Maggie's Farm

My foot doc told me that barefoot shoes are terrible for everything. I asked Perplexity.

Canada’s Ailing National Healthcare Is Not a Model for America

JD Vance Keeps Groin-Kicking Dem Sacred Cows

Miranda Devine: The self-described party of ‘democracy’ wants — yet again — to kill democracy to save it

Time to Cut Defense Spending

Kash Patel has a Herculean task ahead of him

$2 Billion of Our Money to Stacey Abrams Group

Trump is Trolling the AP. The once-great AP became journalism's word police, and humorously is now claiming to be a victim of censorship

One month down in Trump's presidency, 47 to go. Democrats better buckle up

Niall Ferguson: J.D. Vance’s Fighting Words—Against Me and Ukraine

TGIF: War Games

ARGENTINE PRESIDENT JAVIER MILEI GIFTS ELON MUSK A CHAINSAW AT CPAC.  Trump abandons Ukraine, Elon blanks his baby mamas, the free speech king suggests free speech jail, and Trevor Noah argues for segregation. Plus: ASMR deportations, and much more.

So, world, what do you think of your ‘resistance fighters’ now? The sick handover of a dead family in Gaza today should have caused global uproar

Not that I agree with him on lots of things, but this is what Dems (not Lefties) need

Dr. Birx Admits Young and Healthy People Didn’t Need COVID Vaccine

I remind you, yet again, that all models only say what they are told to say.

After an unexpected and controversial federal ruling, the regulatory future of gene edited crops in the US is cloudy

Maine Goes Boldly Forth Allowing Males to Compete As Women

Bari Weiss: Against the Vandals - What happened on the left over the past decade is a cautionary tale for a right that wants to look away from the danger ahead.

UVA professor compares Kamala Harris loss to ‘violence of chattel slavery’

Europe finally gets the US memo: Pony up and partner in your own defense

Breakfast view

 Quillette has annoyed me with their sign-in thing

Blue State Bill Aims To Jail Those Who ‘Misgender’ Dead People

The Welsh Are Whack: Pharmacists Now Need to Know About Drugs, Jabs... and Climate Change

What would a Harris-Walz administration be doing right now?

It’s Wednesday, February 19. This is The Front Page, your daily window into the world of The Free Press—and our take on the world at large. Coming up: Muslim groups defend Australian nurses who say they’ll kill Israelis. Trump makes IVF more accessible. The National Endowment for Democracy—scrap it or save it? An incredible letter from the New England Patriots owner. And more. But first: USAID funded the vast majority of “independent” media in Ukraine—and spent our tax dollars to suppress the truth.

Wednesday Potpourri

They Just Don’t Get It by Matthew Continetti

Trump Is Right About Greenland. Bringing the island closer to America makes national security sense.

Trump Gets Broad Backing On Illegal Immigration Crackdown: I&I/TIPP Poll

Trump Blasts Critics Of His Ukraine Peace Initiative, Including Zelensky, Questions Where Hundreds Of Billions Went

Dem Congressman Likens J.D. Vance’s Munich Speech to Hitler — Claims Rhetoric Could Be Used to ‘Justify The Holocaust’

JONATHAN TURLEY: Critics Prove Vance’s Point on the Threat of the Anti-Free Speech Movement.

Orban Issues 'WARNING!' Over 'Soros NGO Network Fleeing To Brussels' After USAID Funding Freeze

The End of the ‘Deliberate Starvation’ Lie

Research reveals how Earth got its ice caps

Five Surprising Ways Exercise Changes Your Brain

Migrant Centers Empty Of New Fake Asylum Seekers

NY test scores plummet, kids flee — yet empty schools stay open, wasting billions

Advocating For Asylum Seekers Made Me Less Sympathetic To Illegal Migrants

How much  fraud  in US Social Security?

Everything is broken vs. Status quo

To government people, it's small potatoes

Obama wanted a DOGE

'DEI Delenda Est': DOE Calls for an End of DEI in Schools and Colleges in All 50 States

ABC: We Regret to Inform You That Trump Is More Popular Than Ever -- And So Is MAGA

60 Minutes Allows Laid Off Federal Employees to Whine: ‘All Gone Overnight’ - The program also showcased how Germany cracks down on speech.

