The Impeachable Joe Biden

 

I find it to be utterly amazing the lengths that partisan leftists (is there another kind?) will go to defend the indefensible Joe Biden.   The twisting of facts or the outright ignoring of them to support this senile and seemingly congenitally corrupt “leader” confounds and baffles common sense. The list of crimes, faux pas, dangerous and foolish decisions, and outright lies that Biden has committed throughout his VP and presidential careers should have long ago been enough to have him removed from office either by the 25th amendment due to his cognitive disability or by impeachment for his accepting of bribes and high crimes and misdemeanors, which many on the left naively or perhaps duplicitously dub as fairy tales.

The left points to the recent hyper-partisan State of the Union speech last week where Biden seemingly slammed three Red Bulls prior to delivering it as proof that he is cognitively able to continue on his destroy-America agenda. I guess one semi-articulate speech is enough to overcome untold myriads of unintelligible giberish and prevarication-filled ones.

Regardless, the list of his impeachable offenses is long and could fill a large tome, but here is just a brief summarization of some of the more serious ones which is in no way exhaustive of his malfeasance.

Illegal Immigration – Biden’s utter and complete dereliction of duty in upholding federal immigration law has reached such a pitch that even many blue-state, sanctuary city types have called for Biden to halt the flow of over 8 million illegal aliens that have entered this country since he came into the oval office.  Biden disingenuously claims that he is waiting on congress to send him an immigration bill so he can fix it.  Bull!  The huge inflow was largely being squelched under Trump.  Biden’s handling of this has been to issue 89 executive orders that basically eliminated Trump era policies on immigration, to include eliminating the stay-in-Mexico policy, the establishing of catch and release, and the halting of building an effective border wall.

One of the primary duties of the president is to faithfully execute the laws of this nation and protect its citizens.  Biden has failed on this issue.  It is well past a point of neglect as he is absolutely intentionally encouraging illegal immigration.  It is striking how many of these illegal aliens coming across our border are military-aged adult males along with the myriad of criminals and people on terrorist watch lists from adversarial countries that are coming across our border. Too many are sex-traffickers and drug smugglers.

As Trump pointed out, “Last year, almost half of all ICE arrests were criminal aliens charged for more than 33,000 assaults, 3,000 robberies, 6,900 burglaries, 7,500 weapons crimes — this is all migrant crime — 4,300 sex crimes, 1,600 kidnappings, and 1,700 homicides and murders.” Tellingly, the legacy media’s numerous “fact-checks” of Trump’s speech found no error in these grim statistics.

Further, Biden’s Secretary of Homeland Security has been impeached for his handling of Biden’s border policy while claiming the “border is secure”.  And while the leftist-led senate will not conduct a trial of Secretary Mayorkas, the House of Representatives could credibly and constitutionally also use this as grounds for impeachment against Biden.

Weaponizing Federal Law Enforcement – Biden has misused and weaponized the federal government agencies to include intelligence agencies and law enforcement to enforce his woke policies on Americans.  The FBI prosecuted supposed FACE act violations against abortion clinics but turned blind eyes to crimes perpetrated against pregnancy resource centers and destruction/vandalism of churches.  They investigated parents who stood up in school board meetings to protest transgenderism and other leftist policies in schools, while investigation (let alone prosecution) of criminals vandalizing or burning pregnancy resource centers and churches is often left unaddressed.  Biden continues to use the government to persecute and prosecute political adversaries.  This is an egregious mis-use of executive power and impeachable.

Retreat from Afghanistan – Biden, against the advice of his senior military officers, precipitated a hasty and disastrous retreat from Afghanistan that left over seven billion dollars of military equipment and weapons behind for the Taliban to capture.  In this most asinine and evil decision, his actions were directly responsible for the deaths of 13 US service members and untold Afghan allies left behind to be tortured and killed by our enemies.  This disgraceful action served as a beacon to Russia, China, Iran and other enemies that America was weak and would not stand by its allies any longer.  This intentional and cowardly executed retreat failed to protect our assets, allies, and own military personnel.  This action alone is unworthy of a commander in chief.  The preventable death to our people and the strengthening of mortal enemies desiring our eradication is another impeachable offense.

