Maggie's Farm

We are a commune of inquiring, skeptical, politically centrist, capitalist, anglophile, traditionalist New England Yankee humans, humanoids, and animals with many interests beyond and above politics. Each of us has had a high-school education (or GED), but all had ADD so didn't pay attention very well, especially the dogs. Each one of us does "try my best to be just like I am," and none of us enjoys working for others, including for Maggie, from whom we receive neither a nickel nor a dime. Freedom from nags, cranks, government, do-gooders, control-freaks and idiots is all that we ask for.

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Much Sorry with Delays
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Wednesday, December 13. 2023

Wednesday morning links

Update on the Pilot Who Tried to Bring Down Alaska Airlines Plane With 83 People on Board


 Climate Cult Super Worried About Artificial Intelligence


Controversy Erupts When Student Fails Quiz for Answering CORRECTLY!


 Music education ‘remains inherently racist,’ scholars say


University of Wisconsin Regents Would Rather Lose $800 Million of Funding Than Submit to DEI Reforms


 Columbia University Students Organizing ‘Tuition Strike’ to Force School to Divest From Israel


 Harvard cancels congressman who mocked Harvard’s speech hypocrisy


 ALAN DERSHOWITZ: Claudine Gay Is Unfit To Lead Harvard


 Columbia students call Hillary Clinton class huge disappointment


Stuart's Wednesday Potpourri 


 America Is Taking a High-Speed Train to Bankruptcy. Every dollar wasted on political pork, fraud, and poorly considered infrastructure makes the country’s fiscal situation even worse.


 What Happened to Ron DeSantis?


Likeability 


 Is Northern Ireland a Failed State? The question must be asked


 Abandoning Ukraine sends message that US is no longer leader of the free world


Is the US supposed to fight every war? 


 Zelensky Dubiously Pledges 'Victory' While Biden Says 'Don't Give Up Hope'


 Our LGBT Empire - Why is it America’s business to queer the Donbass?


 The Things I Never Thought Possible—Until October 7, Axel Springer CEO Mathias Döpfner on the many illusions shattered by Hamas’s pogrom and the orgy of antisemitism it inspired.


 Assaulting Women is the New Feminism. Feminism became complicit in violence against women long before Oct 7.


 Will Javier Milei abandon his radicalism? Even in a country used to living with economic crises, the situation today is bleak

Posted by Bird Dog in Hot News & Misc. Short Subjects at 07:30 | Comments (26) | Trackbacks (0)

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re Abandoning Ukraine sends message that US is no longer leader of the free world

So what?

Does that mean if we go another trillion in the hole supporting Ukraine and they lose anyway, we are still "leader of the free world?"

Leader of what exactly? A "free world" that is intent on suicide? What's the point outside of the graft?
#1 feeblemind on 2023-12-13 08:53 (Reply)
There are good reasons for Ukraine to fight back: It is their country and they should defend it against invasion. A long tough fight with many Russian casualties and massive depletion of expensive war fighting materials will make future invasions less likely.

It was never in the cards that Ukraine could "win" but rather that Ukraine could make it so expensive for Russia that Ukraine wouldn't lose their entire country. At some point the two parties should come to the table and end the war.

The U.S. and Europe should support Ukraine BUT not send them endless amounts of money. It is a mistake for Ukraine to try to go toe to toe with Russia, tank to tank, fighter jet to fighter jet. This should be a mostly gorilla war by Ukraine using very small forces/units and shoulder carried missiles to inflict havoc on Russian weapons in a hit and run war. Large numbers of troops and columns of tanks and artillery are the exact wrong thing to do in the face of a superior modern army.

Russia is hiding their casualty numbers. Estimates are that they have lost the equivalent of their entire standing army that existed prior to invading Ukraine. That is 100's of thousands of casualties and massive losses of tanks, artillery and air power. Russia IS winning this war but they cannot afford to win another one like this. And THAT is the whole point of fighting back.
#1.1 Anon on 2023-12-13 10:55 (Reply)
Ne ego si iterum eodem modo vicero, sine ullo milite Epirum revertar. — Pyrrhus of Epirus
#1.1.1 Zachriel on 2023-12-13 11:18 (Reply)
Kind of fighting city hall or the federal government.
#1.1.1.1 Don on 2023-12-13 12:43 (Reply)
'Only a fool fights in a burning house.' - Old Klingon Proverb
#1.1.1.2 Lord Heathen on 2023-12-13 15:53 (Reply)
Thanks for the thoughtful reply, anon.

