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CANADA HAS JUST MADE A CATASTROPHIC MISTAKE

How foolish are Canadian voters? They have just kept a politically inexperienced prime minister and largely discredited Liberal minority government in power because of their frustration with a US president.

That, in a nutshell, is what happened in Monday’s election yesterday (4/28) in the Great White North.

Liberal Mark Carney barely proposed any original ideas during the campaign, preferring to maintain Trudeau-era policies and steal proposals from the Conservatives. His long-standing support for far-Left policies such as net zero climate solutions and a fixation on wealth inequality never came to the forefront during this campaign, for obvious reasons.

Conservative Pierre Poilievre, in contrast, believes in lower taxes, smaller government and more individual rights and freedoms. He wanted to tackle the affordability crisis caused by the Liberals, and to bring down the high costs of food, housing, energy and more for Canadians and their families.

Poilievre was the superior choice for Prime Minister. Now he’s not even in Parliament, having lost his seat yesterday. What happened?

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77 MILLION AMERICANS VOTED FOR TRUMP — AFTER 100 DAYS ONLY 2% REGRET

I realize this may blow Democrats' minds, but 100 days into President Donald Trump’s second term, almost all of the millions of Americans who cast their vote for him are still happy they did.

And Trump has not been twiddling his thumbs in these first months back in the Oval Office.

There’s plenty to like or dislike, from his large number of executive orders to his federal cost-cutting bonanza with Tesla CEO Elon Musk.

So, it’s telling that a recent poll shows the vast majority of Trump supporters would vote for him again now, if given the opportunity for a do-over.

And significantly more people are happy with the direction of the country now than they were before Trump took office. The gap between those who think the country is on the wrong track and those who think it's on the right track has shrunk from 36 points in November to fewer than 12 now.

Trump is delivering on what he said he would do, and, for the vastly most part, his voters appreciate it.

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WHEN THE CHILDREN ARE GONE

children-goneHow do we measure the success of a civilization?

How long your civilization lasts is indeed an important measure of its success.   What makes it last?  More people, people who identify with and are members of the civilization.  To have that, you need an environment that promotes the creation and proper socialization of new members, meaning children, women having children.  This is done through cohesive family units.

And in this area, we not only see America’s challenge, but its weakness and its probable catalyst for destruction if the national ship is not righted.

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THE VIRTUE OF HAPPINESS

virtue-of-happinessA human life that is happy is not a trivial matter of being lucky, of getting what we want; of pleasant pastimes or the absence of responsibilities or pain. A human life that is happy is an accomplishment; a triumphant, sometimes even a heroic creation.

Some of the most deeply and genuinely happy people I’ve known have overcome tremendous physical or psychological hardships to get there. As with any big, long term project, it takes work; it’s complicated and time consuming - more like a great symphony of harmony and counterpoint than a simple catchy jingle.

To create a life that is truly happy over time takes discipline, passion, and courage. A happy moment can be a matter of luck; a happy life requires virtue.

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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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THE ENCHANTMENT OF POKHARA

pokharaEveryone who visits Nepal falls in love with Pokhara. One reason is views of the Himalayas like this from Phewa Lake. You’re only at 2,600 feet while soaring far above you are the world’s 7th highest mountain, Dhaulagiri ((26,795’) to the left, the 10th highest, Annapurna (26,545’) in the center, and the unclimbed sacred peak of Machapuchare (match-a-pooch-a-ree, 23,000’) to the right.

The low altitude gives Pokhara (poke-a-rah) delightful spring-like weather most of the year, the town oozes charm and gracious hospitality with wonderfully fun bar-restaurants like the Moondance Café. As Nepal’s adventure capital, there’s whitewater rafting, tandem parasailing and motorized hang-gliding, as well as the launching pad for Nepal’s most famous trek, the Annapurna Circuit.

