The Oasis for
Rational Conservatives

Wednesday, February 18, 2026

Member Menu

The Amazon's Pantanal

Serengeti Birthing Safari

Wheeler Expeditions

Member Discussions

Article Archives

Archives

L i k e U s ! ! !

WHY THE HOUSE HAS NO ALTERNATIVE TO AN IMPEACHMENT INQUIRY INTO PRESIDENT BIDEN

seal_of_the_us_house_of_representativesWhen Congress returns next month, it has little alternative but to launch a long-discussed impeachment inquiry into President Joe Biden. For House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.), the case for an inquiry came from a most unlikely source: Attorney General Merrick Garland.

The debacle in the Hunter Biden investigation has left most objective legal analysts in disbelief, with one CNN analyst calling it an “unholy mess.”

House Republicans had previously demanded that David Weiss and his team answer questions about the investigation and the plea bargain. And an appearance before a House committee was planned when Garland suddenly preempted that by doing what many of us have demanded for years: He appointed a special counsel.  None other than David Weiss.

Plus, Garland refused to expressly extend the special counsel’s mandate to include influence-peddling allegations involving President Biden. The House has now no choice but to impeach him.

Read more...

SAVE THE RULE OF LAW BY DESTROYING IT

The Corruptocrat who runs the Department of Injustice
The Corruptocrat who runs the Department of Injustice

Some truths are so staggering in their ramifications that Americans simply shrug and tune them out as if strangers in a strange land.

Is their current bewilderment because modernist America is unrecognizable —a nonexistent border, downtown homeless juxtaposed to hipster professional elites, DEI racial essentialism, cities reverting to precivilizational wastelands, millions exiting blue states to red, an FBI and DOJ gone rogue, the normalization of violent theft and assault, biologically born men sandbagging women’s sports and their locker room privacy?

We are reaching the point where the once unbelievable has become the banal, as a single generation has done its best to undo the work of a prior 12 generations. Consider the following:

Read more...

THE BIDEN CLAN’S CON IS COMING TO AN END

bide-behind-barsDespite years of Biden family and media disinformation, we are finally learning that Joe Biden really did fire Ukrainian prosecutor Viktor Shokin for looking into state corruption involving the oil company Burisma and Hunter Biden—and ultimately Joe Biden himself.

As Vice President, Biden, in his own words, bragged that he had threatened to cancel the deliverance of American foreign aid to Ukraine unless Shokin was dismissed.

An impeached Trump also was accused of using the power of government to go after his likely 2020 presidential rival by suggesting that Joe Biden and his family were corrupt, and should be investigated by Ukrainian officials for fraud and bribery.

Despite Joe Biden’s denials, Trump was right: there was plenty of evidence to link Ukrainian unwarranted payoffs going into Biden family coffers.

So what is the Congress to do now—un-impeach and exonerate an innocent impeached Donald Trump, and instead impeach a guilty Biden for essentially the same allegations?

Read more...

FLASHBACK FRIDAY JACKSON AT NAMCHE BARWA

jackson-at-namche-barwa In the summer of 2001, I led an overland expedition of 2,500 kilometers across Eastern Tibet, traversing by foot the “Great River Trenches of Asia,” over the 15,000’ Si-la pass between the Salween and Mekong Rivers, thence to the Upper Yangtze by 4WD following it to near its source, onto Lhasa, capital of Tibet.

Enroute we stopped at incredibly remote and rarely seen Namche Barwa (7,782m/25,531ft), the eastern terminus of the Himalayas, which run in a 1,600 mile-long arc from here in Tibet through Nepal, Northwest India, to end at the western terminus of Nanga Parbat in Pakistan.

At nine years old, Jackson handled this like a trooper.  What a rewarding thrill it is to have a great adventure with your children. (Glimpses of Our Breathtaking World #277 photo ©Jack Wheeler)

Read more...

THE RIGALEIRA INITIATION WELL

Do an internet search for “25 Most Mysterious Places on Earth” or similar listing, and almost always the Regaleira Initiation Well in Sintra, Portugal will be there. Since the photo is almost always looking from the top down, I thought you might like to see one from the bottom up, which is just as dramatic.

The Regaleira is a spectacular Gothic mansion with acres of gorgeous gardens built by a 19th century Portuguese-Brazilian millionaire, Carvalho Monteiro (1848-1920). I love it that his exotic eccentric extravaganza, his Regaleira Palace, was built by private capitalist with his own money – not some feudal king with money extracted from the peasantry.

