27,000 dead so far is a lot of hearses and coffins
The War between Optimism and Pessimism
It was a pretty cool week; I mean, look at it.
An Indian national employed by Justice Sotomayor released a position paper describing the end of abortion at the federal level.
The nation did not explode. There were no riots, just some over-the-top demonstrations from Democrats eager to fundraise.
After fifty years of RINOS telling us that the world would stop if abortion were no longer a fictitious federal right, I went outside and looked at the stars and yes, the world still spun.
Why? Because we have become desensitized to propaganda.
The internet click farms jumped the shark twice, thrice, and again.
The masters of the Psyops have lost credibility.
Come on over; let's discuss it in the forum.
Court packing—the attempt to enlarge the size of the Supreme Court for short-term political purposes—used to be a dirty word in the history of American jurisprudence.
The tradition of a nine-person Supreme Court is now 153 years old. The last attempt to expand it for political gain was President Franklin Roosevelt’s failed effort in 1937. FDR’s gambit was so blatantly political that even his overwhelming Democratic majority in Congress rebuffed him.
Yet now “court packing” is a law school cause célèbre. It is hailed as a supposedly quick fix to reverse the current 5-4 conservative majority.
When my kids were in college and complaining about their workload, I was unsympathetic. I reminded them that, to pay for college, I lived at home, commuted 30 hours a week, and worked 20 hours a week, as well as working full time during the summer. I also worked my way through law school. I took out small loans I was able to pay off within a few years of graduating. Count me among the people who deeply resents Biden's plan to cancel $1.6 trillion in outstanding student loan debt. Not only is Biden's plan offensive, but he also has no legal authority and, I believe, no constitutional authority to do so.
There's no question about why Biden is planning to cancel student loan debt:
Like a sickening ooze, governments tend to grow into endless unintended areas – which is known as mission creep.
This past week, the American public was served with two dangerous and destructive examples. The very creepy, Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas of Homeland Security – who has been a fountain of disinformation (lies) – announced he was setting up an operation to combat “disinformation” by others, i.e. free-speech control. And the Securities and Exchange Commission announced a proposed rule to require all firms under its jurisdiction to implement extensive and expensive “climate-related” information. The fact that neither agency seemed to have the Constitutional authority to engage in such activities appeared to be of no bother.
Most government agencies are set up for a single purpose, which may or may not be useful. Far too often, agencies stray from their original mandates because of a lust for more power, influence, and, of course, bigger budgets. Many times, the focus on the “new” activity so diverts attention from the original mission that the original mission is neglected. President Joe Biden announced at the beginning of his administration that every agency of government must be focused on mitigating climate change.
In terms of the absurdities our cultural elites believe, and have convinced masses of people to believe, there has never been a time like today.
The West has gone through many eras—the so-called Dark Ages, the Renaissance, the Age of Reason, the Enlightenment, the Industrial Age, and the Postmodern. The present era is the Age of the Absurd.
In terms of the absurdities the cultural elites believe, and have convinced masses of people to believe, there has never been a time like today.
Here is a list of the most ridiculous that immediately come to mind.
Honesty is one of the foundations of trust; lying leads to greater distrust. When we lie, we’re not as sneaky as we may think. People figure it out eventually, and they trust us less. Our relationships suffer dearly for it.
This is common sense, but here's where this can get tricky: I have colleagues who believe that if we don't express every feeling or impulse, that we're being dishonest. By this philosophy, the whole concept of honesty and authenticity becomes nebulous. By this way of thinking, if we don't express literally everything that goes through our mind, we can't be honest.
This is of course ridiculous. To be honest is not to be brainless. To be honest does not mean that we let fly anything that comes to mind.
Honesty is one facet of integrity. To have integrity is to integrate our thoughts, feelings, experience, values, and knowledge. In other words, real honesty requires consciousness.
Some thoughts on the Twitter road ahead for Musk"
February, 2003. In the deepest hidden heart of the Sahara Desert where Algeria, Libya, and Niger come together, there is a high uninhabited plateau called the Tassili n’Ajjer. It is one of the most magical places on the planet – gigantic rock pillars and arches in spectacular abstract shapes, a forest of 2,000 year-old trees from when the Sahara was once green, the greatest profusion of prehistoric rock art on earth many thousand years old.
