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PUTIN IS A DEAD MAN WALKING


Russian despot Vladimir Putin is a “dead man walking” who rarely steps foot outside the Kremlin, British military experts have claimed.   Little wonder Putin A No-Show At Ukraine War Talks In Turkey Today (5/15).

The health of Putin, 72, has long been suspected to be deteriorating with his increasing age, and now experts have said that his brutal invasion of Ukraine has sapped much of his remaining energy.

Former commander of the UK’s  Joint Chemical, Biological, Radiological and (more…)

MAYA RUINS AND STAR WARS

maya-ruinsThis is Temple IV at the ancient Mayan capital of Tikal, now in northern Guatemala. It was from the top of Temple IV that the shot in the original 1977 Star Wars movie was filmed of the Millennium Falcon landing (at 44 seconds) near jungle temples (Temples II and III) at the Rebel Base on the moon of Yavin 4.

Built in 740 AD, at 230 feet it is the tallest pre-Columbian structure in all the Americas. While Tikal’s earliest buildings date to the 4th century BC, it was from 300 to 800 AD that Tikal flourished as one (more…)

SUPREME COURT SET TO END ERA OF NATIONWIDE JUDICIAL INJUNCTIONS?

The days of rogue district court judges hijacking executive authority may finally be numbered.

On Thursday (5/15), the Supreme Court is set to hear arguments in a consolidated case, Trump v. CASA, which challenges lower court rulings that blocked President Trump’s executive order ending birthright citizenship for children born in the U.S. to illegal immigrants.

Despite the constitutional authority granted to the executive branch on immigration matters, three district judges issued sweeping nationwide injunctions halting the order. Now, the highest court may have the chance to rein in judicial overreach and restore balance between the branches of government.

Since (more…)

WEAPONS WE WISH WE HAD THAT WE DON’T – BROWN NOTE

brown-note-weaponOne might say that there is a special place in the souls of men for “super weapons.”

Often novel, thought of by someone other than an engineer, chemist, or other scientist, and either made of or powered by the elusive element “Unobtainium”, it is these items that make us enjoy Saturday afternoons at the theater and fuel revenge fantasies involving our ex-paramours or the people holding up the checkout line or ahead of us in traffic.

Of course, some of them are decidedly grim—such as the Death Star’s super laser or The Flying Guillotine. Then there are the others… (more…)

THE NDIKI DRUM

ndiki-drumWe are in Famboun, Cameroon, West Africa, capital of the Bamoun people. The ruling Bamoun Dynasty was founded by Sultan Nshare in 1394.  The current Sultan resides in the Palace Royale here.  Nearby is a thatched structure that houses what you see in the photo above.

This is a Ndiki Drum.  It is used by the Sultan of Bamoun to call his subjects to their end-of the-year Nguon festival over which he presides.  It can be heard for miles.

The carved wooden forearms and hands propped up at the drum’s end are not the original drumsticks.  They are symbolic for (more…)

THE DEMOCRATS’ DEMONIC HATRED OF THEIR FELLOW AMERICANS

Somewhere between 10 million and 12 million illegal aliens were invited into the United States by the Biden administration.

As far as logistics go, former President Joe Biden could not flee Afghanistan without getting 13 Marines killed and abandoning to the terrorist Taliban $50 billion in munitions, a billion-dollar embassy and a $300 million retrofitted huge airbase.

But Biden and his handlers proved far more logistically capable when their target was fellow Americans.

After all, they somehow managed to stop the congressionally approved continuance of the border wall, subvert federal immigration law, emasculate the border patrol and ensure that millions (more…)

WILL TRUMP SUSPEND HABEAS CORPUS FOR ILLEGALS?

deport-signWill Americans soon witness President Trump’s issuance of an executive order suspending habeas corpus for criminal aliens and American enemies who have participated in an invasion against the United States, and who have chosen to remain in our country against the rule of law?

The writ of habeas corpus goes back to 500 B.C. and is a legal action which allows a prisoner to challenge the authority of the jailer to continue holding him. The legal term habeas corpus literally means “you should have the body” in Latin.