Student Loan Forgiveness – In another cynical attempt to buy votes, Biden has repeatedly issued executive orders and promulgated policies to pay off student loans with tax payer dollars in the hope of ingratiating himself further to leftist students and woke academia.  This has often been done in defiance of the Supreme Court decision of Biden v. Nebraska in which a co-equal branch of the federal government said that he did not have the authority to make such transformative changes to existing law when it came to student loan forgiveness. Biden has continued anyway in violation of SCOTUS.  Biden and his vote-buying policies are not above the federal law of which he took an oath to support and faithfully execute.  One more impeachable offense.

Interfering with Israel/Supporting terrorists – After 10/7/2023, Biden came out the gate saying all of the right things to our ally and only democracy in the Middle East after the pernicious attacks on Israeli civilians by the barbaric Hamas terrorists in Gaza.  Anyone that has watched Biden knew this wouldn’t last.  Indeed, Biden has consistently mettled in internal Israel affairs and repeatedly called for cease-fires against the egregiously evil Hamas terrorists so that they can regroup and attack Israel once again, as they have repeatedly stated they WILL do.  Meanwhile Biden wants more US Aid to Hamas and their indisputable allies in the corrupt and vile UNWRA to “help” Gazans.  This aid always gets diverted to the Hamas terrorists.  Why are we supporting such disgusting sub-humans that killed, raped, and tortured civilian men, women, and children whom STILL hold Israeli and AMERICAN hostages? 

I guess that the Rashida-Tlaib-Muslim vote is just too important for Biden to stand against abject evil instead of with our democratic ally.  The fact that Biden wants a cease fire which only strengthens Hamas, refuses to support Israel in eradicating these vermin and getting our own American citizens back from these ghouls is another astounding dereliction of Commander in Chief duties. 

Biden has even recently been advocating for a two-state solution once again with this terrorist regime side by side with Israel.  All the while he acquiesces and placates Hamas’ sponsor of the world’s largest state actor of terrorism, Iran.  Iran funds, trains, and provides supplies to Hamas, Hezbollah, and various other groups including those that have launched over 130 attacks on US troops since October 7^th.  Biden’s solution is to play nice with Iran with the hope that they will reciprocate.  Biden should be impeached for appeasement of a deadly enemy while undermining our staunchest ally in the Middle East.

Classified Files – It is ironic that the "elderly and forgetful" president who illegally removed classified files while still a senator and as Vice President, which is itself illegal, is not going to be charged with this federal crime.  Meanwhile President Trump who had presidential authority to remove such files to his secure and secret service protected home was charged with a crime and falsely impeached accordingly.  Special Counsel Robert Hur released his report in February, concluding that Biden “willfully retained and disclosed classified materials” after his vice presidency ended in early 2009. However, the special counsel opted not to bring charges, writing that a jury would be unlikely to convict because of Biden’s “diminished faculties in advancing age.”  Biden stored these files in his GARAGE and at his office at the Penn Biden Center as well as discovered in materials donated to the University of Delaware.             

Remember, Biden attorney general Merrick Garland is the person who made the decision to bring the unprecedented charges against President Trump for the non-crime of a former president having his presidential records in the office of a former president, which is allowed by the Presidential Records Act. The former president’s office is guarded by the Secret Service. He gets federally-funded staff. They have security clearances. Contrast that with Biden, who had at least five stashes — maybe six — of stolen classified records from his time as vice president, even his time as a senator, meaning he had to have stolen these classified records out of the Senate. Schiff and Merrick Garland did not bring charges against his boss, Joe Biden. 

Further Biden stole some of these classified documents for his own financial advantage.  He got an $8 million advance to write his book. That’s why he had some of these stolen classified records. The New York Post’s Miranda Devine also reported that Hunter Biden almost certainly used stolen classified records to write a 23-paragraph geopolitics memo to Burisma to secure millions of dollars in corrupt funding to the Bidens. The Bidens stole classified records and used them for their financial gain.  This is a legitimate impeachable offense, unlike the partisan charges against Trump.

Bribes – The constitution specifically states that TREASON, BRIBERY, and other high crimes and misdemeanors are impeachable offenses.  And where there is this much smoke, it is painfully obvious that a raging fire is the source of it all.  There is a gargantuan amount of evidence that supports the assertion that Biden is guilty of taking bribes from foreign entities for his influence as Vice President and Presidenton their behalfs, laundered through the corrupt Biden Crime Family. 

