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L i k e U s ! ! !

UNIQUE IN THE UNIVERSE

            Where is everybody?
 

[This Monday’s Archive was originally published on March 8, 2007. Today’s absurdities remain on the same woketard wacko continuum as those back then. We need a break just as before. So here we go, to discuss our place in the Universe.]

TTP, March 8, 2007

I propose we take a break today from the current crop of absurdities.

Liberals destroy respect for the rule of law by gloating over Scooter Libby's lunatic conviction. Conservatives anguish over Ann Coulter using an unacceptable equivalent of "girlieman" to describe John "Breck Boy" Edwards. Liberals see her comment far more immoral than Bill Maher's expressing his regret that the assassination attempt on Dick Cheney in Afghanistan wasn't successful.

I could go on and on, for we seem surrounded by absurdities on every side and they are closing in. We need a break. Let's do so by discussing one of the deepest, most profound questions ever asked:

Where is everybody?

In other words, let's discuss the Fermi Paradox.

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FLASHBACK FRIDAY: THE LOST CITY OF KUELAP

rh-at-kuelap10,000 feet high in the Amazon cloud forests of northern Peru is a mysterious lost city built by an unknown people many centuries before the Incas existed. Known as Kuelap by villagers in the lowlands below, the Incas called the people who built it Chachapoyas, “Cloud Warriors.” I led an expedition here in 1994, climbing high up into the Amazon Andes to come upon gigantic stone walls 60 feet high surrounding hundreds of stone structures. Here you see Rebel among them. We’ll be here again in a year or two in another exploration of Peru. (Glimpses of Our Breathtaking World #153, photo ©Jack Wheeler)

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HALF-FULL REPORT 10/24/25

My father would have called this AI parody “kidding on the square,” meaning a joke that tells the truth.

However, the Schumer Shutdown was visibly exposed ereyesterday (10/22) when Jeffries’ #2, Rep. Katherine Clark (D-Mass) admitted the truth. From Official White House Rapid Response:

The RNC will now release a tsunami of attacks ads on the Schumercrats using this “using suffering as leverage” clip.

We’ve only just begun. There’s so much to think about, laugh about, and cheer about in the HFR.  Jump on board!

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THE LAND OF NOAH

noah-burial-ground-in-nakhchivan

We all know the story of Noah and the Ark told in Genesis (chapters 6-9). But do you know where Noah’s grave is? You’re looking at it. There is a tradition thousands of years old that he died and is buried here in the Land of Noah – Nakhchivan.

Known to the ancient Greeks and Romans as “Nakhsuana,” today Nakhchivan is an isolated enclave of Azerbaijan, cut off from the rest of the country by a strip of Armenia reaching Iran. You never heard of it because it’s unknown with a strange name – but the name literally means the Land of Noah. “Noah” is the Anglicization of Hebrew Noakh, or “Nakh” (“van” means “land,” “chi” means “of”).

azerbaijan-on-map

Noah’s tomb has been built, destroyed, rebuilt, and destroyed again repeatedly over the millennia. It’s now been built yet again on the original site. Looming near is Haça Dag, the Notched Mountain – where Noah’s Ark they say ran aground as the Flood waters receded, carving a notch on the summit before coming to rest on Mount Ararat about 50 miles to the north (in present-day Turkey).

The people here are wonderfully friendly. I was always told “welcome” everywhere. I was even spontaneously invited to a wedding party in a remote village. You’ll find it easy to make friends here too. (Glimpses of Our Breathtaking World #3, photo ©Jack Wheeler)

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TRUMP’S WHITE HOUSE BALLROOM IS NOT ABOUT VANITY, IT’S ABOUT AMERICAN GRANDEUR

The Democrats, or socialists, or whatever they are these days, are hopping mad over President Donald Trump’s construction of a ballroom in the East Wing of the White House, and while it may be their silliest freakout of the entire Trump era, it is also quite telling.

The ladies on ABC's "The View" were apoplectic when they saw images of demolition, a fairly ordinary way to begin renovations, at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue. They echoed one-time resident Hillary Clinton’s complaint that Trump doesn’t own the White House, even taking to song about it.

What makes this argument so absurd, is that Trump is not building this ballroom for his personal use or glory. It’s not a vanity project. It is a long-considered addition to an executive home that lacked the capacity to hold large indoor events.

Trump, as has always been his wont, is looking to create grandeur, and that seems to be something to which leftists reflexively object.  The ballroom he is constructing will  survive as a symbol of American power long after we are all gone. It will be, in a sense, our generation’s contribution to the people’s home.

