How can I take Funny Farm News seriously?

You can’t, and I don’t want you to. But there are a lot of things you can’t take seriously today, and they are a lot more important than this website. Starting with the President of the United States Donald Trump, who’s an entitled man-child and has meltdowns like a toddler when he doesn’t like a question from a reporter.

You also can’t take seriously the clowns that run the federal government. The Trump Administration is governed by a bunch of sycophants with the intellects of privileged 25-year-old frat boys in their 8th year of undergrad.

Such as Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth, an ex-Fox News B Team news anchor who leaked war plans to a reporter, leading Democrats to ask the CIA Director if the SECDEF was drunk texting.

And then you have the Department of Health and Human Services led by Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. an anti-vaxxer that believes vaccines cause autism and 5G causes cancer. Spoiler Alert: They don’t.

So no, please don’t take Funny Farm News seriously. However, this website is more serious than the White House’s OFFICIAL social media accounts, so there’s that.

Why did you make this dumb website?

Because I’m sick and tired of the POTUS’s desecration of key pillars of American Democracy, and I want to speak out about the harm that this administration is doing to the USA and the world.

I had been thinking of starting this website for several weeks, but the issue that caused me to finally act was reading this article about a 4-year-old girl—Sofia—LEGALLY in the United States facing deportation that would die if she lost medical care in the USA. The story made me sick, and I knew I had to do something.

I shared the article on my Facebook page and emailed Matt Drudge at the Drudge Report to suggest the article. Drudge shared an article about the girl the next day, and I started seeing more news articles circulating about the story. I was relieved that the issue was gaining awareness, but disgusted that it was an issue in the first place.

During normal times, this wouldn’t even be a story because Sofi’s need to stay in the country is obvious. The girl WILL DIE if she’s deported, FFS.

But 2025 isn’t normal. The administration has attacked the rule of law in this country and has deported people illegally and by “accident.” I knew in my heart that there was a serious chance that the girl would end up deported, which I would consider murder. Period.

Hell, even during the first Trump Administration I wouldn’t have been worried about Sofia being deported. But the guardrails are off now, and the administration is flouting the courts, and I was afraid that Sofia would be deported.

Fortunately, Sofia and her mother have been granted humanitarian parole until June 1, 2026. Common sense and human decency prevailed here—thanks, God!—but it shows the moral bankruptcy of the Trump Administration that there was doubt that she would be granted humanitarian parole in the first place.

What will this dumb website do?

This website will be guided by Catholic Social Teaching, and focus on these three issues:

·      Democracy & Rule of Law

·      Human Dignity

·      Immigration & Migration

The purpose of this website is to show how the Trump Administration is attacking American Democracy, instituting appalling policies that are dehumanizing its residents, and violating the rights of immigrants and migrants, who are among the most vulnerable members of society.

Despite the name Funny Farm News, the articles promoted here will be from legit news websites that adhere to journalistic sources. Real news, not crackpot conspiracy theories your crazy uncle shares on Facebook and group texts, or some post that has thousands of likes but is full of BS.

The idea is to provide real news and opinion articles that are cited with links in a simple, easy-to-understand format, that can be easily shared to raise awareness of the harm the Trump Administration is doing to American Democracy.

I want to attack the Right Flank of the administration. By that I mean, show how the administration is violating “conservative” principles—whatever the Hell those are nowadays—and point out the administration’s hypocrisy on many issues, with the goal of eroding the administration’s support from the Right.

Attack POTUS from the Right? That’s dumb!

It is. Yet in a highly partisan electorate with few swing voters, every vote that is flipped away from 47 matters. Swing voters went for Joe Biden in 2020 and for Donald Trump in 2024. 47 won the popular vote by approximately 1.5% overall, and the margin of victory in the Blue Wall states of Wisconsin (0.9%), Michigan (1.4%), and Pennsylvania (1.7%) was extremely close.

If 1% of Trump voters had voted for Kamala Harris, she would have won the popular vote and each Blue Wall state and would be POTUS today.

All this sounds dumb. Are you dumb? And who are you?

The jury’s still out.

I’m Michael Shackelford— Ford NOT Furd—and as far as my qualifications, I have a pulse and a domain name, so I’m eminently qualified to run this website.

I’m a United States Navy Veteran who served aboard the USS Enterprise (CVN-16) during Operation Desert Fox and Operation Enduring Freedom, who miraculously obtained a Good Conduct Medal and an Honorable Discharge on his DD-214. That was quite the accomplishment in OI Division.

I have a BA in History and a MA in International Studies, thanks to the Montgomery GI Bill, Navy College Fund, Post-9/11 GI Bill, and a mountain of Student Loans. In my studies I learned that foreigners love soccer—and more importantly—when Happy Hour was over.

I’m a native of Santa Cruz, California, a longtime San Francisco 49ers and San Francisco Giants fan, and I live in Norfolk, Virginia with my Amazingly Wonderful Wife, and my Bad Ass Niece and fellow Navy Veteran.