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THE CHRISTIAN KNIGHTS OF MALTA

christian-knights-of-maltaThey look real, don’t they?  Ready to defend their Christian land with their lives.  We are in the Palace Armory Museum of Malta, where you realize there is no nation on earth more proud of their Christian heritage.  It was on Malta in 1565 that a few thousand Christian Knights led by 70 year-old Jean de Vallette defeated in utter humiliation a massive horde of Moslem Ottomans led by Suleiman the Magnificent.

In seeking to use Malta as his launchpad to conquer all of Christian Europe, Suleiman was bitter in defeat: “This cursed island is like a barrier interposed between us and our possessions,” believing that Allah ordained all Christian lands need be taken for Islam by the sword.

Vallette knew what he and his Knights faced: “It is the great battle of the Cross and the Koran which is now to be fought. A formidable army of infidels is at the point of invading our island.”

The incredibly heroic saga of the Knights’ victory is told in The Siege of Malta, on TTP since 2009.  What’s critical to understand now is that, after 5½ centuries, the Maltese people are just as proud of their history and Christian heritage as ever.

Just think of almost infinitely how better off America would be if its people believed that of themselves today?  (Glimpses of Our Breathtaking World #264 photo ©Jack Wheeler)

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THE GREAT BLACK OF MAKALU

black-of-makaluThe 5th highest mountain on earth at 8,463 meters/27,765ft, Makalu is Sanskrit for “Great Black” – a name for Shiva, the Hindu god of creative destruction, as here is one of his homes. You’re looking face on the Southeast Ridge (the right side in sun, the left side in shade), which is the primary climbing route.

You’re seeing the entire south side of Makalu in Nepal, while the north side is in Tibet with the border running along the horizon crestline. Makalu Base Camp lies below the bottom right corner of the photo. This was taken at over 20,000 feet on our approach from Everest and Lhotse – 12 miles away – during our Himalaya Helicopter Expedition, or “HHE.”

Everyone is understandably entranced with Everest – yet the other 8,000 meter Himalayan giants are breathtakingly magnificent in their own right, and you can see why with Makalu. On our HHE, we went to them all! (Glimpses of Our Breathtaking World #37 photo ©Jack Wheeler)

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LAID-OFF IRS AGENTS NOW FORCED TO GO DOOR TO DOOR ROBBING PEOPLE DIRECTLY

U.S. — The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) is the most recent government agency affected by the rule of DOGE, with layoff numbers reported in excess of 6,000 persons. Now, bands of former IRS agents are roaming the country, forced to go door to door to rob people directly.

"It's just so sad," MSNBC's Rachel Maddow said. "Elon Musk is quashing the dreams of real people who devoted their lives to stealing for the federal government. But some heroes remain, choosing to spend their own private time going door to door to rob people without government compensation. And I applaud them for it."

Reports are coming in around the country that former IRS agents are wearing bandanas and going door to door to commit violent home invasion robberies on their own time.

"It's like the Wild West out there," warned New York Police Chief Lou Bilgins. "Do not open the door for any unsolicited visitors, or you could be killed during an attempted robbery or, worse, audited."

“After all, everyone knows the difference between a bank thief and an IRS Agent, right? That the bank thief doesn’t claim he has a moral right to steal your money.”

At publishing time, a gang of former IRS agents were seen looting the ruins of Manhattan’s SoHo art district..

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HALF-FULL REPORT 02/21/25

What a breath of the fresh air of sanity on the cover of the New York Post this morning (2/21) after a week of heartbreaking lunacy.

The cover story is written by one of the world’s most prominent and best-selling conservative authors, Douglas Murray, and is such a critically important must-read for TTPers that it is a companion article in full to this HFR: Mr. President: Putin Is The Dictator -- 10 Ukraine-Russia War Truths We Ignore At Our Peril.

The small print intro on the cover:

“’It’s right for President Trump to want to stop the bloodshed in Ukraine, but there are certain truths we all must remember – namely that Vladimir Putin is solely responsible for this war. He is the one who started it, and the one who committed unspeakable horrors. Any peace that appeases Russia will not be looked on kindly by history,’ writes Douglas Murray.”

 

Murray concludes:

“President Trump has a chance to bring an end to this war, to stop the killing. Maybe even win a Nobel Prize for Peace. But he will not be honored if the peace is an appeasement, one that bows down in the face of evil as it denies obvious truths.

The judgment of history will be even harsher — decades of peace and prosperity in Europe and America thrown away to a resurgent Russia harassing the east. Without a strong peace, it won’t be just Ukraine that suffers. It is all of us.

That is the ultimate truth.”

 

This week has been truly bizarre, almost schizophrenically so, fully half-empty, yet also fully half-full.  How did it get that way?  Here’s the explanation…

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MR. PRESIDENT: PUTIN IS THE DICTATOR — 10 UKRAINE-RUSSIA WAR TRUTHS WE IGNORE AT OUR PERIL

Apartment building destroyed by Russian missile in Kherson yesterday (2/20)
Apartment building destroyed by Russian missile in Kherson yesterday (2/20)

This has been a dizzying and disorienting week in international diplomacy. One with wild implications for Ukraine, the future of America’s standing in the world and President Trump’s legacy.