Or you can simply relax by the lake or be paddled around it in a canoe for birdwatching. We always end our Himalaya Helicopter Expeditions here, which we’ll do again this coming October. Hard to imagine a better place to unwind. (Glimpses of Our Breathtaking World #295, photo ©Jack Wheeler)

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THE TERRACE OF INFINITY

terrazzo-delllnfinitoOver a thousand feet on a mountain ledge above Amalfi on the Mediterranean, you’ll find the Terrazzo dell'lnfinito, considered by poets for centuries the most beautiful view in the world. It is part of the magnificent gardens of the 11th century Villa Cimbrone, in the hilltop town of Ravello, built by the Romans in the 5th century.

The Sorrentine Peninsula is a finger of land south of Naples sticking out into the Med’s Tyrrhanean Sea, off the tip of which is the legendary island of Capri. The main town of Sorrento is on the north side facing Naples and Mount Vesuvius. But it is the steep southern shore of the Amalfi Coast that is our planet’s most spectacularly scenic drive with its ancient ports of Amalfi and Positano.

Exploring this magical part of the world is an ultimate “bucket list” experience. And to top it off, on the way down from Naples, you get to visit Pompeii, the excavated Roman city buried and preserved by the ash of Vesuvius in 79 AD. (Glimpses of Our Breathtaking World #115 photo ©Jack Wheeler)

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THE EYELASH AT DAWN

the-eyelash_mijgonThe first of The Seven Pearls of Shing is called Mijnon or The Eyelash. It’s at 5,300 ft in the Fann Mountains of Western Tajikistan. At dawn, the air is still and crystal clear as is the water. The surface of the lake becomes a mesmerizing mirror with the early light reflecting the vertical cliffs above while penetrating to the translucent lake bed below. It is an epic example of the boundless beauty of our world.

Yet Tajikistan is only one of the “Stans” of Central Asia, an ultimate of the world’s mysterious, remote, and wondrous places. There are four others: Kazakhstan, Kyrghistan, Uzbekistan, and Turkmenistan. A number of your fellow TTPers have been there with me and can tell you what a fabulously life-memorable adventure it is to explore all five.

We’ll be there again sometime soon. Be with us with your loved one, your children, or grandchildren and you’ll all have an experience to treasure for all of your lives. (Glimpses of Our Breathtaking World #263 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. Hopefully, we’ll be there once more for it all next February. 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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JOE BIDEN ARRESTED FOR HARBORING 11 MILLION ILLEGAL ALIENS

limo-bidenREHOBOTH BEACH, DE — Former President Joe Biden was placed under arrest today for harboring just over eleven million illegal immigrants.

Following the arrest of a judge in Wisconsin for attempting to help an illegal immigrant evade capture, Biden was arrested and charged with the same crime but "times eleven million."

"We're pretty sure it's a record," said FBI Director Kash Patel, after announcing the arrest. "Incredibly, this man apparently committed all eleven million crimes in the span of just four years. That's over five crimes per minute for four years straight, assuming he never slept. And, we have reason to believe this man slept about 16 hours per day. It's a crime spree like no other."

According to sources, Biden will plead innocent, claiming that he has no recollection of bringing in eleven million illegal aliens or doing anything else of note over the past four years.

"Ask anyone - I've been at the beach for the past four years, minding my own business," said Biden. "I've got hundreds of witnesses saying I've been right here under this umbrella, sipping margaritas and baking in the sun since 2012. It wasn't me, Jack."

At publishing time, the FBI had entered day three of reading all eleven million criminal charges in court against Biden.

~ Babylon Bee reporting

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HALF-FULL REPORT 04/25/25

Ouch.  The NY Post cover story this morning (4/25) has to bruise our POTUS whose ego is the size of Olympus Mons on Mars.

On Wednesday night (4/23)/early Thursday morning (4/24), in clear response to Trump’s “final peace proposal,” Russia launched a massive missile attack on civilian targets in Ukraine’s capital of Kyiv: at least 70 missiles 11 of which were ballistic, and close to 150 kamikaze drones, blowing up a number of residential apartment complexes leaving many dead in the rubble and hundreds wounded (the photo in the NYP cover is one of them).

Trump’s response on his Truth Social?

So much more in this HFR – it will make you think, laugh, get upset, think and reflect more, laugh more, and find news that will make you happy.  Jump right on in!

