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THE JADE ROAD

the-jade-roadThe oldest part of the Silk Road was originally called the Jade Road along the string of oases watered by runoff from the Kunlun mountains of northern Tibet on the southern edge of the Takla Makan desert in Chinese Turkestan. This is where the finest jade was to be found, washed down from Tibet. This is the route that Marco Polo took with his father and uncle in 1272 to reach the court of the Mongol Emperor Kublai Khan.

This is what the Jade Road looks like today, near the fabled oasis of Khotan. Save for the road being asphalted and the farmer’s cart being towed by a small tractor instead of a donkey, Polo would recognize it. (Glimpses of Our Breathtaking World #179 photo ©Jack Wheeler)

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WALT DISNEY’S REAL CASTLE

castle-of-st-hilarionThis is the ruins of the Castle of St. Hilarion in Northern Cyprus. In 1191, the Byzantine ruler of Cyprus made the mistake of capturing a ship carrying Princess Berengaria of Navarre and held her hostage. She was the fiancée of England’s King Richard the Lion-Heart. You don’t do that to a guy nicknamed Lion-Heart.

Richard proceeded to conquer the whole island and turned it over to a group of French Catholic knights led by Guy de Lusignan. The knights built a series of fortified castles around the island to ward off the Moslem "Saracens." The most spectacular was atop a vertiginous crag high above the port of Kyrenia named after a crazy hermit who lived near there whom the knights dubbed St. Hilarion.

When Walt Disney was making his classic Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs in 1937, he chanced upon pictures of St. Hilarion’s Castle, which his imagination transformed into the fairy tale castle of the movie. Can you see how he got the idea?

In the castle museum, there’s an explanation with some of Disney’s original sketches based on St. Hilarion’s. Disney was an imaginative genius. (Glimpses of Our Breathtaking World #139 Photo ©Jack Wheeler)

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THE DUNES OF SOSSUSVLEI

dunes-of-sossusvleiThe colossal red-orange dunes of Sossusvlei in Namibia are the world’s highest, largest, and oldest sand dunes. The one you see here is nicknamed Big Daddy at over 1,000 feet high. You climb it barefoot in early morning – and take plenty of water! The sand of Big Daddy is five million years old, filled with iron oxide giving its color.

Sossusvlei is in the middle of the Namib Sand Sea, which is the oldest desert on Earth, over 60 million years old. Plants, small animals and insects live here on the water from fog than often blankets the desert near the Atlantic Ocean. The Namib coastline is known as the Skeleton Coast for all the shipwrecks along it due to the impenetrable fog. Along it you’ll also find vast breeding colonies of fur seals numbering in the thousands. This is one of our planet’s most fascinating yet little known places waiting for you to explore. (Glimpses of Our Breathtaking World #274 photo ©Jack Wheeler)

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AWKWARD! OBAMA, HILLARY HIRE SAME HITMAN TO KILL EACH OTHER

U.S. — In an awkward turn of events, former President Barack Obama and former presidential hopeful Hillary Clinton reportedly hired the same hitman to kill each other.

The two political figures were allegedly compelled to target each other as more information related to the Trump-Russia collusion hoax was declassified by Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard, who claims the two were complicit in a coup to undermine the Trump presidency.

This prompted the pair to allegedly target the other in a desperate attempt to tie off any loose ends.

The matter became known when a hitman working under the pseudonym "Vinny Black" received near-simultaneous calls from each to kill the other. "I got calls from both of them within minutes of each other," Black explained. "I've accepted jobs from both of them without question in the past — they are powerful people, you don't want to refuse them — but it was awkward when I realized that they wanted to kill each other."

Black, Obama, and Clinton found themselves in a three-way pickle. "I couldn't cancel the contracts, since they'd just hire another hitman to kill me," Black explained. "And I can't kill them both, since there wouldn't be anyone left to pay me."

In the end, Black said he was able to settle the conflict and postpone any bloodshed without any deaths by simply explaining the situation to Obama and Clinton.

At publishing time, the body of Vinny Black had reportedly been found dumped in a ditch on the outskirts of Washington, D.C., with authorities quickly ruling his death a suicide.

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HALF-FULL REPORT 07/25/25

6monthsin_trumpWelcome to the Stupefaction HFR.  We’re six months into Trump’s Second Presidency as of last Sunday (7/20/25) and it’s nothing short of outright stupefying.  POTUS and his entire White House have every right to strut, preen, and engage in hyperbolic pride.

And it’s all so scrumptiously Schadenfreudelicious how the Democrats and Woke Left are in a dark abyss of hopeless bitterness over it.