Indeed, one of the famous incidents in which Biden’s family was enriched due to Biden’s direct influence is even see on video.  I, of course, refer to then-VP Biden telling Ukraine to remove Viktor Shokin from investigating the corrupt Burisma Holdings (a Ukrainian oil and gas company) for which his congenitally corrupt son Hunter Biden held a very lucrative position on the board despite having no experience or qualifications other than his last name for being appointed to such a position.  Joe Biden threatened to hold up US loan guarantees to Ukraine if they refused to fire Shokin.  They of course fired Shokin for which Biden brags about on video.  When President Trump asked that the Ukrainian government look into this for any signs of corruption, the Democrats in congress decided to impeach Trump.  Ironic.

The fact is that there is plenty of evidence and testimony that Biden regularly met with and corresponded with Hunter and brother James Biden’s shady business associates.  These included a 2014 meeting between Biden, then vice president, and his son’s business associates at Cafe Milano restaurant about 2 miles northwest of the White House, and another meeting at the restaurant in 2015.

The 2014 meeting included billionaire Yelena Baturina, the widow of former Moscow Mayor Yury Luzhkov, who invested in Rosemont Seneca Thornton, one of the younger Biden’s business operations. 

Devon Archer, a Hunter Biden business associate, testified that, when vice president, Joe Biden was on speakerphone with his son’s business associates “maybe 20 times.”

The FBI recorded an interview with Rob Walker, another associate of the Biden family, in which Walker said the elder Biden attended a meeting about CEFC, a Chinese energy company that his son was in business with.

Walker is the same Biden associate who once wrote in an email about the split of financial proceeds: “Ten [percent] held by H for the big guy.”

The “H” was presumed to stand for Hunter, and the “big guy” was presumed to be Joe Biden. (One former business partner of the president’s son, Tony Bobulinski, has said he had no doubt that Biden was “the big guy.”)

According to other testimony, evidence showed that on July 30, 2017, Hunter Biden demanded payment of $10 million from CEFC, the Chinese energy company, in a WhatsApp message to CEFC executive Raymond Zhao. In the same message, the younger Biden claimed that his father was seated “next to” him at the time.

“I am sitting here with my father and we would like to understand why the commitment made has not been fulfilled,” the WhatsApp message shows Hunter Biden writing. The younger Biden adds:

“Tell the director that I would like to resolve this now before it gets out of hand, and now means tonight. And, Z, if I get a call or text from anyone involved in this other than you, Zhang [Jianjun Zang, CEFC’s executive director], or the chairman, I will make certain that between the man sitting next to me and every person he knows and my ability to forever hold a grudge that you will regret not following my direction. I am sitting here waiting for the call with my father.”

On Dec. 5, the House Ways and Means Committee released 327 emails that showed that while serving as vice president, Joe Biden used aliases to correspond directly with his son’s business associates.

Of those, 54 emails were exclusively between Joe Biden and one of Hunter Biden’s business partners, Eric Schwerin, who was in charge of structuring the Biden family’s various shell companies.

Another 38 emails were sent from White House staffers to an email account in the name of an alias for Joe Biden, with copies to Hunter Biden.

The committee discovered that the president’s brother, James Biden, wrote a $200,000 check in 2018 to him and noted it was a “loan repayment.” The check was cut the same day that James Biden got a $200,000 payment from a rural health care company called Americore Holdings LLC.

The panel also released bank records of a $40,000 check in 2017 to Joe Biden from James Biden and his wife Sara, which committee Republicans say is linked to China’s CEFC.

In May, the House Oversight and Accountability Committee released financial records showing that Hunter Biden and other Biden family members received several million dollars from Chinese nationals and companies.

“In 2017 alone, bank records show President Biden’s family and their related companies received millions of dollars from Chinese foreign nationals’ companies,” the committee’s report from March says. “This amount does not include payments from Ukraine, Kazakhstan, Mexico, Romania, Oman, or other foreign business deals the committee is investigating; it also does not include any payments related to Hunter Biden’s interest in BHR Partners or Jonathan Li.”

Li joined Biden and Archer in 2012 to found BHR Partners, also called Bohai Capital, a company linked to the Chinese government.

The same committee report also noted “the Biden family’s troubling receipt of payments from China, particularly the individual Ye Jianming and his company, CEFC, to show what was from 2015 to 2018 a growing interest by people closely tied to the CCP [Chinese Communist Party] in cultivating a relationship with the Biden family.” 