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BEETHOVEN AND TRUMP

Mourning in America[This Monday’s Archive was originally published in TTP on November 18, 2016, shortly after Donald Trump won his first stunning victory of the presidency.  The Dems succeeded with their theft of the White House in 2020 and did everything they could to ruin our country for four years.  That’s over now with Trump back where he belongs, so we can take the message here to heart more than ever.]

TTP, November 18, 2016

There is no word in the English language for schadenfreude – a German word that translates to “joy in the misfortune of others.”

British writer Alistair Cooke calls schadenfreude "an unworthy emotion, which may be why we don't admit to it by having a word in English."

Yet only saints don’t feel or enjoy schadenfreude. This is particularly so when we feel the misfortune and misery of others is deserved. That’s why audiences cheer when the villain in a movie gets his in the end.

Or how about this news: Oregon Official Who Persecuted Christian Bakers Loses Election. Don’t you feel like shouting, “Hallelujah!”?

That’s why it’s fun to see celebrities and college crybabies going bananas protesting Trump’s landslide victory. They hate America, want to see it ruined, and fully deserve all the heartache and despair they’re feeling.

Right? However…

Even though schadenfreude is fun to feel, we don’t want it to linger in our hearts. The longer it lingers, the more corrosive it is to our souls. Okay, laugh at the losers, but then start feeling something better. What would that be?

Let’s look to Beethoven for the answer.

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POTUS OUTFOXES PRO-ILLEGAL ALIEN FEDERAL JUDGE

How cool is this?

POTUS and Team Trump have pulled off an incredibly creative move to humiliate an activist judge trying to stop them from deporting dangerous illegal aliens.

As Axios reported, Team Trump revealed yesterday (4/23) how they managed to avoid violating a federal judge’s restraining order barring them from deporting certain illegals.

U.S. District Court Judge Brian E. Murphy, a Biden appointee, ordered the Trump administration to ensure that people with final removal orders have a chance to argue that deportation to a country other than their own could jeopardize their safety.

The Trump White House, though, exploited a loophole in the ruling and deported several illegal aliens anyway. It turns out Murphy’s order only applied to the Department of Homeland Security, not any other federal agencies.

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THE DANGER OF NOTHING

I am chagrinned that it has taken me this long to understand the emptiness of Democrat dogma.

I started realizing this some years ago when I began building a curriculum for the college logic class I was going to teach; I was searching for debates that were won by left-leaning apologists, thinking I should present examples from both sides of the social/economic/religious worldviews.

But I began to suspect that such examples weren’t to be found. I found people -- mostly men -- who could slide around from one logical fallacy to another with slippery skill, but none did any convincing.

Then came the Biden administration, when we watched the Democrat hollowness reverberate around in poor Joe’s empty head. It became even more evident in the addled speech of Ms. Significance-of-Time.

Now here we are in the Trump administration, and the reveal is staggering: the Democrat/Leftist agenda just isn’t there. The evidence can be laid out in seven different points:

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TRUMP’S DEAL WOULD PLUNGE THE WORLD INTO WAR

“Ukraine will not legally recognize the occupation of Crimea. There’s nothing to talk about here. This is against our constitution.” –Volodymyr Zelensky in response to Trump’s plan, Kyiv, April 22.

US president Donald Trump’s seven-point proposal for ending the Ukraine conflict may be many things, but it most certainly is not a peace plan. It is a blueprint for more war.

Surrender, capitulation, betrayal, appeasement, abandonment. These are the words that better describe the egregious apology of a peace deal that the Trump administration is currently hawking around Europe.

For, rather than attempting to address the fundamental causes of the conflict – namely Russia’s unprovoked invasion of a sovereign state – Trump and his band of fellow travellers have reached the perverse conclusion that the best way to achieve peace in Ukraine is by rewarding Russian president Vladimir Putin for his blatant act of military aggression.

That certainly seems to be the essence of the terms presented in the one-page document given to Western diplomats meeting in London on Tuesday (4/22).

It proposes allowing Putin to keep nearly all the Ukrainian territory he has seized since launching his initial invasion of Ukraine in 2014, while giving the Ukrainians – who are unquestionably the innocent party in the conflict – next to nothing in return.

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