The thinking is that we must pour unlimited amounts of money into Ukraine so they don't lose and we don't lose prestige.

But nobody is considering the unthinkable, the possibility probability that Ukraine will lose anyway.

During the Finnish Winter war of 1939, Russia attacked Finland and lost enormous numbers of men. However, Russia could replace their losses. Finland could not and was forced to trade territory for peace.

Ukraine should follow that example but Zelensky says it is out of the question, and with good reason. If Ukraine loses, Zelensky is going down and he knows it.

In the end the burden is on the Ukrainian people. They hate the Russians. Are they willing to fight to the last man? If so, what happens when there are too few men left to resist the Russians? Do they lose their whole country instead of just part of it?

I dunno. I just pose the questions.
#1.1.2 feeblemind on 2023-12-13 12:35 (Reply)
Zelensky has his foreign villas and bank accounts. Never worry about him. As usual it is not the politicos and the nomenklatura that are dying in the trenches.

The Russia haters in Ukraine signed up for the war two years ago. Right now they are just dragging those we want to be left alone from their houses. And no elections, so the war can keep going as long as as the western bribes keep flowing.
#1.1.2.1 Freddo on 2023-12-13 13:28 (Reply)
My, the Kremlin-bots are certainly busy here today.
#1.1.2.1.1 JJM on 2023-12-13 17:34 (Reply)
The neocon state department and the CIA planned this attack on Russia back in the day of rejoining the two Germanys. Like all great thugocracies, they assumed they were the only real power left in the world and could do as they wished. But the US is a hollowed out 'power'. It is an administrative state and not a citizen state. The citizen be damned. We have reached the final destination of the secular Enlightenment. Mankind as gods answering to no GOD.
#1.1.2.2 indyjonesouthere on 2023-12-13 13:59 (Reply)
I am truly sorry as it seems you have 'a dog in this fight.' I honestly don't. Having said that there is nothing worse than losing a war. Loss estimates for Ukraine are over half a million now. Russian losses are just over 50,000. The age of the average Ukrainian conscript is now 43. The cream of their youth has been either displaced or annihilated. The globalists and war profiteers will never receive justice in this world for what they set in motion. Zelensky will either flee or face the same fate as every other despot that ever sold their country down the river for profit and power.
#1.1.3 Lord Heathen on 2023-12-13 16:07 (Reply)
"Free world" is a meaningless phrase, and has been since the early 1950's. Our approach to bullying countries, failed "nation-building" wars, and using our military might to get favorable trade agreements (that's been pretty much our modus operandi) makes us a quasi-peaceful hegemonic power.

Other countries may have been worse, but we were no saints. And we've increasingly taken on the least desirable traits of those authoritarian governments, particularly in our domestic politics.

There is no "Free World" and the sooner we realize it, the better.
#1.2 ruralcounsel on 2023-12-13 14:04 (Reply)
https://mises.org/library/isaiahs-job

This essay first appeared in the Atlantic Monthly in 1936.
#1.2.1 indyjonesouthere on 2023-12-13 14:22 (Reply)
What Happened to Ron DeSantis?

I don't think it was likeability. He was too much like Trump. He was going to gore the left's ox. Nikki Haley is far less likeable but the left wants her. The left will praise or at least not criticize Haley hoping she will become the candidate and then they will come down on her and destroy her. She has too much baggage and has said too many really stupid things. She is the left's perfect opponent. The left didn't want to run against DeSantis so they effectively have canceled him.
#2 OneGuy on 2023-12-13 09:34 (Reply)
John Derbyshire has a good take on DeSantis, whom he likes far over Nikki Haley, when talking about the DeSantis/Newsome debate. Not a lot of charisma just a regular guy vs Newsome who has a lot of surface charisma. Then compares the performance of Florida vs California. He's over at vdare.com
#2.1 grant1863 on 2023-12-13 09:46 (Reply)
"Is Northern Ireland a Failed State?"