There's Something Interesting About the Two USAID Employees CBS News Just Interviewed

60 Minutes Propaganda Off the Charts This Weekend

That Didn't Take Long: NBC Blames Canada Plane Crash on Trump

Elon Musk Describes the Moment He Realized That Trump Derangement Syndrome is Real

What I heard in Munich — ordinary Germans long for a Trump of their own

Another European Official Embarrasses Himself With 'Warning' to Trump About Ukraine Peace Deal

UK's Starmer: I'm Ready To Put British Troops In Ukraine

Jon Miltimore asks how 108 economists could have been so utterly wrong about the impact of Javier Milei’s laissez-faire reforms in Argentina.

Could The EU Overturn The German Election Results If The AfD Does Well?

This President’s Day, remember what George Washington can teach us — and Trump

‘Choco-holic’ opossum hospitalized after annihilating entire Costco chocolate cake: ‘Too much of a good thing’

Martin Gurri: What Does It Mean to Be a Man? In a world of eunuchs, buffoons, and beasts, we need new heroes.

What Sexual Liberation Really Looks Like - Hookup culture benefits men at the expense of women.

OK, but women get horny too

Americans are keeping their cars longer.

The Free Press - A Showdown in Massachusetts Schools over Antisemitism. Plus. . .Matt Schlapps another man’s crotch (allegedly). Cartels can’t traffic kids anymore. Musk’s new baby mama. And more.

Appearing at the annual Munich Security Conference today, Vice President J.D. Vance torched Europe in a manner they’ve never heard before.

Marco Rubio Leaves CBS News' Margaret Brennan Speechless After She Claimed Nazis 'Weaponized' Free Speech

Victor Davis Hanson Gives Funny Explanation for Why EU Leaders Reacted Badly to JD Vance’s Speech

Reynolds:  Abolishing the Income Tax - Something that might actually happen? And the implications go beyond lower taxes.

Democrats Have Trump Fever, and There Is No Cure. And no, we are not sick of all the winning.

Color Me Confused By The Left’s Unhinged Reaction To Trump

"Washington Recession Begins": DC Active Home Listings Soar, Jobless Claims Spike As DOGE Drains Swamp

"... we can cheer on DOGE, but without knowing whether taxpayers will eventually benefit, or not."

Democrats rage against DOGE — but shouldn’t everyone be against waste?

"Taking Away Everything We Have": Democrats & Unions Launch An Existential Fight Over Buyouts

Lee Zeldin Cancels Millions in Wasteful DEI Contracts, Reveals Shocking Amount of Money Spent on ‘Media Contracts’ After Stopping Biden EPA’s ‘Gold Bar’ Heist

What the heck was she even trying to say?

Trump Is Likely to Win the Battle on Birthright Citizenship

Regimepresse: 60 Minutes Sees German Censorship, Finds It Wunderbar

Munich Bloodbath Ruptures Western Order Wide Open

I thought he was a sad guy. Not anymore.

Jeremiah 17:5-10

17:5 Thus
says the LORD: Cursed are those who trust in mere mortals and make mere
flesh their strength, whose hearts turn away from the LORD.

17:6 They
shall be like a shrub in the desert and shall not see when relief
comes. They shall live in the parched places of the wilderness, in an
uninhabited salt land.

17:7 Blessed are those who trust in the LORD, whose trust is the LORD.

17:8 They
shall be like a tree planted by water, sending out its roots by the
stream. It shall not fear when heat comes, and its leaves shall stay
green; in the year of drought it is not anxious, and it does not cease
to bear fruit.

17:9 The heart is devious above all else; it is perverse-- who can understand it?

17:10 I
the LORD test the mind and search the heart, to give to all according
to their ways, according to the fruit of their doings.

I do not have much of a sweet tooth anymore, but I agree that ice cream, gelato, and sorbet are kinda fun treats.

Along with routine necessities, I sometimes will add a pack of Island Way Sorbet to my Instacart order. 

Instacart is almost as wonderful as Amazon.

The Free Press in Love - This Valentine’s Day, we’re sharing tales of
romance found in unexpected places—on rooftops, in newsrooms, across
continents, and in a fourth-grade crush that finally came true.

What's the difference between love and desire? The friendship component?

American Crocodiles Are Thriving in Florida’s Nuclear Power Plant Cooling Canals

Tick-tock

Mitochondrial Dysfunction Is a Bit of a Fad

Coffee is a cure

Liberal women the 'least happy and loneliest' in America, according to a new survey

Sorry, but government does not love you

‘Manifest Destiny’ on Mars: Trump’s remark stirs up disagreements in astronomy community

TESLA is a Nazi car

Saturday Miscellany

RFK Jr. Sworn In On Raw 32-Ounce Ribeye

NTSB Reveals New Details Regarding the Deadly D.C. Mid-Air Collision

The Department Of Education: A Boondoggle Since Its Inception. Parents should be in charge of the education of their children.