These allegations for which there is substantial evidence alone is enough to impeach, remove, and imprison the corrupt and senile Joe Biden.  Of course, this will not happen though as the leftist media and the Democrat-controlled senate will not conduct a trial if articles of impeachment were brought forth by the house.

These are just a few of the IMPEACHABLE offenses for which Biden should be removed from office NOW.  As I said the list is far from exhaustive and doesn’t include non-impeachable but equally dangerous executive branch decisions made by Biden or whomever is feeding him Red Bulls, Ensure, and anti-American policies. 

Regardless, Biden at the very least must not win in November.  Ironically the leftists that vote for him in order to “save democracy” will be dooming that very cause if this corrupt and dementia-addled charlatan is re-elected. Evidently though, you can be above the law if you are a leftist president.

A Choice to be Made and the Fate of America

I love the United States of America deeply.  This is not just a throw-away line of sun-shine patriotism or some saccharine statement of sentimentality.  I truly believe in the principles upon which this nation was founded.  And I have put my butt on the line by defending this nation for six years on active duty and in the first Persian Gulf war.  My father, grandfather, and uncles have similarly served honorably in the military to protect this nation.  Our actions back our sentiments.

I believe in We The People, limited and constitutionally constrained federal government, and that the powers given to our elected leaders are derived from us American citizens.  Our natural rights are given to ALL of us by God as stated in our founding document as a nation, and not by some supposedly benign government.  It is incumbent upon the executive, legislative, and judicial branches to govern according to the limited powers given them by the constitution and NOT to exceed those mandates, as anything not specifically granted the federal government in the way of powers, duties, and responsibilities is reserved to the individual states and/or the people of America.  The fact that all three branches have broken this trust is precisely why we are in the mess we are today and why we see a dangerously precipitous decline in the greatness of this nation. 

Our corrupt government though is only a sad symptom of the underlying cancer.  The problem is the malignant infection of progressivism in our schools, culture, businesses media, and even in many of our houses of worship.  It is our lack of objective and accurate education in history, economics, and civics (let alone reading, writing, and arithmetic) that has created lazy, ignorant, or even malicious citizen voters that want to elect officials to provide for them lucre from the federal treasury for which they are not entitled and for which the officials have no constitutional authority to give.

This November may very well be the defining point of whether this country that I love collapses under the weight of its $34 trillion in debt and unconstitutional laws and mandates, or whether it begins to repair the damage done by decades of various administrations and corrupt congresses of both major political parties.

That said, the race for the presidency is looking to be a rematch between Joe Biden and Donald Trump.  It is a match up that many on both the left and the right wish for a different candidate for their champion.  Many play the good soldier though and tout their party’s candidate in public while suffering from dyspepsia in private.  I will let my heart burn be known publicly.

As many of my readers know, I do not like Trump.  He is an egotistical jerk whose main purpose is to champion himself.  That said, the contrast is starkly clear between the way he governed with many of the good things Trump accomplished and that of the current senile and thoroughly corrupt head of the Biden Crime family.  Once again, I will likely end up casting my general election vote for a candidate I dislike and refuse to vote for in the primary.  The consequences are far too great if Biden were to miraculously/cursedly be re-elected.  I dare say the standing of our republic hangs in the balance of this decision and that of whom will control the House and Senate.

It amazes me how bright and articulate people, some of whom I consider friends and family, are actually touting the necessity of putting Biden and whomever pulls his strings back in the oval office.  It is readily apparent that Biden does not have the cognitive, let alone the moral ability to govern.  His senility and duplicitous character is on stage for the world to see, including our enemies, every single time Biden makes a public appearance.

His accomplishments are none.  Nothing.  Zero. Zilch.  Nada.  Every decision made seems to be in direct contradiction to what is constitutional and/or best for our nation.  At times, it almost seems as if Biden thinks Orwell’s “1984” is a how-to book.

Despite self-described “old-fashioned Americans”, Wilsonian-style progressives, Democratic Socialists, and other assorted leftists with their screeds to the contrary, they do NOT love America and its ideals of justice and liberty for all. They want to "fundamentally transform" our nation into an unrecognizable woke socialist utopia open to all of the human detritus of the world.

