HALF-FULL REPORT 08/25/23
We can’t afford to get depressed about this disgusting week, with this dirtbag free in the White House and the man he stole it from arrested in the corrupt county at the core of the theft. That the dirtbag isn’t under arrest instead of his innocent victim shows that justice is dying in America.
Yet there is a very big difference – explained Miracle Max in The Princess Bride – between mostly dead and all dead. Be pessimistic when something’s all-dead. Be optimistic even when something’s mostly-dead and what you’re interested in is not problems in themselves but solutions to them.
On Wednesday (8/23), Greg Jarrett at Fox explained the Three Reasons Why Joe And Hunter Biden Got Away With Their Great Sell-Out Of America – they’re very skilled at corruption, at hiding the cash, and getting both the media and deep state to protect them. Got it. Now what?
Well, that’s what we’re going to talk about, and a lot more. So settle in a comfy chair to relax and enjoy a really good HFR. You’ll see why I tried to have it be special.
BREAKING: TRUMP INDICTED AGAIN FOR LOOKING TOO STUNNINGLY HANDSOME IN MUGSHOT
ATLANTA, GA — Former President Donald Trump has been indicted by Fulton County for looking too stunning and handsome in his mugshot photo.
"No man is allowed to look that attractive and fierce," said District Attorney Fani Willis. "President Trump must be held accountable for his overpowering sexiness and raw animal magnetism."
According to sources at the Fulton County DA Office, President Trump will be charged with a range of crimes, including having too perfect of a bone structure. "Thousands of women became pregnant the moment the photo was released," said Ms. Willis. "It's an outrage. No man, no matter how beautifully made, is above the law."
Mr. Trump's photo has already spread around the globe at a record pace, with heterosexual women everywhere suddenly becoming fans of the former President. "He finally earned the women's vote," said Republican strategist Dan Cooper. "The fundraising off of this will be incredible. I hear Mike Lindell already has pillowcases with the mugshot ready to go. Someone named Marjorie already ordered ten thousand of them."
At publishing time, Mr. Trump had been indicted yet again for being too debonaire when talking to the jail staff.
~ Babylon Bee reporting.
FLASHBACK FRIDAY – WITH THE KHAMPAS IN TIBET
October 1987, on an overland expedition across the entire Chang Tang Tibetan Plateau. Here is where you find the warrior nomads of Tibet, the Khampas. Renowned and feared for fierceness, they couldn’t have been friendlier to me when I gave them each what they treasured most in the world – a photo of His Holiness the Dalai Lama, far more valuable to them than gold.
Before, they were suspicious and angry at a stranger intruding upon them. Instantly with gifting the photos, they were joyous and smiling. They had no idea who I was, all they knew was that I was their friend, insisting I sit down and have a cup of yak-butter tea with them. It was the most memorable cup of tea in my life. (Glimpses of Our Breathtaking World #55 photo ©Jack Wheeler)
HOLY TOLEDO!
Toledo, Spain. As you drive up the hill upon which this ancient city sits, at the city’s entrance you are greeted by this statue. It is of King Alfonso VI of León and Castile (1040-1109) holding his sword as the Christian cross symbolizing his liberating Toledo from Moslem rule.
The sword has been the symbol of Toledo for over two millennia. In 193 BC, Romans founded the city as Toletum, where their blacksmiths developed a process of making swords of layered steel with different carbon contents, known to history as “Toledo steel,” the finest in the world for millennia until the hi-tech methods of today.
With Fall of Rome, Christian Visigoths ruled Spain from their capital here at Toledo – known as “Holy Toledo,” the center of a flourishing Christian civilization for 300 years until it was overrun by Moslems spreading Islam from Africa in the early 700s.
It was Alfonso VI who liberated Toledo from the Moslems in 1085. It was his great-grandson, Alfonso VIII (1155-1214) who led 30,000 knights in a surprise attack on 200,000 Moslems at the Plains of Tolosa in 1212 to destroy Moslem rule in Spain.
Today, Toledo is a small town of some 50,000, charming, historic, and peaceful. It’s one of the special places we’ll visit exploring Holy Spain this coming March. Hope you’ll be with us. (Glimpses of Our Breathtaking World #170 photo ©Jack Wheeler)
SKYE’S LINKS 08/24/23
Before we begin, let me first thank all my fellow TTPers who posted such nice birthday wishes for me on the Forum. What you expressed means a lot to me – what a wonderful 80th birthday present, for which I am so very appreciative and grateful. “Live long and prosper” to us all!
Good news! Constitutional law professor Jonathan Turley explains how The U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit has handed down a major victory for free speech against the District of Columbia woketard judge. Even better, it’s a Pro-Life free speech victory and loss for Only Black Lives Matter racism!
