HALF-FULL REPORT 01/19/24
Ereyesterday (1/17), after flying commercial instead of private jet to Switzerland, Argentina’s Milei Gives the Davos Crowd a Spine Transplant is how the Wall Street Journal described it.
The most electrifying intellectual experience of my life came in 1966 on a beach in Malibu when I read Francisco d’Anconia’s Speech on Money. It was the most brilliant explanation of why capitalism is not only the most practical economic system for achieving widespread prosperity but also the most moral.
And that’s exactly what Milei – a professor of economics – explained at Davos:
“It would first be important for us to take a look at the data that demonstrate why free enterprise capitalism is not just the only possible system to end world poverty, but also that it’s the only morally desirable system to achieve this.”
Will Milei be the tip of the spear for end-wokeness elections around the world in 2024 – including our own? Let’s talk about that.
THE ISLANDS OF SERENITY
Mulafassur waterfall below the village of Gasadalur is only one example of the serenity of the Faroe Islands. They’re a self-governing Danish possession in the North Atlantic halfway between Norway and Iceland. You won’t find a place of more captivating serene and peaceful charm.
Warmed by the Gulf Stream, in the summer it’s so strewn with wildflowers the roads are known as “buttercup highways.” At every turn along them you’re stunned by the incredible scenery. The capital of Torshavn is so laid back the Prime Minister’s Office – the Løgmansskristovan – is a wood cabin with a green grass sod roof. Great beer from the Faroes’ two breweries is always flowing in the pubs, where the Faroese islanders welcome you like an old friend.
You can easily fly here from Edinburgh, London, Copenhagen, or Reykjavik, Iceland . A few days here will do wonders for your soul. (Glimpses of Our Breathtaking World #18 photo ©Jack Wheeler)
SKYE’S LINKS 01/18/24
The Woke Agenda
Running on Fumes
They thought the easy way to make money was to secure special political privileges through the woke agenda. But the political class behind ESG, DEI, and the rest of the rot never understood the nature of work. Maybe any warm body can fill a government job billet. Maybe.
But the private sector is different. Performance matters there.
They assumed all work was government work. A widespread shock like a blast of this week’s arctic winds over most of the nation has met the heads of woke corporations as they face massive liability for defective products and incompetent service.
Our sock-puppet Secretary of Defense was AWOL for days before anybody noticed. No wonder we ran from the field in Afghanistan. First as a trickle and now as a torrent, Americans are fighting back against woke foolishness.
Come on over to Skye’s Links. Lots of good things are happening out there…
YOUR NEIGHBORS IN BORNEO
Live on a private houseboat exploring the jungles of Borneo by river and families of Orang Utans will be your neighbors.
To get here, you fly from Indonesia’s capital Jakarta to a small town in southern Borneo, Pangkalan Bun, on the Sekonyer River. You hire your own houseboat called a klotok (shower, nice bed, good warm food and cold beer) and English-speaking guide to take you up river through the jungles of the Tanjung Putting Orang Utan reserve. You’ll see proboscis monkeys, hornbills – and more wild orang utans than any other place on earth.
Spend time among them and you’ll understand how smart and human-like these gentle giants are. It’s an endearing experience never to be forgotten. (Glimpses of Our Breathtaking World #72 Photo ©Jack Wheeler)
CHILDLESS CHINA
[The most arguably pertinent question to ask of any developing country is: Does this country have time to get rich before it gets old? In China’s case that question has now been answered. The answer is No.]
China’s total population declined for a second consecutive year in 2023 due to a record-low birth rate and an uptick in Covid-19 deaths. The decline will inevitably deter the economy’s growth potential and continue to strain a nation where the elderly overwhelmingly outnumber the young.
The National Bureau of Statistics, a Chinese government agency, reported that the total number of people in China decreased by 2.08 million in 2023. Overall, the population declined by 0.15 percent, from 1.411 billion to 1.409 billion in 2023. China’s population aged 60 and over reached 296.97 million in 2023, accounting for about 21.1 percent of its total population.
As new births fell 5.7 percent to 9.02 million, the 2023 Chinese birth rate also hit a new record. With only 6.39 births per 1,000 people, the 2023 birth rate was even lower than 2022’s record of 6.77 births per 1,000 people.
HOW BADLY WILL SCOTUS WOUND THE ADMINISTRATIVE STATE?
