Maggie's Farm

The Vibe Shift Comes to the Super Bowl. Plus. . .

Do Super Bowl Ads Really Pay Off? Evaluating Their ROI

The Media Is Lying to You About Their Government Funding

It’s easy to conclude the era of DEI is over — but it’s not

Elizabeth Warren Destroyed By X Community Notes Over Pharma Corruption

Dem Sen. Chris Coons Explains Why Funding Iraqi Sesame Street Is Vital for U.S. Nat'l Security

The Downfall of Ibram X. Kendi - After the 2020 death of George Floyd, the former Boston University professor became America’s race guru.

Straw Poll: Trump Vows to Make Plastic Great Again

Trump’s ‘Revolution Of Common Sense’ Brings Out The Worst In Democrats

Hurricane DOGE Sweeps into the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration

The only surprising thing about Peter Hitchens’ demolition of Net Zero,
to which the U.K. still pretends to be committed, is that it was
permitted on the BBC

Cesspool USAID - Why holding unelected bureaucrats accountable is anathema to the Democrat elites.

The Geopolitical Fallout From the USAID Scandal Has Only Just Begun

USAID Sent Over $18 Billion to Islamic Terror States

“WE ARE AT WAR!”: Democrats Ramp Up Rage Rhetoric as Tensions Mount Across the Country
Democratic leaders

The Musk-eteers Reveal You’ve Been Living in a Simulated Reality

If You Love DOGE, the Best (and the Panicky Worst for the Left) is Still to Come

Trump, Elon Musk’s partnership is proving to be a union of geniuses determined to get huge things done for US

Dems suffering from Musk Derangement Syndrome

“Insubordination”: FBI Official Accused of Defying White House Reform Efforts

Trump wants to deregulate. Progressives should help him.

Washington might be reeling, but many voters approve of Trump’s fast start

VDH:  How To Commit Democratic Party Suicide. The Democrats' radical
overreach, election losses, and Musk-fueled government exposés have left
them flailing, doubling down on failure instead of recalibrating for a
political comeback.

Young DOGE Engineers Are Nothing to Fret About. It’s not unusual for people in their twenties to run parts of Washington.

White House Declares War on Academic Medical Centers

How much does The Guardian hate Trumpism?

CBS Host Margaret Brennan Looks Totally Miserable as She Reports on Trump’s High Approval Rating (VIDEO)

"Is the federal judge taking the position that in the name of enforcing
the Take Care Clause, it is the role of the judiciary to oversee
whatever the President does with the executive power that the
Constitution vests in him?"

Obama Judge Temporarily Blocks Musk’s DOGE Access to Important Treasury
Dept. Payment System – Orders IMMEDIATE Destruction of ALL Data Obtained
Since Trump’s Inauguration – Musk Responds to Ruling with Fire

Democrat Rep. Sterilizes Herself To Protest Trump

Without USAID, the EU will have to pay for its own propaganda

Luke 5:1-11 - Jesus calls the disciples to fish for people

5:1Once while Jesus was standing beside the Lake of Gennesaret and the crowd was pressing in on him to hear the word of God,

5:2he saw two boats there at the shore of the lake; the fishermen had gotten out of them and were washing their nets.

5:3He
got into one of the boats, the one belonging to Simon, and asked him to
put out a little way from the shore. Then he sat down and taught the
crowds from the boat.

5:4When he had finished speaking, he said to Simon, "Put out into the deep water and let down your nets for a catch."

5:5Simon answered, "Master, we have worked all night long but have caught nothing. Yet if you say so, I will let down the nets."

5:6When they had done this, they caught so many fish that their nets were beginning to burst.

5:7So
they signaled their partners in the other boat to come and help them.
And they came and filled both boats, so that they began to sink.

5:8But when Simon Peter saw it, he fell down at Jesus's knees, saying, "Go away from me, Lord, for I am a sinful man!"

5:9For he and all who were with him were astounded at the catch of fish that they had taken,

5:10and
so also were James and John, sons of Zebedee, who are partners with
Simon. Then Jesus said to Simon, "Do not be afraid; from now on you will
be catching people."

5:11When they had brought their boats to shore, they left everything and followed him.

As I mentioned earlier, trips down (up) the Nile have been popular since the 1850s. They used to go to the first cataract, but the Aswan High Dam now prevents that. Thus you do not get to see hippos or crocodiles.

Most trips go from Luxor upstream south to Aswan, with stops at places of interest. There might be as many as 50 riverboats on these routes. Naturally, we took the most expensive one which was quite comfortable with attentive, cheerful service. The windows open, which I like.