“When disaster strikes, always blame it on Climate Change” is the Dem mantra now. Yes, the mantra helped cause the deadly Maui wildfires - but not in the way that the MSM and Xiden minions are claiming:
WSJ: Hawaiian Electric Focused on Climate Change, Neglected Wildfire Risk
The above was tragic, but the lethal role that DEI played in the Maui fires was literally insane:
Woke Hawaiian Official Stalled Release Of 'Revered Water' Until It Was Too Late To Save Maui
CHRISTIANITY IN KERALA
In 52 AD, St. Thomas the Apostle, one of Jesus’ 12 Disciples, sailed down the Red Sea and across the Arabian Sea to the Malabar Coast of Southwest India to preach the Gospel of Christ. He found a receptive audience among the peaceful fisherfolk in the villages along the coast – so receptive he established a series of churches that still exist today. Some remain small and humble, others like the one above rebuilt with soaring glass and stone.
There are many Christian denominations in the Indian state of Kerala, which has the entire Malabar Coast, from the original St. Thomas Syrian Christians to Catholic, Pentecostal, Charismatic and others. Of Kerala’s 34 million people, at least 20% are Christian. Kerala is a place of relaxing beauty and peaceful serenity. The best way to explore it is via a luxurious houseboat along the many canals or “backwaters” dotted with fishing villages and churches. You’ll be warmly welcomed. (Glimpses of Our Breathtaking World #155, photo ©Jack Wheeler)
WHAT RONALD REAGAN WOULD TELL THE GOP DEBATE PARTICIPANTS
Everyone seems to have advice for the GOP candidates, so, what the heck, I’ll get in on the action too. Better yet, I’ll shamelessly plagiarize Ronald Reagan—with whom I collaborated on two winning presidential campaigns.
It so happens that the first Republican primary debate is on Aug. 23, the 39th anniversary of Reagan’s re-election acceptance speech at the Republican National Convention in Dallas.
The current cast of White House contenders are engaged in unconstructive outrage rather than offering a clarifying pathway to reclaiming our government. On that sultry night in Texas, Reagan charted the latter course. The president presented a crucial distinction:
The Democrat Party was marked by “pessimism, fear and limits,” whereas the Republican Party offered “hope, confidence and growth.”
Reagan’s words ring true today. He said the left “sees people only as members of groups,” always offering them grandiose—and unfulfilled—promises. Republicans serve “all the people of America as individuals” and “offer proven, workable answers.”
UKRAINE RENEWS ITS INDEPENDENCE
Kyiv, Ukraine. The average age of the Verkhovna Rada, Ukraine’s 450-seat parliament, is 41. Only three of the elected representatives are older than 60, while 17 were under 30 at the time of their election.
This means that when Ukraine declared its independence, many of us were essentially children, and some weren’t yet born. What do we remember from Aug. 24, 1991?
I was 6. My memories of that day are of something profoundly significant. People didn’t go to work; they gathered in the city center, on what is now Hrushevsky Street, greeting each other in an atmosphere of incredible joy and uplift.
Now, in the 10th year of Russia’s war against Ukraine and 18 months into its full-scale phase, we are renewing our independence with an unquenchable passion to keep it.
A MONUMENT TO CHRISTIANITY IN THE CONGO
There are two Congos in Africa. The better known is the former Belgian Congo, once known as Zaire, now DR Congo (for Democratic Republic), also called Kinshasa Congo after its capital.
The lesser known is the former French Congo, now Republic of Congo, or Brazzaville Congo after its capital. Brazzaville is on the north side of a widening of the Congo River known as the Stanley Pool, while right across from it on the south side is Kinshasa.
It is in Brazzaville that you will find this magnificent monument to Christianity, the Cathedral of Sainte-Anne, with its roof covered in gleaming green-turquoise tiles, huge copper doors, and soaring arched interior bathed in sunlight. The people of Brazzaville are joyously Christian, attending 5pm Mass dressed in their most colorful finery. You’ll see Christianity truly come to life here. (Glimpses of Our Breathtaking World #174 photo ©Jack Wheeler)
IS XI JINPING BECOMING THE JOE BIDEN OF CHINA?
[Few scholars know Chicom China better than Willy Wo-Lap Lam. There is a lot to think about here – please consider reading it attentively-JW.]
After emerging as China’s “leader for life” and filling top party organs such as the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) Central Committee and the Politburo with members of his own faction, paramount leader Xi Jinping has been relentlessly buffeted by what he refers to as “high waves and dangerous winds” in his effort to keep the ship of state afloat (Radio Free Asia, May 30).
However, whether the supreme leader and his newly minted Politburo can acquit themselves of handling these challenges remains dubious.
The horrendous rain and flooding of Typhoon Doksuri (杜苏芮) earlier this month (August 2023) that have hit Hebei Province and Beijing itself, which resulted in the displacement of some 1 million people and an undisclosed number of deaths, has again illustrated the questionable governance ability of the Xi Jinping administration.
And Xi—who is General Secretary of the CCP and commander-in-chief—has neither visited the sites of devastation nor spelled out measures to help flood victims re-establish their livelihoods. He has instead gone to the nearby seaside resort of Beidaihe to chair a series of informal policy-making sessions with other Politburo members and top advisors (Australian Broadcasting Corp Chinese, August 10; Radio Free Asia, August 4).
Sounds just like Joe Biden and the horrific fire in Maui, doesn’t it? The comparisons go far deeper.