FLASHBACK FRIDAY – SWIMMING THE HELLESPONT
July, 1973. The Hellespont is the famous strait separating Europe from Asia, where the Black Sea after flowing through the Bosphorus at Istanbul and a widening called Marmara empties into the Aegean Sea of the Mediterranean. One of the great stories of Greek Mythology is Leander swimming the Hellespont to tryst with Hero, the woman he loved but was forbidden to see.
Thus he swam at night, and she lit a torch for him to swim to. One night a storm blew out the torch and the strong currents swept Leander onto the rocks to drown. So I first swam the Hellespont at night in 1960 and almost drowned myself (LIFE Magazine, Dec. 12, 1960, pp 91-94).
This was the second time, swimming from Leander’s village site of Abydos on the Asia side to Sestos, Hero’s village site on Europe’s. Here I am having reached the Sestos shore.
The Hellespont is where the Trojan War was fought, where the Persians crossed to lose against the Greeks at Marathon and Salamis, where Alexander crossed to conquer the Persian Empire. Lord Byron swam the Hellespont in 1803 to make all the legends and history a part of his life. I was determined to do the same, twice to make sure. (Glimpses of Our Breathtaking World #100 photo ©Jack Wheeler)
HALF-FULL REPORT 08/12/22
Charlie’s warning is spot-on. His calling Tuesday’s (8/09) FBI Gestapo Raid on Mar-a-Lago “Operation Melania’s Closet” is satirical perfection. What in the world were Merrick Garland and Christopher Wray, the idiots who thought this up and ordered it, thinking?
The answer is, they weren’t – thinking, that is. They were afflicted with hubris, the crazed arrogance that caused the downfall of the central character of many a Greek tragedy. Drunk with believing they have a moral right to their fascist power, and enraged by fear it will be taken from them, they have literally lost their minds, their capacity to think straight.
And inspiringly so for the whole world to see. As The Babylon Bee reported: Trump Thanks FBI For Kicking Off His 2024 Reelection Campaign. And for ensuring his reelection.
“Sources close to Trump say his first act as President will be to fire his own appointed FBI Director Christopher Wray and replace him with a used dust mop from the Capitol janitor's closet before razing the Hoover building and banishing all FBI agents to Gitmo.”
SKYE’S LINKS 08/11/22
Attorney General Garland's New American Gestapo, the FBI, raided Trump's home Mar-A-Largo. The 'Crat’s are very very desperate:
FBI Raids Former President Donald Trump’s Home
Now for the fun! The Deep State is throwing Wray and his FBI under the bus due to unexpected intensity of blowback over raid:
Deep State Infighting: DOJ Fingers FBI for Mar-a-Lago Raid Disaster
And… Here is a cogent that the panicked authoritarian response to the pandemic heralded peak woke:
With several more darn good reasons for hope…
THE LAND OF NOAH
We all know the story of Noah and the Ark told in Genesis (chapters 6-9). But do you know where Noah’s grave is? You’re looking at it. There is a tradition thousands of years old that he died and is buried here in the Land of Noah – Nakhchivan.
Known to the ancient Greeks and Romans as “Nakhsuana,” today Nakhchivan is an isolated enclave of Azerbaijan, cut off from the rest of the country by a strip of Armenia reaching Iran. You never heard of it because it’s unknown with a strange name – but the name literally means the Land of Noah. “Noah” is the Anglicization of Hebrew Noakh, or “Nakh” (“van” means “land,” “chi” means “of”).
Noah’s tomb has been built, destroyed, rebuilt, and destroyed again repeatedly over the millennia. It’s now been built yet again on the original site. Looming near is Haça Dag, the Notched Mountain – where Noah’s Ark they say ran aground as the Flood waters receded, carving a notch on the summit before coming to rest on Mount Ararat about 50 miles to the north (in present-day Turkey).
The people here are wonderfully friendly. I was always told “welcome” everywhere. I was even spontaneously invited to a wedding party in a remote village. You’ll find it easy to make friends here too. (Glimpses of Our Breathtaking World #3, photo ©Jack Wheeler)
THE CHICKENS OF WOKENESS COME HOME TO ROOST
The chickens of wokeness are coming home to roost on the heads of the business leaders who have done so much to unleash this plague upon us.