President Trump is absolutely right in wanting to end the bloodshed in Ukraine. The suffering has been appalling and the stalemate brutal. But in the furious mix of wild opinions this week from the White House down, there are at least 10 truths which every American voter must hang onto.

In Trump’s rush to end the bloodshed, these are also the truths against which any deal will be judged and will define him when the history books are written.

To ignore them or not treat them with the gravity they deserve will also have enormous consequences for decades to come:

 

TRUTH No. 1

Vladimir Putin started this war, despite what President Trump said days ago.

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ZELENSKY AT MUNICH

[This is the full text of the President of Ukraine delivered at the Munich Security Conference last Saturday, February 15. Full video is here.]

________________________________

At the start of the Conference, every country usually shares its stance, priorities, whether officially, openly or through informal talks with journalists, with partners.

This year, a country that was not even invited still made its presence known. A country that everyone talks about here – not in a good way.

The night before Munich this year, a Russian attack drone struck the sarcophagus covering the ruined fourth reactor of the Chornobyl Nuclear Power Plant.

It was a modified “Shahed” drone – a Russian drone, a technology Iran passed on to Russia. Its warhead carried at least 50 kilograms of explosives.

We see this as a deeply symbolic move by Russia, by Putin.

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TRUMP’S CONFIDENTIAL PLAN TO STRANGLE UKRAINE

US Treasury Sec Bessent meets with Zelensky in Kyiv about the contract (2/12)
US Treasury Sec Bessent meets with Zelensky in Kyiv about the contract (2/12)

Donald Trump’s demand for a $500 billion “payback” from Ukraine goes far beyond US control over the country’s critical minerals. It covers everything from ports and infrastructure to oil and gas, and the larger resource base of the country.

The terms of the contract that landed at Volodymyr Zelensky’s office a week ago amount to the US economic colonization of Ukraine, in legal perpetuity. It implies a burden of reparations that cannot possibly be achieved.

In genuine commerce the other side can usually walk away. Trump’s demand is iron-fist coercion by a neo-imperial power against a weaker nation with its back to the wall, and all for a commodity bonanza that exists chiefly in Trump’s head.

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TODAY IS NOT PRESIDENTS DAY!

george-washington-dayThis Saturday, February 22, is the 293rd anniversary of the birth of America’s founder, the equal in nobility, heroism, and virtue of any human being who ever lived — George Washington.

What it is not, nor is any day such as today, Monday February 17, the phony holiday called "Presidents Day."

Let’s be quite clear on this.  There is no such holiday.  It exists only in the minds of furniture dealers, car salesmen, and those promulgating or deluded by fake news of the left.

It wasn’t until 1870 that there were any national holidays at all, recognized by the federal government and granting federal workers a day off, although four were recognized by most states:  the Fourth of July, Thanksgiving, Christmas, and New Years.  In 1870, Congress declared them national.

In 1879, Congress added Washington’s Birthday to the national list, which had been unofficially celebrated by most Americans for many decades.

It still is – as made clear by The National Archives. There is no federal law proclaiming any day “Presidents Day.”  Where the fake news begins is with a law called the Uniform Monday Holiday Act passed in 1968. It was the Democrat Congress and President Lyndon Johnson who damaged the memory of George Washington with this act of anti-patriotism.  Here it is:

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NO FEAR OF THE EVIL EYE: THE RELIGION OF ENVY

Kilimanjaro from the air ©Jack Wheeler
Kilimanjaro from the air ©Jack Wheeler

[This is the sixth chapter of Part I: Envy of my forthcoming book NO FEAR OF THE EVIL EYE: Key to Freedom, Peace, and Prosperity.  Previous sections and chapters can be accessed here. I will really appreciate any feedback you have.]

East of the Serengeti, there is a town called Moshi. It lies at the southern base of Kilimanjaro in Tanzania, the former German then British territory of Tanganyika. Some 50 miles away from Moshi is the town of Arusha, the traditional starting point for an East Africa safari (Swahili for journey) to such places as Manyara, Ngorongoro, and the Serengeti plain.

The way Africans get from Moshi to Arusha is by mini-bus or small van. The driver races madly round and round the town's central square beeping his horn and yelling, "Arusha! Arusha!" Only when it is physically impossible for there to be one more human body squeezed into his vehicle will he depart.

Such circumstances require you to establish a friendly relation with the person next to you, who is virtually sitting in your lap. On this particular occasion, I found myself next to a young fellow who spoke quite good English (Britain was mandated German East Africa by the League of Nations after World War I, and administered it until independence in 1962).

He was clearly intelligent and well-educated. Our conversation went like this (with his words in italics).

"You are from America?"

"Yes, from California."

"Oh, Hollywood, San Francisco. Where are you coming from just now?"