It's Your Own Damn Fault, Liberals

Trump has his framed mug-shot on the wall next to the door to the Oval Office.

A Master Troll

The Democrats’ reaction to the Department of Government Efficiency’s
necessary mission might seem a bit excessive. But it is understandable.
Their taxpayer-funded slush fund has been exposed.

It's not their $. Spending OPM is fun.

Surprise: HHS Wasted $22 Billion On Getting Cars And Homes For Fake Asylum Seekers

JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon GOES OFF on Employees Who Don’t Want to Return to Working in Person

Trump Revives Incandescent Light Bulbs, Puts an End to Biden-Era Ban

No more candles

Pampered greenie princelings set to jet into Brazil's COP30 rainforest summit advised to 'sleep under the stars'

James Carville admits Trump’s fast pace is leaving Democrats reeling: ‘We are overwhelmed’

Letitia James Steps on Multiple Rakes in Wild Rant Against Trump, Musk Over DOGE

Zeldin Cancels $50 Million Contract for Environmental Group Working for a ‘Free Palestine’. “The
days of irresponsibly shoveling boatloads of cash to far-left activist
groups in the name of environmental justice and climate equity are over”

The Democrats are foaming at the mouth over everything the Trump administration does, but so far the public isn’t buying it.

Trump Is Unleashing DOGE on the Pentagon Budget: Here’s Where Musk Should Look

Full Charge: EPA Sent $160 Million to now Bankrupt Canadian Electric Bus Company

France, Arabs to Counter Trump Gaza Plan With Proposal to Keep Making
Same Mistake Again. The only alternative they can come up with is a
terrorist state.

Think more creatively....

Douglas Murray: Trump wants peace and an end to the war in Ukraine – it’s by far his toughest objective

No One Actually Objects to Resettling Gaza

Wasn't Gaza part of Egypt? Give it back...but they don't want it.

EU: Say, Maybe We Should Invest In Our Own Defense After All

The Guardian view on Trump and Putin: Ukraine’s future must not be decided without it: The US president wants to end this war – and is happy to do so on Russian terms

Sheesh. I guess Trump and I are Russian stooges.

From disaster response to disease

Who was Saint Valentine?

New Jersey man sues after his wife was killed by a rampaging hippo while on safari in Zambia

It has been obvious for a long time that remote work has a negative impact on productivity

The Real Reason the Elites Were So Taken Aback by Taylor Swift Getting Booed

The pope barks up the wrong tree

TGIF: Be (My Limestone) Mine? America’s the new Mexico, cocaine’s the
new whiskey, and hospitals are where you go to be killed. Plus: DOGE
vendettas, chicken nugget immunity, and more.  By Nellie Bowles

 My Statement to Congress - Opening remarks on John Kerry, European
speech law, and USAID before the House Judiciary Committee on Wednesday,
February 12th, 2025 by Matt Taibbi

How to Dismantle the Department of Education - GOP presidential candidates have long vowed to shrink or abolish the department, but its budget has only grown.

Dem suggests "actual weapons"

It is perhaps too obvious to have to say it, but the dozens of tech bros
who are working for DOGE are nearly all suffering from toxic
masculinity.

DOGE Insider Joe Lonsdale: Deep State Has Finally 'Met Their Match' With Elon Musk

DOGE Exposes Insane Federal Use Of Old Limestone Mine And 700 Mine Workers To Store Files

I Was Wrong About Trump

The Trump Team fooled everybody, including me.

VDH: Mythologies about Musk

Congress Discovers $2.7 Trillion in Fraudulent Government Payments — Why Is This Not a Bigger Story?

Elizabeth Warren's Hubris Allowed Trump To Defund the CFPB. Instead of
isolating the CFPB from Congress' budget-making authority, Warren and
former President Barack Obama made it easier for a president to
effectively shut it down.

The loss-of-China nar­rat­ive mangled US polit­ics for dec­ades.

