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AFTER NOVEMBER 8, WELCOME TO MAGA AMERICA

maga_americaAll indications now are that the Democrats are finally about to pay for using hate of Donald Trump as a substitute for governing for two years, just as, for four years prior to that, they used Trump hate as a substitute for normal opposition.

The entire fabric of myths, frauds, and defamations that the national political media have conveniently held up as a safety net for the Democrat Party and this terribly incompetent administration is about to disappear.

The Democrats will finally carry the can for 14 years of incompetence and venality—10 failed years under Barack Obama and Joe Biden, with a four-year interlude when frenzied antagonism to the Trump administration was a divertissement of shamefully unconstitutional and obstructive opposition.

So focus on this: If the Trump-backed Senate candidates win any two of Georgia, Ohio, and Pennsylvania, Trump is almost certainly the next president.

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WILL DEMOCRACY DIE IN DARKNESS IN NOVEMBER?

dead-masked-voterThe Republicans were always going to win big in November, regardless of what biased pundits professed.

There was likely never a sudden “blue resurgence” or “red collapse” of late summer.

Those fantasies were mostly Democrat Party talking points. They were readily regurgitated by the fusion media and biased pollsters. The ruse was transparently designed to dampen conservative turnout and fundraising, while fueling interparty squabbling over supposedly “unelectable MAGA candidates.”

As it turns out, all the Dems’ efforts and those of their minions will be to no avail.

Yes, the Democrats will soon chant democracy is dying because they are terrified it is thriving as never before.

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WHY HOLLOW JOE WENT FAR LEFT

On Sunday (10/23), Mr. Biden publicly declared that it is morally wrong for states to ban genital mutilation surgery and chemical castration on children. How did he get this way?

Bill O’Reilly has reached a conclusion that has probably occurred to many people recently, namely that although Joe Biden always represented himself as a moderate regular guy with blue-collar sensibilities from Scranton, he “fooled a lot of folks, including me.”

For, O’Reilly observes, Biden has recently been full of praise for extremists, saying that he agrees with everything Rep. Maxine Waters says, which includes, after the George Floyd killing, justifying violence and praising “one of the biggest haters on television,” Joy Behar.

Although I certainly understand O’Reilly’s reasoning, I must disagree.  My view is that the situation is far worse than he envisages.  Here’s why.

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ADVICE TO DEMS: NEVER SEND A STROKE VICTIM TO DEBATE A TV STAR

fetterman-stumblesThe Fetterman campaign may have just watched what remained of its prospects in Pennsylvania circle the drain after last night's (10/25) sole debate between him and PA Senate candidate Dr. Oz.

Fetterman, who suffered a severe stroke days before the May primary and cast his vote from a hospital bed, appeared unable to put together nearly a single coherent sentence throughout the entire debate while TV veteran Dr. Oz deftly and "surgically" sliced and diced his way through an hour of questioning, using Fetterman as a lifeless sparring dummy for a majority of the debate.

Recovering from his stroke, Fetterman's answers ranged between somewhat inept and completely incomprehensible. The ugly performance started right from the beginning, with Fetterman bidding viewers "good night" as part of his opening statement.

Fetterman opens the debate:

"Hi. Good night everybody." pic.twitter.com/mg0X3Iwf5D

— Greg Price (@greg_price11) October 26, 2022

It only got worse from that point forward.

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KEEPING YOUR SANITY BY MANAGING STRESS WELL

Man should not try to avoid stress any more than he would shun food, love or exercise. - Hans Selye
Man should not try to avoid stress any more than he would shun food, love or exercise. - Hans Selye

It is common knowledge that too much stress is bad for us; yet stress is also a necessary and vital part of living well.

Anything that you do that involves challenging yourself, confronting situations that require your best efforts, or pushing yourself beyond your comfort zone will involve a degree of stress.

So it’s really important to understand that happiness is not the absence of stress.  In fact, happiness or our well-being requires living with a degree of stress that we can manage.

