THE END OF FREE ELECTIONS
This week, Arizona leftists and RINOs admitted, under oath, that they changed the print settings, on election morning, so Republican votes would not be tabulated, on the one day most Republicans vote -- and the Maricopa County judge said “…it wasn’t intentional.”
A Republican governor candidate who easily won by multiple points was denied her rightful election. Several million Arizona voters were disenfranchised.
Not a word from Republican leaders!
Wake up, America.
Leftists and RINOs have spent the last 40 years transforming election machinery to end your right to vote -- and they are about to finish the job.
TEN REVELATIONS OF THE BIG GOVERNMENT-BIG TECH COLLUSION AGAINST AMERICA
Two hundred and thirty-one years ago this month, America's founders enshrined free speech as the first protection in the ratified Bill of Rights with a declaration that the government could not infringe expression.
A series of blockbuster revelations at the end of 2022 show just how imperiled those protections have become in the era of Big Tech.
From Elon Musk’s "Twitter files" to an FBI agent's candid testimony, Americans have gotten a glimpse into a once-hidden enterprise where federal agencies pressured social media platforms – directly and through proxies – to censor content under their terms of service.
The goal, it appears, was to preserve the ruling elite's favored narratives on everything from the pandemic to election integrity.
THE LION ROCK OF SIGIRIYA
Rising 600 feet above the jungles of central Ceylon (Sri Lanka) is a gigantic rock column revered for millennia as Sigiriya – Lion Rock from Sanskrit. It’s flat on top, used over centuries as a Buddhist monastery and a fortress by kings. In 480, King Kashyapa had the image of a lion carved into the rock as the entrance gate to his fortress-palace on top. All that’s left are the lion’s paws that you see.
It was a risky climb via stone stairs carved into the rock getting to the top. Today there’s a much safer wooden staircase. It’s a pilgrimage site for Sri Lankans where they get to celebrate their history and enjoy the gorgeous view on top. It’s a marvelous experience for you to participate in. (Glimpses of Our Breathtaking World #158 photo ©Jack Wheeler)
YOUR GOVERNMENT HATES YOU
Did you know that in fiscal year 2022, federal tax receipts as a share of gross domestic product (GDP) hit a near record high of 19.6 percent?
According to the U.S. Treasury, in FY 2022, total federal tax receipts and additional federal government revenue topped $4.90 trillion. Yet, over this time, Congress spent $6.27 trillion. The difference, the 2022 deficit, was $1.37 trillion.
Presently, the U.S. national debt is over $31.4 trillion. In December 2000, the national debt was $5.6 trillion. Over the last 22 years the U.S. national debt has increased 460 percent. U.S. GDP over this same time, however, increased just 157 percent, from about $10 trillion to 25.7 trillion.
That’s how the U.S. government works in the 21st century, where near record tax receipts will never be enough. Why? Because your government hates you so much it thinks it has a moral right to steal as much as they want from you.
THE GOP’S MORONIC HOUSE SPEAKERSHIP FIGHT
After four years of legislative malfeasance by Nancy Pelosi and her Democrat myrmidons, the Republicans will soon have a 222–213 majority in the House of Representatives.“Who are these five boneheads? How can they be so stupid?”
Fox News host Mark Levin
It should be obvious to anyone with a 3-dight IQ that, to accomplish anything useful with such a narrow majority, the House Republican Conference has to close ranks and prepare for a war with a radicalized Democrat minority that will continue its ongoing effort to undermine the will of the voters.
The new Republican majority will get its first chance to present a unified front on Jan. 3, when the House meets to elect a new speaker to replace Pelosi. Yet a small cadre of GOP opportunists vows not to vote for the only realistic choice — current Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.).
Here’s why this is moronic.
AMONG A MILLION PENGUINS IN SOUTH GEORGIA
The Antarctic island of South Georgia is home to a million King penguins, plus countless fur seals, gigantic elephant seals, staggering numbers of seabirds such as albatrosses, amidst a backdrop of towering mountains with massive glaciers spilling off them.
Nothing can prepare you for the incomprehensible size of the penguin rookeries here, densely packed as far as the eye can see (all those white dots on the hills behind are penguins). Nor for the size of bull elephant seals weighing up to 8,000 pounds, especially when they rise up and crash their chests against each other in mating challenges emitting deafening bellows. Nor being surrounded by a thousand fur seals unafraid of you. The density of wildlife combined with the magnificent beauty of the island is completely overwhelming.
Here also is the abandoned whaling station of Grytviken where the heroic explorer Ernest Shackleton is buried. You can only get here by expedition cruise ship. South Georgia is one of the great experiences on our planet. (Glimpses of Our Breathtaking World #96 photo ©Jack Wheeler)
MAURITANIA FISH MARKET
Go down to the Atlantic coast beach of Mauritania’s capital Nouakchott at sunset, and you’ll see a very unusual fish market. A fishing boat laden with the day’s catch is ready to come ashore, but the crew is afraid the wind and surf may capsize the boat as they do, losing their catch in the process.
So they float just outside the surf line so buyers with boxes and baskets can wade out to buy the fish right off the boat, and wade back. Only when the boat is empty will the crew attempt to beach it. Just one of this West African country’s intriguing sights.
.(Glimpses of Our Breathtaking World #249 photo ©Jack Wheeler)
KEEPING YOUR SANITY BY UNDERSTANDING THE CONNECTION BETWEEN FEAR, FAMINE, AND FINANCES
Money troubles can tap into the most primitive emotions, including intense fear, and even reactions of flight and panic. But there are ways of using these signals, so we don’t get lost in them.
Matt wakes up in the middle of the night, anxious and troubled. Breathing shallow and high in his chest, thoughts racing… The severity of his financial troubles has just hit him. His investments have dropped significantly, and his spending has been putting him deeply into debt surprisingly quickly.
He’s in trouble, big trouble. Yet the panic is Matt’s friend; his own awareness trying to break through his defenses so he can face the real problems. And there are ways of solving these problems. But nothing happens until he’s willing to acknowledge the reality first.
Why is this panic around money so severe? And how can you use the panic to find solutions? Let’s talk about it….
FLASHBACK FRIDAY – TIGER LEAPING GORGE
Many centuries ago, a tiger was plaguing the Naxi people who live in the mountains where the Yangtse River cascades off the plateau of Tibet. He was eating the goats the Naxi needed to feed themselves. So Naxi hunters chased the tiger into a deep narrow gorge of the Yangtse where they were sure they had him trapped. Suddenly, the tiger sprang onto a large rock in the center of the raging river and from there leapt to the other side and escaped, never to be seen again.
Ever since, where this took place has been known as Tiger Leaping Gorge. Here you see Tiger Leaping Rock. I was first here in July 2002 on our overland expedition across eastern Tibet. Last time 2015. Maybe again? (Glimpses of Our Breathtaking World #141 Photo ©Jack Wheeler)
PUTIN HUILO!
Ukrainians call Putin a huilo. In England, the term is bellend. The townspeople of Rowley Regis in the West Midlands went one step further. Every year they give The Bellend of the Year Award to the biggest jerk, schmuck, putz, or d-head they can think of.
This year they made a Putin effigy as a bellend, and nearby, free eggs to throw at it. You can read about it here. One resident said, “There was one person who has universally been a bellend this year – and that’s Vladimir Putin," adding "You could just throw eggs at the statue, which people did so willingly and quite happily."