Perhaps most trenchantly, Bloomberg of all places recently reported that many ESG funds have been forced to close for poor performance and rapidly eroding investor interest.
Look at Starbucks and the NCAA. Both of these businesses have eaten the whole woke sandwich, now suffering serious nausea.
Consider how much Warner Bros. Discovery is paying for its and DC Comics’ embrace of woke: see the Daily Mail’s delightful story, Holy Wokery, Batgirl! Wokegirl is so ghastly that, despite having spent at least $90 million on it already, Warner’s new boss David Zaslav is sending it to a cave in the desert southwest somewhere to lie forever unseen.
THE WORLD’S BIGGEST MONEY
We’re on the island of Yap in Micronesia – some 500 miles southwest of Guam and 1,200 miles east of Manila in the Western Pacific. The Yapese have lived here for over 2,000 years, and have maintained their culture and traditions to this day.
Phenomenal navigators in their outrigger canoes, in ancient times they began sailing to Palau over 250 miles south to quarry large sections of limestone and return to stone-chisel them into circles with a hole in the middle (through which world put a long pole for carrying them.
Called Rai, they have been Yap’s currency for two millennia. The ones you see here are typical size but many are much larger, weighing as much as a car. Rai are the world’s biggest money – used not for day-to-day transactions but large ones like a bride’s dowry and wedding party, or a real estate deal.
The Yapese are a proud and peaceful people who live by their code of Respect and Responsibility. They are warm and welcoming to visitors. A 90-minute flight from Guam makes it easy to get here. Spending time with these special people will be life-memorable. (Glimpses of Our Breathtaking World #216 photo ©Jack Wheeler)
WHY THEY WANT TO DESTROY HIM
Because they want to destroy you and he will protect you from them.
Because he offers hope instead of despair, prosperity instead of impoverishment, decency instead of degradation, normality instead of pathology, and freedom instead of fascism.
Because he is an American and they do not want to be.
Because they know he will triumph unless they destroy him first.
The video above was posted the morning after the FBI Gestapo Raid on his and his wife’s home.
THE COMPLETE SOVIETIZATION OF THE DEMOCRAT PARTY
With the wholly illegal and unconstitutional FBI raid on President Trump’s home at Mar-a-Lago on yesterday (8/08), in search of documents they have long had access to, there can no longer be any doubt about the full communization of the American left.
The thorough weaponization and politicization of each of our law enforcement institutions is now undeniable; the Dems have crossed Caesar’s Rubicon.
The Democrats are so determined to destroy Trump, they are willing to reveal their true colors: They are all Stalinist communists now. The good news is that Trump scares them so much they’ve overreached, making Trump stronger and more unbeatable than ever.
CRIMINALIZING OPPOSITION TO THE REGIME IS HOW THE REPUBLIC ENDS
AMERICA’S #1 DOMESTIC TERRORIST ORGANIZATION?
“Spygate” was the FBI creation of the Russian Collusion Hoax to sabotage the Trump presidency. Now Spygate is setting up field offices in swing states.
It’s not just the de facto head of the opposition party whom powerful government agencies are putting in their sights, it’s down-ballot party leaders.
In Michigan, the FBI openly meddled in the upcoming election by affecting the selection of candidates, arresting and charging the formerly leading Republican candidate for governor for misdemeanors. The FBI raided Ryan Kelley’s home while polls showed him leading the primaries. In the primary election last week (8/02), he came in fourth.
This is domestic terrorism for the benefit of the Democrat Party all across the country. Trump is just their most visible target.
HEAVEN ON HERM
Belvoir Beach, Herm, Channel Islands. Could there be a more idyllic lunch—grilled lobster, fresh garden salad, chilled Chardonnay – here on Herm, the smallest of the five main Channel Islands. There’s Jersey, Guernsey, Sark, Alderney – and tiny Herm. Less than one square mile, but overflowing with charm and hospitality – from the Victorian White House Hotel to the Mermaid Pub to lobsters at Belvoir Beach. Coming here is a true escape from the worries of the world. At Herm they are a long ways away. Glimpses of Our Breathtaking World #177 photo ©Jack Wheeler)