INDIAN TIBET
There is a part of Tibet the British kept from China and is now a part of India. The region is called Ladakh and this is its capital of Leh. It’s the Upper Indus river valley after it flows out of Chinese Tibet and before it reaches the Line of Control with Pakistan.
Ladakh is geographically and culturally Tibetan, where Tibetan culture still flourishes. Here the great gompas (monasteries) of Thikse and Hemis are active, and where you are welcome in hidden mysterious gompas like Lamayuru over a thousand years old.
There is an ultra-remote part of Ladakh called Zanskar where the Zanskar River flows through the crest of the Himalayas to reach the Upper Indus. Running the Zanskar is one of the world’s greatest whitewater experiences. We’ll see and do all of this next August on our Indian Tibet 2023 Expedition. Click on it and, trust me, the photos will blow you away. (Glimpses of Our Breathtaking World #120 Photo ©Jack Wheeler)
CLASSIFIED DOCS SCANDAL IS UNBOXING THE BIDEN FAMILY BUSINESS
Courtesy of Fox News, here’s a headline for the ages: “Biden, Hunter Make Presidential History As First Father-Son Duo Under Separate Investigations.”
Yet beyond the history noted by Fox, its headline also spotlights unfinished business when it cites the “separate” Biden investigations. If there is any honest justice left in Justice, sooner rather than later there will be a single investigation involving both father and son.
That is also something they’ve earned. Joe and Hunter clearly were in cahoots on the influence-peddling scam that netted the family tens of millions of dollars. In fact, the more we learn, the more convincing it is that Joe’s role has been underestimated.
The full truth, if we ever get it, will show that Joe was the mastermind and Hunter was the frontman and conduit for the payoffs.
THE FESTERING ROT AT THE FBI — BIGGER AND DEEPER THAN WE EVER GUESSED
Today’s NY Post 1/24/23
Charles McGonigal, a retired counterintelligence investigator from the FBI’s New York Field Office, was just arrested because he allegedly took substantial sums of money from Oleg Deripaska, a Russian billionaire, to get the latter off a U.S. sanctions list.
Where this goes beyond the ordinary corruption that periodically crops up among people with too much power, too few morals, and too little accountability is that McGonigal was one of the people investigating Trump over the Russia Hoax, while Deripaska employed Christopher Steele, whose false dossier seeded the Russia Hoax.
So now the obvious question: was McGonigal on Deripaska’s payroll to invent the Russia Hoax?
KEEPING YOUR SANITY BY KNOWING HOW MONEY CAN BUY HAPPINESS
I think the Beatles were mostly right about money and love. But there are ways of spending our money that can actually make us happier.
George Washington once said, “Government is like fire, a useful servant but a dangerous master.”
Money can be like that, too. Money can be a tool in the service of our good life, but for that to happen, we need to be conscious and in charge of how we make and spend our money.
It can also be a dangerous master, when we allow our spending to follow from our impulses and habits, and when we allow debt to pile up.
How we spend our money has the potential to enhance our lives or ruin our lives. The difference comes down to how we choose what we spend our money on.
THE WORLD’S MOST UNUSUAL VINEYARD
The grape vines of Pico Island, one of nine islands of the Azores in the Atlantic, are enclosed within walls of black basalt rocks called currais (corrals). For over 500 years, the Portuguese villagers have been constructing thousands of miles of these currais walled enclosures to protect the vines from wind and sea spray.
The vineyards of Pico are so extraordinary that they are a UNESCO World Heritage Site. And the wine is uniquely good! You can order a bottle here. Best, though, is to experience Pico and its viticulture yourself. That’s what we did last June on our Atlantic Paradises adventure with your fellow TTPers.
We had a wonderful time – and you will too this coming June. You won’t believe how much adventurous fun you’ll have on our Atlantic Paradises 2023! Click to join us… (Glimpses of Our Breathtaking World #213 photo ©Jack Wheeler)
AL GORE AGAIN WARNS THE EARTH WILL NOT MAKE IT PAST THE YEAR 2012
DAVOS — While at the World Economic Forum, rightful President Al Gore delivered a stern warning on climate change, saying the world will not make it past the year 2012 if something isn't done immediately.
"The situation has never been more dire," said Gore while wiping the lipstick of a Swiss hooker off his face. "It's more dire than it was yesterday, and more dire than it was the day before and even more dire than the day before that."
Sources say the crowd began to fall asleep as he continued.
"In fact, we have minus 11 years to fix this," Gore said as he began shouting and waving his arms to hold everyone's attention.
