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L i k e U s ! ! !

THE LAST MINSTREL

Beto the Pendejo Irishman
Beto the Pendejo Irishman

While President Trump was holding his Monday (2/11) rally in El Paso for a packed stadium, the hapless Beto O'Rourke was hosting his own pathetic anti-wall protest, his "March for Truth," a quarter of a mile away.

His little march attracted about three hundred people.  Beto spoke Spanish while his supporters waved  Mexican flags, and his gathering was close enough to the Trump event that the big rally's music could be heard.

It may be safe to say that Beto's potential run for president is over before it has begun.  He is a self-serving, anti-American intellectual lightweight like Kamala Harris, Joe Biden, and every other Democrat who has thrown his hat in the ring for 2020.

There is a famous poem by Sir Walter Scott published in 1805 that perfectly describes people like Beto, Obama, Hillary Clinton, Schumer, Harry Reid , Nancy Pelosi, and the rest of the Left:

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THE NECESSITY OF TRUMP’S WAR ON “SOCIALISM”

“We stand with the Venezuelan people in their noble quest for freedom — and we condemn the brutality of the Maduro regime, whose socialist policies have turned that nation from being the wealthiest in South America into a state of abject poverty and despair. Here in the United States, we are alarmed by new calls to adopt socialism in our country. America was founded on liberty and independence — not government coercion, domination, and control. We are born free, and we will stay free. Tonight, we renew our resolve that America will never be a socialist country.”  --President Donald Trump, February 5, 2019
This was the President’s Declaration of War upon “Socialism,” i.e. Marxism, Fascism, and Communism.

After all, the three greatest mass-murderers of all time were “Socialists” – Hitler the National Socialist (30 million), Stalin the leader of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (40 million), Mao the leader of “the Socialist revolution” of the Chinese Communist Party (60 million).

The reason Trump's outspoken opposition to socialism is so timely, more necessary than ever in our country, is the catastrophe of America’s schools. While few were noticing, our educational system -- from the earliest years through college -- has been turning, indeed has turned for the most part, into a virtual indoctrination program for socialism.

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THE REAL GLOBAL CRISIS IS DEBT, NOT WARMING

the-real-global-crisis“Mankind is doomed!” Headline writers have been writing that headline since the invention of printing — and someday it may come about.

For about four decades, that headline has most often been applied to the threat of global warming. Every couple of years, some notable comes out with a pronouncement that the governments of the world only have 5 or 10 years to make fundamental changes or we are all toast. The deadlines come and go, without action, and most people carry on with life as they always have.

Today, a number of Democrat politicians are telling us we have only 12 years to get rid of airplanes, farting cows and other hazards. Al Gore, of course, endorsed the policy proposals. Let’s thank them for sharing.

Meanwhile, there is a real crisis that is much more likely to adversely affect most people’s lives much sooner and with greater consequences than climate change, and that is the rise in government debt as a percentage of GDP in many of the major countries.

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HALF-FULL REPORT 02/08/19

What a glorious week.  Where do we start?  How about saying hello to the flip side of MAGA:

MABA – Make Alexandria a Bartender Again.

Miss Occasional-Cortex certainly earned her sobriquet of “3B” this week – the Bug-Eyed Brainless Bolshevik – for the childish lunacy of her “Green New Deal” (the link is to the actual bill she submitted to Congress yesterday 2/07).  As one wag observed:  “It looks like something a four year-old in Soviet Russia dreamt up.”

Yet with this, you couldn’t have clearer proof that Global Warming – defined in the bill’s first sentence as “human activity  is  the  dominant  cause  of  observed climate change over the past century” – is the Left’s substitution of Marxism as the new ideological rationale for full fascist government control over everyone’s life.

That in fact is why 3B’s crusade is a cause for celebration.  So is the whole week.

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A SOTU TO REMEMBER

choose-greatnessThere are no adequate words.  All there is, is to join the chorus of acclamation that President Trump last night (2/05) delivered to Congress and America the greatest State of the Union address ever in our history.

There are simply too many quotes and moments to mention here.  Below you can watch it entire – whether you watched it last night or not, it will blow you away – but first some observations and the best memes.

