The Oasis for
Rational Conservatives

Tuesday, February 10, 2026

Member Menu

The Amazon's Pantanal

Serengeti Birthing Safari

Wheeler Expeditions

Member Discussions

Article Archives

Archives

L i k e U s ! ! !

THEY MURDERED CHARLIE KIRK AND THEY MUST PAY

This may be the hardest column I’ve ever written, one where I’m so angry that it’s hard for me to put my words into a sequence that’s both coherent and not profane.

They murdered Charlie Kirk yesterday.

They shot him dead because he dared to exercise his right as a human being to speak freely – contrary to what Democrat senators insist, our rights do not come from government but are endowed within us by our Creator.

So, this was not merely a crime against one man, or against his beautiful family, but against both this country and our God.

And it will be righteously avenged.

He’s not going to be forgotten.

They may have killed him, but they’re not going to kill the movement he started.

Oh no, they don’t get to win.

They don’t get to murder their way to victory.

They don’t get to scare us, intimidate us, or decapitate our movement.

We’re going to double down.

No, we’re going to triple down.

Read more...

LONE STAR AMERICA

lone-star-america-2[This Monday’s Archive was originally published on December 27, 2006. Our situation is vastly worse now after The Treason of Biden organized an invasion of illegals in the tens of millions, and the Dems with their treasonous judges doing everything to block Trump’s efforts to remigrate them. Here’s a history lesson that couldn’t be more relevant today.]

TTP December 27, 2006

I'm in a small town called St. Francisville in an obscure part of Louisiana.  Visitors who come here stop briefly to gaze at the nicely preserved 19th century homes on its main street before hurrying off to the area's principal attractions nearby – magnificent ante-bellum plantation mansions like Rosewood, the Myrtles, or Oakley where Audubon stayed and painted many of his birds.

Almost no tourists pay any attention to a flag that flies in front of the courthouse along with the stars and stripes and the state flag, nor have any idea what it symbolizes:

It's the Bonnie Blue flag of the Republic of West Florida, the capital of which was here.  In 1810, St. Francisville was the capital of an independent country.

How it got to be, and what it may mean for America's future, is a story that goes from Spanish explorers to American rebels, from Napoleon to the Alamo, from the "Halls of Montezuma" of the Marine Hymn to the current invasion of America by illegal aliens from Mexico.

So curl up and get cozy in your favorite chair while I tell you the story.

Read more...

TIM KAINE’S CONSTITUTIONAL BLASPHEMY

Sen. Tim Kaine (D-Va.) this week warned the American people that a Trump nominee for a State Department position was an extremist, cut from the same cloth as the Iranian mullahs and religious extremists.

Riley Barnes, nominated to serve as assistant secretary of State for democracy, human rights and labor, revealed his dangerous proclivities to Kaine in his opening statement when he said that “All men are created equal because our rights come from God, our creator; not from our laws, not from our governments.”

It was a line that should be familiar to any citizen — virtually ripped from the Declaration of Independence, our founding document that is about to celebrate its 250th anniversary.

Yet Kaine offered a very surprising response in the Senate Foreign Relations Committee hearing.

“The notion that rights don’t come from laws and don’t come from the government, but come from the Creator — that’s what the Iranian government believes,” he said. “It’s a theocratic regime that bases its rule on Shia (sic) law and targets Sunnis, Bahá’ís, Jews, Christians, and other religious minorities. They do it because they believe that they understand what natural rights are from their Creator. So, the statement that our rights do not come from our laws or our governments is extremely troubling.”

The idea that laws “come from the government” is the basis of what is called “legal positivism,” which holds that the legitimacy and authority of laws are not based on God or natural law but rather legislation and court decisions.

Read more...

APPEALS BOARD RULES UNDOCUMENTED IMMIGRANTS INELIGIBLE FOR BOND HEARINGS

ice_gators[TTP:  This isn’t getting much notice in the press, but it is a YUGE win for Trump!]

A federal immigration board said Friday that immigrants who arrived in the United States illegally are ineligible for bond hearings while they challenge deportation proceedings in court.

The decision, rendered by Judge Keith E. Hunsucker at the Board of Immigration Appeals, affirms a previous July order from Todd M. Lyons, acting director of Immigration and Customs Enforcement, who told ICE officers in a memo that such immigrants should be detained “for the duration of their removal proceedings,” which can take months or years.

Lawyers say the policy will apply to millions of immigrants who crossed the U.S.-Mexico border over the past few decades, including under the Biden administration.

Read more...

THE GREATEST DEMOCRAT FEAR

screenshot-2025-09-10-at-4-01-18%e2%80%afamPresident Donald Trump’s greatest achievement within six months was simply ending illegal immigration as we had once known it — without “comprehensive immigration reform” or any other rhetorical trickery.

