I have always been fascinated by places off the beaten track for most travelers. I have always wanted to journey to Mongolia. It is situated between Russia and China. I interviewed Dr. John Woods, a professor at the University of Chicago, about two decades ago. He had gone to Mongolia in search of the burial spot of Genghis Khan, also spelled Chinggis Khan. Genghis Khan was born in the last half of the 12th century and died in the first part of the 13th century. Many believe that he was buried near the Burkhan Khaldun Mountain. When Woods and his party arrived in that area, they were driven off by blood-sucking flies.

However, Mongolia has insects that are far more deadly. Case in point. The Mongolian death worm is far more terrorizing than any blood-sucking flies.

The Mongolian death worm

A Belgian artist, Pieter Dirkx, painted this picture of the Mongolian death worm. Interestingly, the name of this creature came from the Mongolian word: олгой-хорхой, which means large intestine worm and was reportedly found in the Gobi Desert. It was reddish and ranged from two to five feet long, which seems like a giant worm. However, what is deadly about this worm wasn’t its size. It can spray or spew an acidic fluid at predators, which will cause the victims to turn yellow and will essentially corrode their bodies away. If the Mongolian death worm attacks a human, the person will die. Some people report that it also has the means to discharge an electrical shock, which was also lethal.

So, we have two parallel stories about creatures that caused discomfort and even death. What is not parallel is that there are eyewitnesses to the blood-sucking insects, but we don’t have any first-hand witnesses to the Mongolian death worm.

Roy Chapman Andrew wrote a book, On the Trail of Ancient Man, in 1926. This American paleontologist said that various Mongolian officials in that region believed recounted stories about this deadly worm. Nevertheless, “None of those present ever had seen the creature, but they all firmly believed in its existence and described it minutely.”

Several years later, he wrote another book entitled The New Conquest of Central Asia in which he wrote, “It is shaped like a sausage about two feet long, has no head nor leg and it is so poisonous that merely to touch it means instant death. It lives in the most desolate parts of the Gobi Desert….”

However, in 2005, a joint research group investigated various recent reports of sightings of the death worm. Some believed that the sightings were in the restricted border area between Mongolia and China. Nevertheless, they found no eyewitnesses.

So, what is the takeaway for us? The obvious learning is to look for proof of what people say as facts. Merely having a statement repeated ad nauseam doesn’t make that statement true. For example, Trump is still repeating his four mantras: the election was stolen from him, it is a big lie that he lost, the election was rigged, and there was a vast conspiracy against him.

Now, there is a real man….

Over five dozen cases were filed at either the state or federal level claiming in various ways that the election was stolen from Trump. That included the Supreme Court. In all cases, Trump didn’t win any court decisions, and many of the cases were summarily dismissed without even being heard. Yo, Donald. You lost.

Donald the Dumb

So, we have a wannabe autocrat that lost in every arena, both in total votes cast, electoral votes, and court decisions. That is dumb. However, what about those who are Trumpers.

Today is the eve of the January 6th insurrection. When will all the Trumpers wake up and smell reality?

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This is an interesting video done by TIME about Trump.

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