Yes, our country has often fallen far short of those lofty ideals, but the fact that we have always tried to reach towards them is what has kept this the strongest and greatest nation in the history of humankind.  It saddens me to think that so many misguided and miseducated Americans hate this country, whether by their words or by their actions.  Or both.

It baffles me how someone can hate a political adversary so much that they are willing to sacrifice the goodness of this nation and its tenuous future to the wiles and schemes of a corrupt, senile, self-serving and evil chief executive such as Joseph Biden.  Yes, Trump falls far short of all that I want in a president, but we have seen the many great results for our country as a whole during his first term.  We have also seen the destruction of our economy, the suffering of many Americans, the rampant disregard for the rule of law, and the dangerous emboldening of our enemies and terrorists under the Biden regime during his first and hopefully only term as president. 

I know many have hyperbolically stated that past elections will determine the final fate of our nation.  I greatly fear that come this November they may finally be right.  Four more years of Biden or whomever is controlling him behind the curtain will surely bode towards disaster for my beloved United States of America.  I only hope and pray that there are enough TRUE old-fashioned Americans out there that see these facts and similarly choose to vote for the lesser of two evils accordingly.  The nation will not survive another four years under this corrupt leftist administration.

Ending the Two-State Solution Folly

Yesterday was the 82nd anniversary of Pearl Harbor Day. On December 7th 1941, the Japanese Empire executed a surprise attack on our naval and military bases at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii killing 2403 Americans. This pernicious event caused the United States of America to enter into WWII in order to stop the totalitarian evil of Imperial Japan, Nazi Germany and fascist Italy. 

 Fast forward nearly 82 years and the barbaric Palestinian terrorist group Hamas conducted an unexpected attack on Israel on October 7th, 2023. Unlike Imperial Japan, Hamas’ attack of their militant terrorists targeted civilians, including women, children, and the elderly. Over 1200 people were killed in this tiny country. 240 civilian hostages were also taken back into Gaza by these thoroughly evil barbarians. This is Israel’s Pearl Harbor or 9/11 event. 

Captured video from the terrorists and tales of some of the 100 released hostages tell of brutal rapes, tortures, and killings of the Israeli civilians by these sub-human terrorists. There has been video evidence of babies decapitated or put into ovens while parents watched. Wives and daughters were raped while sons and fathers were forced to watch before being killed while Hamas terrorists reveled in their butchery and debauchery. 

These are the inhuman evil scum that many leftists in the Muslim world, throughout Europe, and in America champion with their “solidarity protests” in cities and on college campuses. Indeed, this week three presidents of once-renowned institutions of higher learning testified under oath on Capitol Hill their combined refusal to denounce calls for the genocide of Jews. These Hamas/Palestinian supporters are either useful idiots that are fully ignorant of the truth of the evil they support, or worse, they seek to justify it by claiming oppression of the Palestinians by Israel. 

The Gaza strip has been self-governed for many years after Israel pulled out of the territory. In 2007, Hamas was elected by the Palestinian people in Gaza to govern them. The result has been near-constant rocket and terrorist attacks on Israel civilians, three wars, and crushing poverty for the Palestinian people there while the Hamas leadership becomes wealthy on foreign aid. And all the while Iran bank rolls their human rights attacks against Israeli civilians. 

In all conflicts, including the current war, Israel does all it can to safe-guard erstwhile innocent human life of civilians, often at risk to their own soldiers in doing so. Indeed, they ruin strategic and tactical advantages by telegraphing where they will attack in order to allow civilians to escape the areas ahead of time. 

Hamas, on the other hand, uses its own people for shields as they build their command-and-control centers underneath schools, mosques, and hospitals. If civilians are injured or killed because of this, then that is just one more club for Hamas to use against Israel. Meanwhile, Hamas uses deadly force to ensure their human shield civilians don’t run away or head to safer areas in the south of Gaza, as the Israeli government has warned them to do. 

The American and other antisemite “protestors” throughout the world when they chant “from the river to the sea, Palestine will be free” are calling for the genocide of all Jews and the destruction of Israel, whether the realize this or not. Israel is a small country that lies between the Mediterranean Sea and the Jordan River. The so-called Palestinians claim that all of this land is theirs, despite the fact that the Jewish people have called this land home for millennia and was given to them by God in Hebrew scripture. Archeology and history only serves to confirm this. 

