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MASTERING ENTROPY

Entropy is a term from physics that describes the tendency for matter to move from order into disorder. Life can be seen as a process that is deliberately working against entropy.

If you ever watched the old Get Smart TV show, or the more recent movie, the good guys were called “Control,” and the bad guys were “Chaos.” For living creatures like us, that pretty well describes the situation.

Chaos is where entropy draws everything naturally; control is the conscious ordering, the structure that we have to impose on ourselves and our environment in order to survive and flourish.

For most living creatures, instincts take charge of a lot of the necessary ordering which life requires; finding food, mating, sleep cycles, protective behavior, etc. The Austrian physicist Erwin Schrodinger in his book, “What is Life,” proposed a molecule that directed these processes to counter entropy with “negative entropy,” and his hypothesis became an inspiration for Watson and Crick’s search for and discovery of DNA.

But we humans are different in a fundamental way: our basic survival tool is our mind, and unlike instinctual animals, we can choose to use our basic tool of survival… or not.

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FLASHBACK FRIDAY: A REAL RUSSIAN CHURCH

karakol-churchThis is the wooden Russian Orthodox Church in Karakol, Kyrgyzstan. It was built in the 1890s when Karakol was a garrison town in the furthermost reaches of the Russian Imperial Empire with China just on the other side of Tien Shan Mountains.

In the atheist/communist Soviet Union it was used variously as a school, gymnasium, and warehouse, anything but a church. After Kyrgyzstan gained its independence with the collapse of the Soviet Union, it was lovingly restored by the people of Karakol.

All the various ethnicities comprising Karakol are welcome here – Christian Russians and Christian Kyrgyz, Uighur Moslem refugees escaping Chicom China, ethnic Han Chinese Moslems called Dungans escaping for the same reason, Buddhist and pagan Kazakhs. The interior is lavishly decorated with Christian art and paintings of Christian saints – no Islamic or Buddhist or any other religious art, just Christian. Yet all are welcome to pray in this haven of refuge and peace in their own way.

This is a Russian Church very distinct from those controlled by Moscow run by the Kremlin as a propaganda arm of the KGB/FSB. It is a real Russian Christian Church instead. Come here to feel to the spiritual serenity for yourself. (Glimpses of Our Breathtaking World #221 photo ©Jack Wheeler)

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PENA PALACE

pena-palaceBuilt as the summer residence of the Portuguese Royal family almost 200 years ago, Pena Palace stands atop the pinnacle of the Sintra mountains with stunning views of the Atlantic Ocean far below.

Today a museum showpiece and World Heritage Site, it is one of the most spectacular castles in all Europe. (Glimpses of Our Breathtaking World #231 photo ©Jack Wheeler)

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SPITUK GOMPA

gompaThe Tibetan Monastery or “Gompa” of Spituk overlooks the Upper Indus as it flows out of Chinese Tibet and towards Baltistan in Pakistan. The Indus here is the geological dividing line between the ancient Karakorum mountains and the younger Himalayas (40+ million years old and growing: Mount Everest rises 2 inches every ten years).

We’re in Indian Tibet here, a region called Ladakh where Tibetan culture flourishes freely. Wheeler Expeditions first explored Indian Tibet – including running the remote Zanskar River tributary of the Upper Indus, one the world’s most thrilling whitewater experiences – in 1992. (Glimpses of Our Breathtaking World #128 Photo ©Jack Wheeler)

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THE GRAND PRISMATIC SPRING OF YELLOWSTONE

yellowstone-prismatic-springThere are places in our world so staggeringly beautiful to have to see them to believe they exist.  Yet those people walking along the foot bridge can’t see what you’re looking at.  That has to be in the air, hovering from high above in a helicopter.  We live in a world of such beauty it really does take your breath away. And best of all, the beauty of the Grand Prismatic Spring  of Yellowstone is right here in America.

We got a Glimpse of Horseshoe Bend in northern Arizona and reflected on how much more there was to experience in just that region of the American West.  And that’s just one region, one part of one of the most spectacular places in all Creation.

