Maggie's Farm

We linked to a piece about the Israeli police this morning. It's not a good idea to assault Israeli police.

Civilization - civilized behavior - is a thin veneer. At the extremes, if we aren't armed, all we have is the thin blue line. I happen to be armed at home. I can legally carry, but I don't bother. I believe I can not legally carry in NY State anyway and Mrs. BD and I do love visiting NYC. Plus 2 of our kids live there quite happily.

I don't know the details of NYC police protocol, and I am not saying that these guys should have been shot (maybe), but should they have been tased and roughed up at the very least? As a relatively law-abiding citizen, I do not expect to put up with this behavior. It could be police, or it could be me. 

Would not bother me at all if the cops had shot the bad guys. What good would jail do? In Rikers, you'd get macho points, respect, for assaulting a police officer.

 NYPD officers assaulted in 3 incidents in as many days as 2 accused attackers freed without bail over prosecutors’ objections

 Full performance of Fast Car by Tracy Chapman with Luke Combs at the Grammys. 

 Amazon sells these houses for $19,000

Gen Zers whine that they need therapy — from the stress of filing taxes

 The Trans-Children Era is About to Be Memory-Holed & the Perpetrators Will Be Disavowing Involvement

 University of Arkansas appears to follow through with dismantling DEI

 "This Is Fascism": Machete-Wielding Professor Fired Again

Schumer: If We Don’t Aid Ukraine Then ‘We Could be Fighting in Eastern Europe’

That is bs 

Don't mess with Israeli police 

 We all were lied to – Gaza was a modern developed city before October 7th

 Who Is Winning the Gaza War?

How throwing soup at the Mona Lisa can help climate change

 Canada halts controversial assisted suicide program for mentally ill due to lack of doctors willing to participate

 American’s Mental Health Crisis Is So Bad That Millions Of People Are Venting To Elmo’s Twitter Account

 New Hampshire Town Alarmed Due to the Opening of a New “Diaper Spa” Where Adults Wear Diapers and Pretend to be Babies

 Students at California school struggling after $250K in federal funds spent on ‘Woke Kindergarten’ program

 From easier math classes in high school to the elimination of standardized tests to extreme grade-inflation to DEI tropes that elevate lived experiences and ways of knowing over facts and data, the trend represents a pressing problem for science professors working to protect STEM and preserve its standards and meritocracy.

 Gay teens who couldn't come to terms with their sexuality share how they removed their breasts and genitals in false hope that becoming transgender would 'cure' them, as concerns mount that 'gender-affirming care' for children is homophobic

 I Was Told to Approve All Teen Gender Transitions. I Refused. For six years I worked at a hospital that said all teenagers with gender dysphoria must be affirmed. I quit my job to blow the whistle.

 The Case Against Content Moderation - Aggressive content moderation is presented as a necessary response to hate speech and misinformation—but it's more like a moral panic.

 Trump predicted disaster of sanctuary cities in 2019

Trump as the Antichrist

 Israeli special forces operating in Gaza. Wait for it

 The Cancer That Doctors Don’t Want to Call Cancer

 The ketamine economy: New mental health clinics are a 'Wild West' with few rules

 American Psychological Association claims merit-based hiring is UNFAIR

 Inside Oberlin College’s failed auto-da-fé - When it comes to women’s sports, former lacrosse coach Kim Russell is firmly in the camp of objective science

 Further Notes On Mann v. Steyn: The Plaintiff Rests

 Portland Declares Emergency Over Fentanyl Crisis Three Years After Decriminalizing Drug Possession

 The Dissatisfaction of Young Voters

Focus on Treatment, Not “Stigma”Why do we accept the disorder and violence stemming from untreated serious mental illness?

The FAA's Hiring Scandal: A Quick Overview

 Biden Admin-Released Migrant Crime Wave Sweeping Sanctuary Cities

 Tom Friedman Laments

 Christian Cowboys Save an Israeli Woman’s Farm

 Hermit crabs are 'wearing' our plastic rubbish

California Becomes First State To Ban Heterosexual Marriage

 GO SEE “AMERICAN FICTION”

' American Fiction’ is a Hilarious Plea to Hollywood to Stop Stereotyping Minorities

 The Seeming Impossibility of Life

 New state-mandated tampon dispenser in Conn. HS boys bathroom ripped down in just 20 minutes

 UConn seeks engineering ‘inclusion’ professor

 The American Federation of Teachers Comes Out for Hamas - Destroying the education of a generation wasn't enough for Randi Weingarten.