This legal privilege allows incarcerated citizens to seek relief from unlawful confinement (more…)

THE TO SUA SWIMMING HOLE OF SAMOA

samoa-swimhole“To Sua” means “giant swimming hole” in Samoan. It’s a collapsed lava tube hole on the south coast of Upolu in Samoa. On top of lava cliffs overlooking the South Pacific, you clamber down the ladder for a memorable swim. To Sua is but one of the attractions of Samoa: gorgeous waterfalls, marvelously friendly people, and the historic home named “Valima,” of Robert Louis Stevenson (1850-1894), where he and his wife Fanny spent his last years.

On a hilltop rising above Valima is the gravesite of “Tusitala” – Stevenson’s Samoan name, meaning “Telling of Tales.” Engraved on the side of (more…)

THE LUNACY OF A BRITISH LEGACY

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[This Monday’s Archive was originally published on July 28, 2006.  Now in May of 2025, India and Pakistan are risking nuclear war between them once again.  So it’s timely to refresh ourselves with an understanding of how this came about.]

The border between Pakistan and India is one thousand eight hundred miles long, running from the Karakorum-Himalaya mountains next to China all the way to the Indian Ocean. Along its entire length, there is one land crossing for foreigners, between Lahore, Pakistan and Amritsar, India, called Wagha.

To make the crossing, you take a taxi to the Pak side of Wagha, where porters are waiting to carry your bags. After going through passport and customs control, you walk a thousand yards over bare ground to the Indian side, where your Pak porters turn over your bags to a swarm of (more…)

FLASHBACK FRIDAY – AFGHANISTAN 1984

afghan-jackI showed this picture to my mother after my latest sojourn with the Afghan Mujahaddin fighting the Soviet Union and she didn’t see anything unusual. She didn’t recognize her own son standing in the middle. Good thing – if I had been caught by the KGB or Spetsnaz, it would have been, ahh… unpleasant. I was there with the “Muj” at least a dozen times until they defeated the Soviet Red Army in early 1989 – which led to the Fall of the Berlin Wall eight months later and the extinction of the Soviet Union itself by the end of (more…)

HALF-FULL REPORT 05/09/25

us-pope-smokeThe Yankees Beat the Padres
The Return of Moral Clarity, and the Gathering Storm


Mother’s Day is Sunday, May 11. Happy Mother’s Day to the women who raise warriors, build nations, and love without limits. Your strength shapes the world.


 

A Providential Election in a Time of Crisis

The election of Cardinal Robert Prevost of Chicago as Pope Leo XIV may appear surprising to casual observers as an American pontiff rising from a secularizing republic. But for the College of Cardinals, this was no accident. It was a deliberate echo of history. Like St. Augustine watching Rome crumble from (more…)

THE SUPERTREE GARDEN

gardens-by-the-bayThe world’s most spectacular nature park is the 130-acre Gardens by the Bay in Singapore. In the gigantic greenhouse of the Flower Dome, virtually every rare flower on earth flourishes in abundance, while the Cloud Forest is a wonderland of tropical waterfalls seemingly falling out of the sky high above.

Dominating the park are the 160-foot high Supertrees, towering vertical gardens covered in orchids, ferns, vines, and exotic plants. There are elevated canopies and walkways between them. Exploring the astonishing display of hi-tech botanical artistry and genius that is Gardens by the Bay is absolutely awe-inspiring.

TTPer Cassowary was kind (more…)

GETTING A YOUNGER BRAIN

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This episode of Live Long & Prosper discusses how to get a younger brain.

That’s why we’re listening to one of the greatest geniuses of modern times, Richard Feynman.  One of the secrets to his genius is that, all his life, he kept the curiosity we all have as a child.

That was when, for all of us, the world was as young as we were.  Remember?  Everything was new, and fascinating, we were endlessly curious, we wanted to know why and asked questions about all sorts of stuff.

 

Remember how time went by much slower when (more…)

A CONFRONTATION WITH THE ROGUE JUDICIARY

rogue-judges_powerRevolutions rarely spring into action without notice.  The American Revolution was many years in the making.  The Boston Massacre occurred in 1773, not 1776.  Many of the longstanding oppressive measures that drove the colonists to revolt in 1776 are catalogued in the Declaration of Independence.  As onerous as they were, yet only when the oppression was no longer “sufferable” were the people driven to their last recourse: revolution.

President Trump has been besieged by federal, state, and local judges, even during his campaign.  New York State issued what amounts to a bill of attainder against him, not only crafting a special application of law, in which (more…)