Maggie's Farm

The Threat of Free Speech, Yesterday and Today

Free thought is mainly a threat to governments and the power-seeking 

 Human brain is superior and more efficient than artificial intelligence, scientists say

 'To Make A Snowflake'

Bari Weiss:  Going Pantsless? An Economic Boom? World War III? Our Predictions for 2024

 The Free Press Goes to the Movies - Grab the popcorn and get ready for awards season, as our team gives you the score on Maestro, May December, Poor Things, Priscilla, Napoleon and more.

 IT’S ALWAYS JANUARY 6 SOMEWHERE

Sheesh - evil rebels 

In The New York Times, "Colonialism" Explains Everything

 The Southern Poverty Law Center’s New Enemy: Americans Who Accept Biology. A new SPLC propaganda document claims to ‘expose’ a vast ‘Anti-LGBTQ+ Pseudoscience Network’ that’s supposedly targeting trans people.

 Al Sharpton defense of Claudine Gay is pure race hustle

" Gay’s inexplicable rise and quite explicable fall illustrate, in a difficult-to-misinterpret fashion, the plain grift that is the DEI industry."

 Unrepentant DEI at MIT - The diversity ideology marches on at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

 WaPo Reporter Who Was Schooled by Ramaswamy Does Exactly What He Said She Would

 Study Found No ‘Extremism’ Problem in the Military, Despite Biden Administration’s Narrative

 Black Chicagoans Vowing to ‘Make Chicago Red’ as Migrant Crisis Roils Windy City

 Eric Adams Suing Bus Companies Bringing Migrants From Texas to NYC. Boohoo. Cry me a river, Mayor. You wanted to be a sanctuary city. You face nothing compared to what Texas deals with on a daily basis.

Left to Rot, Bedford Springs Celebrates Regaining Its Former Glory

 "How many American cats live largely or entirely outdoors? (More than a hundred million.) What proportion of them kill birds? (More than half.)"

 We stopped taking Ozempic and Wegovy — and regained more weight than we lost

 Letting Anorexics Die, or Not

 NY Times Has Already Decided What The Stories Of Climate Doom Will Be In 2024

 The 'Risky' Business of Showing All Sides

 Biden’s Hidden Re-Election Advantage Comes Into Focus for 2024 and Should Worry the Republicans

 The Blue-State Exodus Could Have Profound Effects on GOP Power

 Dehumanizing Anti-Civilization Dogma Behind DEI’s Destruction Of Universities - It's time to build the alternative

 NY Times Moron Defends Ousted Harvard President Claudine Gay: ‘This is an Attack on Diversity’

VDH:  Harvard—Out the Frying Pan Into the Fire - Gay’s removal is not the end of Harvard’s dilemma. Rather, it is the beginning.

 CNN anchor assures viewers that Claudine Gay did not plagiarize, she’s only accused of ‘copying other people’s writings without attribution’

 Bill Ackman: How to Fix Harvard. Claudine Gay’s ouster won’t change things. The college needs a complete overhaul, starting with a resignation of the board and the removal of DEI from every corner of the institution…

 Ramaswamy Destroys WaPo Reporter Over Dumb Gotcha Question About ‘White Supremacy'

 The Day The Dollar Dies?

 Ukraine's Leopard 2 Tanks Are Nearly All Destroyed Or Broken

 Psychologists Were Wrong About the Science of Self Control

Electric Vehicles Have Become Solyndra on Steroids

Not taught good manners:  Anti-Israel Girl Who Attacked Teenager in IDF Sweatshirt Graduated From Barack Obama School for Social Justice. “Free Palestine! F*cking die, b*tch!”

 The price of failure: Outgoing Harvard President Claudine Gay is still set to earn $900,000-a-year by returning to professor's job at embattled college's political sciences department

Contra NPR, this was not a "Right Wing scalp". 

 Fortunately or unfortunately, Harvard matters a lot.

Stuart's Wednesday Potpourri 

 Destroying Democracy to Save It: Maine Shows the Danger of Zealots in our Legal System

VDH:  The Utter Insanity of Joe Biden’s Open Border - If the amorality of illegal immigration were not so deleterious to Americans, its absurdity would be laughable.

 Across the globe, millions of people are on the move, defying borders and violating laws to escape poor countries in Africa, Asia and Latin America and break into rich countries.  The United States is their No. 1 destination.

 Thank You, But… Virtually without exception, the United States has always opposed Israel’s decision to go to war

Gift the tiny Gaza Strip to Egypt, please. They can build some beach hotels with umbrella drinks on the Med shore.