Just about everyone in America seems to be angry at higher education.

 What Do American Universities and Communist Political Systems Have in Common? More than you think.

 Opportunity, Not Tragedy - The DEI ship at Harvard and other elite universities is probably too big to turn around

 Jordan Peterson is doomed to be a victim of woke culture

 Failing Upward at the State Department - Plus: Biden our time with Iran, the new proletariat, the great Kelce-Swift stupidification, and more.

 Moving to Red America - Americans have disproportionately relocated to Republican-led states that imposed the fewest and least severe Covid-19 mandates.

Justice Sotomayor says her job is too hard 

Tucker interviews Russel Brand 

 NY Times: Migrants Keep Coming Because They Know They Can Stay

 ‘Black Swan’ author Nassim Taleb, who correctly called the 2008 financial crisis, says the U.S. is in a ‘death spiral’ over government debt

 Brains Are Not Required When It Comes to Thinking and Solving Problems—Simple Cells Can Do It

William Shatner Slams European Union Gender Equality Proposal to Ban Star Trek’s Iconic, “To Boldly Go Where No Man Has Gone Before”

 Harvard’s ‘Diversity’ Chief Accused Of Over 40 Instances Of Plagiarism

 Across the globe, people are choosing to have fewer children or none at all. 

 Bestseller Reparations - In ‘American Fiction,’ director Cord Jefferson brings a devil-may-care effrontery to bear on the culture of self-censorship, progressive pieties, and artistic hypocrisy.

Stuart's Wednesday Potpourri 

Taibbi:  The Anti-Democratic Movement Targeted Ralph Nader First. We Should Have Paid More Attention. The recent ballot access challenges, political investigations, and canceled primaries are just an extension of a phenomenon we should have seen coming twenty years ago

Illegal migrants from all over the world. It is an invasion, of sorts, without arms. There are many routes to legal immigration and most Americans are ok with that. Who wants open borders?

 Illegals from China, Turkey and India Cross Border in San Diego County

 Climate Change Causes Infant Mortality

 A Study of How Americans Die

  PUBLIC SCHOOL BLOAT

 Almost One-Third of Gen Z Now Gender-Queer

 EU Wants All 'Gendered Language' Erased

Tipping is good 

 Canadian officials fume over Tucker Carlson’s speech, proclaim they 'won’t stand for it'

 'Army Of God' Convoy Heads To US Border While EU Farmers Block Cities

The peasants are revolting 

 Soros, Facebook, And Omidyar Money Behind Attacks On German Farmers

Canada:  Public has proof that his (Trudeau's) government used faked intelligence to illegally frame protesting truckers as violent extremists.

“Undeniable at This Point” – Elon Musk Weighs in on Joe Biden’s Open Borders

 George Soros Spending Millions to Turn Texas Blue

Why? Strange.

Islam :

1,400 years ago, when Islam was created in the 7th century, Iran was Zoroastrian—today Muslim. Iraq was Christian; today it’s Muslim. Turkey was Christian; today it’s Muslim. Lebanon was Christian; today, with a Muslim majority, the Christians are disappearing from there. Egypt was Christian; today it's 92% Muslim. ..

I have no idea how these stats are calculated, but supposedly just over 70% of Americans are overweight, and 40% obese. 

It's just interesting. Asking "why?" is silly.

 What to expect from this year's rare double brood of cicadas

 A RABBI FOR CHRISTIANS

 Physical activity’s relationship with depression is more complex than it appears, study shows

 The Seven Laws of Pessimism -If life is better than ever before, why does the world seem so depressing?

 Biden’s new tribal consent laws force NYC Museum of Natural History to close Native American exhibits

 Diversity training does more harm than good

The News About the News Business Is Getting Grimmer

 You Can't Defend 'Democracy' and the Administrative State

Stuart's  Saturday Miscellany

 Trump must pay E. Jean Carroll over $83 million in defamation damages, jury rules

 Climate Alarmist Mann is Not Paying a Penny for his Army of Lawyers

Sketchy economics of rooftop solar 

 The Texas Resistance Backed by 25 Governors. Do states have a right to defend their own borders?