They have a/c, but no need for that in January. They have no heat.

In this pic from the Sun Deck, the Nile flood plain is very narrow before the desert begins. In other areas it can be a couple of miles:

How to make Chimichangas

The Sad Saga of Bud Light

The Men Who Lost Their Babies

 Virtucrats on Parade Beware angels in politics by Joseph Epstein

USAID Has Its Office Lease Terminated and You Won't Believe the New Tenant

Democrats More Panicked About DOGE Accessing Feds’ Computers Than Chinese Hackers

WHO LET THE DOGES OUT?

Trump’s Federal Buyout Deadline Arrives As Over 40,000 Workers Accept Offer

Saturday Miscellany

JUST IN: Secretary of State @MarcoRubio has just informed USAID workers that he only needs 294 of them. There are 14,000 people who work at the agency.

Time to short DC-area real estate? Are those employees unionized? Are government jobs permanent?

Meat loaf and mashed taters, and maybe some steamed summer squash on the side. Meat loaf needs gravy or its juices, on top.

At the Maggie's HQ, we make meat loaf the Italian way: Italian Meat Loaf Recipe. Italian-style meat loaf usually has a dash of nutmeg and/or allspice in the recipe, but that particular one does not. I do not think they make this in Italy. Maybe it's a modified meat-ball recipe, but they don't eat meatballs in Italy either. (Nor do Swedes cook Swedish Meatballs.)

Best thing about meat loaf? Meat loaf sandwiches the next day or two. White bread only, plenty of mayo.

The Spanish Jewish scholar and theologian Moses Maimonides wrote the metaphysical book in the 12th century.

The least I can do to do justice to the guy is to read carefully that Wiki entry.

He comes to mind because we visited his synagogue in Cairo a couple of weeks ago, often referred to as the Maimonides Synagogue.

There are not enough Jews in Cairo to maintain an active synagogue. Photos of the interior are not permitted. I don't know why. It is a simple place.

How Scientific American sacrificed science for progressive politics

JK Rowling tweets on gender idelogy

A Massachusetts School District Rolled Back Advanced Classes. Teachers Are Starting To Revolt.

 Trump Buyout Offer for Federal Workers PAUSED by Federal Judge Just Hours Before the Deadline

Donald Trump, the Libertarian President?

Stephen Miller: Trump saved democracy

Was that Politico article accurate?

Bret Baier: We've never seen anything like this (video clip)

CBS Released the Unedited Kamala Harris Interview. It's Beyond Brutal.

What Is USAID?

TGIF: Mar-a-Gaza

Betsy DeVos: Shut Down the Department of Education

Trump Administration Moves Forward With Plan To Reduce Education Department’s Role

The End of ‘Palestine’ - Donald Trump reminds the world that ideas have sell-by dates

Trump's Gaza Gambit and the Art of the Ultimate Deal

Seems like more than just a CIA cover/slush fund.

Electrum is a naturally or man-made alloy of gold and silver.

In ancient times it was used as coinage.  Egyptians coated the tips of pyramids and obelisks with its shiny metal.

There is a pyramid on the back of the US dollar bill, with a shiny top. What is that image about?

Ancient duck-like creature discovered in Antarctica may be the oldest modern bird ever discovered

A "city-killer" asteroid has a slim chance to crash into Earth. Here's what to know.

Radicals Have Burned California Before

FCC Releases RAW ’60 Minutes’ Train Wreck Interview with Kamala Harris – CBS Responds

At Least 40,000 Fed Workers Accept 'DOGE Buyout' As Deadline Looms Tonight

USAID Shut Down?!

USAID supported the Politico blog

" According to the Columbia Journalism Review, USAID supported 6,200
journalists, 707 news outlets and 279 media sector civil society
organizations in 30 different countries. No wonder the news all sounds the same."

CBS Faces Internal Backlash As Paramount Considers Settlement In Trump Lawsuit

Trump's Plan for Gaza

Uri Berliner: What Congress Should Ask NPR’s Chief

Has Brendan Carr Finally Figured Out How To Stop NPR?

