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THE FOURTEEN FACTS ABOUT US AID TO UKRAINE

ukr-troops-prepSince Russia invaded Ukraine for the second time in eight years, Russian troops have ravaged Ukraine’s cities, raped its women, and stolen its children. Russian missiles and Iranian drones strike Ukrainian cities daily, often hitting civilian targets. Russia is the aggressor. Ukraine is the victim.

For Americans who believe in respect for national borders, the primacy of national sovereignty, and the right to self-defense, support for Ukraine is natural. Ukrainians are not asking for, nor do they want, US troops to help them fight Russia. All they ask for is the resources required to give them a fighting chance.

Meanwhile, Russia is among America’s top geopolitical adversaries. As former Secretary of State and Hudson Distinguished Fellow Mike Pompeo said last week, a Russian victory “would be felt well beyond Ukraine’s borders, including by strengthening a Russia-China-Iran alliance that aims to weaken the US and our allies across the globe.”

As Congress debates additional support for Ukraine, detractors will spread false and misleading information. It is important to understand the facts.  Here are fourteen to be aware of.

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THE PRESIDENT OF ISRAEL’S OPEN LETTER TO US UNIVERSITIES

antiisrael-activists-strikeAmerican University and College Presidents,

As President of Israel, I have spent the past month traveling among devastated Israeli communities, more than 1,400 grieving families, and the relatives of more than 240 hostages. I've been trying to comfort survivors of the largest massacre of Jews since the Holocaust, a sadistic atrocity that included rape and torture.

And while doing so, I hear of Jewish students harassed at Harvard University. A Jewish student assaulted at Tulane, Jewish students locked in a library at the Cooper Union as a mob shouts outside, signs accusing Israel of genocide, swastikas painted on dorm-room doors, hateful and intimidating demonstrations - too many examples to list.

All of this is happening not on the fringes of society but in the very temples of scholarship, in halls meant to be beacons of humanism, progress and rigorous inquiry. And it is happening not in Europe a century ago, but in the United States in 2023.

Debate is welcome on any topic, including Israel's actions. But the events on campus are not debate but a defilement of the university and its principles.

How can anyone endorsing, excusing, or glorifying the Hama atrocities have a place in any college, or in the civilized world?

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HOW TO DEFEAT HAMAS FAST, CHEAP, AND EASY

There are 300 miles of Hamas tunnels underneath Gaza
There are 300 miles of Hamas tunnels underneath Gaza

As the war rages on, Gaza is getting destroyed, people are getting killed on both sides, and a resolution of the conflict seems as elusive as ever. On the contrary, the war is escalating and spreading to other theaters.  The main problem is the Hamas tunnels.

The massive spiderweb of 300 miles of tunnels boast an impressive level of engineering, constructed from reinforced concrete, divided into separate self-contained sections by steel doors, and reaching depths up to 100 feet. The tunnels are also equipped with modern ventilation systems powered by generators.

They were built under buildings, hospitals, schools, and other civilian projects. The terrorists currently hold more than 200 hostages somewhere in their tunnel maze.  With the tunnels, time is on Hamas’s side.

So, what is to be done? This:

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FLASHBACK FRIDAY – THE MAN-EATER OF DALAT

jw-man-eating-tigerDalat, South Viet Nam, 1961. I was 17 years old. A friend of my father’s, Herb Klein, came by our house. He was a prominent businessman whose passion was big-game hunting. He had just returned from the mountain jungle highlands of South Viet Nam and regaled us with stories of the Montagnard tribespeople who were plagued by tigers with a taste for human flesh. He told me that after climbing the Matterhorn, living with Amazon headhunters, and swimming the Hellespont, hunting a man-eating tiger should be my next adventure.

“You’d be saving so many lives, Jack,” he told me. “There’s one I heard about from the Co Ho Montagnards that’s killed and eaten almost 20 of them in the forests outside the town of Dalat. I know who can guide you, he was mine, his name is Ngo Van Chi.”