 Biden’s border dereliction forced Gov. Abbott’s hand, and caused a national crisis

" A follower just sent me this video from earlier today of a group of migrants on a boat reaching the shores of a beach  in La Jolla , CA. "

 Cultural Replacement: Why The Immigration Crisis Is Being Deliberately Engineered

 BORDER WARNING FROM RETIRED FBI AGENTS

 TGIF: Soldiers of the Resistance - Democratic Socialists of America has a budget crisis. Hamas thanks U.S. college kids. Trump keeps soaring. Oakland’s In-N-Out shuts down. 

 Israel’s War on Hamas is the Least Deadly War in the Region. So why does the media describe it as “among the deadliest… in history”?

 Good News: US Halts UNRWA Funding Over Staff Involvement in October 7 Attacks

It's been a long road, with many changes over the years (but with no changes to our antique graphic presentation).

We (and "we") has changed plenty over the years. I spose our vision - if there was one - has been to be an eclectic site. Yes, we try to have a daily bulletin board of interesting and/or timely items, but we don't aim to "cover the news," whatever that means.

It can look like a conservative site, but it's intended to be more contrarian. Traditionalist. Skeptical for sure - always because the world is full of BS and propaganda and always was. When the MSM is riding some ideologically-motivated, politically-biased hobby horse, we like to offer other views. Sometimes rightly, sometimes in error, but I still think our perspectives are mostly rational and skeptical.

I do appreciate all of the people who send me links to use. That's good, but it would be fun to have more voluntary writers. People do get worn out by it over time and, if it's no longer fun, why bother?  Simpler just to email links to the Editor - little ol' me.

As best I can tell, several millions of people look at our site each year from all over the world (blocked in China I think but not in Norway). That is cool, but there is no vision of what we want to be or become - if anything. Never made one penny from this hobby, and some think that is stupid. Maybe, but I never made a penny from playing tennis either but when I played well, Mrs. BD noticed...

If you have plenty of good content, Substack seems like a place to offer it these days. Getting crowded though. Lots of competition in the arena of public affairs but not many sites love Farmall tractors.

Yeah, always loved our old Farmall except on steeps. Little scary on steeps - not built for our New England hills. 

 BLAZING SADDLES HISTORY MONTH

 This Lancet paper on ‘dangers of undervaccination’ should never have been published

 Why We Went Crazy During the COVID Lockdowns

I didn't 

 Last year, for Black History Month, Franck Sylvestre was canceled for racial stereotypes even though he’s black

 EU Looks To Accelerate Development Of Small Nuclear Reactors

 Great News! The Climate Is Much Better Than Predicted. Now We Can Calm Down!

The US Has The Biggest Govt In The History Of The World... By A Very Wide Margin

 “The administrative state,” Heritage Foundation President Dr. Kevin Roberts declared in front of the annual gathering of the World Economic Forum in Davos last week, “is the greatest threat to democracy in the United States, and we need to end it.” 

 The Top 1% Richest Of the Country Feel That Normal Americans Have Too Much Freedom, and That Meat, Fuel, and Electricity Should Be Strictly Rationed to the Lower Orders

Red States Declaring 'I Am Texacus'

 Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson Calls for Ceasefire in Gaza - but not in Chicago

 Trump’s Insults and Rants Mask a Ruthlessly Efficient Campaign

 ‘Europeans Will Succumb to Islam,’ Says Former Intelligence Chief

 You Ain't Seen Nothin' Yet As the Long Knives REALLY Come Out for Trump

 Who Is Winning the War in Gaza?

 The October 7 'genocide' video evidence in full

Police states always install political officers in organizations. Nazis, communists, etc. I am always reminded of the Political Officer in the Hunt for Red October movie.

Yeah, DEI administrators are political officers. It makes sense for employees to fear them.

Roger Kimball discusses Bill Ackman's "touching naivete" and related issues. 

It's about 140 square miles - the size of many US towns. Maybe 6 million people packed in it.