Here we are at Yellowstone in Wyoming, a wonderland by itself.  Just to the south are the Grand Tetons. To the west is the Sawtooth Range and the Middle Fork of the Salmon River – one of the best whitewater runs on the planet.  It goes endlessly on and on.  America the Beautiful is not just a song – it’s glorious reality. (Glimpses of Our Breathtaking World #135, photo ©Jack Wheeler)

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BALLOONS OVER BURMA

burma-balloonsFrom the 900s to the 1200s, the Pagan Empire built over 10,000 Buddhist temples. 2,200 remain on the plains of Pagan today, one of the world’s most wondrous sights – especially if you see them from above in a hot air balloon.  It is truly astounding how much there is to explore and experience in Burma.  We’ll be there once more for it all next year.  I hope you will be one of your fellow TTPers to join us. (Glimpses of Our Breathtaking World #33 photo ©Jack Wheeler)

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HALF-FULL REPORT 05/01/26

Welcome to the May Day HFR!  It’s a TTP tradition to call May 1st Commie Day, today attached below as an Addendum. And what better day to celebrate the Doom of the Democrats graphically represented by the map above?

For as you well know, Louisiana 6th is the Congressional District SCOTUS ruled 6-3 ereyesterday, Wednesday April 29, as an “unconstitutional racial gerrymander.”

So you get to laugh your head off at the woke toad-brain the Dems have as their House Minority Leader whining about what just happened: "Now, we're at a point, where affirmative action is gone. Diversity is gone. Equity gone. Inclusion gone. Racial tolerance gone. Voting Rights Act, largely gone! But guess what, extremists – we’re still here, and weren’t not going anywhere."

Music to your ears, yes? And guess what, Demtards? You’re right, you aren’t going anywhere, you’re doomed to staying in minority status, House & Senate.  You can now kiss your dream goodbye of winning the midterms, impeaching Trump yet again, ruining America – it’s all gone, da svidanya, arrivederci, adios, you are in the ashcan of history.

This really is a fabulous HFR.  Wait ‘till you hear about Michelle Obama and Cialis. So much more. Saddle up!

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LAND OF THE THUNDER DRAGON

The photo above is the Tiger’s Nest, the Taktsang Monastery in the Himalayan Kingdom of Bhutan. It is a country as close to the Shangri-La of James Hilton’s 1933 classic “Lost Horizon” as you’ll find on earth today.

Smaller than West Virginia, hidden between Tibet and the crest of the Himalayas to the steamy jungles of India, Bhutan is known as the Land of the Thunder Dragon.  Independent for centuries and never colonized, Bhutan is a magic place that is spectacularly unique.

Experiencing Bhutan is a true adventure.  Quite frankly, Bhutan is as fabulously exotic as our world gets.  At the same time, no other country is as serenely peaceful as Bhutan, no people more contented and cheerful as the Bhutanese, no land more welcoming and hospitable.

Bhutan’s culture is a unique mix of the ancient Himalayan animism called Bön and Tibetan Lama Buddhism. The Bhutanese are renowned for being among the happiest people on our planet. They love to laugh, sing, dance, and play – and you’ll be invited to join them.  Bhutanese happiness is infectious.  One very good reason you’ll  have a happy time of your lives on our Bhutan adventure.

Ready? Buckle up – and be  prepared, you’ve never experienced anything so extraordinary in your life. Proof is in the pictures.

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MAINSTREAMING VIOLENCE AGAINST A PRESIDENT

Same old, same old: Target Trump.

At the White House Correspondents’ Dinner, President Donald Trump was the target of yet a third assassination attempt — this time in full view of the Washington press corps.

The event was presented as a spirited night with Trump.

After 11 years of avoiding the predominantly left-wing media event, he decided to revisit the dinner. He anticipated that he would be the object of ridicule inside the hall — and that he might see possible violence outside it.

Indeed, protesters ringed the hotel. In grimly prescient fashion, the usual sort of crowd that night was channeling John Wilkes Booth — sic semper tyrannis — with placards reading “Death to Tyrants.”

They again almost got their wish.

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TRUMP’S PLAN TO SIDELINE THE IMF AND ENFORCE DOLLAR DOMINANCE

A relatively obscure headline crossed the wires last week, the kind most people skim past without a second thought.

The Trump Administration is considering dollar swap lines with key Gulf and Asian allies, including the United Arab Emirates, much like the one executed with Argentina last year.

That sounds technical. It sounds arcane. It sounds like the sort of thing only central bankers, bond traders, and Treasury staffers need to understand.

It is not.

Reuters reported that Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said the United States is discussing currency swap lines after “a number of allies” sought help dealing with fallout from the Iran war.

He added that additional swap lines could reinforce dollar usage and liquidity internationally, maintain smooth dollar funding markets, promote trade and investment with the United States, and serve as “a major first step” toward creating new U.S. dollar funding centers in the Gulf and Asia.