Northern Ireland isn't a sovereign state. So the question is ridiculous.
#3 JJM on 2023-12-13 09:56 (Reply)
QUOTE:
Stuart's Wednesday Potpourri . . . Jesus was Jewish.

Yes. However, Jesus also had Philistine and Moabite ancestry. See Matthew 1.
#4 Zachriel on 2023-12-13 10:06 (Reply)
How intersectional of Him.
#4.1 Mike Anderson (Link) on 2023-12-13 10:14 (Reply)
Mike Anderson: How intersectional of Him.

Perhaps that was one of Matthew's points. The women who were included in the genealogy were blessed by belief, not by birth.

Also of note: Much of the Palestinian population today are descendants of people, including Jews and Christians, who lived in the area who then adopted Arab culture and Islam during the period of the Islamic conquests. The genetics of the Y-chromosome show that modern Palestinians and Jews are closely related on the paternal line. See Hammer et al., Jewish and Middle Eastern non-Jewish populations share a common pool of Y-chromosome biallelic haplotypes, PNAS 2000.
#4.2 Zachriel on 2023-12-13 10:29 (Reply)
Nobody fights as much as kinfolk.
#4.2.1 Mike Anderson (Link) on 2023-12-13 11:16 (Reply)
University of Wisconsin Regents Would Rather Lose $800 Million of Funding Than Submit to DEI Reforms

Headline of the Future: UW Rips Legislature for Poor Support of Higher Education.
#5 Mike Anderson (Link) on 2023-12-13 10:20 (Reply)
This is very cool. As I understand it, they will build 1934 Packard convertibles to order.

One hopes the market is deep enough to make this venture a success.

1930s Luxury Vehicle Going Into Production Again?

QUOTE:
Packard Motors, an American luxury automobile company that first produced automobiles in 1899, is on the verge of manufacturing vehicles in Ohio.

. . . “After surviving two world wars and the swings of the auto market, the last true Packard rolled off the assembly line on June 25, 1956. The company closed in 1958 after a failed strategic takeover of Studebaker Corporation,” Packard Motors writes.

Now, a 1934-style convertible could bring the company back to life.

. . . Andrews collaborated with his friend, Steve Constantino, on the prospect of building new versions of 1930s Packards.

“They found a company in Nebraska that makes all the parts for those particular vehicles. Andrews researched and now owns the legal rights to the Packard brands, patents and trademarks, which was a major step in moving forward,”

https://100percentfedup.com/1930s-luxury-vehicle-going-into-production-again/
#6 feeblemind on 2023-12-13 10:37 (Reply)
Montana was a blue state until 2022 when the R party took over house, senate, and governor's office. Since then the Dems have brought in every heavy fire they can think of: voting machines, mail in voting, redistricting, etc.,etc.,etc. This most recent event should make it very clear that MT is under siege!
https://montanafreepress.org/2023/12/12/cascade-county-relieves-clerk-and-recorder-of-election-duties/?utm_medium=email
#7 facultywife on 2023-12-13 10:50 (Reply)
These very low population states are an easy mark. If you get a majority you get two senators and maybe pick up a couple of Representatives. Send in illegal/legal immigrants and give them welfare making it clear to them that Republicans aren't in favor of welfare for life and you can swing a majority.
#7.1 JustMe on 2023-12-13 13:05 (Reply)
'Assaulting Women is the New Feminism. Feminism became complicit in violence against women long before Oct 7.'

The violence in those cases was committed by men with brown skin, so Feminists gave them a pass.
#8 Maniac on 2023-12-13 10:55 (Reply)
Voyager 1 In Trouble As Engineers Scramble To Debug Issue With Flight Data System

https://hackaday.com/2023/12/12/voyager-1-in-trouble-as-engineers-scramble-to-debug-issue-with-flight-data-system/
#9 feeblemind on 2023-12-13 12:07 (Reply)
re ALAN DERSHOWITZ: Claudine Gay Is Unfit To Lead Harvard

I disagree.

I think she is an excellent face for how vacuous and unserious Harvard has become as a learning institution.
#10 feeblemind on 2023-12-16 16:25 (Reply)

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