THE INSPIRATION OF AMERICA
Next to the entrance of The Red House, the Parliament of Trinidad and Tobago in the capital of Port of Spain, there is this marble inscription. It is clear that it is inspired by our 1776 Declaration of Independence and America’s founding principles. Trinidad’s population is 99% either Indian (from India), African, or a mix of the two. 64% are Christian, 21% Hindu, 6% Moslem, others undeclared – and all have these principles as a common bond between them.
Here in the Caribbean’s Trinidad is such a clear example of how America’s founding moral principles are such an inspiration to all humanity, of all cultures, creeds, and ethnicities. They are universal, America’s heritage as a gift to the world. This is the heritage of all Americans – something we need to hold on to and hold dear as we persevere during this current period of our country’s cultural, moral, and political lunacy. (Glimpses of Our Breathtaking World #152, photo ©Jack Wheeler)
FAILED STATE: A GUIDE TO RUSSIA’S RUPTURE
Attempts to transform the Russian Federation into a nation state, a civic state or a stable imperial state have failed.
The current structure is based on brittle historical foundations, possesses no unified national identity, whether civic or ethnic, and exhibits persistent struggles between nationalists, imperialists, centralists, liberals and federalists.
Russia’s full-scale military invasion of Ukraine in February 2022 and the imposition of stifling international economic sanctions will intensify and accelerate the process of state rupture.
Paradoxically, while Vladimir Putin assumed power to prevent Russia’s disintegration, he may be remembered as precipitating the country’s demise. New territorial entities will surface as Moscow’s credibility crisis deepens amidst spreading ungovernability, elite power struggles, political polarization, nationalist radicalism, and regional and ethnic revivals.
KEEPING YOUR SANITY: THE GREAT ENRICHMENT
We are in the midst of remarkable times, and our relationship to money is very different because of it. Appreciating this can open up possibilities for how you think, feel and act with your money.
We all see the world through the lens of the culture and the times in which we live. People living during the Renaissance didn’t know they were living during the Renaissance and didn’t call it that. It’s often only in hindsight that we can see the pattern.
Today it’s hard to fully appreciate the truly remarkable conditions in which we live. For us it’s just life. For our ancestors, it would be breathtaking. How did this “Great Enrichment” happen to our world, when it never did for all the centuries before?
WODAABE MEN MUST LOOK BEAUTIFUL TO ATTRACT THE LADIES
The Wodaabe are cattle-herding nomads in Niger, West Africa. Their Gerewol festival features Yaake dances by the men to impress marriageable ladies with how ideally handsome they are. Those ideals include being tall and athletic, having white eyes and white teeth, decorating themselves colorfully, and having a winning smile.
The Wodaabe are a fun-loving, friendly, and hospitable people. You’ll meet them on our Trans-Sahara Expedition when we’re next able to operate one. (Glimpses of Our Breathtaking World #57 Photo ©Jack Wheeler)
FLASHBACK FRIDAY – CLIMBING MOUNT OLYMPUS
August, 1971. Here is where the Ancient Greeks believed their 12 Olympian Gods lived, on the summit of the highest peak of Olympus – Mytikas at 9,571ft/2,918m. There are 52 jagged prominences of Olympus, but if you want to commune with Zeus, Apollo, Aphrodite, Athena and the rest, this is where you go.
It takes just two days: morning drive from Athens (4 hrs) to Litochoro, then the roadhead at Priona (2,500ft). Afternoon hike of some 3 hours through pretty pine forests to the comfortable Spilios Agapitos refuge (6,700ft) for dinner and a bunk bed overnight. You’re up at dawn for a strenuous but not technical climb up to Skala peak at 9,400ft. In my photo, you’re looking at Mytikas from Skala. It’s a Class B rock scramble – no ropes or gear, but this shouldn’t be your first mountain rodeo. Be careful!
I was by myself at the Mytikas summit and no selfies in those days, so I said my greetings to the gods, and I was back down at the refuge by lunchtime. You’ll be back at the Plaka below the Acropolis in Athens for ouzo and dinner. (Glimpses of Our Breathtaking World #45 photo ©Jack Wheeler)
BIDET ECONOMICS
HALF-FULL REPORT 08/26/22
OK – fun question: Who is this bag lady?
Amazingly, while looking like a bag lady, she’s the Chair of the House Appropriations Committee, 79 year-old DemFascist Rosa DeLauro, who has been representing the 3rd District of Connecticut since 1991.
That the 3rd CD’s voters have been stupid enough to do this for over 30 years is embarrassing to me, since Milford, the town my 9th g-grandfather Thomas Wheeler founded in 1639 is in her district. You can’t imagine what he would think today – probably he and his wife Joan would sail back to England. Oh, well – it’s all the Yale University-New Haven retards that keep electing her.
Right now, Crazy Rosie is pulling out her purple-turquoise hair over Joe Manchin. You see, Schumer promised Joe all kinds of fossil fuel preferences for West Virginia to get his necessary vote for the Inflation Expansion Act – and now all the Dem hard-lefties are reneging.
Yessiree, gather ‘round folks, the show’s about to begin. The US Gov’s Fiscal Year goes from Oct 1 to Sep 30, and sure enough, Rosa’s committee has its begging bowl out for another lunatic Continuing Resolution – and if that’s not passed by the Senate and House by 35 days from now, you know what happens. The dreaded, fearsome, mommy-I’m-scared scary… Shutdown…
SKYE’S LINKS 08/25/22
What many 'Crats really want: to mostly or completely rewrite the Constitution - or eliminate it:
New York Times: Throw out the ‘Broken Constitution’ and ‘Reclaim America’
Good news! It sure looks like we have passed Peak Greta:
Greta Thunberg Cult Has Gone 'Bust': Sky News
Huge win against corporate vax mandates on both religious and medical exemption grounds in Fifth Circuit Court:
Federal Court Nixes Vaccine Mandate, Citing Religious Liberty
THE CAMEL MEAT MARKET IN THE FEZ BAZAAR
Sometimes you run across something that no matter how it grosses you out, you have to take a picture of it. The thousand year-old medina or walled city of Fez is a World Heritage Site as the spiritual and cultural capital of Morocco. Uniquely epitomizing this is the stall of the camel butcher in the medina’s vast bazaar. To garner the attention of ladies shopping for their family’s dinner, he proudly displays the head of the camel whose fresh meat is on sale. Traveling in Morocco is always an adventure. (Glimpses of Our Breathtaking World #188 photo ©Jack Wheeler)
HAPPY AUGUST 24TH UKRAINE INDEPENDENCE DAY
And Russian surrender may not be that far off. When Turkish leader Erdogan publicly demands, as he did today (8/24), that Putin evacuate Crimea and give it back to Ukraine, that is a de facto acknowledgement that Putin has lost and must admit it.