And there’s new research that turns what we thought we knew about stress on its head – what’s most important for our health and well-being is not the stress itself, but what we believe about stress. Let’s think about that.

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FLASHBACK FRIDAY – THE TIGER’S NEST OF BHUTAN

tigers-nest November 1990. The “Tiger’s Nest” or Taktsang monastery is built in front of caves on a vertical cliff-face high above the Paro Valley in the Himalayan Kingdom of Bhutan. Originally a meditation site of the founder of Tibetan Buddhism, Padmasambhava in the 700s, the monastery temples were first constructed in the 1600s.

Bhutan is arguably the most fabulously exotic country on earth, still adhering to the ancient traditions of Ningma (Red Hat) Tibetan culture. It is quite a steep hike to the Tiger’s Nest but certainly worth it. We’ll be conducting an in-depth exploration of Bhutan this coming November. (Glimpses of Our Breathtaking World #133 Photo ©Jack Wheeler)

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GRANDMA AND GRANDPA NEED NOT FIGHT IN THE CAUCASUS

tatik-papik2This is “Tatik-Papik” (Grandmother-Grandfather), a stone monument built in Soviet days as homage to the mountain people of the Transcaucasus Highlands of Armenia and Azerbaijan. After both became independent with the fall of the USSR, Armenia seized the Azeri part, known as Nagorno Karabagh. Since late September, war has broken out anew, with Turkey supporting the Azeris and Russia supporting the Armenians.

The dispute could be settled easily with a “land swap.” There is an exclave of Azerbaijan called Nakhchivan (see The Land of Noah, Glimpse #3) separated by a sparsely inhabited corridor of Armenia called the Mehgri Strip running to the border with Iran. It could be swapped for the Armenian-populated portion of Karabagh. Result: Azerbaijan and Nakhchivan are united and whole, Armenia and Armenian Karabagh are united and whole.

Should be win-win achievable given recent peace agreements achieved by our genius POTUS between Serbia and Kosovo, plus between Israel and the UAE, Bahrain, and Sudan don’t you think? (Glimpses of Our Breathtaking World #71 photo ©Jack Wheeler)

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THE FORTRESS OF LUXEMBOURG

luxembourg-fortress Originally built upon Roman fortifications on a rocky promontory in the 900s by the Counts of Luxembourg, the Luxembourg Fortress gained strategic importance located between the French Kingdom and the Hapsburg Empire. By the 1600s it became so impregnable it was called the “Gibraltar of the North.” It was fought over by so many armies that finally, in establishing the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg’s full independence and neutrality in 1867, Luxembourgers agreed to tear it down.

What you see here is what is left, and is now a World Heritage Site. The Chemin de la Corniche ­– the promenade along the top of the ramparts overlooking Alzette River and the Old City – is renowned as “Europe’s most beautiful balcony.”

Wedged between France, Belgium, and Germany, small 1,000 square-mile Luxembourg is a haven of peaceful beauty. Come here to stand on these ramparts to experience it yourself. (Glimpses of Our Breathtaking World #233 photo ©Jack Wheeler)

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THE WORLD’S MOST UNIQUE BIRD

hoatzin This is a Hoatzin. I took this picture in the Amazon jungles of Colombia, its native habitat. It has no genetic relationship to any other bird, and thus has its own family, the Opisthocomidae, and its own suborder, the Opisthocomi. Extensive DNA-sequencing demonstrates that “the hoatzin is the last surviving member of a bird line that branched off in its own direction 64 million years ago, shortly after the extinction event that killed the non-avian dinosaurs.”