C&H toon via Briggs

 Why Did So Many Climbers Die on Mount Everest This Year?

 Elon Musk is presently the richest man in the world. He may also be the smartest.

 Toxic positivity at work: Why too much optimism can hurt employee productivity, experts say

 Inside ‘digusting’ Florida prison where Ghislaine Maxwell is serving 20 years: moldy bread, bug-infested cereal, leaks plugged with feminine pads

Sowell:  "I don’t need some half-white woman from Martha’s Vineyard telling me about being black,”

 Tens of Thousands of Career “Civil Service” Administrators in Washington, DC, Apoplectic That Trump Might Fire Them

 Jack Smith Rings in New Year by Asserting That Trump Threatens the ‘Constitutional Foundations of Our Republic’

 Bill Barr: I Oppose Trump—and Any Efforts to Ban Him From the Ballot

 Wait, There's More: Harvard's Claudine Gay Hit With New Plagiarism Allegations

Sheesh

Hey - a new year. Time to join a gym and make a nutrition plan? (That's joking - such resolutions never work)

 How exercise really is the antidote for ALL that ails you: The definitive evidence that shows just 20 minutes a day can help prevent almost every disease

Pure illogic 

2023 -  The Year Reheated

Stuart:  Good-bye, 2023

 'Incompetence Has Consequences' & Other Lessons From 2023

  How to Think for Yourself in 2024

 Has Feminism And 'Hoeflation' Destroyed Dating In The West?

 Conservatives are disappearing from the professions

 Mental health problems not reduced after obesity surgery in young people

 'Interior Race Theory': Your Home Is Likely 'Racist,' White People

The Element of Crime, Part One - Reflections on the impact that lawlessness—and an inescapable awareness of it—has on society and the psyche

 Andrea Bocelli: Breaking the barriers of victim mentality

 Portland Poop Crisis Triggers Bacteria Outbreak Normally Found In Third World

'The Good Men Project’ Denounces Whites as Racist For Being Anti-Racist

Gaza: The Girl With Six Identities

Never believe anything in war or politics 

Their name sounds like some people in Star Wars. Who are the Houthis?

Hidden from Public: Q Shaman Stands Outside Doors of US Capitol and Tells Everyone to Go Home – Reads Trump Tweet to Stay Peaceful and Go Home #Insurrection

Whoever came up with the term "insurrection" for a protest was a good propagandizer.

Related:  Yuval Levin on the attempts to defeat Trump with litigation

I've seen smear campaigns, but this one takes the cake. 

 The War on Gas Stoves Has Basically Failed

 Scientists Destroy 99% of Cancer Cells in The Lab Using Vibrating Molecules

 AI can already diagnose depression better than a doctor and tell you which treatment is best

I doubt it 

 New study highlights the psychological power of minimal social interactions

Seems true 

Stuart's Saturday Miscellany 

Elements of Crime:

 In 2022, a mere 327 people accounted for nearly a third of all shoplifting arrests in New York; apprehended and sprung from custody ad nauseam, like Batman villains, in total they were arrested and rearrested more than 6,000 times.

Kimball:  When will Harvard give Claudine Gay the boot?

 MAINE GOES CRAZY

 The Left had a difficult year. Its internal splits were pronounced

 Millions Of People Of Color Endure Grueling Thousand Mile Trek In Effort To Enter Systemically Racist White Supremacist Hellhole

Socialist Protests Erupt In Argentina As Milei Implements "Austerity" Cuts

 Massive Russian Air Raid – Industrial, Military and Infrastructure Facilities Hit in Ukraine – 122 Missiles and 24 Drones Used – Was It the Largest of the War?

 America is unprepared to fight a war on three fronts. The democratic world is sleepwalking once again towards military disaster

Ford Slashing EV Production in Half Next Year

 Trigger warnings do not work, according to recent meta-analysis

Duh 

 Nation's White Liberals Wish Each Other Happy Kwanza

 Mayor Eric Adams: Illegal Immigration Spurring ‘Erosion of Quality of Life’ in New York City

 The migrant crisis isn’t just socking New York’s budget but its economy, too

Mrs. BD and 2 of the grandkids had a great time in NYC yesterday 

 Another tragic victim of Trump Derangement Syndrome

 Maine Secretary of State Gets Destroyed After Removing Trump From the Ballot

 A Reckoning for a Wrecked America

 What Detransitioners Taught Me About the Risks of Therapy - The Bad Feelings Experts Can Exacerbate Teens' Bad Feelings

 The Racism, Revenge, and Ruin of Claudine Gay

 TGIF: Take Me to Our Leaders - Nikki Haley’s slavery slip-up. Maine bans Trump from the ballot. Elizabeth Warren has a yen for YIMBYs. Plus, Casey DeSantis for president.