Somehow, I talked my parents into letting me do this. I had saved up the money from giving tennis and judo lessons. So there I was, in pitch dark in a “mirador” of branches and leaves, holding a .300 Weatherby with a flashlight wired to the barrel, waiting for this man-eating tiger to come for the rotting water buffalo we set out as bait. Chi and I heard the tiger, I put the rifle barrel out, Chi clicked on the flashlight, I saw these two enormous red eyes, and fired.

And there he is, the Man-Eater of Dalat, who would never kill another human being ever again. (Glimpses of Our Breathtaking World #175 photo ©Jack Wheeler)

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THE PERITO MORENO GLACIER

perito-moreno-glacierOne of the most spectacular glaciers on earth, the Perito Moreno spills off the gigantic Southern Patagonia Ice Field constantly calving into Lago Argentino at the bottom of South America.  It is almost 100 square miles of ice some 600 feet thick, and is an embarrassment to climate alarmists because it’s growing, not retreating.  Every day, huge chunks of ice on the glacier’s front (which you see in the photo) break off or “calve” into the lake, equal to the glacier’s forward advance of two meters or over six feet a day.

Thunderous cracks and booms accompany the plunge of the calved sections with huge splashes of water.  You never know when or where they’ll occur along the mile wide front, but when they do, everyone watching exclaims and applauds.  We were lucky to have perfectly gorgeous weather.  You can take a boat along the front, view it from several boardwalks for marvelous vantage points, or even hike on it with crampons with an ice-trekking guide.  Being here is one of Patagonia’s most thrilling experiences.

(Glimpses of Our Breathtaking World #253 photo ©Jack Wheeler)

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THE LAND OF NOAH

noah-burial-ground-in-nakhchivan

We all know the story of Noah and the Ark told in Genesis (chapters 6-9). But do you know where Noah’s grave is? You’re looking at it. There is a tradition thousands of years old that he died and is buried here in the Land of Noah – Nakhchivan.

Known to the ancient Greeks and Romans as “Nakhsuana,” today Nakhchivan is an isolated enclave of Azerbaijan, cut off from the rest of the country by a strip of Armenia reaching Iran. You never heard of it because it’s unknown with a strange name – but the name literally means the Land of Noah. “Noah” is the Anglicization of Hebrew Noakh, or “Nakh” (“van” means “land,” “chi” means “of”).

azerbaijan-on-map

Noah’s tomb has been built, destroyed, rebuilt, and destroyed again repeatedly over the millennia. It’s now been built yet again on the original site. Looming near is Haça Dag, the Notched Mountain – where Noah’s Ark they say ran aground as the Flood waters receded, carving a notch on the summit before coming to rest on Mount Ararat about 50 miles to the north (in present-day Turkey).

The people here are wonderfully friendly. I was always told “welcome” everywhere. I was even spontaneously invited to a wedding party in a remote village. You’ll find it easy to make friends here too. (Glimpses of Our Breathtaking World #3, photo ©Jack Wheeler)

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THE DONGBA SPIRIT OF NATURE

shv-statueOriginally nomads from the Tibetan Plateau, the Nashi people settled in the fertile Himalayan foothills of Yunnan over 2,000 years ago. From the ancient Tibetan religion of Bön, they developed a unique religion of nature-worship called Dongba. The progenitors of humanity and nature were two half-brothers, two mothers with the same father. Nature is controlled by a human-snake chimera called Shv – a statue of whom you see here.

The Nashi are a peaceful gentle people whose ideal is living in accordance with nature. They dress very colorfully, women have equal respect with men, they write with the world’s only still-functioning pictographic script, and are proud of preserving their culture for millennia. It is an enchanting experience to be among them. (Glimpses of Our Breathtaking World #163 photo ©Jack Wheeler)

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A KHAN, AN EMIR, A SULTAN!

jw-khanIs this the all-powerful potentate of a remote exotic Khanate, Emirate, or Sultanate hidden in the deep recesses of an unknown corner of Asia? Wielding his mighty sword ready to bestow a knighthood on those who please him or decapitate those who don’t?