The domination of the President over the Democrats in the House Chamber was overwhelming.  They were headlighted-deer stunned to find they were attending a Trump Rally – and joining in, chanting USA! USA! USA!

There were moments when you cried, when you laughed, when you cheered and shouted with joy – and those when you just shook your head in smiling amazement, as when the entire US Congress, Joint Chiefs of Staff, Presidential Cabinet, and Supreme Court Justices joined in singing “Happy Birthday” to Holocaust survivor Judah Samet, celebrating his 81st birthday after surviving a mass shooting at a Pittsburgh synagogue last October.

So here’s a collection of quotes and memes to enjoy.

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THE ROUTE TO KANCHENJUNGA

Kanchenjunga ©2019 Jack Wheeler
Kanchenjunga
©2019 Jack Wheeler

Last week in our exploration of the highest summits of the Himalayas, we ended our Route to Everest at the Red Hat Tibetan Tengboche monastery.

Having now been to world’s 6th, 4th, and highest mountain of all – Cho Oyo, Lhotse, and Everest -- this week we continue on to the giants of Makalu – the world’s 5th at 8,485m/27,838ft – and Kanchenjunga – 3rd highest on earth at 8,585m/28,168ft.

height-of-himalayan-giants Get ready for a photographic extravaganza – many of these pics might take your breath away.  Like the one above – the entire ridge line you see is over 8,000 meters, over 26,000 feet.  I took it in one of our ultra-high altitude helicopters at 23,000 feet.

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A BEAUTIFUL NIGHTMARE

Ralph “Coonman” Northam wearing same Blackface plaid pants
Ralph “Coonman” Northam wearing same Blackface plaid pants

Isn’t this the most beautiful headline you’ve seen in quite a while?  Especially because it’s from CNN written by it’s hyper-lib editor Chris Cillizza on Wednesday (2/06):  THE COMPLETE AND UTTER COLLAPSE OF VIRGINIA’S DEMOCRATIC PARTY.

What’s going on in Virginia “is a classic example of the truism that evil always destroys itself, because that is the nature of evil,” thinks Unseen1.

If you haven’t been following events there (thus missing out on delicious schadenfreude), here’s a synopsis of the beautiful nightmare unfolding for the Dems:

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A BAD NIGHT FOR DEMS

President Trump’s  on Tuesday (2/05) was easily the best State of the Union address I’ve ever seen – and I watched all of Ronald Reagan’s.

But, as you can see, it wasn’t a good night for Bernie Sanders, Ms. Occasional Cortex, and all the other Dems including Pelosi who grimaced and refused to stand.

A SOTU is a speechwriter’s nightmare. It consists of a laundry list of the president’s (alleged) accomplishments, followed by wish list of the bills the president wants Congress to pass. It’s hard to weave a coherent, uplifting theme into that mishmash.

And SOTUs are too long. They last, typically, an hour or so. One of the first rules of the thumb I learned as a fledgling speechwriter was nobody is interesting after 20 minutes.

There are exceptions to every rule. President Trump spoke for 82 minutes, the longest SOTU since Bill Clinton spoke for 84 minutes in 2000. Clinton’s SOTU that year was excruciating. But, for me, time flew by Tuesday night.

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DONALD TRUMP’S ANNIHILATION OF THE DEMOCRAT PARTY

whos-opposed-to-the-wall The nadir of the amoral egotism of what might broadly be called “Me-ism” has been reached by the avant garde of the Democrat Party in their race to the bottom of the electoral depths.

The renunciation of any notions of sacrifice, patriotic pride, the spirituality of life, or the recognition of anything except the smash-and-grab politics of endless atomized grievances and instant gratification of convenience, has reached what must, in its way, be the end of its history.

As the party of infanticide and open borders, they are indulging in a frenzy of primal extremism from which they will not recover.

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TRUMP SHOWS HE’S PLAYING TO WIN

play-to-winThere were laughter, tears, raucous cheers and awkward silences. But more than anything else, it was a punch in the gut that President Trump delivered Tuesday night.

Time after time, on issue after issue, he laid down a marker about the remaining two years of his term — and the outlines of his re-election campaign.