Haley was technically correct, but it's politics

 Who Supports Hamas?

 ‘Screams Without Words’: How Hamas Weaponized Sexual Violence on Oct. 7

War tends to include sexual violence. American soldiers an exception. 

 Leftist Politician in Germany Says Migrants Are “Entitled” to Mass Loot Grocery Stores

Our Last Ford F-150 Lightning EV Pickup Road Trip Was a Nightmare

 Remember When Public Buildings Were Beautiful?

 Men Can Get Free Tampons in Canadian Government Building Bathrooms Now

By now, everyone, including its proponents, knows that DEI (Diversity, Equity, Inclusion) means nothing of the sort. It isn’t diverse, it isn’t equitable, and it certainly isn’t inclusive.

 Funding for Failure - Even as its black students lag disastrously behind, the Los Angeles Unified School District pours more taxpayer dollars into racial and ideological indoctrination.

 HOW LEFT-WING IS THE PRESS?

 Hundreds of California Pizza Hut locations announce ‘no more delivery’

 Delta Employee Puts Whiny Transgender Actor in His Place For Complaining About Being “Misgendered”

 Like Bud Light, Harvard discovers backlash. Claudine Gay shows why you shouldn't hire a person based solely on sex and race

 Jonathan Turley Inserts Trump Into Die Hard Storyline

 ‘Even Latinxs are Cringing’: CO Gov. Jared Polis Blasted Over Awkward ‘Feliz Navidad’ Video

 "Mass Migration Blueprints" Reveal NGOs "Carefully Planned" US Migrant Invasion, Report Says

 Your new neighbors are on the way. This caravan is heading for the U.S. border

 Texas Intensifies Strategy, Plans to Send More Flights of Illegal Immigrants to Chicago in Response to City’s Efforts to Slow the Arrival of Buses from Texas

 The Dublin Riot: A Harbinger of Things to Come?

 Matti Friedman: The Wisdom of Hamas- They understand the war they’re fighting. Many in the West still don’t.

 Israel Updates: Amb. Ido Aharoni Aronoff Addressing the JNF-USA Daily Briefing (video)

Dalrymple: " One of the great pleasures of retirement is that one can lie abed in the morning and read Agatha Christie without any feeling of guilt..."

The Winner of Our Senior Essay Contest: A Love Song for Deborah. After my wife was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s, I nearly gave in to despair. Until I found the one thing that awakened her.

Inside Disney’s disastrous year of box office flops

 This year, Canadian patients faced a median wait of 27.7 weeks for medically necessary treatment from a specialist after being referred by a general practitioner. 

 New Headwind For 'Gender-Affirming Care' For Children: Soaring Malpractice Insurance Costs

 Another Major US Chip Plant Delays Mass Production Until After 2024 Election

VDH:  2024—the Year of our Reckoning. Will we meet the challenges or ensure the ongoing decline?

 California Unexpectedly Hit by Bad Luck As Top Wealth Producers Flee the State

 Is Britain 'Erasing the Right to Protest?'

 Britain's Net Zero Disaster & The Wind Power Scam

 Claudine Gay Update -- Now It's Allegations Of Data Falsification

 The “Exhilaration” of Massacre: Russell Rickford and the Radical Chic of Higher Education

 Joe and Jill Biden Celebrate Kwanzaa – A Phony Holiday Created by a Violent Felon Who Tortured Two Naked Women

 Professors: U.S. a genocidal ‘settler colonial state’ that needs to be ‘dismantled’

 DEI Comes to Jasper, Indiana

 The 'Functional Collapse' at the Southern Border Is Central Planning

Boxing Day is the traditional day to tip your helpers of the past year. Besides househeld help like Butler, Ladies' Maids, cook, sucllery maids, Housemaids, footmen, doormen, etc., best to include the early morning Dunkin Donuts crew, the garbagemen, postman, and other people who routinely make your life go better. At 5:30 AM on Christmas Eve, en route to my gym, I noticed the Dunkin tip jar filled with $10 bills. You bet, because everybody depends on them.

 The year of Ozempic bodies and Barbie Botox - Corporate feminism will not save us.

 The Cross and the Machine - After years of atheism, I went searching for the truth. I found Buddhism, then witchcraft, and eventually, Christianity.