"By 2012, we will have reached the point of no return, and trillions of people will die painful deaths and the polar bears will have to grow gills and live in the water because there will be no more ice and Kevin Costner and his friends will have to help us escape from artificial islands in the ocean and lead us to the mythical 'Dryland' unless someone builds a time machine back to the year 2000 to warn the world of its impending doom! Trust the experts!"
The consensus of climate scientists voiced their agreement with Gore by accepting his funding and then booking tv hits on CNN to warn of the imminent disaster 11 years ago.
At publishing time, experts confirmed that Gore's speech had reduced global temperatures by half a degree.
FLASHBACK FRIDAY: AFGHAN MUJAHADDIN?
When my son Brandon was a cadet at Virginia Military Academy, his professor teaching Modern Military History gave a lecture on the 1980s War in Afghanistan fought by Afghan Mujahaddin against the Soviet Red Army occupation of their country. One of the pictures he showed was the one above of “three typical Mujahaddin fighters.”
Brandon raised his hand. “Yes, Cadet Wheeler,” the professor called on him. “Actually, Professor,” Brandon said, “only the man in the center with the white beard is one. The man on the right is United States Congressman Dana Rohrabacher, while the man on the left is my father.”
The professor was stunned while the rest of the class stifled laughter. “Are you quite sure of that, Cadet Wheeler?” stammered the professor. “Oh, yes sir,” Brandon replied. “I recognize my own father. That photo is framed in my father’s study. It was taken in November 1988. The Afghan Commander’s name is Moli Shakur. I have known Congressman Rohrabacher all my life.”
The cadets all applauded in appreciation. To this day, this remains one of Brandon’s fondest college memories. (Glimpses of Our Breathtaking World #145 Photo ©Jack Wheeler)
HALF-FULL REPORT 01/20/23
Just got back home from the wilds of Patagonia since early January – such as being at the breathtaking Torres del Paine above – and can’t thank Mike Ryan enough for his spectacular HFR last week (1/13).
Thanks to Mike, TTPers were the first clued in to what others are figuring out this week. So now it’s my shout. Mike keeps raising the HFR bar on me. Let’s see if I can clear the bar now – here we go, and let’s have informative fun doing it.
A CHANGPA NOMAD GIRL ON THE TIBETAN PLATEAU
“Changpa” means “northerners” in Tibetan, the nomads who survive with their herds of goats and yaks in the 15,000-foot high plateau of northern Tibet known as the Changtang.
In 1987, I conducted an overland expedition from Beijing to Kathmandu, crossing the entire Changtang north to south. TTP’s Dr. Joel Wade was with me. Occasionally, we’d chance upon a Changpa encampment. For many of them such as this young girl holding a handful of barley meal, we were the first white people they had ever seen.
The Changpa live in one of the most remote and harshest places on earth. We can hardly imagine what life is like for them any more can they imagine ours. Being with them is an unforgettably profound experience. (Glimpses of Our Breathtaking World #254 photo ©Jack Wheeler)
SKYE’S LINKS 01/19/23
The Narratives are Falling Fast
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Grab an IPA and get ready to celebrate lots of fantastic news this week!
Narratives are falling all over now that the House is in patriotic hands.
The world is turning on ESG and its enablers at BlackRock in a big way. The Federal Reserve wants no part of social engineering.
The greatest ESG enthusiasts are beholden to big finance, which includes most large public companies and universities. Of note, the most vigorous supporters come from a narrow cohort of students working on a Master's degree. Undergrads, and especially Ph.D. students, want no part. This might be due to the liberal arts nature of most Master's degrees. Or maybe not.
The Vaxx narrative force-fed for three years is dead now that a dangerous drift in the type of antibodies produced in the jabs has been discovered. It's not that the vaxx reduced Covid; it reduced the symptoms. The change in antibody type allows the virus to set up camp and stick around within a person. This might be the cause of long Covid in some.
West Virginia dumped BlackRock, and while the state is small, it impacted the company's bottom line. ESG is Chairman Larry Fink's dream Child to enact a one-world government where he is the new global central banker, and the WEF serves as a Board of Directors.
Speaking of West Virginia, there is talk of a Bill Gates-sponsored liquid sodium reactor to be built by AEP south of Charleston. That's the chemical row where one large, heavy chemical plane after another operates. The base load is large and steady. This part of the USA is to heavy chemicals as Houston is to oil refining.
Come over to Skye's Links; the news is excellent this week. Very good for the good guys…