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FLASHBACK FRIDAY: HAVING A GREAT TIME IN ALBANIA

albania-beer-jack

Rebel and I, along with our friends with us, always have a great time in Albania. Here’s a pic she took of me with a stein of delicious Birra Tirana lager. You’re sure to have so much fun yourself by joining us and your fellow TTPers on our Albania Wonderland experience this April. See you in Tirana. The beer’s on me! (Glimpses of Our Breathtaking World #284 photo ©Jack Wheeler)

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THE RED-OCHERED WOMEN OF THE HIMBAS

himba-womanThe Himbas are a tribe of nomadic cattle herders in far northern Namibia. Himba women make a paste of butter fat and red ochre clay called “otjize,” to protect their skin from the burning African sun and braid their hair for beautification.

The Himbas’ exotic practices are not for tourists. This is the way they live as one of Africa’s most genuinely traditional peoples. Living on the move in remote roadless regions, it takes an effort to find them. But when you do, coming with an attitude of respect, you will be welcomed with smiles and hospitality in return. (Glimpses of Our Breathtaking World #66 Photo ©Jack Wheeler)

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THE POLYNESIA PARADISE YOU NEVER HEARD OF

polynesia-paradiseHave you ever seen the ocean turn day-glo pink? It does here naturally during a sunset (this is not photoshopped). Between Samoa and Tonga in the South Pacific is a raised coral atoll, 100 square miles of old limestone between 60 and 200 feet high: the island of Niue (new-way), and it’s is uniquely fabulous.

With no silty river runoff, the water is incredibly clear – visibility can reach over 200 feet. There are a multitude of chasms through which you clamber to these out-of-a-movie tidal pools perfect for snorkeling surrounded by colorful reef fish. The limestone cliffs encircling the coast are riddled with caves with multi-colored stalactites and stalagmites.

You can snorkel or dive with spinner dolphins and humpback whales. The big game fishing is world class – within a few hundred yards off shore. The Niueans are unfailingly friendly and welcoming, the beautiful Matavai Resort is the best bargain in the Pacific, the food and beer is inexpensive, the weather is balmy. It’s a Polynesian paradise you never heard of. (Glimpses of Our Breathtaking World #48 Photo ©Jack Wheeler)

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THE REAL ATLANTIS

atlantis-in-knossosHere we are at the real Atlantis in Knossos, Crete. More nonsense has been invented about Plato’s myth of Atlantis – mentioned briefly in his Timaeus and Critias and not by anyone else in antiquity – than any other legend you care to name.

Yet like many myths, it was constructed out of something that really existed. Atlantis is the Minoan Civilization of Crete, Europe’s oldest. By 2,000 BC, the Minoans had created the world’s first peaceful capitalist empire, based not on military might and conquest but on trade, with trade routes across the entire Mediterranean. They became immensely wealthy, building fabulous palaces and villas – but their cities were not fortified. Europe’s original civilization was the most peaceful in European history.

Around 1450 BC, the Minoan island of Santorini 60 miles north of Crete – known to the Greeks as Thera – suffered a colossal volcanic explosion with the resultant mega-tsunami wiping the Minoans out on Crete. It was “The wave that destroyed Atlantis.” Yet you can see for Atlantis for yourself, its excavated villas with fabulous preserved frescoes, and step back into a period of inspiring history. (Glimpses of Our Breathtaking World #68 photo ©Jack Wheeler)

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THE BEATLES IN CENTRAL ASIA

beatles-in-kazakhstan

Astana, Kazakhstan.  In a small park in the capital city of Kazakhstan, you find this tribute in bronze to The Beatles.  It turns out the Fab Four are immensely popular here in Central Asia.  Young and old, they sing and dance to Beatle music.  The Beatles may be ancient history for American kids, but Beatlemania is very much alive for Kazakh, Kyrgyz, and Uzbek kids in what us for us a remote world.  (Glimpses of Our Breathtaking World #313 photo ©Jack Wheeler)

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HALF-FULL REPORT 01/23/26

You may not recognize who this is, nor his name Francois Marie Arouet, but you’ll certainly know his pen name – Voltaire (1694-1778). If he were alive today, he would instantly understand what the agenda of the Dems and the Woke Left is all about.

He explained it succinctly in the 11th Letter of his Lettres sur les Miracles (Letters on Miracles), written in 1765. Translated from the French, Voltaire observed:

“Those who can make you believe absurdities can make you commit atrocities”

 

Think of what that explains right now…

OK, we’re off with another fantastic HFR.  Jump right on in!

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CLIMBING FUJIYAMA

[This Monday’s Archive was first in TTP on July 6, 2006.  I thought you’d enjoy a brief history of Japan, albeit written 20 years ago, when today it has a new Prime Minister, Sanae Takaichi, the first woman leader of Japan in its history, pro-America and pro-Trump (mutual admiration), pro-West (she and Italy’s Giorgia Meloni are best buds), pro-Taiwan (she pledges Japan’s military defense of Taiwan), and anti-Chicom China. Many TTPers know Japan – let us know what you think in Comments!]