Michael Goodwin: Dems wallow in denial and do the dumbest things – proving they haven’t learned a thing from Trump’s win

The Dynamic Duo Have the Dems on the Run

TRUMP freezes CATHOLIC CHARITIES funding over immigration

Illegals Throwing Anti-ICE Temper Tantrums, Blocking Freeways, Making Friends

"Rank Insubordination": Rubio Says USAID Full Of Rogue Employees

Trump says he will continue funding Ukraine's war effort — but he wants something rare in return

Trump’s Wild Plan for Gaza

Turning A Pink Slip Into A Gold Slip

Letitia James Orders NY Hospitals to Continue Trans Surgeries on Minors

Living the Trans Life In Prison

‘I Risked Everything to Blow the Whistle on Britain’s Grooming Gangs’

Trump 2.0: A Survival Guide for Democrats

New York Times Shock Poll Reveals the Complete Collapse of Democratic Party

The Left Gave Us Trump 2.0. And they're not going to like it.

Why Democrats Lost

Promises made, promises kept

Sympathy Meter Pegged for Thugs at USAID: The Stories Are Coming Out Now

Gaza, reimagined

Yes.

It's about the asteroid extinction event.

Astronomers have spied an asteroid that may be heading for Earth: What we know so far

I blame Trump, or climate change

Returning to Socrates

Syracuse University Prof Worries That if Trump Limits LGBT Topics, She Won’t Have Anything to Teach About

Ten Problems with DEI That Frighten the Public

The Excuses For DEI Programs Get Worse and Worse

The Democrats Show Why They Lost

TRUMP AND THE FIRST RULE OF POLITICS

Trump's Visit to North Carolina Means More Than Many Understand

For all its posturing, Canada will struggle with Trump’s new tariffs

Trump’s Trade War Is On. Plus.

Kristi Noem stops taxpayer money from funding illegal migrant flood

Headmaster Starmer fails to reassure the parents of the nation

The Congo Enters Chaos Spiral As Rwanda Backed Insurgents Invade

I remember looking at it in the British Museum decades ago, but forgot what I learned. The trip to Egypt renewed my curiosity.

It was a chunk of a 200 BC stele of a decree by the Greek (Ptolemy) dynasty in Egypt.

It is written in three scripts: Hieroglyphs on top, Demotic script in the middle, and (ancient) Greek on the bottom.

1 Corinthians 13:1-13

13:1If I speak in the tongues of humans and of angels but do not have love, I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal.

13:2And
if I have prophetic powers and understand all mysteries and all
knowledge and if I have all faith so as to remove mountains but do not
have love, I am nothing.

13:3If I give away all my possessions and if I hand over my body so that I may boast but do not have love, I gain nothing.

13:4Love is patient; love is kind; love is not envious or boastful or arrogant\13:5or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable; it keeps no record of wrongs;

13:6it does not rejoice in wrongdoing but rejoices in the truth.

13:7It bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.

13:8Love
never ends. But as for prophecies, they will come to an end; as for
tongues, they will cease; as for knowledge, it will come to an end.

13:9For we know only in part, and we prophesy only in part,

13:10but when the complete comes, the partial will come to an end.

13:11When
I was a child, I spoke like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned
like a child. When I became an adult, I put an end to childish ways.

13:12For
now we see only a reflection, as in a mirror, but then we will see face
to face. Now I know only in part; then I will know fully, even as I
have been fully known.

13:13And now faith, hope, and love remain, these three, and the greatest of these is love.

Quillette's new system is annoying me

Dumbing Down American Children

Why big tech turned right

Is the climate doomsday cult finally losing power?

Trump Signs Sweeping School Choice Executive Order Aimed at Empowering Parents

How MAGA Won the ‘Sensitive Young Man’

Saturday Miscellany

Chuck Todd to Exit NBC News

Hegseth: 'One of the Dumbest Phrases in Military History'

Do Dems threaten violence?

Ibram Kendi will shut down functionally inactive ‘antiracist’ center, move to Howard

The RFK Jr, Patel and Gabbard Inquisitions Showcase One Irrefutable Conclusion…

Why are they so hostile?

MSNBC:  Tulsi Gabbard can’t be trusted to run American intelligence

She's a Russian spy?

The Dying Establishment Laments

We flew from Cairo to Luxor. Luxor, besides being a lovely town, has Karnak, the Luxor Temple, and lots more. Yeah, if you are of a certain age it can be hard not to think of Johnny Carson.

Interesting that Luxor has been a riverboat tourist spot since the 1850s. Mostly Brits, Americans, and French at that time. Good for a "rest cure," "good air for the lungs," - and work for the mostly-amateur archeologists.

We met our elegant riverboat (with a gym and pool on board) in Luxor. The Sonesta St. George. The boat's lobby all set up for January Coptic Christmas (our Captain and many of the crew were Coptic and, as I mentioned earlier, few of the passengers were American or Brit) :

Some cool pics below the fold -