 Farmers against beavers in Scotland

 REMEMBERING MAO’S CARNIVAL OF HATE

 Fifty-Year-Old Male Who Identifies as a 15-Year-Old Girl Is Welcomed on the Girls' Swim Team

 Most Gen Z lack this workplace skill — and it could cost them a job

 The Harvard DEI complex is stronger than ever

 Public Education's Alarming New 4th 'R': Reversal of Learning

 The Bachelor and The Bachelorette provide evidence for evolutionary theories of partner selection

 How to Slander a Person and Get Away With It, NBC and ADL Edition

  ADL Alerts Law Enforcement to Matt Walsh, Chris Rufo, Libs of TikTok

 The Most Dangerous Conservative

UK Doctor Suspended After Calling Hamas Attack On Israel A "Very Welcome Punch On The Nose"

 NYU Professor Tells Students of Hamas Atrocities: ‘We Know It’s Not True’

 News Host Charles Payne Turns the Tables on Democrat Strategist Jessica Tarlov and Goes Scorched Earth on Joe Biden’s Sick Hatred of Trump Supporters

 Donald Trump's Next Move Should Be a Trip to the Southern Border

 They Are Coming For Your Coffee Now

Not likely 

 Kerry calls for greenie restrictions on farming, or people will starve

In the Biggest Cases, Big Law Tilts Decisively Left

 Have Our Elites Lost The Mandate Of Heaven?

 More Academic Integrity Problems at Harvard

 The shameless campaign to silence Jordan Peterson - The world-famous psychologist is being sent for re-education by his professional body.

 The LA Times Appears to Be in a State of Imminent Collapse

 Nine Democrat Governors Pressure Biden and Congress to Address Border Crisis

 NYPD Police Officer Who Threw Water Cooler at Fleeing Drug Suspect Charged with Manslaughter

 ‘I’d Stay Hidden’: CNN’s Van Jones Urges Biden to Repeat 2020 Basement Campaign

 Why I love the blue-state refugees moving to my red state

 MSNBC Hosts Utterly Melt Down Over Trump's NH Win

 DONALD TRUMP, RACIST?

 ‘Lord Ram Has Arrived’: Indian PM Modi Leads the Consecration of the New Grand Temple, as Hindu Religious Fervor Sweeps the Country

 Israeli Military Now Says It's "Impossible" To Destroy Vast Hamas Tunnel Network

 Hamas Leader: We Reject a Two State Solution. We Demand It All.

  Yale students walk out of class on first day of semester to protest school’s ‘complicity in genocide.’

 Not Just America, Canada is Being Demographically Transformed. Only 9% of Canadians want more immigrants.

 Canada Considering Measures To Limit Migrants Entering The Nation Demanding Asylum

Your brain is hard-wired to avoid exercise. Here's why

 Trust The Science? Fauci Finally Admits Pandemic Errors

 The New Victorians - Cancel Culture is happening on a historic scale, 

 Climahysterics Predict One Foot Of Sea Rise For NYC In Next Decade

 They’re Black Democrats. And They’re Suing Chicago Over Migrants.

 Playwright David Mamet Says ‘Trump Was the Best President Since Abraham Lincoln’

Germany in Decline

Green bell peppers are just unripe red bell peppers.

 American Dependence: The Rise of Single Parenthood. There’s a strong circumstantial case that welfare benefits increased single parenthood to some extent, but to what extent is difficult to nail down using scientifically rigorous methods.

 ADMINISTRATORS — NOT JUST DEI ADMINISTRATORS — ARE THE BIGGEST THREAT TO FREE SPEECH ON CAMPUS

 What Do College Administrators Do?

Why can't Americans make chips? 

 Biden finally admits border isn’t secure, believes ‘massive changes’ needed: ‘I’m ready to act’

 Journalist Uncovers "Shadowy Network" Of NGOs Facilitating US Border Invasion

 Infamous ‘Zuckbucks’ Group Tries To Election-Meddle Again — This Time With Federal Tax Dollars

 Heritage Foundation President Dishes Truth to Davos Elites

 'Someone Is Going To Die Today': Did Daniel Penny Act in Self-Defense?

  Cuba's communists blame tiny private sector for their economic mismanagement, hike their taxes 20%

 Adding impact to exercise can keep aging bones strong, research indicates

Duh 

California's attempt at forcing gig workers to become traditional employees backfired by driving many of those workers out of their jobs.

 A professor, vice president, and Chief Diversity Officer at Johns Hopkins Medicine created a list of groups she claimed are “privileged.”

 "Food Deserts" Rise In Democrat Run Cities As Grocers Leave In Droves

"People are saying it feels like we’re sleepwalking off a cliff... The left is kind of despairing and divided and exhausted...."