Leftist idiots/terrorist supporters call Israeli Jews “colonizers”. How does one colonize a land to which one is indigenous, that long preceded the birth of Islam and even the term given to the Arab people in the area by the Roman Empire of “Palestinians”? 

The fact of the matter is that the “Palestinian” people have never wanted peace with Israel. Israel has had peace with its neighbors of Jordan and Egypt for many decades, so it is possible when the will for peace truly exists. Israel has offered many times to make peace with the “Palestinians” in a so-called two state solution time and time again. 

Indeed, during one of those many attempts at peace negotiations, President Clinton back in 2000 brought PLO leader Yasser Arafat and Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak together at a Camp David Summit to discuss in supposed good faith an end to the strife and a creation of a peaceful two state solution for Israel and Palestine. Ehud Barak offered remarkable concessions to Arafat including 92% of the West Bank, 100% of the Gaza strip, dismantling of most of the Israeli settlements in the West Bank, and proclaiming East Jerusalem as the Palestinian capital. 

Clinton and Barak both have claimed that in every instance, Yasser Arafat’s answer was no without a single compromise or concession being offered on his behalf, despite being offered over 90% of what the PLO was demanding. Arafat walked away from the Camp David summit accordingly. Later when asked why he did not accept what was surely an amazing deal and best offer that would likely ever come from Israel so that peace could finally be achieved, Yasser Arafat responded that if he had accepted such a peace offer from the Jews he would end up “having tea with Mussolini”. In other word his own people would kill him for settling for peace with the despised Jews. 

Israel has long withstood egregious condemnation from the impotent and corrupt United Nations and much of the Muslim world for simply defending itself against virulent and pernicious evil and antisemitism. Israel has never sought to initiate war with any of its surrounding Muslim neighbors. And now that the ghoulish terrorists that the Palestinian people elected to govern them have perpetrated this horrific attack against civilian men, women and children, I think the time for forbearance and hopes of peace with the Palestinians has come to and end. 

Current Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is correct and thoroughly justified in destroying every last Hamas militant still alive. Further, taking full military control of Gaza and the West Bank should be the goal to make sure such horrific actions are never done against the Israeli people again by the “Palestinians”. The “Palestinian” people have never wanted a two-state solution so believing in the fantasy that this is an achievable goal one day is pure folly. 

Those Palestinian people that want to live in peace that are not members of Hamas should be allowed to live under Israeli control in a fenced off Gaza, never to have their own country. Either that or they can emigrate to any other Muslim country or any country that will accept them. There are serious ramifications and repercussions for voting for an Iranian-backed and funded terrorist organization to govern you. As for Hamas, EVERY LAST ONE OF THE EVIL TERRORISTS SHOULD BE KILLED. Not captured. Not imprisoned. They care nothing for life and goodness. They value only death, evil and depravity. 

Those of you that support Hamas and the “Palestinian” people in this regard are similarly evil and need to look within your own dark soul. I want nothing to do with any of you. 

The journalist Bob Lonsberry stated it well when he said, “across the Muslim world there is cheering in the streets. Because, though the furnaces of Auschwitz have gone cold, the hatred of Jews in the hearts of evil people burns white hot, as malicious and insatiable as it has ever been.” Sadly, that hatred exists in America today too, and it enrages and sickens me.

The Beauty and Majesty of Ancient Jordan

My wife and I took a bucket-list trip of mine back in December to Egypt and to Jordan.  While Egypt was always a fascination of mine, I was afraid the trip would not live up to my expectations.  It ended up surpassing them and you can see some of the highlights from Egypt here.  

The second half of our trip was to continue our adventure in the country of Jordan.  It was an amazing contrast.  Egypt was mired in poverty which afflicted the warm and welcoming people there.  The socialistic governing of the nation contributed to their plight.  Arriving in Jordan, it was apparent that things were definitely better here.  The Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan is more of a market economy and right away one could see that on average the Jordanian people lived at a higher standard of life.  The ramshackle multi-story tenement buildings that were ubiquitous in Cairo were seldom seen in Amman and the cleanliness of Jordan was orders of magnitude better than Egypt. 

Our driver and guide was a very knowledgeable and enterprising Jordanian man of middle age who started his own business as a private contractor tour guide for Jordan.  The first place he took us was south of Amman to Mt. Nebo. 