 

TTP, July 6, 2006

It was an interesting way to spend the 4th of July.  And instructive.  I climbed Fujiyama – Fuji-san, as the Japanese reverently call it – once before when I was 17.  That was in 1961, and I still have the climbing stick I used with the year burned into the wood.

No problem when I was 17.  I guess 45 years does make a difference after all.Actually, the big difference is in coming back down.  The endless, endless steep pitch down, down, down, hour after hour made it achingly clear I don't have teen-age legs any more.

But my 14 year-old son Jackson does – and standing on top of Fuji with him made all the effort easily worthwhile.For the rest of his life, Jackson will remember the 4th of July in 2006.  Fujiyama, one of the world's most famous mountains, is now a part of his life.  Hopefully, it will inspire him to learn more about the country of which Fujiyama is the symbol:  Japan.

Because the lesson Japan can teach other cultures of how it emerged from medieval feudalism and fascist militarism to become a modern rich democracy – while still preserving its cultural traditions and identity – is of enormous importance.

 

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A BRITISH PATRIOT WARNS AMERICA

[Daniel Hannan, Baron Hannan of Kingsclere, is a friend of mine, member of the British House of Lords, and Britain’s smartest patriot.  He published this article in the Daily Telegraph today, entitled: Britain Is Heading For Utter Ruin, And Neither The Parties Nor The Voters Are Prepared To Stop It

It is a terrifying warning of what will happen to America if the Dems are allowed to rig the midterms little more than 9 months from now, because Sens Thune and Grassley are such pussies they won’t rescind the filibuster as Trump demands in order to pass the SAVE Act and other legislation requiring Paper Ballots, Citizenship ID, Same-Day Voting, and banning Mail-in Ballots.  Read what Daniel has to say about Britain now in the light of America’s future right around the corner.]

 

What a dreadful week. For the first time, I find myself wondering whether there will be anything left to salvage. I don’t mean Keir Starmer, whose approval ratings have already collapsed irremediably. No, I mean for Britain.

Everything that elevated us above the run of nations is being lost: our competitiveness, our sovereignty, our credit-worthiness, our prestige. We are diminished morally, financially and, after the Chagos surrender, physically.

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WILL THE SUPREME COURT OVERTURN THE CASE THAT CREATED THE DEEP STATE?

This morning the Supreme Court will hear Trump v. Cook, a case that began with an unprecedented move: President Trump fired Federal Reserve Governor Lisa CookAs usual, lower courts blocked him.

The press is framing this as a fight about “central bank independence” and even inflation fears. But that deliberately misses the real question at stake:

Do we still have a Constitution, or do we have a permanent ruling class — credentialed, insulated, and effectively unfireable — running the country while elections serve as a ceremonial change of figureheads?

Trump v. Cook is not an isolated dispute. It is the Federal Reserve chapter in the same story the Court already confronted last month in Trump v. Slaughter, the FTC case that squarely asks the Supreme Court to admit what has been obvious since 1935: Humphrey’s Executor was a constitutional disaster.

Simply put, today’s argument is about whether the Supreme Court will continue to bless an unconstitutional fourth branch of government, run by “experts,” insulated from the voters, and wielding coercive power without democratic accountability.

Or to put that another way, does the Constitution’s Article 2, Section 1 have any meaning?

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WHY TRUMP WANTS GREENLAND AND WHY YOU SHOULD, TOO

greenlandDonald Trump’s determination to bring Greenland under American control has been widely mocked as eccentric or theatrical.

That reaction misses the point.

Beneath the blunt language and headline-grabbing delivery lies a strategic argument rooted in geography, military physics, alliance realities, and the accelerating competition among global powers in the Arctic.

Trump’s fixation on Greenland is not a whim. It is the product of a long-running belief that the island represents one of the most valuable pieces of territory on Earth for American security.

Failing to secure it would amount to a historic act of negligence.

 

Trump’s public interest in Greenland first emerged in August 2019, when reports revealed that he had privately asked advisers about purchasing the island from Denmark.

He confirmed the interest himself, describing Greenland as strategically interesting and emphasizing the close alliance between the United States and Denmark.

At the time, he framed the idea as exploratory rather than urgent, noting that it was not the top priority on his agenda.

Yet even then, the logic was clear. The United States already provided extensive military protection to Denmark. Meanwhile, Greenland sat at the crossroads of American, European, and Arctic security.

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THE TIDES FOUNDATION MODEL – POWER WITHOUT VISIBILITY

The Tides Foundation rarely appears prominently in public debate, yet it occupies a critical position in modern American civic life.