This is my son Jackson when we trekked and camped here at age 10. He’ll be guiding our next expedition here with me next January, for it is now safe and secure again. Come with us to have one of the most magically unforgettable experiences of your life. (Glimpses of Our Breathtaking World #122 Photo ©Jack Wheeler)
It’s not a cat, nor raccoon, nor lemur. Genets are part of a small carnivorous mammal group called viverrids, distantly related to hyenas, mongooses, tigers and lions. They hunt animals smaller than them like mice both on the ground and in the trees which they are very good and quick at climbing. You see them in Tropical and Southern Africa, but rarely will one pose like this as he did for me. Going on an Africa safari is not all about seeing the big iconic animals, but being lucky enough to spot small yet beautiful creatures such as this. (Glimpses of Our Breathtaking World #144 Photo ©Jack Wheeler)
10,000 years ago, the Sahara was green, with lakes, rivers, and such an abundance of animals it was a hunting paradise for people who lived here. You’ll find their petroglyphs carved on to rock outcroppings like this that my son Jackson and I found on a Trans-Sahara Expedition in 2003.
The Milankovitch astronomical cycles that drive Earth’s climate produced a West African monsoon that greened the Sahara back then. When the cycles shifted ending the monsoon, the Sahara turned dry desert as it remains today. Political cycles that permitted a peaceful crossing of the world’s greatest desert have also shifted, making this too dangerous now.
A Trans-Sahara Expedition is one of the world’s great adventures. Hopefully, one will be possible again in the not-too-distant future. (Glimpses of Our Breathtaking World #7 photo ©Jack Wheeler)
The Matterhorn at 14,692 ft in the Swiss Alps is arguably the most famous mountain in the world. By extreme luck, I was able to reach its summit with my guide Alfons Franzen at age 14 (in 1958!). The summit is not a point but a ridge 100 feet or so long and only 2 feet wide, like a knife blade in the sky.
This was my formative great adventure that set me on my life path. For over forty years that path has been providing friends and clients with great adventures for their own lives. (Glimpses of Our Breathtaking World #30 photo ©Jack Wheeler)
This is Ama Dablam – “Mother’s Necklace” in Sanskrit – famed by climbers and trekkers as the Matterhorn of the Himalayas. Standing 22,349 ft, the favored climbing route is the southwest ridge, which you’re looking at face on. It towers as sentinel above the Tengboche Monastery of Nyingma (Red Hat) Tibetan Buddhism, and the famous trek to Everest Base Camp (EBC).
We were at EBC this morning, and shortly later flew by Ama Dablam in our expedition AS350B3 helicopter at 20,000 ft. It is from this altitude you can see the summit of Everest. And yes, that’s Everest on the left of the photo. In the shadow is Everest’s southwest face, in the sun the east face, the southeast ridge between them is the climber’s route to the summit. Breathtaking only begins to hint of what it is like to experience such a sight. (Glimpses of Our Breathtaking World #202 photo ©Jack Wheeler)
Is Russia’s Nuclear Arsenal a Paper Tiger?
Jack Wheeler is in Khatmandu, leading a helicopter expedition to the top of Mt. Everest.
Guest Author Mike Ryan addresses this critical question as Putin threatens to use his nukes against the United States and Europe for supporting Ukraine.
We cannot afford to get this question wrong, but fortunately, the United States has brilliant physicists looking at the question from many angles.
We all watched the propaganda explode when Russia invaded Ukraine, and so did the rest.
In about two months, the consequences have included a collapse of CNN revenues and a change of ownership at Twitter. Zuck is in trouble, and Soros can’t get anyone to take his calls.
How did this happen? Zelenskyy introduced a new leadership style with politicians everywhere throwing out their late 20th Century neoliberal style.
But we knew this would happen because we talked about it on the forum at length. TTPers had a heads up long before the rest of the world.
We are running out of Jevelin missiles and can’t make them fast enough. This is a problem.
Kremlinologist Condoleeza Rice had a one-hour conversation on Putin and the war, turning out to be a replay of the Battle of Kursk.
All this and more in this weeks Half Full Report.