 

 

The picture above is looking down from Mt. Nebo to an area called Moses Springs.  This is the location in scripture where the Jews following Moses after escaping the slavery of Pharaoh and wandering the desert finally cried out in thirst.  The Old Testament says that this is where Moses, guided by God, struck a rock with his staff and a spring burst forth from it for the people - thus Moses Springs.

 

The above video is looking down from Mt. Nebo to the north towards the valley of Moses Springs.  The sound you hear is the rather cold wind whipping past.

 

 

 

 

This is a picture looking west from the top of Mt. Nebo where a Christian Church that memorializes Moses now sits.  This is what Moses saw before he died as he peered out to the promised land that God had told would be the home of the Jewish people.  You can see the north end of the Dead Sea to the center left of the picture.

 

 

 

This is a video of the landscape that Moses would have surveyed as he looked out towards the Promised Land for the Jewish people.  There was a large group of Nigerian pilgrims here when we visited and their excitement was contagious.

In the town of Madaba, east of Mt. Nebo, is the church of St. George that still shelters the remnants of an ancient Byzantine mosaic map of the Holy Land in the floor of the church.  It was fascinating despite  the labeling being all "Greek" to me.  

 

 

 

 

The church was also adorned with many beautiful mosaic picture depicting New Testament events.  The artistry of placing these thousands of small colored tiles to create such vibrant scenes was truly amazing.  Indeed the city of Madaba, Jordan is rightfully known as "the city of mosaics".

This mosaic portrays the transfiguration of Christ.

 

 

After leaving Mt. Nebo, we proceeded down the mountain and headed south along the Dead Sea for several hours as we then turned east and up over a jagged and desolate red rock mountain range towards the "lost" city of Petra.  Most people think of Petra only as the iconic Treasury carved into the sandstone walls of the valley.  Petra, however, was an ancient city that was occupied and created by the Nabatean people in the 4th century B.C.  It was a wealthy trading post ideally situated between Damascus, Syria and the Red Sea. It was taken over by the Romans in 106 A.D.  It was finally abandoned in the 8th century A.D. after earthquakes and a decline in political and trade route importance.  The "lost" city was then rediscovered in 1812 by Swiss explorer Johan Burckhardt.  

 

One of the few ways to enter Petra was through a two kilometer long path through a slot canyon.  You can see the opening of the entrance to the canyon center in the picture above.

 

                                          

 

The above is typical of what the slot canyon or siq looked like as one traveled gradually down a slope towards "The Rose City" of Petra itself.

 

 

 

 Along the siq walls, the ancient Nabateans carved shrines to their gods into the sandstone cliffs.  Above is one such carving.

  

 

Parts of the siq still have the ancient Roman stone paved road as seen above.  The raised trench on the right was an aqueduct to bring water to the town of Petra.  These aqueducts were on both sides of the siq as the ancient Nabateans were masters of constructing dams, cisterns, and aqueducts to provide for water in their desert city.

 

 

If you look carefully you can still discern the feet and lower half of a man leading his camel in a caravan down the siq to Petra.  A faint outline of the camel and its feet are all that remain of the dromedary here.

Many of the Bedouin people of Jordan still dwell in the desert here in their well ordered tent camps.  My guide explained that the dark tents, orderliness, and lack of garbage was how one could tell if it was a Bedouin camp or a gypsy camp.  The gypsy camps usually were haphazard things with brightly colored tents and lots of clutter and garbage strewn about their encampment.  Our guide pointed out several examples of each on our route, lending some credence to his assertion.  Evidently our guide was not particularly fond of the gypsies.  The picture above is of a couple of Bedouin men taking a break in an old carved out cave in the siq.

As we finally exited the end of the siq it opened up into a small valley where the iconic Treasury is carved into the sandstone cliff.  I started videoing my approach from about this point when my tour guide decided to provide a soundtrack for my adventure courtesy of his iPhone - the theme song from Raiders of the Lost Ark.  I chuckled in spite of my mild annoyance at this.
 

 

 

 

Finally we exited the siq to behold this amazing structure that had survived for thousands of years.  The rose city was amazing to behold!

 

 

Despite the beautiful detail still readily apparent in the gables and column capstones, you can tell that the figures carved into the upper part were damaged.  Bullet holes pockmarked some of these carvings as bandits thought that the "Treasury" must hold gold or other treasure in the treasury.  In actuality the Treasury was not a treasury at all.