It remains difficult to find, much less deport, the 10 to 12 million illegal aliens who entered in the last four years.

Those who helped break the law, by design or indifference, now believe it was moral to destroy federal immigration law but immoral to uphold it.

And it is still unclear whether former President Joe Biden’s handlers deliberately sabotaged their own border for political and demographic purposes out of sheer orneriness or utter incompetence.

 

Many of the left’s cherished totems — massive Green New Deal subsidies, the diversity/equity/inclusion industry, biological males competing in women’s sports, and the USAID revolving door — are either comatose or in their death throes.

The historic drop-off in military recruitment reversed shortly after Trump took office.

Republican voter registration is up, and Democratic registration is down.

Read more...

THE JUDICIAL COUP IS COLLAPSING

Late last week NBC ran a “news” story featuring a dozen disgruntled federal judges whose rulings against various Trump administration policies have been stayed or overturned by the Supreme Court.

These lower court judges, none of whom had the courage to allow NBC to name them in the article, bewailed the failure of SCOTUS to provide sufficient justification for ruling against them.

It’s blindingly obvious, however, that the real issue they are whining about is the Court’s refusal to countenance their usurpation of the President’s Article II powers and frustrate implementation of his agenda.

Upon assuming office, the President signed a number of executive orders involving a variety of issues. Many of these EOs were challenged by lawsuits filed in district courts presided over by activist judges.

Inevitably, these judges issued “universal injunctions” that halted implementation of the EOs nationwide. The administration filed emergency appeals with SCOTUS to ensure these cases received expedited attention.

According to the NBC story, “The Supreme Court has granted Trump administration requests to block lower court rulings in more than 70 percent of cases brought by the administration that were decided via the shadow docket.”  [Cue ominous Darth Vader background audio]

Read more...

FLASHBACK FRIDAY: CLIMBING THE MATTERHORN AT AGE 14

jw-on-the-matterhornThe Matterhorn at 14,692 ft in the Swiss Alps is arguably the most famous mountain in the world. By extreme luck, I was able to reach its summit with my guide Alfons Franzen at age 14 (in 1958!). The summit is not a point but a ridge 100 feet or so long and only 2 feet wide, like a knife blade in the sky.

This was my formative great adventure that set me on my life path. For over forty years that path has been providing friends and clients with great adventures for their own lives. (Glimpses of Our Breathtaking World #30 photo ©Jack Wheeler)

Read more...

THE WORLD’S MOST BEAUTIFUL BOOKSTORE

livraria-lello-bookstoreThis is the Livraria Lello bookstore in Porto, Portugal where I am right now. Built in 1906, its Neo-Gothic/Art Noveau architecture and design make it the world’s most beautiful place to buy books. Not only was J.K. Rowling inspired to write her Harry Potter books here, but she based the dramatic staircase at Hogwarts on the work of art staircase at “The Lello” that you see above. Porto oozes with such beauty, charm, and entrancement. You deserve to experience it for yourself. (Glimpses of Our Breathtaking World #230 photo ©Jack Wheeler)

Read more...

THE PAINTED CHURCHES OF THE TROODOS MOUNTAINS

church-of-kykkos-monasteryFor 500 years, from Ca. 1000 to 1500 AD, the Byzantine Christians on the eastern Mediterranean island of Cyprus labored with love to decorate the interior of their humble churches tucked away in hidden valleys of the Troodos Mountains.

There are a total of 10 such churches which are today a UNESCO World Heritage Site. The one you see here is the church of the Kykkos Monastery, with its extravagantly painted vaulted ceiling preserved immaculately for centuries. Christianity remains very much alive in these mountains. Come here to be awed yourself. (Glimpses of Our Breathtaking World #235 photo ©Jack Wheeler)

Read more...

THE GOLDEN ELEPHANTS OF DZANGA BAI

golden-elephantDeep in the African rain forest where the Central African Republic, Cameroun, and the Congo come together, there is a swampy clearing of mineral and salt-rich mud where hundreds of elephants come to soak in the mud to absorb the minerals, turning their skin golden.  Other forest animals congregate here as well – buffalo, sitatunga and bongo antelope.  In the mountains nearby, there are an uncountable number of gorillas.  The clearing is called Dzanga Bai by the native Ba’aka Pygmies who live in small encampments in the forest.

We conducted our Gorillas and Pygmies expedition here in 2012.  It was an unforgettable experience, never to be repeated. (Glimpses of Our Breathtaking World #278 photo ©Jack Wheeler)

Read more...

A KYRGHIZ EAGLE HUNTER

kyrghiz-eagle-hunterA Kyrghiz eagle-hunter doesn’t hunt for eagles to eat.  He hunts with an eagle he has trained from infancy to hunt food for his family.