 "Christmas Is Canceled": Scuffles, Arrests In NYC As Pro-Palestinian Protesters Storm Manhattan

 The Latest Billionaire Bails on Harvard

Harvard does not need $

An Ex-Democrat's Case for Trump

 By Trying To Keep Trump Off The Ballot, Democrats Are Staging A Coup In Broad Daylight

 Jack (Smith) Not So Nimble

 Of Course Hamas Supporters Wanted to "Disrupt Christmas"

 Hamas fires on Gaza civilians seeking humanitarian aid

 This will be the saddest Christmas in Bethlehem. All celebrations have been canceled. There will be no Christmas tree, no visitors, no parades

New York Times sparks outrage over running op-ed by Hamas mayor: ‘You have no shame or dignity’

I disagree. We should hear all propaganda

We've been posting too many menus. OK, Christmas Eve here, after church, is usually poached salmon with yoghurt/dill sauce. I like that sauce more than I like salmon. Christmas Eve is sposta be a "fasting" thing.

Christmas morning? I make breakfast for Mrs. BD: Scrambled eggs with good caviar on top, and a stinky French cheese. We aren't much into the presents thing, but I do put the caviar in her stocking. Yum.

Christmas Day with some family? Made it easy for us: Spiral ham, roast carrots, roast brussel sprouts, mashed taters, and Grandma's Corn Pudding. Then a Santa cake. 

What about you? 

The student loan scam 

 It’s Almost 2024 And Doctors Are Still Misleading The Public About Youth Gender Medicine

A Week in Education 

 ALAN DERSHOWITZ: Doctors Without Borders Needs To Be Investigated For Acting Like A Hamas Front Group

 The Progressive Approach To Homelessness Comes To Madison, Wisconsin

Kimball:  Will The Guardians of The Narrative Win? We watch the unfolding of an unedifying spectacle

Stuart's Miscellany 

 If Rumors About Who's Running the Show Are True, It'll Be a Very Houthi Christmas

 Biden Might Lose, So Screw the Constitution

 Does Ditching Your Phone for Three Days Actually Rewire Your Brain? I stuffed my iPhone in a drawer for 72 hours. Here's what happened.

 The Perils of Online Dating

Maybe, but you can meet lots more people online than in daily life 

 Pope Francis’s vandalism of tradition distracts us from being good Christians

 NY’s exodus won’t stop ’til the state reverses its ever-leftward course

 Elite American Universities Completely Beyond Hope

 Why Do Poor People Commit More Crime?

Do they? 

 The Colorado Insurrection

 TGIF: Down with Democracy! Colorado revolts against Trump. Chicago rebels against migrants. NYC mayors go rogue. A Senate sex tape goes viral. Plus, how I learned to stop worrying and love the Houthis.

 Ramaswamy Threatens To Boycott Colorado Primary, Turley Rages, And Luntz Warns Of 'Backfiring' Lawfare Against Trump

 Trump Derangement Syndrome Meltdown of the Week — New Year's Resolution Liberal Tears Edition

 Will Partisan Lawfare Destroy Trump? We have never seen anything like this before in American history

 Tucker Carlson Discusses the Big Picture of The Colorado Supreme Court Decision and the Use of the Term “Insurrection”

Yes, Americans, We're Being Replaced — ALL of Us

 Biden is breaking the border on purpose — he wants mass amnesty

 Cry Victim: Chicago Mayor Rages Over Buses Of Immigrants From Texas

 Israel Expands Gaza Operation as Netanyahu Tells Hamas Terrorists to “Surrender or Die”

 Why Antisemitism Sprouted So Quickly on Campus

I support Israel's self-defense 

 Israel charts unmapped ways to treat trauma of freed child hostages

 Washington Post: Ukraine War Is No Longer Newsworthy

 New York City is still the best — except when it isn’t

 ‘DINKs’ Should Rethink Their Anti-Child Views

Update on climate litigation

 Women Are Fat Not Because Donuts But Because “Discrimination”

 Teacher Union President Randi Weingarten: School Choice ‘is About Undermining Democracy’

 Ending Environmental, Social, and Governance Investing and Restoring the Economic Enlightenment

 Time to Throw Chevron Overboard: Loper Bright Enterprises v. Raimondo

 'There's no more room': Migrants being held for days at Eagle Pass are seen passing out as THOUSANDS cram makeshift pen with no roof because ALL Border Patrol facilities in Texas are full

 ALAN DERSHOWITZ: Colorado's unconstitutional anti-Trump judicial power grab will trigger Republican retaliation and plunge the 2024 election into chaos

Who would invest in a Nigerian business? 