 

 

  

 

One of the highlights of Petra was seeing Petra at night.  We purchased a special permit and followed a candle-lit path through the siq to the small valley in front of the treasury.  A spot light illuminated the treasury and hundreds of candles lit the ground in front of it.  People sat and listened to local Bedouin artists playing traditional music.  It was enchanting to say the least.

 

 

Most people think of the Treasury when they think of Petra, but the city of Petra is huge and contains many dwellings and such carved into the sandstone cliffs for miles.

 

 

Here are a few of the Bedouin shops and eatery's that exist inside Petra beneath the ancient buildings in the cliffs beyond them. 

 

 

The previous two photos show the large amphitheater that was built within the city of Petra. 

 

 

 

The less ornate homes were usually the domiciles of the working class or less rich members of the city.

 

 

Petra's version of Wall Street.

 

 

 

 

This cobblestone road was created by the Romans when they came to Petra in 106 A.D.

 

  

 

Towards the other end of Petra, there are a series of over 800 steps carved into the side of the mountain to ascend to a high plateau where the Monastery is located.  Although I am more than fit enough to have tackled such an easy trek (That's my story and I'm sticking to it!), my wife was not feeling very well that day so we opted to ride donkeys up this arduous trail.  They were pretty sure footed but at points I had doubts and was seriously considering dismounting and doing it on my own.  (Heights and kryptonite are my only known weaknesses.)

 

  

 

Some of the hardier women Bedouins had little kiosks or shops along wider sections of the trail where they plied their beautiful rugs, scarfs, and statuary.  One Bedouin artist had a $50 American bill and asked us if we could exchange it for her with Jordanian dinar (their currency).  Unfortunately we did not have more than $15 worth of dinar and I was not going to take advantage of her.  She said that living up in the cliffs with no easy access to the town outside of Petra to exchange the American bills made it very difficult for her.  She typically wouldn't accept foreign currency, but needed to do so when sales were slow.  I wished that I had been able to help her.

 

 

 

The lady said she lived far off at the bottom of the canyon in the picture above.  It is hard to see from this picture but the two semi-circles in the center of the picture at the valley bottom with a hint of green were citrus trees that her village was cultivating.  

Finally we made it to the top of the long path which opened up to the Monastery.  It is not quite as ornate as the Treasury at the other end of Petra, but was majestic in its own right.  We were glad that we made the trek up the mountain and even more glad that we did it in December instead of the during the scorching heat of the summer!  The Nabateans of the past and the Bedouins of today are tough hardy people!

 

 

After leaving Petra we traveled north towards Amman again on a route that bordered the east side of the Dead Sea.  Israel was visible on its opposite shore.  No boats are allowed on the Dead Sea except police and security vessels. One of the remarkable things to me was the fact that on the highway along the Dead Sea were numerous fields and farms with beautiful roadside produce stands.  Above you can see a date palm orchard.  Evidently there are many natural springs here today to irrigate the land next to the Dead Sea.

 

 

The Dead Sea is so salty that nothing can live in it. It is about ten times saltier than the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans.  Indeed we got to float in it.  Due to its amazing buoyancy caused by this saltiness it kept one high up in the water; however, they strictly warned us to NOT get the water in our mouths, noses, or eyes, as it could be seriously painful and even dangerous.  You can see the salt encrusting the rocks along the shore line from the waves' action in the pictures above.  

At one point along the Dead Sea, our guide pulled off in a viewing area and told us that the Dead Sea occupies the space that used to be where the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah were located.  If you recall from scripture, Lot and his wife fled God's destruction of these cities due to the wickedness of their inhabitants.  Lot and his spouse were warned not to look back as they escaped, but when Lot's wife did look back over her shoulder, she was turned into a pillar of salt for her disobedience.  The pillar in the picture above is supposedly Lot's wife.  My thought was that Lot's wife was really tall.

The banks of the Dead Sea are the lowest land masses on our earth.  They reside below sea level by as much as 436 meters or more than 1430 feet.  The Dead Sea continues to evaporate and lowering in its depth as each year passes.

Overall, our Jordanian trip was fascinating, the people were warm and friendly, and the sites were amazing in their beauty and history.  This was an unexpected bonus to the tag end of our Middle Eastern trip.  My only wish is that I had more time to explore Petra.  Perhaps something for a return visit some day!