That last phrase is the tell: new U.S. dollar funding centers.

 

This is not just about the UAE, Argentina, or anyone else just named. It is about the architecture of global finance. It may represent the biggest shift in the global financial order since Nixon closed the gold window in 1971.

For half a century, the dollar has been the global reserve currency, the operating system of the world economy. Everyone complains about it. Everyone predicts its demise. Every few years, some new theory emerges about the euro, the yuan, BRICS, SDRs, gold, crypto, or the “petroyuan” bringing the dollar empire to its knees.

It isn’t going to happen. It wasn’t going to anyway. Now Trump and Bessent are restructuring the global financial system to ensure permanent dollar dominance.

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SCOVA CALLS OUT DEMS OVER BRAZEN GERRYMANDER POWER GRAB

The Supreme Court of Virginia, otherwise known as SCOVA, heard oral arguments Monday morning over legal and constitutional challenges to the gerrymandered congressional map that was approved via referendum last Tuesday, and a few of the Justices had pointed questions for the pro-gerrymander side.

As RedState previously reported, Virginia voters approved an amendment to the state constitution that removes redistricting power from a non-partisan commission and places it with state lawmakers (a/k/a, Democrats).

The final numbers were closer than expected, with the yes side garnering around 51 percent of the vote and the no side coming in at 48.5 percent. Those numbers could still change as the counts from mail-in ballots are finalized.

The result of last week's election was that voters essentially signed off on the brazenly gerrymandered map designed by Democrats that would move the commonwealth from a 6D-5R congressional makeup to a 10D-1R one. There's only one thing that can stop it from being adopted: the courts. And that brings us to Monday's showdown at SCOVA.

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ANOTHER BIDEN ADMINISTRATION ELECTION COVER-UP

Newly declassified intelligence shows that U.S. intelligence discovered the threat of Chinese access and control of U.S. election systems — then buried the evidence and punished those who exposed it.

In 2022, the election security firm True the Vote broke the story that a company called Konnech in Michigan was storing data on American election workers on servers in China. True the Vote leaders Catherine Engelbrecht and Gregg Phillips were, of course, ridiculed by the so-called mainstream press.

Then it got worse.

Engelbrecht and Phillips were actually jailed because they would not give up the name of their source, who had blown the whistle on Konnech.

The federal government didn’t seem to give a damn that a hostile foreign power might be able to influence our elections.

It did seem very intent on making sure no one knew about it.

Now, four years later, we can see that it was much, much worse than that.

According to John Solomon, at the time True the Vote was being silenced, the Intelligence Community had assessed the situation, recognized the risk, and issued a report outlining the danger we faced.

And that report and that assessment were hidden from the public, even as patriots trying to protect the republic were being persecuted and jailed.

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THE PRESS IS FREE; THE MEDIA IS FOR SALE

The bulwark of a free, moral, civil society is a free press.

I want to make it clear that I believe there is a sharp, black line between the free press and “media,” and that distinction between a constitutionally protected free press and modern “media” is not semantic but structural.

The First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution protects the act of publishing itself, not the quality, intent, or civic value of what is published. In that sense, the press is a function open to anyone, from the pamphleteers of the founding era like Thomas Paine to today’s institutional newsrooms.

What we now call “media” is an industry, and like any industry, it responds to incentives — chief among them attention, engagement, and revenue.

That shift has blurred the line between information and entertainment, producing content that often prioritizes emotional reaction over factual clarity or public utility.

The result is a system in which material designed to provoke or entertain is afforded the same constitutional protection as serious investigative reporting, despite serving a very different purpose.

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THE HIGH DRAMA BIASES OF POLITICS

As this political season heats up, and all the arguments, indignation and accusations that go with it come to a rolling boil, I thought it would be worth having a look at some of the deeper biases that we all can get immersed in, regardless of ideology or political sentiments.

I write this, not because I think you should be apathetic about politics, or choose a particular side that I might like. I write this because the bombardment of manipulations we are subject to can cause us to lose focus on the meaningful details of our own lives; and the biases which politics are teeming with can throw off our judgment about what’s most important.

By politics, I mean the process by which we – politicians and media most strongly, but individuals as well – persuade, cajole, manipulate, trick, argue, deceive, and otherwise do everything we can to empower those we want to empower, and disempower those we want to disempower.

This is an equal opportunity inquiry. We all have our personal beliefs, and, regardless of what they are, every single one of us gets seduced by our biases.

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