Maggie's FarmWe 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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Thursday, April 25. 2024Another Maggie's Scientificalistical Survey: NecktiesAs an old-time fuddy-duddy I guess, I have always thought these were the only things in a man's wardrobe that would provide some color or interest. JFK helped eliminate mens' hats by never wearing them, but hats were already going out at the time. Now we're at baseball caps instead of fedoras. What about our male readers? Women love scarves, and a tie is sort-of the same idea. Nice private schools - and charter schools, still require semi-formal dress or uniforms. It works, from the outside in. I am reposting this qestion because, as in church generally, I wore a tie at my father-in-law's funeral service a few weeks ago with my new dark blue suit. I'd guess half of the guys wore a tie. Very few guys wore a suit. How often do you guys put on a tie? Church, work, theater, nice restaurant, weddings, funerals, etc?
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Bad math, and running out of gasThursday morning linksFour Thousand Years of Egyptian Women Pictured Scientific American Claims It Is "Misinformation" That There Are Just Two Sexes Why transgender madness is so rampant in Sweden Scientists Sign Declaration Proclaiming Fish, Lobsters, Octopi, and Insects Have “Consciousness” BBC rejoices as Britain commits economic suicide in pursuit of Net Zero The Impossible Heat Wave Era is Upon Us Not where I live Could EVs Compete In A True Free Market? Stifling Free Speech Online: Australia’s Misinformation Bill - Every censorship regime in history has claimed to be protecting the public. But no regime can have prior knowledge of what is true or good. It can only know what the approved narratives are. Aussie Senator Says Elon Musk Should "Be In Jail And The Key Be Thrown Away" This is not your 1992 Democrat Party Migrants Gone Wild On Streets Of Midtown Manhattan They Aren’t Hiding it Anymore, Biden Wants Mass Amnesty Before Election Patriots Owner Robert Kraft Yanks Support From Columbia University Over Antisemitism Columbia University's Pro-Hamas Activists Vow to Defend Camp Against Police Action NYPD chief swarmed by anti-Israel protesters and berated while seeking shelter in NYU building The United Nations Is Still Worthless Wednesday, April 24. 2024Camembert vs. BrieNeither is terrible, but both kinda bland for my taste. Baked Brie is a very good dessert. (As usual, I do not support the idea of cheese as an appetizer. Why eat a filling savory thing before a good hunk of meat or a stew? )
Planting shrubs and treesWednesday morning linksMeet the California Progressives Trying to Cancel Affordable Housing. Santa Monica, California Building New Apartment Complex for the Homeless at a Staggering Cost of One Million Per Unit The Cass Review Won’t Fade Away. How youth gender medicine broke almost every liberal institution it touched. Scientific American Claims It Is "Misinformation" That There Are Just Two Sexes 'DEI Is Garbage': Mamet Stomps Woke Hollywood This is no 1960’s love-in during anti-Israel rallies at elite universities John Silber, the Campuses Have Need of You. In the 1980s, the late Boston University president showed willingness both to engage with protesters’ arguments and to impose consequences on their actions. Jewish NYU professor lashes out at brainwashed student protesters: 'If I said lynch the blacks or burn the gays, I'd never work again' Stop the Mideast Money Fueling Campus Anti-Semitism Biden, 81, suffers ANOTHER embarrassing gaffe as his attempt to brand Trump untrustworthy spectacularly backfires at Florida rally Doesn't matter Stuart's Potpourri Donald Trump is undergoing a criminal trial in Manhattan. Tuesday, April 23. 2024Dear President Shafik
I have two degrees from that excellent university, so I care. Here's what I would have written, were I in her shoes: Dear Members of the Columbia Community, As of today anyone who disrupts our educational mission will be arrested by the NYPD, and expelled. Students and and parents have spent a lot of time and money to receive what we have to offer, and it is our job to provide that. If anyone decides that disruptive protesting is more important than learning in our excellent institution, they should do it elsewhere. Sincerely, Columbia University President Bird Dog
Farewell to AtlasYou gather what you sow