Could be – he looks ready to do either, doesn’t he?

Or is it me, dressed up as a Khan, an Emir, a conquering Sultan, just for fun? Your call.

Whatever you decide, this photo was taken in the fabulously exotic ancient Silk Road Oasis of Bukhara in the heart of Central Asia not long ago. And to have this same photo of yourself, come with me when I plan my next Central Asia expedition soon. You’ll have one of the great adventures of your life if you do. (Glimpses of Our Breathtaking World #184 photo ©Jack Wheeler)

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HALF-FULL REPORT 11/03/23

The Other Shoe Falls


So many changes are occurring with the war on multiple fronts, the near revolution in the House of Representatives, and the frantic attempts by legacy media to push the latest narratives as loudly as possible. The legacy media opposed the revolution on Capital Hill, but was on the wrong side of freedom.

The younger generations do not listen to legacy media. They don’t own televisions; if they do, they only watch major sporting events. Virtually none watched the Texas Rangers defeat the Arizona Diamondbacks to win the World Series. Legacy narratives don’t reach Generation Z.

Gen Z is plugged into the alternative media. The Alt Media is decentralized and operates in real-time, updated every five seconds. The only filters are used to screen out porn, especially child porn. Everything else is there, and it is up to the user to block and mute undesirable content.

This online world without censorship is fascinating to watch. Gen Z wants to recreate something like the 1950s, where people get a job with earning power and can settle down and settle in. Millions are expressing this sentiment along with their desire to blend in. They want to be like the 1950s man in the gray flannel suit.

From first entering school, they were told that their skin was evil and oppressive, and so they tattooed themselves. They are no longer white. They are Tat Brothers and Sisters, and there is logic in this.

Gen Z is responding to the war in Israel as a collective, and they expect the worst from the government.

This matter of Gen Z, America's future soldiers, needs to be on the radar as current events are accelerating the arrival of the climax of the Fourth Turning.

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MARX AND MOHAMMED

marx-mohammed [This week’s Archive was first published on September 1, 2005. The current wave of genocidal fanaticism of Hamas and Mullah Iran, together with their Islamic and woke-left supporters in the US shows all too clearly the relevance of this analysis written 18 years ago. Today, however, the burden for being responsible for the death knell of Jihadism has shifted from Iraqis in 2005 to Palestinians.]

TTP, September 1, 2005

I was recently asked what might be the common ground between the Radical Left and Radical Islam. Let’s expand on that and discuss with you the extraordinary extent to which Marx and Mohammed are ideological brothers.

In fact, they are much more than that. Marx and Mohammed are metaphysical brothers. They share the same view on the nature of reality. Their fundamental bond is a denial of the Law of Non-Contradiction.

Far more than a rule of logic, this is a basic statement of the way reality works. Contradictions exist only between thoughts, not in the world. This is also known as “common sense.” Both Marx and Mohammed disagree.

Thus both Marx and Mohammed are advocates of apocalyptic totalitarianism.

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SKYE’S LINKS 11/02/23

Freedom Versus the State


The struggle for freedom never ends. Every day, the rights of man must fight against the unjust and oppressive power of government.

The news from the House of Representatives is excellent as Speaker Johnson is setting to work to right assaults against the 1A, 2A, and 4A. Bills long stuck in committee that restrain the Executive and its security apparatus from stomping on freedom.

The Covid virus frightened about half the population into demanding martial law and suspending civil rights. They wanted to imprison, bankrupt, and starve those who recognized the sham for what it was. The Deep State discovered how to create the conditions, whereas the left begged to be placed in chains.

Now, the movement is against conservatives. The war in Israel threatens to move one or two million radical Islamists to the United States and Europe, placing them into states and towns that still maintain the American culture. The purpose will be to fan a fire in conservatives for the government to prevent cultural dissolution.