It is not a political party, a campaign committee, or a government agency. It does not pass laws, issue rulings, or command police forces.

And yet, through its structure, it exerts influence over how laws are enforced, how public norms are shaped, and how activism is sustained.

 

This essay is not an accusation of illegality. It is an examination of architecture, the legal and institutional design that allows power to be exercised without visibility, responsibility, or direct democratic consent.

The name Tides itself was chosen deliberately.

It reflects a view of social change not as something achieved through elections, legislation, or singular moments, but as something that advances through cumulative, distributed pressure over time.

 

A tide is slow. It is not dramatic. It does not announce itself as an act of will.

It reshapes the shoreline through persistence, not force, and it is difficult to attribute any specific change to a single wave or actor.

That metaphor captures the organization’s founding philosophy: Durable change emerges from many aligned actions, operating across institutions, advancing steadily, and appearing natural even when driven by distant causes.

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TRUMP FINALLY ACTS ON BRITAIN’S CHAGOS FOLLY

chagos-archipelagoThe  Chagos giveaway is coming to its reckoning. At last.

What Sir Keir Starmer once presented as a neat diplomatic housekeeping exercise has turned into a rolling crisis of strategy, law, and political competence.

The Prime Minister’s decision to surrender the British Indian Ocean Territory to Mauritius, while leasing back Diego Garcia, now collides with parliamentary upheaval, American anger, and a growing sense that the government has blundered into a trap of its own making.

Against this misjudgment, a small but determined resistance took shape.

The Great British PAC, chaired by Advance UK’s leader Ben Habib, recognised early that the issue went far beyond post-colonial symbolism.

It treated the proposed transfer as a question of national security and democratic legitimacy.

The PAC funded legal challenges on behalf of Chagossians who had been shut out of negotiations, mobilised public pressure, and forced MPs and peers to examine a deal the government hoped to slide through unchallenged.

Most significantly, the PAC was instrumental in helping organise the formation of a Chagossian government-in-exile, giving displaced islanders a coherent political voice for the first time.

What began as an obscure territorial adjustment became a cause with human faces and constitutional consequences.

The House of Lords proved more awake to those consequences than Downing Street expected.

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GUYANA –THE LITTLE CARIBBEAN COUNTRY WITH A BIG ROLE TO PLAY

With the U.S. capture of Venezuelan strongman Nicolás Maduro in a bold Jan. 3 military raid and a large naval force still prowling the southern Caribbean to ensure that Maduro’s successors cooperate with the Trump administration, other subtle, but key, developments in the region can be overlooked.

Among under-the-wire events is a December 2025 agreement between the United States and Venezuela’s neighbor, Guyana.

That agreement could have profound implications, not only in the immediate context of unfolding events in Venezuela, but also for the long-term execution of the Trump Corollary to the Monroe Doctrine, unveiled in November 2025 by U.S. President Donald Trump.

 

A U.S. delegation led by senior Pentagon adviser Patrick Weaver and Acting Deputy Assistant Secretary of War Joseph Humire met with Guyanese President Irfaan Ali in the nation’s capital, Georgetown, on Dec. 9.

Ali told Guyanese media outlets that the nations had signed a statement of intent to “expand joint military cooperation,” a process that will be “evolving ... in the coming months.” He stated that there “will be greater discussions on more levels of cooperation and the integration of [the two countries’] work.”

The statement of intent is not a formal mutual defense treaty, he said, calling it a “reinforcement” of long-term training and collaboration between the United States and Guyana.

But such a pact could be on the table, Ali hinted, referring to the U.S. military effort dubbed Operation Southern Spear.

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FLASHBACK FRIDAY: THE ONLY CAR I EVER LOVED

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My 1952 K2 Allard

When you get to be as old as I am, you’ve had a number of cars. I’ve had many over the years – but only one I really loved was this 1952 K2 Allard.

Sydney Allard (1910-1966) was a famous English race car driver in 1930s, and founded the Allard Motor Car company in London in 1945. His most famous race car was the J2 which finished third in Le Mans in 1950. The K2 was the roadster version of the J2 with those amazing swooping fenders.

Allards were always powered by an American V-8 – mine had a big block Chevy. I had drag races in it right out of American Graffitti or the Beach Boys’ Shut Down, and once hit 160 on a long empty stretch of highway out in the California desert racing a supercharged Porsche.

I asked Rebel to marry me in my K2 driving along the Pacific Coast Highway – best decision I ever made. So many memories in this car. But that was long ago. A car like that won’t last in East Coast winters, so I sold it when we moved to Washington long ago.

Have I ever thought of getting another K2? Sure – but I know at my age driving a car like that (and knowing how I’d drive it!) is not wise. Better stick with the memories. (Glimpses of Our Breathtaking World #258 photo ©Jack Wheeler)

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