UAE Ambassador Says Arab World Has 'No Alternative' To Trump's Gaza Plan

Hegseth finally pops bubble of illusion: 'No NATO for Ukraine' . He deserves special gratitude from the Ukrainian and European establishments for telling the truth before things go way too far

European Leaders Freaking Out Over Trump-Putin Summit: 'Dirty Deal' For Ukraine

Fake papers are contaminating the world’s scientific literature. They're fueling a corrupt industry and slowing legitimate lifesaving medical research.

Trump Slashing The Cancerous “The Science” Bloat: Cut Cut Cut!

World Becomes Brighter as Trump Reverses Biden’s Incandescent Light Bulb Ban - And user-friendly toilets, dishwashers, and showers are coming back soon, too!

Bravo. Morning in America.

Grocery Chains Ration Eggs After Mass Chicken Slaughter For Bird Flu

“TRUMP VOWED TO BRING DOWN EGG PRICES, EGGS NOW AT RECORD HIGH.”

A Kindergarten Teacher in California Breaks Her Silence on DEI

A High Schooler Graduated with a 3.4 GPA. He Can’t Read His Diploma. Plus. . .

FLASHBACK: In 2009 Chuck Schumer Defended ‘Porky’ Government Spending, Saying ‘The American People Really Don’t Care’

The USAID Scandal Continues to Unfold: It Gave Internews, A Climate Cult Enabler, $472 Million

Vatican wades into U.S. politics prescribing USAID policy positions for President Trump

VDH: How To Commit Democratic Party Suicide

 Trump’s Envoy Lets Loose on the Panama Canal and ‘Imminent’ Change in Cuba. Maurico Claver-Carone on the administration’s hemisphere-wide shakeup.

Trump Speaks to Putin, Zelensky to Start Negotiations to End War - Trump assigned VP JD Vance and Secretary of State Marco Rubio to lead the negotiating delegation.

Microsoft Drops USAID-Funded NewsGuard After Ted Cruz Starts Digging

How USAID Funded Hamas - Government dollars flowed to the infamous terror group, watchdogs found.

Reynolds: Elon Unbound - Some first, second, and third-order effects of the election.

Washington Monthly: Trump and Musk want to destroy government careers

Kill the Federal Department of Education. We could decentralize education, improve outcomes, and help reduce the size of the federal Leviathan.

Why Does the Dept of Ed Need to Spend Almost $1B on “Research” ? Education is not a science, it's a practice.

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

The Trump Revolution: DC Will Never Be the Same. The magnitude of the president’s disruptive reform is hard to fathom

Longtime Outdoor Life contributor Michael Hanback shares tips for avoiding snakebites.

I've encountered several in my life. One was a baby. Outdoor people can use that advice.

On The Probability Of Large Rocks From Space!

Fort Bragg Is Back

Students struggle to recover from COVID learning loss

 The Prophet of Trump’s Second Term - Today’s political
vocabulary—ruling class, Deep State, uniparty—comes from Angelo
Codevilla’s pen. His students are now enacting his vision in Washington

 Salman Rushdie: ‘I Was Dying.’ Plus. . . DOGE comes for the National Endowment for Democracy. What DEI isn’t. J.D. Vance’s overseas debut. And more. By Oliver Wiseman

Trump Fires Democrat FEC Chair, Weintraub Refuses To Step Down

DOGE announces cancelation of almost $900 million in Department of Education contracts

AVI on government:

You asked us to trust you all these years. We were uncomfortable but went along, tried to limit the cost, worried that you might be right and not wanting to be seen as Simon Legree. We didn't trust you, but we respected playing by the rules. You insulted us and called us evil, and that seems to be the main tactic now as well.

*Whenever I see argument from sad anecdote, I smell a rat.  (One of many examples over the years.) If they had facts and real numbers, they would rely on those instead.

Musk: Whaaa? I have detractors?

5 of the Worst USAID Scandals in History - The agency's low points, from working with child sex abusers to enabling drug trafficking

A CNN Host's Frustration Was Visible When His Anti-Elon Musk Talking Points Got Wrecked

DOGE Investigating Feds Whose Net Worths Have Exploded After Samantha Power Bombshell

President Trump Releases Statement on FEMA, Which is “Under Review and
Investigation” After Spending $59 Million to House Illegals in Luxury
Hotels

French Far-Left Leader Mélenchon Openly Calls For Great Replacement In Shock Speech

It's my money. Funding webs? How much of government is a racket? USAID gave money to George Soros?

From Caveman to Chinaman - How man went from bumbling around in savannahs to building the Great Wall, and why China fell behind Europe