I took this picture in 2021 with fellow TTPers on our Portugal Exploration. Portugal really is a land of wonders, which I hope you’ll someday experience yourself. (Glimpses of Our Breathtaking World #167 photo ©Jack Wheeler)

Read more...

THE MOTHER LEATHERBACK

leatheback-turtle-jwThe leatherneck sea turtle is the world’s largest turtle, weighing up to 1500 pounds. This female was about half that. They have an enormous range, all the way from the North Sea to South Africa in the Atlantic, spending their lives at sea eating jellyfish – except when a female comes ashore to her hatching beach and bury her clutch of eggs in the sand above high tide.

Dropping several dozen glistening white golfball-size eggs into a depression scooped out with her flippers, she covers them up with sand, and heads back to sea, never to see them again. More than two months later, the born hatchlings dig out of the sand and wiggle their way into the sea, where the lucky ones survive.

I was able to watch this mommy’s entire egg-birthing process at dawn on a remote beach in the West African country of Gabon. It was such a privilege to witness an act of elemental nature by such an extraordinary creature. (Glimpses of Our Breathtaking World #127 Photo ©Jack Wheeler)

Read more...

THE BORU HARP

boru_harp The Boru Harp, attributed to the one and only High King of the entire island of Ireland, Brian Boru (941-1014), is the only musical instrument that is the national symbol of a country - the Republic of Ireland.  It is also on the label of Guinness beer.  Beautifully and exquisitely made, the Boru Harp is on display in the famous Long Room of the Trinity College Library in Dublin. You’ll experience a sense of awe when you see it for yourself. (Glimpses of Our Breathtaking World #219 photo ©Jack Wheeler)

Read more...

SKARA BRAE

skara-brae

North of Scotland are the Orkney Islands. On a windswept bluff above the North Atlantic, archaeologists have unearthed an intact Neolithic village of farmers and cattle herders that’s 5,000 years old (3200 BC) – centuries older than the Pyramids of Egypt. Their homes had beds, chairs, cupboards, flush toilets, running water, cozy, warm, and comfortable.

What you see here is just one section of the village. What I found particularly interesting was this sign at the entrance to the site.

reasons-to-settle-in-skara-brae

These villagers enjoyed a warmer climate than today, more fertile land. Skara Brae is a 5,000 year-old refutation of the Global Warming Hoax. If you ever get to Scotland, be sure the Orkneys are on your itinerary. Skara Brae is only one of the places you’ll find fascinating. (Glimpses of Our Breathtaking World #210 photo ©Jack Wheeler)

Read more...

HALF-FULL REPORT 08/25/23

rich-n-roll-bideWe can’t afford to get depressed about this disgusting week, with this dirtbag free in the White House and the man he stole it from arrested in the corrupt county at the core of the theft.  That the dirtbag isn’t under arrest instead of his innocent victim shows that justice is dying in America.

Yet there is a very big difference – explained Miracle Max in The Princess Bride – between mostly dead and all dead.  Be pessimistic when something’s all-dead.  Be optimistic even when something’s mostly-dead and what you’re interested in is not problems in themselves but solutions to them.

On Wednesday (8/23), Greg Jarrett at Fox explained the Three Reasons Why Joe And Hunter Biden Got Away With Their Great Sell-Out Of America – they’re very skilled at corruption, at hiding the cash, and getting both the media and deep state to protect them.  Got it. Now what?

Well, that’s what we’re going to talk about, and a lot more.  So settle in a comfy chair to relax and enjoy a really good HFR. You’ll see why I tried to have it be special.

Read more...

SKYE’S LINKS 08/24/23

Before we begin, let me first thank all my fellow TTPers who posted such nice birthday wishes for me on the Forum.  What you expressed means a lot to me – what a wonderful 80th birthday present, for which I am so very appreciative and grateful.  “Live long and prosper” to us all!

shut-free-speech-upGood news!  Constitutional law professor Jonathan Turley explains how The U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit has handed down a major victory for free speech against the District of Columbia woketard judge.  Even better, it’s a Pro-Life free speech victory and loss for Only Black Lives Matter racism!

