Maggie's Farm

We are a commune of inquiring, skeptical, politically centrist, capitalist, anglophile, traditionalist New England Yankee humans, humanoids, and animals with many interests beyond and above politics. Each of us has had a high-school education (or GED), but all had ADD so didn't pay attention very well, especially the dogs. Each one of us does "try my best to be just like I am," and none of us enjoys working for others, including for Maggie, from whom we receive neither a nickel nor a dime. Freedom from nags, cranks, government, do-gooders, control-freaks and idiots is all that we ask for.

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Monday, December 8. 2025

Monday morning links

Dad dies after dropping barbell on chest in freak accident at the gym


For me, spotter for barbell bench press. Dumbells can be dropped. Are barbells better?


Holiday classic ‘Planes, Trains and Automobiles’ has ‘dangerous’ capitalist message


We Gave Students Laptops and Took Away Their Brains


Real Americans, Real Jobs, Real Results – Deportation Wave Hits Louisiana and Phones Won’t Stop Ringing


'Fourth Reich': Musk Strikes Back At EU 'Tyrants' After X Fine


Creepy Kier Starmer Campaign to Defund ZeroHedge, the Federalist and Breitbart Exposed


‘Frankly, a Very Authoritarian Government’:Labour-Led Britain Suspends Elections, Announces Rollout of China-Style Facial Recognition Cameras


After Media Hyped ‘Global Warming’ for Years, NYT Admits Defeat in ‘Information War’


End of Climate Catastrophism Is Good for Prosperity


Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson: “I Have Inherited a White-Supremacist System”


Everyone in the city will suffer from Mamdani’s foolish decision to end homeless camp sweeps


"I find it remarkable that the anti-Trump hysteria has not ended."


Can Trump Win the Midterms?


WSJ:  What’s the Matter With Scotland?


Donald Trump, Jr.: “50 Percent of Supercars in Monaco All Had Ukrainian Plates”


European civilization is dying.




Posted by Bird Dog in Hot News & Misc. Short Subjects at 07:19 | Comments (11) | Trackbacks (0)

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It has probably been a decade since I saw Planes, Trains and Automobiles. If I remember correctly, didn’t Jon Candy’s character try and take advantage of Steve Martin at nearly every turn. Lied constantly, and even stole money out of Steve’s wallet in the hotel room? I can see why a Marxist would hate the movie.
#1 B. Hammer on 2025-12-08 11:24 (Reply)
That's not what happens in the movie.
#1.1 jack walter on 2025-12-08 13:36 (Reply)
John Candy’s character was a lovable goof, a working class slob with a big heart and good intentions, if sometimes poorly executed. As Del Griffith, he was the heart and soul of the movie.
#1.1.1 Chadd Newman on 2025-12-08 20:10 (Reply)
NYT admits defeat in the information war... It was a narrative war supported by grants to the narrative creators. The AGW cult is defrocked after losing its government compensation.
#2 indyjonesouthere on 2025-12-08 11:47 (Reply)
Re: the Bench "accident"

They don't call that false grip a"suicide grip" for nothing.

That guy was a fool, and no spotter is gonna stop that kind of incident from happening. No one has the reaction time to save a bar from crashing down on a lifter.

That's why you lift with SAFETIES.

Use proper equipment people.
#3 browndog on 2025-12-08 12:11 (Reply)
Yep. If asked, I won’t even spot someone using false/suicide grip, as I don’t want to have anything to do with that foolishness.
#3.1 RJP on 2025-12-08 14:49 (Reply)
WSJ: What’s the Matter With Scotland?

My immediate response was that "the cream left." Mr. Massie agrees.
QUOTE:
The other point to bear in mind, Mr. Massie says, “is that so many Scots of ability and ambition and energy—they emigrated.”
Scots in the US? Trump's grandmother. Andrew Carnegie. On and on. The late Dr. Michael Kennedy, in one of his blog comments, said that when he visited Ireland, an Irishman told him "the cream left." I would say the same of Greece. All the people of Greek origin I have known in the US were either college-educated or entrepreneurs: go-getters, every one. Compare them to the Greece of the bankrupt economy [granted, it has improved in the last 10 years.].

How the Scots Invented the Modern World: The True Story of How Western Europe's Poorest Nation Created Our World and Everything in It.
QUOTE:

Who formed the first literate society? Who invented our modern ideas of democracy and free market capitalism? The Scots. As historian and author Arthur Herman reveals, in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries Scotland made crucial contributions to science, philosophy, literature, education, medicine, commerce, and politics—contributions that have formed and nurtured the modern West ever since.
#4 Gringo on 2025-12-08 12:35 (Reply)
Here is the secret to making safe bench presses; do not lift any weight that is so heavy that you cannot do 10 unassisted presses. Also wrap your frigging thumb around the bar!
#5 OneGuy on 2025-12-08 12:46 (Reply)
Yes to thumbs around, no to light weights (a weight you can do for ten reps is not heavy). I only bench inside a rack with safeties set so that I can still touch the bar to my chest but the bar can’t reach my neck. And for the heavy work sets, adding a spotter is always helpful.
#5.1 RJP on 2025-12-08 14:46 (Reply)
Why in the name of all that is righteous was that guy using a 'false grip' on that barbell. That's what killed him.
#6 Paleo on 2025-12-08 14:45 (Reply)
If no one laughed in the audience when the Mayor said Chicago was a white supremacist society, that tells you everything you need to know.

The theme above about Scotland - "the cream left - apllies to Chicago as well. The elites find ways of protecting themselves, but the middle class is harder to find all the time.
#7 Assistant Village Idiot on 2025-12-08 20:56 (Reply)

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