Trump wants this venue, this symbol of America, to be grand and classically inspired, a timeless marble monument to a United States that emerged from the 20th century as the world’s only super power.

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THE RIGHT WAY TO APOLOGIZE

In 399 BC, Socrates defended himself in the court of Athens against charges that he had corrupted the young and did not believe in the gods of the city.

Though his attempt was unsuccessful, and he was shortly put to death, Plato recorded his great teacher’s performance that day as his Apology.

The title of this account uses the original definition of the word apology: the Greek apologia (apo – away from or off; logia from logos, words or speech), that is, “A defense especially of one’s opinions, position, or actions.”

Though the modern definition of the word apology is quite different, “an expression of regret for having done or said something wrong;” in some ways, I think we have culturally reverted to this older definition of apology – at least when it comes to politicians and other public figures.

We rarely hear publicly a genuine acceptance of responsibility for hurtful acts. It’s more common to hear either a defense of one’s actions, a displacement of responsibility onto the listener such as, “I’m sorry you feel badly about this,” or a diffusion of responsibility into the ether through the use of the passive voice such as, “I’m sorry that happened.”

Fortunately, we don’t have to behave like these public dissimulators…

We all make mistakes, and sometimes those mistakes let other people down, or hurt them. The first step in repairing the mistakes we’ve made is to acknowledge that we’ve done something hurtful. Then the question becomes: “What’s the best way to apologize to the people we’ve disappointed or hurt?”

For it matters how you apologize, and Heidi Grant Halverson, author of Focus, has some great advice about this.

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THE DONGBA SPIRIT OF NATURE

shv-statueOriginally nomads from the Tibetan Plateau, the Nashi people settled in the fertile Himalayan foothills of Yunnan over 2,000 years ago. From the ancient Tibetan religion of Bön, they developed a unique religion of nature-worship called Dongba. The progenitors of humanity and nature were two half-brothers, two mothers with the same father. Nature is controlled by a human-snake chimera called Shv – a statue of whom you see here.

The Nashi are a peaceful gentle people whose ideal is living in accordance with nature. They dress very colorfully, women have equal respect with men, they write with the world’s only still-functioning pictographic script, and are proud of preserving their culture for millennia. It is an enchanting experience to be among them. (Glimpses of Our Breathtaking World #163 photo ©Jack Wheeler)

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DEPUTY ATTORNEY GENERAL TODD BLANCHE’S DEATH GRIP ON THE DOJ

Todd Blanche
Todd Blanche

Florida Attorney Peter Ticktin has known Donald Trump personally since grade 10 of their high school days in 1961, when both attended New York Military Academy. Ticktin has publicly described Trump as a classmate and friend from that period and has often recounted their interactions as cadets.

They have remained friends for over 60 years. I had this conversation this week with Ticktin regarding his concerns about the Department of Justice and Todd Blanche’s role in running the DOJ and what it means for Trump’s second-term agenda.

 

What is Todd Blanche’s role at the Department of Justice?

Todd Blanche is the Deputy Attorney General, which makes him the second-highest-ranking official in the DOJ, serving under Attorney General Pam Bondi. My assessment is that he handles the day-to-day operations of the DOJ, like a COO of a private company. The DOJ has 115,000 employees; it’s not something that Pam Bondi necessarily knows how to manage.

 

What’s your biggest concern about Todd Blanche?

My biggest concern is that he may be ideologically opposed to Donald Trump’s agenda and see his role as stopping Donald Trump’s agenda in its tracks.

I do not know this man personally, and I am not involved with the decisions in the DOJ. All I know is that I see complete failure with pardons, compensation to J6ers, investigations into Dominion machines, the release of Tina Peters, and other matters under that guy. I am not seeing movement.

My opinion is that everything that needs to be done at the DOJ to make Donald Trump’s presidency work is being stalled by Todd Blanche. He’s intentionally doing things opposite of what needs to be done. As a result, morale in the Department of Justice is way down. He is supposed to make the goals of Donald Trump get realized.

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CONSERVATIVE TRIUMPHS WORLDWIDE

Called “ultraconservative” by the liberal media, Japan’s new prime minister is its first woman ever in that position. But a Japanese feminist author told NBC News that Japan attaining its first female prime minister “doesn’t make me happy.”

Sanae Takaichi takes the reins of power in Japan with strongly conservative positions on gender and marriage. She’s much more like Margaret Thatcher than Hillary Clinton or Kamala Harris.