A few terrorist bombings, some school shootings, and some babies decapitated in hospitals, accompanied by the new narrative of war and the military draft, might cause voters to demand that migrants be drafted into the military first. The prospect of soft Generation Z kids and their sisters marching off to war will be too much for too many.

Once this happens, once the military is filled with soldiers hostile to American culture and American freedom, the military will be turned inward against conservative Americans.

The Republic will become the Empire.

The new narrative is targeting conservatives, and we have it within our power to stand firm and reject the fear-mongering. The left has already succumbed as one liberal group of Ivy League students attempts to cancel – and harm – another group of liberal students.

For three years now, TTP has been documenting the transition among the left that is turning into 1930s-style antisemitism and economic collapse. Only today, the brown shirts are worn by university faculty.

The dollar is in serious trouble, and the Fed might be losing control. The Executive Branch of government has gone rogue. But the many bills tabled by former Speaker McCarthy necessary to restore the economy and freedom are now in play.

The dawn is rising,

Come on over to Skye’s Links. A lot is happening.

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SICK SCHOOLS – AND THE CURE

The sheer madness that has gripped many elite universities since October 7 and the butchery, rape, torture, and mutilation of some 1,000 Israeli civilians by Hamas murderers have shocked the public at large.

Campus craziness is, of course, nothing new. But quite novel for campuses was the sudden jettisoning of prior campus pretenses. Universities have brazenly dropped their careful two-faced gymnastics to reveal at last–unapologetically, proudly, and defiantly–the moral decay that now characterizes American higher education.

Recent news stories have exposed this rot to the world, and will have grave repercussions for higher education in the next few years.

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JOE IS BLOWING UP THE WORLD WE LIVE IN

“It does not take a majority to prevail but rather an irate, tireless minority, keen on setting brushfires of freedom in the minds of men.”

—Samuel Adams

angry-joeOn day one of the Biden administration, he canceled the Keystone Pipeline, putting thousands of skilled workers out of work.  Over the ensuing months, he canceled oil leases, stopped fracking, and drained our strategic oil reserve.  All this was surely intentional; he means to starve the American people of energy, making what is available more expensive by the day.  Like Obama, he means to transform America, and not in a good way.

The most catastrophic stunt Biden pulled was the tragically ill conceived withdrawal from Afghanistan.  He left billions in state-of-the-art military equipment to the Taliban along with the Bagram Air Base, which sits close to China.  Thirteen young American patriots were killed by the sheer ineptitude of their leaders.  This tragic maneuver telegraphed Biden’s, and thus America’s, weakness to every leader in the world.  Russia thought taking Ukraine’s Russian-speaking border regions would be a cakewalk.  Our careless warmongers in the Biden administration thought Zelensky would easily defeat Russia with billions of U.S. dollars.  The military complex wanted that war.  All of that went awry.  Here we are a year and a half later; Ukraine has lost half a million people and is still begging for billions more in aid.  None of this would have happened if Trump had been in office.

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DEMS FORESEE DISASTER IF WE CUT BACK ON SPENDING

demsspending_spreeJoe Biden and the Democrats seem to be wanting a government shutdown, as they say they can’t live with any of the cuts advocated for in a few appropriation bills in the House, and Biden “vows” to veto. From Newsmax:

Compared to 2023 levels, the bills in question would cut Department of Transportation funding by $7 billion, HUD funding by $1.2 billion, and EPA funding by nearly $4 billion.

‘House Republicans had an opportunity to engage in a productive, bipartisan appropriations process, but instead are wasting time with partisan bills that cut domestic spending to levels well below the (Fiscal Responsibility Act) agreement and endanger critical services for the American people,’ the White House said. ‘These levels would result in deep cuts to clean energy programs and other programs that work to combat climate change, essential nutrition services, law enforcement, consumer safety, education, and healthcare.’

During the COVID era, both parties spent massive amounts of money for “emergency spending.” This implied that these supplemental appropriations would disappear after the “crisis” ended… Yet it’s been over two years, and those dollars still flow.

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