it – a very interesting word for citizens], and the Supreme Court has been getting tighter and tighter on applying it. The officers had gone into this house for a situation…. not really meeting that threshold.

She looked up at me. “This is bad.”

Clearly, the officers—both relatively new, had overstepped. Perhaps in good faith, but they had still overstepped.

WHAT EVERYONE MISSES ABOUT NICK FUENTES

Published November 6, 2025 | By Christopher F. Rufo

The racialist influencer Nick Fuentes has caused an uproar with his appearance on Tucker Carlson’s podcast.

Fuentes, a 27-year-old live-streamer, has built a reputation as the most controversial voice on the right. He’s embraced seemingly every taboo: praising Hitler, disputing the Holocaust’s death toll, calling himself a “white nationalist,” musing about domestic violence, and opposing interracial marriage.

Carlson’s invitation has divided conservatives. Some suggest that Fuentes’s appearance on the podcast represented an unacceptable mainstreaming of his views. Others, most notably Heritage Foundation president Kevin Roberts, argue that Fuentes must be debated instead of “canceled.”

Both sides fail to understand the Nick Fuentes phenomenon.

They take his statements seriously and engage with them in good faith. But Fuentes’s stated beliefs, while abhorrent, are not best parried by taking them at face value.

Instead, the Right should consider him an actor in what postmodern theorist Jean Baudrillard called “hyperreality” – a system in which the simulation of reality comes to replace reality itself.

WHAT WOULD HE THINK OF US?

Published November 5, 2025 | By Dr. Jack Wheeler

This 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)

CRITICAL THINKING HAS BEEN HIJACKED

Published November 5, 2025 | By Jamie K. Wilson

“I don’t know what you mean by ‘glory,’” Alice said.

Humpty Dumpty smiled contemptuously. “Of course you don’t—till I tell you. I meant ‘there’s a nice knock-down argument for you!’”

“But ‘glory’ doesn’t mean ‘a nice knock-down argument,’” Alice objected.

“When I use a word,” Humpty Dumpty said, in rather a scornful tone, “it means just what I choose it to mean—neither more nor less.”

“The question is,” said Alice, “whether you can make words mean so many different things.”

“The question is,” said Humpty Dumpty, “which is to be master—that’s all.”

~ Lewis Carroll, Alice in Wonderland

In the past, I’ve talked about the left's deliberate shift of language, but I’ve never mentioned the foundational shift I’m going to talk about now. This one is different. It doesn’t just twist one word or one idea — it changes the ground we stand on.

This shift attacks logic itself. It strikes at the roots of reasoning, the process by which we decide what is true. It happened quietly and almost no one saw it occur.

The term critical thinking has been redefined.

THIS JUST IN – BLUE STATES VOTE DEMOCRAT

Published November 5, 2025 | By Nate Jackson

On the one hand, last night was a terrible night for the GOP. There’s no sugarcoating double-digit election losses when there was anticipation of real competition.

There’s little silver lining when the party was wiped out in numerous state elections.

On the other hand, Democrats won in very blue states and cities. Who didn’t expect that, and what will it really change?

Democrats certainly hope that winning governorships in Virginia and New Jersey is a harbinger of success in next year’s midterm elections….HOWEVER, there could be a “bright side.”

THE WORLD’S MOST UNUSUAL GRAVES

Published November 4, 2025 | By Dr. Jack Wheeler

East of Borneo in Indonesia is a large starfish-shaped Island called Sulawesi, where in the south-central mountains the Toraja people have created one of the most exotic cultures on earth. They bury their dead in caves carved out of vertical cliffs, with balconies at the entrances lined with clothed wooden effigies called a Tau Tau as guardians for the departed.

The Toraja live in villages composed of family long houses with enormous peaked roofs of wood and thatch, decorated with exquisite painted art and scores of buffalo horns. While Indonesia is predominantly Moslem, the Toraja are a blend of Christian-animist. They are a gentle, peaceful people, marvelously welcoming and friendly. It is a priceless privilege to spend time with them, as I was able to during the summer of 2016. (Glimpses of Our Breathtaking World #49 Photo ©Jack Wheeler)

THE EROSION OF SELF-RELIANCE

Published November 4, 2025 | By Christian Vezilj

In the shadow of every government shutdown, a deeper crisis emerges, one not of policy, but of identity.

The headlines may focus on delayed paychecks, frozen programs, and political gridlock, but beneath the surface lies a more troubling revelation: millions of Americans, including the middle class and federal employees, have become so conditioned to government assistance that they no longer know how to navigate hardship without it.

This is not merely an economic issue; it is a cultural and spiritual unraveling.

The American ethos of personal responsibility, once the bedrock of national pride and familial strength, is being quietly replaced by a subconscious belief that survival itself depends on the state.

A Nation Built on Self-Reliance

Fifty years ago, the average American understood that life was unpredictable and often unforgiving. Families saved for emergencies, churches and communities formed safety nets, and personal pride was tied to one’s ability to provide and persevere.

Government programs existed, but they were limited in scope and seen as temporary bridges, not permanent lifelines.

The middle class, in particular, took pride in its independence. To rely on government aid was not a badge of shame, but it was certainly not a default expectation.