Speeches that are too long — as this one was — often smother their key points in windy verbiage. But there was no mistaking Trump’s meaning or his intent to seek a second term on the platform of a strong economy, strong defense and secure borders.

The state of the union is frighteningly divided and hostile, but the state of the president’s aim is sound. For all the talk of chaos and churn in his administration, Donald Trump knows what he’s about. As he always has, he’s playing to win.

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WISDOM AND FOOLISHNESS, CAPITALISM AND SOCIALISM

“It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity, it was the season of Light, it was the season of Darkness, it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair, we had everything before us, we had nothing before us, we were all going direct to Heaven, we were all going direct the other way…”
These are the first words of Charles Dickens’ A Tale of Two Cities.  They refer to the era of the French Revolution a little over two centuries ago, but they could equally apply to today.

Times have never been better for most Americans. Incomes are at a record high. Jobs are plentiful. People are living longer and better due to both medical advances and increased prosperity.

Yet despite the better life that the free-market capitalist system has enabled for billions of people, there are increased numbers of political voices and their media allies demanding socialism. Given the centuries of failure and mayhem resulting from socialism, for all to see, the new socialists are treated as if their ideas are sensible, rather than ludicrous.

Why would people choose foolishness over wisdom?  Are they stupid, ignorant, mean-spirited, or all three?

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TRUST ME

“Communism, excuse me, I mean Socialism, will work this time. Trust me. I’m a bartender.”

Congressbartendress Alexandria Occasional-Cortex
Congressbartendress Alexandria Occasional-Cortex

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HALF-FULL REPORT 02/01/19

Natural color NASA Sat Photo of the Great Lakes January 27, 2018
Natural color NASA Sat Photo of the Great Lakes January 27, 2019

How cold is it?  It’s so cold that, the New York Post joked about “AOC “(Alexandria Occasional-Cortex)  on its cover yesterday (1/31):

aoc-in-her-pockets It’s so cold that this morning’s headline (2/01) is for real:  Lake Michigan Has Completely Frozen Over.

Nonetheless, Occasional-Cortex and her Fascicrat ilk went bananas in rage (is there any other emotion they feel?) when POTUS made fun of their religion:

trump-tweet-012819 Yet their demented Warmist fanaticism is merely one path of many in their descent into madness this week, in which Democrats have become a party of Psychotic Fascism.  No longer a political party but a criminally evil gang bereft of any morality, just thuggish hate and lust for fascist power.

The question of the moment then becomes:  What will the President do about this in his State of the Union Address four days from now this Tuesday (2/05)?

 

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THE ROUTE TO EVEREST

Ngozumpa Glacier – Khumbu Himalaya ©2019 Jack Wheeler
Ngozumpa Glacier – Khumbu Himalaya ©2019 Jack Wheeler

Everyone has heard of the Himalayas and Mount Everest in particular. Yet most everyone has only a vague understanding of the most famous and highest mountain range on earth, and where the great mountains among them are in relation to each other.

Over the next three weeks, your understanding will become clear, no longer vague. This week, we’ll explore the route to Everest.

The Himalayas form a 1,500 mile-long arc from Namche Barwa in Chinese Tibet in the east to Nanga Parbat in Pakistan in the west.  But it is in the center of the arc, in Nepal that the great Himalayan giants are found, including Mount Everest.

Four of the highest – Cho Oyu, Everest, Lhotse, and Makalu – on the border with Chinese Tibet. Thus, you can trek to or climb them from either the Nepali (south) or Tibetan (north) side.

This week, we’ll explore the route to Everest and its sister peak of Lhotse via Cho Oyu in Nepal. From Cho Oyu flows the largest glacier in the Nepali Himalayas, the giant Ngozumpa Glacier which has a series of beautiful lakes, the Gokyo Lakes, alongside. That’s what you see in the photo above.

Looking to your right, you see the fifth Gokyo Lake and the source of the Ngozumpa, the 6th highest mountain on earth at 8,201 meters, Cho Oyu, the Turquoise Goddess in Tibetan. Up close, the sight is overwhelming.

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