Female eagles adapt to training the best and are fierce huntresses.  Retrieved as a young chick from their mother’s nest when she’s out hunting, it takes one or two years to train them.  The eagle the hunter is holding is age six.  When they are too old to hunt at around age 20, they are released back into the wild, where they can live free for up to age 50.

That would be among the high rock outcroppings dotting the high grasslands of Kyrghizstan in Central Asia.  That’s where the hunter’s assistant (usually his son) climbs up with the eagle gripping his forearm high enough to launch.  Upon the hunter waves thee command on horseback, the hood is removed from the eagle’s head so he can see and is released.

Soaring high, the eagle searches for game like rabbits which are plentiful in the grasslands.  Upon spotting one, the eagle swoops down to snare it on the run with her amazingly powerful talons.  Allowing her to eat a bite or two as her reward, she’s re-hooded and the rabbit soon to be on the family dinner table.  If you want to see this for yourself, come with us to Kyrghizstan on our next exploration of Central Asia. (Glimpses of Our Breathtaking World #228 photo ©Jack Wheeler)

Read more...

HALF-FULL REPORT 09/05/25

On TTP Wednesday (9/03) in RFK Jr Over The Target, you read:

“Tomorrow, Thursday (9/04), Kennedy will testify at a hearing of the Senate Finance Committee.  We’ll see who’s in Big Pharma’s pockets by those who have a temper tantrum towards him. For all of this shows RFK, Jr. is directly over the right target.”
 

You just saw above how deep in those pockets  Ron Wyden (D-OR) is.  Then Kennedy accuses straight to Pocahontas Warren’s face, “You’ve taken $855,000 from pharmaceutical companies, Senator!”

One after the other, the Committee Dems went wacko on Bobby as Big Pharma had instructed them to do. The result was sound and fury signifying nothing: Kennedy Turns Tables on Democrats in Fiery Hearing.  The beatdown went on for three hours. At the end, The Dems demanded he resign.  Bobby just laughed at them.

Get ready – frankly, this is an amazing HFR.  Let’s go!

Read more...

VOLTAIRE AND MOHAMMED

One of dozens of patriot protests across Australia yesterday (8/31)
One of dozens of patriot protests across Australia yesterday (8/31)

[This Monday’s Archive was originally published on March 10, 2006. For context, log on to @elonmusk to learn what Britain’s Labor Government under Keir Starmer is doing to protect Moslem rape gangs and mass Moslem illegal migration, and on to @MarchFor Australia to see hundreds of thousands of Aussie patriots in every major city protest yesterday (8/31) what the Aussie Labor Government under Anthony Albanese is doing to promote mass Moslem immigration and smear anyone who disagrees as “racist” – just as does Starmer. Given this, I thought it timely to know about Voltaire and Mohammed.]

 

TTP March 10, 2006

This Monday (3/6), the Wall Street Journal had a front page article about Moslems rioting in France over the staging of a play in a small village in the French Alps called Saint-Genis-Pouilly.  The play was written in 1741 by Voltaire (1694-1778), and hasn't been staged for centuries.  The title of the play is Mahomet, which is an older way to spell Mohammed.

The article provided very little information about the play's content.  The author of the WSJ article clearly did not see the performance himself.  An internet search turns up a French edition of the play but none in English.  It's far out of print, so to actually read the play, you'd have to go a large public or university library.

It just so happens, however, that I have the English translation of the complete works of Voltaire - all 42 volumes - in my personal library.  So I immediately sat down and read the entire play.  It is a drop dead, stone cold, mind blow.  It is fantastic.  And it couldn't be more perfectly written for our day than if Voltaire was a clairvoyant.

Here is the play's synopsis.

Read more...

RFK JR. OVER THE TARGET

This is Dr. Demetre Daskalakis, radical left woke gay Satanist with his “husband,” who is the now-former CDC (Centers for Disease Control) official leading Big Pharma’s War on MAHA, RFK2 in particular.

Big Pharma is by far the largest and most powerful lobbying power on Capitol Hill.  They are organizing an all-out effort to pressure Kennedy to resign.  Any politician you see calling for his resignation, like Chuck Schumer and Bernie Sanders, is on their payroll. It’s because they are terrified he will expose their corruption.

RFK Jr. is busy disinfecting our health bureaucracy from its capture by the agricultural-medical-pharmaceutical complex.  CDC officials are adopting the Rosie O’Donnell self-deportation option to protest Kennedy’s actions.  Exhibit A is Dr. Demetre Daskalakis (pronouns: he/him/his)’s resignation letter, proudly posted to X.

Right, a guy who calls pregnant women “pregnant people” – meaning he’s a medical doctor claiming that men can get pregnant – says Kennedy is intentionally trying to harm us.  Vaccine manufacturers previously held a monopoly on that vice.

Read more...