So let’s enjoy being stupefied as we recount how the winning has continued this week.  We’ll start with Tulsi and a deeper dive into Obama’s Russia Collusion Hoax. You’ll have a reminder of who enabled the hoax, a name not mentioned yet but soon to be for his cowardly betrayal.  And another of a Democrat murderer who played a key role in the hoax.

We have a lot of ground to cover, so get comfortable with your favorite adult beverage at the ready.  Here we go.

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THIS MAKES WATERGATE LOOK LIKE AMATEUR HOUR

notabovelaw_vidscrnshtIn recent days, new evidence has emerged showing that the Obama administration intentionally manipulated and politicized intelligence to advance the Russian collusion hoax — despite conflicting assessments from within the intelligence community itself.

Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard has accused former President Barack Obama of orchestrating a “manufactured, politicized piece of intelligence” to undermine Donald Trump’s presidency before it began. A cache of over 100 declassified documents that her office released includes a December 2016 President’s Daily Brief reportedly confirming that Russia had neither the intent nor capability to alter the outcome of the 2016 election.

According to Gabbard, Obama’s political appointees deliberately suppressed that document. The next day, Obama convened a National Security Council meeting and instructed top intelligence officials, including James Clapper, John Brennan, James Comey, and Susan Rice, to produce an assessment that would support a predetermined conclusion: that Russia interfered in the election to help Trump.

The emerging narrative makes Watergate look like amateur hour.

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THE WAR BETWEEN TRUMP’S CHEMOTHERAPY AND BIDEN’S CANCER

Dr. Trump will see you now
Dr. Trump will see you now

Chemotherapy can be a life-saving though sometimes toxic effort to eliminate lethal cancer cells before they kill the patient. As such, it can serve as a bitter metaphor for the often-controversial efforts of the Trump administration to undo the metastasizing damage caused by the Biden administration.

The Democrats and their media, however, wish to convince America that the remedy for four years of catastrophe is worse than the catastrophe itself.

Take the border. It was literally destroyed over the last four years. After welcoming in some three million illegal aliens per year—none with legal permission, health audits, or criminal background checks—there was no sign that the then-current or a second Biden administration was ever going to stop radically altering the demography of the U.S.

It was apparently not enough for Biden and his puppeteers that there were a record 50-million-plus foreign-born U.S. residents, comprising nearly 16 percent of the population, among them likely more than 30 million illegal aliens. What number would have been sufficient for a putative eight-year Biden administration—40, 50, or 70 million illegal aliens?

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AMERICA DESERVES BETTER THAN A CRACKED-OUT CLOWN CAR DEMOCRAT PARTY

America deserves better than the degenerate propaganda machine that passes for “elite” journalism. We deserve better than the evil “cracked-out clown car” the Democrat Party has become.

The New York Times and the Washington Post all but ignored DNI Tulsi Gabbard’s bombshell press conference yesterday (Wednesday 7/23), at which she announced that she had sent criminal referrals to the DOJ and FBI implicating former President Barack Obama and his national security team in the “seditious conspiracy” of the Russia collusion hoax.

As time goes on, and more evidence is painstakingly chipped out of hiding, we see just how rotten the apex Democrats are: Obama, Hillary Clinton and Joe Biden.

No wonder their party is a shambles: “Constipated. Leaderless. Confused. A cracked-out clown car. Divided,” wrote veteran Democrat strategist James Carville in the Times this week, warning of an impending “civil war” between whatever is left of the moderate rump and the parasitical radical faction that is sucking the party dry.

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THE ENEMY WITHIN: THE BILLION DOLLAR CHINESE GROW HOUSE INDUSTRY

the-enemy-within-the-billion-dollarIt’s a billion-dollar industry, illegal and controlled by Chinese mafia networks in quiet rural and suburban neighborhoods across America.

If that weren’t concerning enough, it also involves drugs, money laundering, illegal immigration, slave labor, and the Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP) extensive influence in the American heartland.

Earlier this month, a major FBI bust of a grow house network in New England was reported with details of the massive scale of marijuana production used to generate profits routed back to China. Boston Herald (7/09): Feds Take Down Chinese-Operated Grow Home Network In Massachusetts, Maine

It’s frankly shocking to read the July 8 DOJ Indictment of seven Chinese nationals for conspiracy to produce and distribute illegal marijuana through a network of grow houses. They were also charged with money laundering and smuggling illegal aliens for cheap labor at the grow operations.

Note: Definition of a Marijuana Grow House is appended below.

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RUSSIA’S SUMMER OF DOUBT AND FOREBODING

Russia Faces Intense Barrage Of Ukraine Drones Shutting Down Moscow Airports | Sunday July 20, 2025

Ukraine drone attacks on Moscow and all over Russia are a regular occurrence now.

No wonder, then, that the fourth summer of Moscow’s war against Ukraine has brought feelings of tiredness and hopelessness, rather than the usual seasonal optimism, to Russia.