Takaichi opposes same-sex marriage. She doesn’t support DEI. She will strengthen the Japanese military, which would help us by creating a buffer against Communist China, and she’ll meet next week with President Trump during his Asia trip.

Takaichi’s election is part of a trend worldwide which also recently resulted in the first conservative president of Bolivia in 20 years. Rodrigo Paz Pereira won a stunning upset against Leftist control of that South American country, and he vows to establish a better relationship with the United States.

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A KHAN, AN EMIR, A SULTAN!

jw-khanIs this the all-powerful potentate of a remote exotic Khanate, Emirate, or Sultanate hidden in the deep recesses of an unknown corner of Asia? Wielding his mighty sword ready to bestow a knighthood on those who please him or decapitate those who don’t?

Could be – he looks ready to do either, doesn’t he?

Or is it me, dressed up as a Khan, an Emir, a conquering Sultan, just for fun? Your call.

Whatever you decide, this photo was taken in the fabulously exotic ancient Silk Road Oasis of Bukhara in the heart of Central Asia not long ago. And to have this same photo of yourself, come with me when I plan my next Central Asia expedition soon. You’ll have one of the great adventures of your life if you do. (Glimpses of Our Breathtaking World #184 photo ©Jack Wheeler)

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THE ‘NO KINGS’ JOKE FLOP

The Saturday protests were a joke. Why did so many of them dissipate after an hour? Why all the animal costumes? Why did MSNBC have to use years-old pictures of alleged crowds? What do they have to do with “no kings”?

Perhaps the most mysterious, creepy aspect of the whole movement is their willingness to call for violence and the murder of those whom they hate so vehemently. These are demented people. They have been hopelessly inculcated with the anti-American, anti-Trump propaganda that the Marxist left is so good at propagating.

Our old hippies and the college students who have been so thoroughly indoctrinated by their Marxist professors are sitting ducks for George Soros and his ilk. These are the useful idiots, as Lenin called such people, who can be successfully relied upon to mindlessly further his ends.

That pretty much sums up who all those aging, blinkered “no kings” marchers were. Apparently, none of them know that the successful American Revolution rid the new nation of kings for all time.

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THE MYTH OF PUTIN’S STRENGTH IS CRUMBLING

Trump has finally ditched the Cold War notion that Russia is so formidable that we must, to avoid World War Three, accept that it can bully its neighbors into vassalage.

Russia is a weakish, brittle power in rapid decline, with a sphere of influence that has been steadily shrinking for decades. The invasion of Ukraine was meant to arrest the decay; it accelerated it. The land seized at vast cost does not begin to compensate for the collapse of Russian clout in Central Asia, the Middle East and the rest of Europe.

The crucial moment came in late September, when Trump publicly embraced the proposition that Ukraine can recover all its territory. That was not just rhetorical flourish; it marked a clean break with the “both sides must yield” mush that undermined the heroic Ukrainian fight and flattered Kremlin mythology.

Words from a US president matter. Treat Russia as strong and stakeholders default to caution. Treat it as fragile and initiative is unlocked.

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THE BEAUTY OF BANGLADESH

jw-at-shuvalong-fallsMost people consider Bangladesh a basket case country – all crowded overpopulated poverty constantly flooding etc. Yet I found it to be extraordinarily beautiful. The Shuvalong Falls here is just one example. It’s in the Chittagong Hills near the border with Burma. You’ll find Hindu shrines, massive mountain top Buddhist temples, small Moslem mosques, and a Christian church in almost every village

The charming main town of Rangamati is bustling with friendly energy. A boat ride on serene Kaptai Lake is soul-soothing. Everyone has a smile for you. It’s a place of captivating serendipity. A wonderful experience you might want for yourself. (Glimpses of Our Breathtaking World #154, photo ©Jack Wheeler)

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PRETENDING TO BE HAPPY

Jackson age 12, 2005
Jackson at the Sphinx, age 12, 2005

[This Monday’s Archive was originally published on May 13, 2005. These days, we all could use a way to “pretend” to be happy, to transform the seeming mundane into an experience of magical gratitude. I hope you find it useful. Let me know if it does.]

TTP, May 13, 2005

Last week was the 13th birthday of my youngest son, Jackson. One evening a few days before, I was engrossed in writing on the computer when my wife reminded me it was Jackson’s bedtime. He was in bed reading, waiting for me to kiss him goodnight.

As I walked down the hall towards his room, my brain was filled with thoughts about the article I was working on. I was on autopilot and all I could think about was what I would write when I got back on the computer.

For some reason, I stopped and stood still. Somehow, an extraneous thought had popped into my consciousness from nowhere.

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