[Skye’s Links 12/21/23 gave you a heads up here: This could lead to the most important Supreme Court win in the past century – no kidding. The case is Loper Bright v Raimondo. SCOTUS arguments start Jan 17 for why at least 5 Justices should overthrow a 1984 Court monstrosity called “Chevron Deference” allowing administrative agencies like ATF to act as lawmakers. They create “rules” and “regulations” based on existing law, then use Chevron to affirm their rule change as “reasonable.” This is a Very Big Deal!]
On Wednesday (1/17), The Supreme Court’s conservatives appeared inclined to cut back the regulatory power of federal agencies, with several justices during a pair of arguments seeming ready to overrule a legal doctrine that has bolstered agencies’ authority for decades.
Over more than three hours of argument, the justices put the Biden administration’s top Supreme Court lawyer on defense as she sought to preserve Chevron deference, which instructs courts to defer to agencies’ interpretation of federal law if it could have multiple meanings.
THE PORTUGUESE RIVIERA
A cliff-top fishing village on the Italian Riviera? Nope, Azenhas do Mar – Watermills of the Sea – is on the Portuguese Riviera. This is a magic place of fairy tale castles, thousand year-old fortresses, luxury boutique hotels, fabulous food, great wine, gorgeous beaches, and postcard-perfect scenery everywhere.
The Portuguese people are among the kindest in Europe, while Portugal is one of the safest countries in the world. Of all the planet’s First World countries, it’s hard to find one more friendly, calm, and welcoming than here.
Who’s the pretty girl? Lucky me – she’s my wife Rebel, mother of our two grown sons, my business partner, and my best friend. We’ve had a home here for many years. Rebel loves Portugal so much she taught herself to be fluent in Portuguese.
If you’d like a personal experience of the best of Portugal, come with Rebel and me on our Portugal Exploration this May.
Let me know if you’d like to have too much fun here with your fellow TTPers: [email protected]. (Glimpses of Our Breathtaking World #123 Photo ©Jack Wheeler)
THE VOTERS’ REPUDIATION OF OUR FILTHY DIRTY JUSTICE SYSTEM IN IOWA
One wonders what it's like to be Jack Smith, Alvin Bragg, Leticia James, or Fani Willis waking up to watch CNN this morning.
Here's CNN: “Former President Donald Trump’s huge win in the Iowa caucuses on Monday enshrines one of the most astonishing comebacks in American political history.”
Astonishing to them, of course. It sounds like the voters have some unfinished business they'd like to take care of. More to the point, it's a vote of no confidence in our justice system. Everyone can see that the charges against Trump are about politics, not justice.
What we saw in Iowa yesterday (1/15) was the repudiation of what the justice system has become -- politicized, unfair, unjust, and filthy-dirty. That has propelled Trump to his powerful win, because voters can see some unfinished business they need to take care of -- immediately -- in their votes for Trump.
LAWFARE AGAINST TRUMP IS IN A DOOM LOOP
Four state and federal prosecutors claim they all came to the same disinterested conclusions that Donald Trump should be indicted for various crimes and put on trial during the campaign season of 2024.
Yet now they are in a doom loop of discovering that the more they seek to rush to judgment before the election and gag Trump from speaking publicly about these star-chamber proceedings, the more he rises in the polls.
In truth, each succeeding cycle of corrupt leftwing lawfare that ends in failure—the Russian collusion hoax, the weaponized impeachments, the pathetic attempt to erase Trump from state ballots, and the unfolding Fani Willis moral debacle—does not return things to zero.
Rather, they serve as force multipliers for each other. Each overreach geometrically increases the dangers to democracy, ever more turns the public off, and ironically cascades sympathy and poll numbers for the very target of their paranoias.
THE WORLD’S REMOTEST INHABITED ISLAND
That would be Tristan da Cunha in the middle of the South Atlantic Ocean. Some 260 Tristanians live here, all British citizens as the island is a UK Territory, in the island’s only community of Edinburgh-of-the-Seven-Seas. There’s no way to fly here – you have to take a boat for at least a week from Cape Town (and then a week back).
Tristanians are among the world’s most special people. Since the island was first settled in 1810, there has never been a single murder, abortion, or divorce among them. They are at peace with themselves, unfailingly cheerful, hospitable, and contented. If you are lucky enough to reach here, you may not want to ever leave. (Glimpses of Our Breathtaking World #42 Photo ©Jack Wheeler)