In those days, when hardship struck, a job loss, a medical emergency, a cold winter without heating oil, people turned first to family, then to community, and finally to their own ingenuity.

They bartered, budgeted, and leaned on one another. Churches organized food drives, neighbors shared firewood, and civic organizations offered support.

The government was a last resort, not a first response.

BRITAIN IN THE BALANCE

Published November 4, 2025 | By Lars Møller

For centuries, Britain — and England in particular — has represented a civilizational ideal for much of the modern world.

The birthplace of parliamentary democracy, the common law system, and global standards of governance, Britain has exported its political and cultural values far beyond its shores. At home, it once epitomized social cohesion, stability, and civic pride.

Yet, in the 21st century, many Britons — particularly in working-class communities — report a growing sense of cultural alienation. Towns like Bradford, Luton, and Rotherham now evoke, for some, a sense of displacement rather than belonging.

This perception of a “de-Anglification” of England, whereby traditional English culture appears to be losing ground in its own homeland, reflects a deeper civilizational unease.

There is a need to explore the causes and consequences of this transformation, including the policies of the New Labour government, the fragmentation of national identity, the failure of integration, and the erosion of trust in public institutions.

LIVING WITH HEADHUNTERS

Published November 3, 2025 | By Dr. Jack Wheeler

Yes, that’s me at 16 (in 1960!) with Tangamashi, a Shuar Jivaro chief who adopted me into his clan. The Jivaros are the only people on earth who make a shrunken head of their enemies killed in battle – called a “tsantsa.”

They inhabit the Amazon rain forests of the Ecuador-Peru border; living with them was the first adventure I had by myself alone. Tangamashi accepted me, taught me how he made a tsantsa from an enemy’s head skin, took me blowgunning monkeys with curare-tipped darts, and introduced me into the Jivaro spirit world with a tea they called “natema” from the Banisteriopsis vine – a very colorful experience. How cool can you get for a 16 year-old kid?

It set me on a path of an adventurous life from which I have never wavered – and there’s no slowing down now. Another great adventure always awaits. (Glimpses of Our Breathtaking World #25, photo ©Jack Wheeler)

TEACHERS AND COACHES

Published November 3, 2025 | By Jason Edwards

[This Monday’s Archive was originally published on November 17, 2005. The best teachers forge character through discipline, competition, and the earned confidence that comes only from mastery.]

The difference of commitment to sports versus academics by students and parents is striking, but don't believe for a minute that the same bias is not institutional as well. I have taught now at every level of American academia and I have yet to give a test or assign a project that was so important that it caused a game to be canceled or missed.

However, from elementary school to college, I regularly have had class time canceled, projects excused and test times altered to cater to athletics. In fact, it seems any academic activity humbly bows before the holy incantation, “Uh, I'm going to be gone; we've got a game that day.”

This explanation is not the bitter ranting of an egghead who was always picked last in gym class. Rather, I'm a former collegiate athlete and high school coach who is intrigued by what could be accomplished if we would bring our athletic commitment into the classroom.

And, because attitude is not enough, we should also contrast coaching to teaching, so that we might re-learn some valuable lessons about instructional methods. To this end, I see three prime areas for consideration.

FLASHBACK FRIDAY: AMAZON INITIATION

Published October 31, 2025 | By Dr. Jack Wheeler

August, 2002. In the remotest Amazon jungle of Brazil, along a tributary of the Upper Xingu River, live the Xicrin-Kayapo people. They live traditionally as they have for centuries, isolated in their forests from the world. Here the young boys, painted and adorned, apprehensively await their initiation ceremonies into becoming young men. They are to be tested to show they have what it takes for the village to be proud of them.

In some of their eyes, there is confidence. In others less so. This is an ancient Rite of Passage, an enthralling experience to witness. (Glimpses of Our Breathtaking World #229 photo ©Jack Wheeler)

DEMOCRATS VOW TO STARVE AS MANY FOOD STAMP RECIPIENTS AS IT TAKES TO GET FREE HEALTHCARE FOR ILLEGAL IMMIGRANTS

Published October 31, 2025 | By Babylon Bee

Cory “Let ‘Em Starve” Booker

Cory “Let ‘Em Starve” Booker

WASHINGTON, D.C. — Democrats have taken a bold stand by vowing to starve as many food stamp recipients as it takes to get free healthcare for illegal immigrants.

According to prominent Democrat leaders, starving a couple million kids is a small price to pay to ensure that blue states continue to provide free healthcare to illegal immigrants.

"If you're going to make an omelet, you've got to crack a few eggs. And if you're going to give free healthcare to illegal immigrants, you've got to let some children go hungry," said Senator Cory Booker. "Honestly, who cares? Kids can't vote. Plus, they're very resilient, they can dig around in some dumpsters, or forage for berries or whatever. Cry harder."

Booker's statement was echoed by other intellectual pillars of the Democrat Party.

"It's, like, not hard for kids to find food. There are stores literally filled with food," said Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez. "Some food even grows in the ground, and the ground is everywhere, so technically, they can get food from anywhere. You just, like, dig the food out of the ground or whatever."

At publishing time, Democrats had vowed to personally go to grocery stores to filibuster poor people attempting to buy food.

~ Babylon Bee reporting