“A Monopoly in Expressing its Views”: D.C. Circuit Hands Down Major Free Speech Victory for Pro-Life Group

 

“When disaster strikes, always blame it on Climate Change” is the Dem mantra now. Yes, the mantra helped cause the deadly Maui wildfires -  but not in the way that the MSM and Xiden minions are claiming:

WSJ: Hawaiian Electric Focused on Climate Change, Neglected Wildfire Risk

 

The above was tragic, but the lethal role that DEI played in the Maui fires was literally insane:

Woke Hawaiian Official Stalled Release Of 'Revered Water' Until It Was Too Late To Save Maui

Read more...

WILL INDONESIA SAVE ISLAM?

indonesia_map[This Monday’s Archive was originally published in TTP on October 26, 2006. Indonesia is an enormous country – it’s as far from the western tip of Sumatra to the border with Papua New Guines as it is from London, England to Kabul, Afghanistan. In addition to being a “Nutshell History,” what it says almost 17 years ago turns out quite prescient.  In this week’s The Economist is Indonesia Wants to Export Moderate Islam, which so leads from this Archive it follows below.  Note that the Indonesian organization that is the focus of both articles, Nahdatul Ulama, has formed an international alliance called the Center for Shared Civilizational Values, in cooperation with its Liberty For All Foundation (Libforall.org).

TTP, October 26, 2006

There are 245 million folks in Indonesia.  88% of them, or 215 million, are Moslem, comprising the largest Moslem population on earth.  Just 8% of Indonesians are Christian, 2% are Hindu, and only 1% are Buddhist.

Yet the most famous landmark of Indonesia – the archaeological wonder of Borobudur – is Buddhist.  In fact, it is the world’s largest Buddhist monument.  Indonesia’s most famous tourist destination and most famous culture is the island of Bali.  The people of Bali are not Moslem.  They are Hindu.

Indonesia used to be Buddhist and Hindu, and is a long way from Arabia.  How did this place become Moslem?

Read more...

UKRAINE RENEWS ITS INDEPENDENCE

long-live-ukr-rallyKyiv, Ukraine. The average age of the Verkhovna Rada, Ukraine’s 450-seat parliament, is 41. Only three of the elected representatives are older than 60, while 17 were under 30 at the time of their election.

This means that when Ukraine declared its independence, many of us were essentially children, and some weren’t yet born. What do we remember from Aug. 24, 1991?

I was 6. My memories of that day are of something profoundly significant. People didn’t go to work; they gathered in the city center, on what is now Hrushevsky Street, greeting each other in an atmosphere of incredible joy and uplift.

Now, in the 10th year of Russia’s war against Ukraine and 18 months into its full-scale phase, we are renewing our independence with an unquenchable passion to keep it.

Read more...

IS XI JINPING BECOMING THE JOE BIDEN OF CHINA?

jinping-bide-forces[Few scholars know Chicom China better than Willy Wo-Lap Lam.  There is a lot to think about here – please consider reading it attentively-JW.]

After emerging as China’s “leader for life” and filling top party organs such as the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) Central Committee and the Politburo with members of his own faction, paramount leader Xi Jinping has been relentlessly buffeted by what he refers to as “high waves and dangerous winds” in his effort to keep the ship of state afloat (Radio Free Asia, May 30).

However, whether the supreme leader and his newly minted Politburo can acquit themselves of handling these challenges remains dubious.

The horrendous rain and flooding of Typhoon Doksuri (杜苏芮) earlier this month (August 2023) that have hit Hebei Province and Beijing itself, which resulted in the displacement of some 1 million people and an undisclosed number of deaths, has again illustrated the questionable governance ability of the Xi Jinping administration.

And Xi—who is General Secretary of the CCP and commander-in-chief—has neither visited the sites of devastation nor spelled out measures to help flood victims re-establish their livelihoods. He has instead gone to the nearby seaside resort of Beidaihe to chair a series of informal policy-making sessions with other Politburo members and top advisors (Australian Broadcasting Corp Chinese, August 10; Radio Free Asia, August 4).

Sounds just like Joe Biden and the horrific fire in Maui, doesn’t it?  The comparisons go far deeper.

Read more...

THE GREAT CHINA-AMERICAN ABYSS

chin-dempuppetmasterWhat if American companies simply ignored Chinese copyrights and patents, and stole Chinese ideas, inventions, and intellectual property, as they pleased and with impunity?

How would Beijing respond if American biotech company warehouses were discovered in rural China with unsecured vials of deadly viruses and pathogens?

These “what-ifs” could be expanded endlessly. But they reflect well enough the great asymmetry in the bizarre Chinese-American relationship.

Obviously, China would not tolerate America treating it as it does the Americans.  Why then does the imbalance continue?

Read more...