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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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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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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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THE MOSLEM MYTH OF JERUSALEM

mohammeds-night-journey
Mohammed’s “Night Journey”

[This Monday’s TTP Archives feature was originally published on December 3, 2003. "From the river to the sea," the Palestinian battle cry that woke Wikipedia describes as an Arabic "focus on freedom," is based on the lie that Jerusalem is one of the holy sites of Islam. While the libs weep over Israel's "aggression" against the Palestinians "who just want peace," let's take another look at the evidence for the Moslem claim]

It is a commonplace in a story or article about the Arab-Israeli conflict that mentions Jerusalem to repeat the Moslem mantra that “Jerusalem is the third holiest city in all Islam, next to Mecca and Medina.”

You’ve heard this innumerable times — but how come? Just why is Jerusalem so important to not just Jews and Christians but Moslems as well?

The reason is one single line in the Koran.  If it can be shown by Islamic scholars that it has been misinterpreted, then Jerusalem ceases to be a holy city to Islam.

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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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MS-13 ADDED TO LGBTQ ACRONYM

U.S. — In yet another step toward the advancement of protections for all people groups, activists announced today that MS-13 had officially been added to the LGBTQ+ acronym to ensure that the rights of violent foreign gang members were recognized.

Civil rights groups hailed the announcement as a significant step forward in the ongoing crusade to see MS-13 gang members be given their rightful place in society among other persecuted groups after decades of mistreatment and ostracism.

"MS-13 gang members are some of the most oppressed and vulnerable in our society," said LGBTQMS-13 activist Cherise Hargrave. "For far too long, we have been forced to watch brave MS-13 gang members get shunned and shamed, with people demanding that they hide who they truly are. No more! It's time for MS-13 members to be celebrated for their valuable and important contributions to our world."

Members of the dangerous gang welcomed the news. "It's about time," said Enrique Marquez, who has eight murders on his resume. "I have lived every day of the last 10 years in fear of being arrested, deported, and held accountable for the vicious acts I commit on a regular basis. Now, I can be a proud member of the LGBTQMS-13 community."

Sources said production had begun on a new flag that would add MS-13 symbols and a black teardrop tattoo emblem to the LGBTQ banner, and that Los Angeles would host the first MS-13 Pride Parade later this year.

At publishing time, all Democrat Members of Congress who have joined the Congressional MS-13 Caucus are expected to march in the parade.

~ Babylon Bee reporting

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FLASHBACK FRIDAY – WITH MBUTI PYGMIES IN THE CONGO

jw-pygmiesAugust, 1971. The gentle Mbuti people live in the Ituri rainforest, one of the world’s densest jungles, in northeastern DR Congo. They are among the most ancient of all human populations, with their ancestors having hunted in these forests for over 60,000 years. The tallest among them is under five feet.

It was on my first visit to Africa that I was able to spend time with them. They live in scattered bands of a few dozen each, always on the move in search of game, sleeping in small makeshift huts of branches and leaves, and far away from villages of Bantus who always try to enslave them.

Their music is hypnotic. To the beat of drums of hollowed-out logs, they sing with a polyphonic complexity that is extraordinary. I’ll never forget the performance they gave for me. Alas, no tape recorder – much less videocam back then! (Glimpses of Our Breathtaking World #65 photo ©Jack Wheeler)

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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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THE TIGERS OF SAMARKAND

tigers-of-samarkandThe magnificent Sher-Dor Madrassa, built in the early 1600s, is part of the Registan public square complex of the ancient Silk Road oasis of Samarkand. “Sher-Dor” means “Adorned with Tigers” in Persian – flaunting Islamic blasphemy of living beings in art. Here is the mosaic depiction of a tiger chasing a deer and on its back a rising sun deity with a human face. This is honoring the pre-Islamic history of Samarkand that goes back almost 3,000 years.

It was centuries old when Alexander conquered it in 329 BC. For a thousand years as Central Asia’s great entrepot on the Silk Road between China and the Mediterranean, it was a cosmopolitan center for Hinduism, Buddhism, Judaism, Zoroastrianism, and Nestorian Christianity. Incorporated into the Islamic world in the 700s, sacked by Genghiz Khan in 1220, rebuilt by the time Marco Polo in 1272 described it as “a large and splendid city,” Tamerlane made it his capital in 1370.

Colonized by Czar Alexander II in the 1860s within the Russian Imperial Empire, and by the Soviets in the 1920s within the Uzbek SSR, Samarkand is flourishing today in independent Uzbekistan. Come with me to explore Samarkand and so many other wonders of "The Heart of Central Asia" soon. It will be like a dream come true. (Glimpses of Our Breathtaking World #208 photo ©Jack Wheeler)

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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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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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THE FAIRY TALE CASTLE OF SEGOVIA

segovia-castleThis is Spain’s most famous and beloved castle, high on a rocky promontory above the city of Segovia some 60 miles northwest of Madrid. The site of a Celtic settlement, Roman trading post, and Arab wooden fort, when the Reconquista of the Christian knights removed the Islamic invaders from their land in the early 1200s, the building of the idyllic fairy tale castle you see began.

For centuries it was the palace residence of the Kings and Queens of Castille. It was here, on December 13, 1474, that Isabella, daughter of King John II, was enthroned as the Queen of Castille. When her husband Ferdinand, whom she married in 1469, became King of Aragon in 1475, they jointly ruled a unified Spain. As we learned in our early school years, it was Ferdinand of Aragon and Isabella of Castille who sponsored Columbus’ discovery of the Americas in 1492.

Today, the Castle of Segovia is a World Heritage Site, serving as a museum of the history of Castille and National Archive of Spain. Immaculately preserved and maintained, it’s a thrilling experience to explore. (Glimpses of Our Breathtaking World #266 photo ©Jack Wheeler)

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PREPARING FOR CHINA’S NEW PERIOD OF THE WARRING STATES

“The empire, long divided, must unite; long united, must divide. Thus has it ever been.” — The Romance of the Three Kingdoms, circa 1400, attributed to Luo Guanzhong.

At some point, Xi’s Chinese Communist Party will either 1) productively address America’s trade grievances, 2) start military action that risks global thermonuclear war, or 3) itself collapse and throw China into chaos.

The first two possibilities have been discussed broadly elsewhere, but let’s think through scenario three because it seems this is Trump’s goal. Trump has backed Xi into a corner and here’s why Xi’s options are bad.

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PERSONNEL PROBLEMS ARE BECOMING PERSONAL PROBLEMS FOR XI JINPING

Political developments among the elite are beginning to point to a dramatic truncation of the power of the “core of the party center”, Xi Jinping.

A recent article from the official mouthpiece of the military, the PLA Daily, reminds readers that “our principle is that the Party commands the gun” (我们的原则是党指挥枪) (PLA Daily, March 10). Another from the Party’s primary newspaper, the People’s Daily, urges readers to “ensure that the ‘knife handle’ is firmly held in the hands of the Party and the people” (确保“刀把子”牢牢掌握在党和人民手中) (People’s Daily, January 12).

The “gun” and the “knife handle” are metonyms for the Party’s two sources of hard power, the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) and the domestic security apparatus. For over 18 months, Xi’s protégés—or at least people appointed under Xi—have been disappearing from leadership positions across both these systems.

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