 TGIF: TimHouthi Chalamet - Trump sweeps Iowa. Americans riot over a cup. Milei is the talk of Davos. Plus: A lost city, flying cars, and much more.

 VDH: The Hysterical Style In American Politics

... the progressive movement cannot enact its unpopular agendas. So it must scare the people silly and gin up chaos to destroy its perceived enemies—any crisis it can.

 A Conservative Executive Bought the Baltimore Sun Newspaper and the Left is Freaking Out

 Delusional in Davos

 Why the Davos Smart Set Sounds Dumb

 Davos Man had the honor of hearing Jamie Dimon, the CEO of America’s major bank, tell them to cut out the trash talk about Donald Trump.

 Javier Milei Tells World Leaders: 'The State Is Not the Solution'. Speaking at the Davos conference, the Argentine president said the key to prosperity lies in free market ideals and capitalism.

 Israel Destroys Hamas’s Main Weapons Manufacturing Site, Uncovers New Vast Tunnel Network. The IDF: Destroyed Hamas weapons factories were “connected to a tunnel route hundreds of kilometers long.”

 Netanyahu In Blistering Rebuke Of US Post-War Plans: "Israel Will Control Entire Area From The River To The Sea"

 Climate change anxiety: A hidden contributor to prenatal distress in expectant mothers

 Largest Ape Ever Went Extinct Because of... Climate Change?

 The Most Ridiculous 75 Seconds Of Bullshit From Davos Yet On "Ecocide"

 Elections Will Soon Be a Quaint Relic of the Past, Says Globalist Klaus Schwab

 What Books Are Really Getting Banned?

 Doctors protest proposed DEI emphasis in Canadian medical school training

 The Most Florida Man Story Ever

DEI’s Attack Dog - The Southern Poverty Law Center is assisting the Biden administration’s sham campaign against “domestic terrorism.”

 Build the Wall - an Interview

 EU President Says Number One Challenge for Global Control Systems in Next Two Years is to Control Information and Speech

 John Kerry Goes Full Davos Totalitarian: No Politician Can Reverse Climate Change Policy

 WEF creeps descend on Davos to ‘rebuild trust’... and subsequently book all the local prostitutes

 A Canadian court ruled against Jordan Peterson on mandated re-education classes 

Federal gummint gets a snow day 

 Courts, The New Campaign Trail

 Why Trump bewilders psychiatrists

 What’s really working for Trump

 Rachel Maddow announced that MSNBC would not be covering Trump’s victory speech, and CNN cut away after just a few minutes of it. Why was that?

 Dems Spend on Pregnant Boys and Worldwide LGBTism

America Works. DEI Doesn’t.

 The Supreme Court could put an end to urban squalor

 JPMorgan CEO and Dem Donor Jamie Dimon Defends Trump and MAGA — Calls Out Democrats for Demonizing Millions of Americans: ‘Democrats Need to Grow Up’

 Will the Supreme Court Finish Trump’s War Against Regulation? The former president made little headway while in office against the administrative state, but the Roberts court is ready to step in.

" Technocrats have long told us what we can and can’t do, what we’re allowed to own, what our kids must learn in school, and so on. For the most part, we never voted for any of that, yet we have gone along docilely, not noticing or not caring or, at best, unwilling to make waves."

 Ultra-Large Structure Discovered in Distant Space Defies Our Current Understanding of the Universe

 Leonard Bernstein Deserved Better Than ‘Maestro’

Doctor Does Actual Biology, Gets Suspended

 Why Gen Z Is Ditching The Girlboss For The Tradwife

 UMich now has more than 500 jobs dedicated to DEI, payroll costs exceed $30 million

 Basically, the average European suffers from high taxes, high prices, tiny homes and cars, and, increasingly, less freedom. But tourists sipping tea in London or shopping in Paris rarely, if ever, see this, or understand it if they do.

 Free Press Investigations Get Results. DEI in retreat. A captured imam is freed. An anti-Israel map is taken down. Plus, Carole Hooven on leaving Harvard, a hostage speaks, and more.

 Trump Triggering the Lefties Never Ceases to Amuse and Entertain

 What Really Happened to George Floyd?

 World Power Politics

 Seventeen-year-old Agam Goldstein-Almog saw Hamas murder her father and sister before her eyes. Then she was taken to Gaza.