 The Global Empire of Palestine - The Palestinians have something better than a state. They have the backing of today’s worldwide power brokers.

 The Rolling Stones rocker Keith Richards celebrates both his 80th birthday and 40th wedding anniversary

Does the 12-3-30 workout really work?

 Why Does the Industrial-Medical Complex Want You to Fear Ketamine?

 Americans Yawn at CDC Warnings About 'Tripledemic'

 How U.S. Public Schools Teach Antisemitism

 Achieving Equity Through Mediocrity: Chicago Moves to Eliminate “High-Achieving” School Programs

 EU Commission Opens Formal Proceedings Against Elon Musk’s Platform X for Not Caving on Censorship

 Vivek Ramaswamy tells CNN’s Van Jones ‘Just shut the f–k up’ 

 Trump: Illegals Are “poisoning the blood of our country”

What? 

 MASS OF THOUSANDS of Illegal Aliens Wait to Be Processed at Eagle Pass – Like Nothing You’ve Ever Seen 

 'Operation Prosperity Guardian' - Pentagon Launches Expansive Naval Coalition To Defend Red Sea Passage

 HAS HITLER WON ON THE LEFT?

Quarter of Americans stressed ‘all the time’ — but cooking might be key to calm

 Online dating’s long-term effects on marital outcomes explored in recent study

 Honest Conversations About Abortion - The case of Kate Cox and the importance of difficult discussions.

 ‘Transgenderism has become a youth subculture’

 Canadian Medical Schools Asked to Shift From “Medical Expertise” to Anti-Racism and Social Justice Training

 A Victory against DEI in Wisconsin

MacDonald:  The Academy at the Crossroads, Part Two.Penn 2.0 and the larger ideological problem: universities are waging a war on the West.

 Anti-Semitism at Harvard

VDH:  We Are Well Beyond Hypocrisy. Have we again forgotten the subpoenaed Trump children?

 Arizona Governor Hobbs Calls Out National Guard to Deal With Crisis at Border

REPARATIONS, GOODBYE

 Meet the Totally Badass Republican Mom of Seven Running for that Santos Seat

 Over 67K migrants are living in NYC shelters - more than triple the 2022 holiday season total - as Mayor Eric Adams calls Biden's lax immigration policies 'baffling'

 It’s time for a ‘broken windows’ policy for schools

" Those of us who have been overeducated–and I include myself in this class–cringe when we hear Trump go off on one of his hyperbolic rants. “Why can’t he just state things clearly and without exaggeration?”

 The legacy of Volodymyr Zelensky

 "A majority of young Americans said they believe Israel should 'be ended and given to Hamas,' according to a shocking poll."

 Why No Shrieking About Egypt's Border Wall With Gaza, Which is Getting a BIG Upgrade

 Why is #MeToo Covering for Hamas?

Bill Maher discusses Israel 

 New study reveals link between diet and brain matter volume

 American physical and mental health in shocking decline since COVID

 There Is No 1.5°C Climate Cliff. The world will not come to its end in 2030 because of climate change.

Stuart's Saturday Miscellany 

Ex-FBI Intel Chief Who 'Investigated' Trump-Russia Collusion Gets 4 Years In Prison For Colluding With Russia

 Without major policy changes that secure our border, America will be overrun.

 Illegal Border Crossers Complain About the FREE Food They’re Being Given at Their FREE New York City Hotels

 The Democrats’ appeal to racial resentment is wearing thin.

 Media warn if Trump wins again every bad possible thing will happen

 Giorgia Meloni Falls Short. Yet another populist politician fails to stop migrants. Is the failure her fault or the system’s?

 Flying when fat

Stop planting trees 

Jeffrey Dahmer's father  

 COP28 update

 A five-point plan to save Harvard from itself

 The Lie At The Heart Of The College Free-Speech Debate Is That Free Speech Exists On Campus

 The police won't protect you; you're on your own

 More than 1-in-5 Mail-In Voters Admit to Cheating in 2020 Election

 IBM CEO Goes on Defense with All Staff Call After Insider Leaks Damning Tapes to O’Keefe Media Group

 Video Shows Tens of Thousands of Migrants in Mexico Trying to Catch a Train to Border. “It’s not going to stop. And Mexico is allowing all of it.”

Ten Israeli soldiers aged 19 to 35, including a high-ranking battalion commander, are killed and three injured in worst loss of life for the IDF in a single incident since Gaza war broke out

 Poll shows soaring Palestinian support for Hamas; 72% back October 7 atrocities

At War with China

 80% Of French Support Ban On More Immigration, Two-Thirds Back Referendum

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