Tuesday morning linksTracking The Demise Of The U.S. Green Energy Transition Atlantic: IN PRAISE OF HEROIC MASCULINITY - Teach boys that strength can be a virtue. The cult of ‘my truth’ - NPR is only the latest institution to fall to woke relativism NPR Has a Trigger Warning on the Declaration of Independence The lawfare against Donald Trump hits new heights today The Kids Skipping Elite Colleges and Heading South. More on the Yale Protest That Hospitalized Jewish Student They Were Assaulted on Campus for Being Jews. At Yale, Sahar Tartak was stabbed in the eye. At Columbia, Jonathan Lederer’s Israeli flag was burned and he was hit in the face. Double the Anti-Semitism Monday, April 22. 2024Monday morning linksBoredom and Gratitude Antarctica Is Colder, Icier Today Than At Any Time In 5,000 Years UCLA study: Gay couples at greater risk from climate change Bill Maher rages at Hollywood for putting kids at risk, calls Disney an aphrodisiac for pedophiles and slams Drag Queen Story Hour trend Bill Maher against Wokery Pro-Hamas Protests Rage Into the Night at Columbia University New anti-Israel tent city takes over Columbia University lawn days after NYPD raid as activists vow to stay ‘forever’ The Intifada Comes to America. Now What? " I considered moving out of the USA..." Democrats are taking from taxpayers to expand their own power Germany: Violent Migrant Crime Hit Record High in 2023 How Climate Change Narrative Is Preventing Africa From Modernizing and Gaining Prosperity The Second Cold War Is Escalating Faster Than the First - To understand what is at stake in the fight against the axis of China, Russia and Iran, just read “The Lord of the Rings. As long as American officials are writing checks to Kyiv, Ukraine will continue to push for maximalist goals. Turkish President Backs Hamas, Urges Palestinian Unity Against Israel Sunday, April 21. 2024An incompetent pilotFrom today's LectionaryPsalm 23 23:1 The LORD is my shepherd, I shall not want. 23:2 He makes me lie down in green pastures; he leads me beside still waters; 23:3 he restores my soul. He leads me in right paths for his name's sake. 23:4 Even though I walk through the darkest valley, I fear no evil; for you are with me; your rod and your staff-- they comfort me. 23:5 You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies; you anoint my head with oil; my cup overflows. 23:6 Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life, and I shall dwell in the house of the LORD my whole life long.
Saturday, April 20. 2024You might not like Joyce Carol Oates personally...Whole wheat Popovers?Popovers are a great thing, but we found out last night that there is a way to ruin them.
Saturday morning linksClimate Worries Are Non-Credible, Luxury Beliefs That Harm Civilization Itself Could EVs Compete In A True Free Market? Equitable Grading? Student Suspended After Anti-Israel Protest Complains About Facing Consequences for Her Actions Stuart's Saturday Miscellany Democrats Move to Strip Trump of Secret Service Protection Wikipedia had to censor its encyclopedia to make it more free. Are Iran’s Nine Lives Nearing an End? Friday, April 19. 2024Friday morning linksDickey Betts, Allman Brothers Band guitarist, dies at 80: 'Dickey was larger than life' Rick Moranis Is 71! Inside His Quiet Life Since Leaving Hollywood 28 Years Ago What Happened To Bitcoin? Conservative Weakness - More divided than their opponents Ever More Audacious Efforts To Suppress Mainstream Conservative Speech TGIF: WWIII May Come Tomorrow, But. . .Google remembers it's a workplace. NPR CEO is the gift that keeps on giving. Why does Kari Lake sound reasonable on abortion? And much more. Columbia, Google’s crackdown on pro-Hamas protesters: Is that common sense we finally smell? DANIEL HANNAN: Why, despite two welcome victories, I fear we'll NEVER beat the woke nightmare. And the next generation will be even MORE intolerant Who Is Katherine Maher? Thursday, April 18. 2024Some of Bob's lead guitar playersThursday morning linksMy pic from a recent hike. Those are Pileated holes How Often Do Happy Couples Have Sex? Sex is an integral part of most relationships, but how much is enough? ‘Sweden has been vindicated on Covid’ - Martin Kulldorff on why lockdowns were a disaster for public health. William M. Briggs on Embracing Uncertainty and Stats as a False God ‘Non-binary, neurodivergent’ activist ordering psychiatrists to push ‘gender affirming’ surgery over therapy New York College Suspends Professor "Energized" By Hamas Attack On Israel Google FIRES 28 employees over their involvement in $1.2B Israel contract protest inside New York and California offices Inside the disinformation industry - A government-sponsored agency is censoring journalism African Illegals at NYC City Council Complain About Free Food and Housing Illegal Immigrants Invading in Speed Boat Nearly Slam into Surfers in Southern California. California has seen an “exponential increase in maritime smuggling.” Biden’s border invasion continues by and, by sea, and by air…unimpeded and funded by hard-working Americans. NPR’s woke turn has destroyed its credibility. A veteran editor has been suspended for speaking out against its identitarian bias. Quotations from Chairman Maher - NPR’s new CEO exemplifies the ideological capture of America’s institutions. It's Bigger Than Katherine Maher and NPR Uri Berliner, the NPR whistleblower, has voluntarily left NPR Among the Activists Plotting to Disrupt the DNC. Plus. . .Uri Berliner resigns from NPR. Free Press Cupid. ‘Liquid Ass’ at Columbia. And more. Let's have a cease-fire in Chicago Israel: "Take the Win" What other country in the world faces this sort of attack and is then told to exercise restraint? The Unlawful Administrative State
Attached below is a link to a National Review article by Columbia University Law Professor, Phillip Hamburger, which briefly articulates the constitutional problems with the modern administrative state in the U.S. Professor Hamburger is the author of Is Administrative Law Unlawful? (University of Chicago Press, 2014) and founder of the New Civil Liberties Alliance, a nonprofit civil rights law firm that represents clients against the government, in other words, the administrative state.
Anyone who took a junior high social studies class (before, say, 1990) knows the essential framework prescribed in the United States Constitution: three discrete and co-equal branches of government – the legislative branch (Article I: “All legislative Powers herein granted shall be vested in a Congress of the United States, which shall consist of a Senate and House of Representatives.”); the executive branch (Article II: “The executive Power shall be vested in a President of the United States.”); and the judicial branch (Article III: “The judicial Power of the United States, shall be vested in The manifest intent of the framers was to distribute the whole of defined federal power among separate entities, mitigating any concentration of power in one executive or sovereign to prevent tyranny. The framers drew on the writings of Montesquieu who explained this three part division in his work, The Spirit of Laws: “When the legislative and executive powers are united in the same person, or in the same body of magistrates, there can be no liberty; because apprehensions may arise, lest the same monarch or senate should enact tyrannical laws, to execute them in a tyrannical manner. “Again, there is no liberty, if the judiciary power is not separated from the legislative and executive. Were it joined with the legislative, the life and liberty of the subject would be exposed to arbitrary control; for the judge would be then the legislator. Were it joined to the executive power, the judge might behave with violence and oppression. “There would be an end to everything, were the same man or the same body, whether of the nobles or of the people, to exercise those three powers, that of enacting laws, executing the public resolutions, and trying the causes of individuals.” The administrative state turns the separation of powers model upside down, establishing executive branch agencies that simultaneously execute the law, legislate new law and adjudicate violations of the law. The evolution of the modern administrative state began modestly in the late 19th century, with Congress establishing certain expert administrative bodies with limited jurisdiction, like the Interstate Commerce Commission, which was established to regulate railroad rates and conditions of service. Gradually, over time, Congress passed legislation that added to the list of administrative agencies, creating the Federal Communications Commission and the Securities Exchange Commission. During the presidency of Franklin Roosevelt, Congress created dozens of such agencies, and that pattern has continued ever since. Most alarming, in the past few decades, federal agencies have abandoned any pretense of modesty, radically expanding the scope of their own authority with self-serving interpretations of their governing statutes. For reasons that once may have been good and sufficient, federal courts acquiesced, bowing to administrative interpretative “expertise” under the so-called Chevron doctrine. The growth of the administrative state has become a malignant tumor on the national economy and society in general. In the 1960s, when antiquated regulatory policies precipitated a wave of railroad bankruptcies, Congress quickly acted to avoid a repeat. Today, a broad range of agencies boast of their concerted efforts to kill the oil and gas industry. The current president recently