The spring expectations of a probable cessation of hostilities are gone, and the messages from the Kremlin about the firm determination to stay the course aimed at subjugating Ukraine undercut the longing for a normal life.

Opinion polls cannot fully capture this shift in public mood, particularly when conducted by “foreign agents.” They still indicate a decline in feelings of pride and hope, however, and an increase in indifference and fear (Levada Center, July 18).

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A MALTESE ODYSSEY

The Sleeping Goddess of Malta ca. 3500 BC
The Sleeping Goddess of Malta ca. 3500 BC

Preface by Jack. The Sleeping Goddess carved by the ancient megalithic people of Malta close to six thousand years ago has an entrancingly soothing beauty, symbolic of Malta itself.  Richard Bangs has been a dear friend of mine for over 40 years. In addition to being the world’s foremost river explorer, he is a gifted composer of poetic prose.  Richard will be co-leading with Rebel and me our Magic of Malta exploration this coming November. This is possibly the most beautiful description of Malta ever written.

There are places that murmur with the ghosts of time. There are places that sing with the laughter of the present. And then, there is Malta—a sun-dappled jewel adrift in the Mediterranean, a stage where the drama of civilization has played out for over 7,000 years.

Malta doesn’t simply invite you; it summons you. It’s a clarion call to the curious, the seekers, the wanderers who wish to touch the pulse of history and the poetry of place.

Malta is not merely a speck on the map. It is a living palimpsest, a manuscript written and rewritten by the hands of empires and dreamers.

Malta is the island that seduced myth itself. Homer, that old spinner of tales, cast Odysseus upon these shores, held captive by the enchantress Calypso for seven languid years. And who could blame him for lingering? Malta is more than a waypoint; it is a spell, a place that holds you fast.

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PROTECT YOUR DEUCE — ASSEMBLING EVERY DAY EMERGENCY SUPPLIES

deucewild_survivalkit1aEnd of the world scenarios are bad enough to consider.  You have the entire nature of the American social and legal contract hinging on the outcome of every election.  You can’t bend down to get anything without asking the people behind you who they voted for.

It is true that aliens, Al Qaeda, or just your nutty neighbors may attack in the middle of the day and plunge you into a Battle Los Angeles situation, but the more likely scenario is that some ridiculously common issue is going to have you sweating and going wee-wee-wee-all-the-way-home before the apocalypse happens.

Today, we’re going to talk about that.

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FLASHBACK FRIDAY JACKSON AT NAMCHE BARWA

jackson-at-namche-barwaIn 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)

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NAPOLEON’S DEATH BED

napoleons-death-bedLongwood House, Saint Helena Island, Atlantic Ocean. On May 5, 1821, Napolean died in this bed. He was surrounded by some 15 of his companions with their wives and children, doctors, servants, a priest, and a British Officer. There has been much speculation of the cause, but arsenic – either poisoning or in the wallpaper – has now been ruled out, and the original diagnosis of stomach cancer seems now confirmed. He was 51.

After his escape from exile on Elba, an island a few miles off the northwest coast of Italy, Napoleon suffered his final defeat at Waterloo on June 18, 1815 by the British-led army of the Duke of Wellington and the Prussian army of Field Marshal von Blücher. The Brits were taking no chances, exiling him to their outpost of 10-square mile Saint Helena, one of the remotest islands on earth, 1,200 miles west of Africa and 2,500 miles east of Brazil in the South Atlantic.

You can visit the hilltop Longwood House where he spent his last years, immaculately maintained with his elegant furnishings, surrounded by carefully attended flower gardens where he strolled – all under the care of the French Foreign Ministry. Nearby in a landscaped forest glen, the Valley of Willows, is his original burial place – far more idyllic and peaceful than his mammoth sarcophagus of ostentatious pomposity at Les Invalides in Paris. Come here yourself and I think you’ll agree. (Glimpses of Our Breathtaking World #275 photo ©Jack Wheeler)

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MYSTERY LAKES OF THE GOBI

mystery-lakes-of-gobiThe southernmost portion of the Gobi Desert is called the Alashan in Inner Mongolia. Traversed by Marco Polo in 1273 on his way to meet the Mongol Emperor Kublai Khan, he said it contained a “mystery.”

For in the hidden center of the Alashan is an area known as Badain Jaran, “Mystery Lakes” in Mongolian. There are some 140 of these small lakes surrounded by enormous sand dunes. The photo you see is of one of these lakes, taken in late afternoon on a windless day, with the giant dunes above reflected on the water.

We were there in October 2017. Traversing the dunes to explore these lakes is a mesmerizing experience. (Glimpses of Our Breathtaking World #32 Photo ©Jack Wheeler)

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