The Hoatzin is the Dinosaur Bird, the only bird on earth directly descended from the dinosaurs. It makes weird noises – grunts, hisses, groans and croaks – no melodious birdsongs. It emits an awful smell due to its fermentation digestive system, and tastes just as awful so no one hunts it for food. Yet it is distinctively pretty in a hyper-funky way. Spend enough time exploring the Amazon, and you may be lucky to see one. (Glimpses of Our Breathtaking World #186 photo ©Jack Wheeler)

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THE CARRICK-A-REDE ROPE BRIDGE

carrick-a-rede-rope-bridge One of the most dramatic sights along the Antrim Coast of Northern Ireland is the Carrick-a-Rede Rope Bridge. Originally built in the 1660s by salmon fishermen to get to their nets on the tiny islet of Carrick, it spans 70 feet across and 100 feet above the ocean waters surging below. It’s still used by the fishermen to this day. And while it’s been sturdily reinforced since it was a simple rope bridge, it’s still an invigorating experience to negotiate – especially in the wind and rain when I was there. Don’t pass it up if you’re ever in Northern Ireland. (Glimpses of Our Breathtaking World #232 photo ©Jack Wheeler)

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HALF-FULL REPORT 10/21/22

Alright… let’s crank those speakers to the max, for it’s Beatles time. Park yourself in your easy chair, relax, and listen to Getting Better.

One of the favorites from their 1967 Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band album, Getting Better is the theme of this week’s HFR… at last.

We’ve got 18 days to go before America’s Do or Die Day of Nov 8 – and while there still may be many a slip ‘twixt cup and lip, it’s looking good for the good guys, while those on the Dark Side of the Force are sliding into ever deeper gloom.  Yes, for every day this week, it’s getting better all the time.

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SKYE’S LINKS 10/20/22

control-realityNarrative Control vs. Reality

This week on Skye's Links, we look at the many cases where false narratives are being pushed hard to manipulate us,

We start with the radically left AMA and move on to issues in politics, society, freedom of speech, environment, energy, and investments.

The bad guys have that old will to power and expect complete obedience to the narrative. However, the Constitution, economic laws, and the Majesty of the Earth as a Testament to its Creator continue to foil those that would be our masters.

Come on over to Skye's Links. It's been a tough week for the propagandists.

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SHELLACKING TIME FOR DEMS, AND OBAMA SUDDENLY PLAYS MR. MODERATE

staywokeWith Democrats facing a "shellacking" in November, President Obama is out and about, campaigning for Democrats, in various ways.

He made some headlines with this:

Former President Barack Obama thinks Democrats can be a bit of a "buzzkill," too easily offended over accidental slights and the complicated scenarios of modern life, he said in a podcast interview late last week.

"How does politics even — how is it even relevant to the things that I care most deeply about? My family, my kids, work that gives me satisfaction, having fun, not being a buzzkill, right?" Obama said in an interview with "Pod Save America."

"And sometimes Democrats are, right? You know, sometimes, people just want to not feel as if they are walking on eggshells. And they want some acknowledgment that life is messy and that all of us at any given moment can say things the wrong way, make mistakes."

Obama is publicly addressing a concern voiced by Democratic strategists privately for quite some time now — that the liberal base of the party is so focused on "wokeness" and the possibility of offending certain interest groups that they lose the broader thread of speaking to what voters actually care about.

That's a little rich, coming from him.  The wokester culture era was ushered in on his watch, and it's spiraled downhill since then.

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THE TENTACLES OF THE SOCIAL MEDIA OCTOPUS

smedia-octopusA shared theme in all dystopian explorations of future and current totalitarian regimes—whether China, Russia, Iran, North Korea, or Cuba—is government control of all media information, fueled by electronic surveillance.

A skeptical public learns to say one thing publicly but quite another privately. It nervously nods yes at the news while at work, but at home cynically assumes the opposite of whatever is publicly said to be true.

RIP, First Amendment

Such electronic propaganda has sadly become characteristic of the world’s oldest consensual government.

In America we once believed our First Amendment prevented a government monopoly on information. But in the age of globalization, the Internet, and social media, the state has become the enemy—not the protector—of free speech.

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