kicked off his reelection campaign forgiving billions of dollars of student loans without any action by Congress. Immigration bureaucrats exercise their “discretion” to accept rote recitations of dubious asylum claims, flooding the country with unvetted immigrants with no plan for assimilation. During the recent pandemic, one of our most prominent public health officials defended the wholesale closing down of our entire society declaring that he himself was “science” and immune from public criticism. Most disturbing, federal law enforcement and intelligence agencies engage in the most intrusive surveillance of American citizens, soliciting media companies to control content and curb individual free speech, with the express intent of interfering with a presidential election. Once seen as a bug, the tyranny of the administrative state is now celebrated as a feature. The corrosive effects of the administrative state are not hard to see. The center of gravity in our nation's commerce no longer resides in our major cities like New York City or Chicago, Houston or Cleveland, but in Washington, D.C. Much of our news comes, not from reporters across the nation, but from journalists embedded in Washington, D.C., who promiscuously commingle their own “expert” opinions with information gained from sources that have a vested interest in the actions of federal agencies. To most people, the idea that their government is run by their so-called “betters” – an elite cadre of Ivy league educated lawyers and public policy professionals – is a hard pill to swallow. Many U.S. citizens therefore find it easier to believe the most outrageous conspiracy theories, finding such theories more plausible than the uncomfortable truth. Most galling, the coddled beneficiaries of this system dismiss criticism of the administrative state as “undemocratic,” at the same time, claiming that the “public interest” necessitates taking policy matters out of the hands of voters, who they disparage as “deplorables,” MAGA extremists, and dangerous populists with a fascist agenda. Professor Hamburger is spearheading a creditable effort to refine the arguments against the administrative state, to present those arguments in the courts, and to prune back the excesses of the administrative state. You’ll be hearing a lot more about Professor Hamburger from those who favor big government, and none of it will be good. His plane is right over the target. https://www.nationalreview.com/magazine/2024/04/how-to-defeat-the-administrative-state/ Wednesday, April 17. 2024April, New England woods
France in WW2Wednesday morning linksKidneys Don’t See Color Tesla Plans To Lay-Off 10% of Its Global Workforce. This may be the beginning of the end of the road for EV-mania. Where does recyling go in England? (video) Censorship in the Name of “Safety.” The rise of reverse gaslighting - The deep, the unavoidable, question is where this train of insanity ends Chaos in California: Migrant Boat Landings Surge Along the Coast Majority of Young Muslims in UK Want Islamic Law: Poll shows British Muslims want Islam as the national religion and an Islamic political party With everyone having fun exposing NPR’s leftist CEO, it’s also time to expose NPR NPR suspends veteran editor as it grapples with his public criticism Why do critics hold Israel to a higher standard — and ignore these other conflicts? Tuesday, April 16. 2024QQQ"Character is destiny." Yeah, it is hyperbole but he was likely making an argument against Fate. OK, but who you are is fated too, isn't it? Hello and UpdateVery brief and great apologies further. What has occurred in the last week, for me, has been significantly bad. Nothing measured or caught for medical worseness - just that radiation on your brain for 6 weeks slowly causes growth in skull brain reduction in the region after about 4-5 weeks as language and memory slows due to expansions of brain from this. Over time, this will reduce. It ended all yesterday and I headed down to FL to live with my in-laws who were very grateful to offer themselves to me. They are in their late 87s and in wonderful shape than my own parents - and they have been AMAZINGLY HELPFUL helping me with my word members and working through when I hit memory or language slowdowns. As an FYI, over 32 years of married to their daughter, I have gained a great deal of love and support for these people, even as both my parents and one stepmother remain alive, they are simply not capable of keeping up with me at all the way my in-laws have. I owe them great love and support for their effort and support. Continue reading "Hello and Update"
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