We Don't "Have" A Great ONT, We Make A Great ONT!

Hidely-ho, Moroninos! It's Thursday again, and that means ONT! It's also a good time to remind you that you pay for your satisfaction, somewhere along the line. (Personal note: It's not one of his better known songs, but that's one of my favorites from Billy Joel)

NFL Realignment

Football is always fodder for bar talk, and earlier this week I overheard a furious discussion about realigning the conferences and divisions. It got me thinking, and just for the fun of it, this is what I came up with:

This map was made with the assumption that no effort would be made to preserve traditional rivalries like Cowboys/Redskins or Ravens/Stillers. I also made sure to put teams that play in the same town in different conferences, if you don't want to do that flip Philly and the Jets in the east and LV and the Chargers out west. No real reason to flip LV and AZ other than it makes the division more geographically compact, the existing West divisions would be just as good. Any thoughts?

The Libertarians Have Some Thoughts

Shrink Your Bloated Government With This One Easy Trick

It’s time for Congress and the president to recognize they have a spending addiction. It is time also for our government to recognize it is incapable of managing the nation’s finances.  In Fiscal Year 2022, the United States collected $4.8 trillion in revenue and spent $6.32 trillion. Our federal government spent $1.47 trillion more in 2022 than taxpayers gave it to spend. The federal government is $31.4 trillion overspent. That is more money than the $25.46 trillion GDP of the nation. In human terms, the federal government is a fat, bloated organization that cannot manage the nation. It needs to go on a diet – a spending diet.

I don't really have much of a beef with the proposals. Most of them should be implemented. But expecting the very people who are benefiting from the current, corrupt, wasteful system to reform it is folly of the highest order. That makes this a pointless exercise, and everyone involved should know as much.

On Serving The Country

How the Hell Do You Think Us Veterans Feel Right Now?

Was I a sucker? I sure don’t want to feel like a sap, but the thought that I may be one arises when I watch this endless parade of patriots – including our last conscious president – being prosecuted for their political beliefs and treated differently under a two-tier justice system as the garbage institutions attempt to quash free speech, and as the alleged president, a desiccated, corrupt, old pervert, generally drives our country into the ground. I defended this?

I did 27 years in our military. I proudly swore to defend our Constitution. Now, I only washed trucks – I wasn’t a war hero like Pete Buttigieg or Da Nang Dick Blumenthal, and I certainly wasn’t killed in Iraq, Afghanistan, and also (I think) Maui like Joe Biden’s non-coke-addled son was, but I showed up. I dressed like a tree, marched around, went where they sent me, and did my job. Don’t get me wrong – it was not all bad. It was fun some of the time, and I got to do a lot of interesting things other people didn’t get to. I got a little money – very little – and I’ve always been intensely grateful for the chance to be an American soldier. And I took it seriously. That oath I took? It never expires. And now I just need to know if I was a sucker for believing all that Constitution and freedom stuff when I raised my right hand.

There's more at the link, and ultimately he decides not only no, but hell no. I am not qualified to speak to the question because I never served, but I know a lot of y'all did. What are your thoughts?

How Not To Clear A Sunken Ship Full Of Explosives

Artiglio: Careful as you go now

And the plan was a doozy. Assuming (wrongly, as it emerged) that the guncotton would have long since been rendered inert, the Italians rigged explosive charges to break up the wreck. Again, it’s unlikely to be much comfort that this too was to be 100% successful.

It’s possible that somebody did think to question their decision to anchor virtually on top of said explosives. On the other hand they had anchored themselves on top of a load of explosives. Would you volunteer to pop over and ask them?

It did not go well.

Musical Interlude

The band is Psychostick, and their oeuvre is comedy-metal, which is not a thing that I knew existed.

Hmmmmm

Ex-CIA agent convicted of largest leak in agency’s history faces NYC trial for child porn

I don't know anything about this case, and I don't really care. What I find interesting is my reaction to it. Previously, I would have seen the headline and thought “Child Porn? Hope he hangs”. Now, however, I see that headline and think “Hmmm, someone being prosecuted by the government for offenses against the government suddenly has a trove of child porn. Wonder if they planted it on him?”. And that's a measure as to how far my respect for this corrupt government has fallen. I have a term, "Tom Clancy Republicans". We all just assumed that things worked like they did in a TC novel. Sure, some bad & corrupt folks, but most trying to do their job for good of the country, even if they disagree on what that is. I don't think that anymore.

Interesting Thread

I recommend reading the whole thread. People are people the world over, but sometimes it's hard to realize how differently the hardware performs depending on the cultural software that's running on it.

Related: Anon Goes To Africa. Now, this is a screenshot of a 4chan thread from someone purporting to share their experience in the Peace Corps. You'll probably have to enlarge it to read it. And it IS from 4chan, so there is some casual racism, but it's an interesting read. I have no idea if any of it is true, but it interesting to read.

Prager U

Annabella Rockwell: I Entered College Happy. I Left Angry.

So, what do y'all think of Prager U? I generally agree with much of what they put out, but I hate the format.* That's OK, I'm not the target audience. Gen Z DOES stare at their phones all day, and that's who they are targeting. (Same with TPUSA). I don't agree with all their stuff either, but they are providing an alternative POV to the liberal indoctrination that kids these days marinate in. What are your thoughts?

Tonight's ONT has been brought to you by home defense:

*I don't like how much content today is short videos. I don't just sit and stare at my computer or phone. I WAS interested in the “Top 10 fighters of WWII” when I clicked on the link, but when I saw it was some asshole talking to a camera for 20 minutes I closed it. (In no particular order, my opinion: Jug, Mustang, Lightning, Hellcat, Spitfire, BF-109, FW-190, Me 262, Zero, and either the Yak-9 or LA-5. Honorable mention: Hurricane, Corsair, Warhawk, Tony, Macchi C.202 )

posted by WeirdDave at 09:58 PM

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