I thumbed towards the famous snow-clad caldera of Kilimanjaro suspended up in the sky to our right. "From Kibo." I looked over at the mountain. "Three days ago, I was standing up there, on the top with my guide and friend, Iringa. He is a Chagga from Marangu. Are you a Chagga? Do you live around here?"

"Yes. My home is in Moshi, but just now I am on school holiday so I go to see my friends in Arusha." "Where do you go to school?"

"For the past two years, I've been on scholarship to the University of Moscow in the Soviet Union."

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BASIC MAKE-READY FOR URBAN UNREST: PART THREE

prep-onFor the first part of the series, go here.

For Part Two, go here.

The Donald has seen His Royal Senescence and the giggler, Cackling Death, off from the White Place and has begun implementing the agenda that he ran on. We are pleased, but continue in our conviction that this is going to get ugly.

We are already seeing the goons of La Raza and those supporting murderous Hamas lining the streets of American cities, and we are seeing push back in Federal agencies against DJT’s attempts to clean house.

The latter are reeling from the shock and awe brought by the Trump Team, but they may find their feet at any time and this much-needed housecleaning will continue for years.

This is not going to be easy; many, many traitors have been bred here, and many invaders have been let in and we will have to deal with them. Once they think, together with their globalist allies, that they can go up a notch with street fighting and violence, they will try it.

They are likely uncertain right now of (1) the level of backing they will get, and (2) the willingness of the new Administration, as well as local officials, to kick the tires and light the fires in response.

The T-Team has come in like gangbusters – this is not your grampa’s GOP – but much of the GOP in Congress still is, and the black underbelly of the Left is no less determined to destroy the West. It will regroup.

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IS THERE A DEMOCRAT BLUEPRINT TO REGAIN POWER?

What is the long-term Democratic Party’s strategy to return to power?

The latest poll on Democrat favorability—conducted by liberal Quinnipiac—reveals historic dislike of Democrats, with only 31 percent of voters expressing a favorable opinion of the Democratic Party.

Are Democrats then pivoting or self-correcting?

Do they support legal-only immigration? Do they wish to join in finding fraud in the federal government?  Do they perhaps at least wish to reform the Pentagon, or lower the price of energy?

Nope.

So, what then is their agenda?

It is a retread of 2017, mixed in with the anti-Trump hysteria of 2021-4. By now we all recognize the weary symptoms of their five-point blueprint:

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TRUMP’S LATEST EXECUTIVE ORDER REINSTATES A CONSTITUTIONAL GOVERNMENT

agency-accountabilityYesterday (2/18), Trump did something extraordinary to return the American government to constitutional principles: He issued an executive order (“EO”) entitled “Ensuring Accountability for All Agencies.”

The leftists are decrying the EO as the end of so-called “independent” agencies, but that’s exactly the point. Under our Constitution, there are only three branches of government, not four. The agencies are subordinate to the Executive branch, and Trump’s EO properly restores that reality.

By the end of last month, we taxpayers were supporting a staggering 438 federal agencies. There’s no doubt that some of these agencies are useful, even necessary, and some are in the Constitution, of course.  But now, with this EO, an equally staggering number of them will be headed for the chopping block.

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THE VOTER FRAUD CASE THAT COULD OVERTURN DEM CHEAT-BY-MAIL HOUSE RACES

William “Boss” Tweed (1823-1878) was, of course, a Democrat
William “Boss” Tweed (1823-1878) was, of course, a Democrat

Last November, Democrat fraudsters bypassed the presidential race and focused instead on the down-ballot races. In Florida, local Democrat candidates received more votes than either Donald Trump or Kamala Harris at the top of the ballot. Something was definitely amiss.

For instance, Republican Rocky Rochford was running against incumbent Democrat Kathy Castor for the U.S. House seat in Congressional Race 14 (FL-14). The district straddles Hillsborough and Pinellas counties and includes the cities of Tampa and St. Petersburg.

Castor was declared the winner, but Rochford is now contesting the race, claiming voter fraud, primarily by vote-by-mail ballots.

There is deep suspicion that this method of fraud has happened across the country, costing Republicans four Senate seats, about a dozen House seats, and countless local municipal seats and referendums.

A longtime Trump associate, Peter Ticktin, is representing Rochford. The Ticktin Law Group has identified a systematic breakdown of internal election controls that affected the FL-14 race and other races far beyond, those in the Senate and House mentioned above in particular.

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THE KASBAH OF AÏT BENHADDOU

ait-benhaddouAït Benhaddou is a thousand year-old kasbah or fortified village on the ancient trade route from the Sahara to Marrakech in Morocco. It’s constructed entirely of rammed earth, adobe, and wood.

Remember the famous scene in Gladiator where Maximus shouts “Are you not entertained?!” to the bloodthirsty crowd? It was filmed here, as were scenes in many other movies such as “The Jewel of the Nile,” and “The Mummy,” or the series ”The Game of Thrones.”

Yet this is no location set – people live here, scores of families, as they have for a millennium. You’re welcome to come here to see how they live for real – as here Hollywood is far, far away. (Glimpses of Our Breathtaking World #181 photo ©Jack Wheeler)

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