No, Children, You're Wrong. Once Upon A Time There Was An ONT

Welcome to Thursday night! Here's some fun facts you didn't know about Nelson Mandela:

Heroes

Split-Second Decision by Hero Police Officers Saved 'Numerous Lives' in Baltimore Bridge Disaster

According to The Baltimore Banner, the Dali sent a distress signal as it began to lose power, which was picked up by the Coast Guard.

Maryland Transportation Authority Police then stepped in to contain the situation.

The officers were monitoring the stricken container ship Dali as it experienced a power failure and drifted disastrously off course towards the Key Bridge.

At 1:27 a.m., a call came over the dispatch radio that the Singapore-flagged Dali cargo vessel had lost steering and was on a collision course with the bridge. “There’s a ship approaching that just lost their steering. So until they get that under control we gotta stop all traffic,” the dispatch officer stated over the radio.

A second officer quickly moved into position on the south end and successfully stopped northbound traffic.

These two as yet unnamed MTA officers, with a bare 90 seconds warning, managed to close the bridge and ensure that there was no traffic when the boat hit. They even remembered the work crew that was on the bridge and started to go get the workers, but they just didn't have time, and 6 of the 8 men who were working on the bridge lost their lives. Many commuters could have joined them if not for the quick thinking of the officers. I'm glad to see the officers getting the recognition they deserve.

Related: The effects of the Baltimore bridge collapse will be horrific. Let me break it down.

How will the complete shutdown of a port that employs 15,300 people directly and 140,000 overall affect a city of a half-million people like Baltimore? What about the loss of $400 million in taxes for a state that's already facing a budget crisis?

And once businesses redirect their routes to different ports and work out the logistics, how many will come back to Baltimore in the years ahead?

For car and light truck traffic, there are 2 tunnels you can take instead of the bridge. For heavy trucks, the option is to go west around the city on the beltway. It will add about 20 miles to your trip. All 3 routes are already crowded, the extra traffic is going to increase commute times dramatically.

The bigger problem is the loss of the port. Baltimore harbor is shut down (see map), all of the port facilities are behind the bridge. That's 450 million in lost tax revenue for a city that's already financially teetering. Couple that with the 150K jobs that depend either directly or indirectly on the port traffic...It's bad. Really, really bad.

Source of map: @Matt_bracken48

Doom

America’s Stunning Embrace Of Paganism Signals The End Of This Country As We Know It

So if we have entered a post-Christian era in the West and are facing a return, in modern guises, of paganism, what does that mean for America? It means the end of America as we know it, and the emergence of something new and terrifying in its place.

America was founded not just on certain ideals but on a certain kind of people, a predominantly Christian people, and it depends for its survival on their moral virtue, without which the entire experiment in self-government will unravel. As Christianity fades in America, so too will our system of government, our civil society, and all our rights and freedoms. Without a national culture shaped by the Christian faith, without a majority consensus in favor of traditional Christian morality, America as we know it will come to an end. Instead of free citizens in a republic, we will be slaves in a pagan empire.

Perhaps that sounds dramatic, but it is true nevertheless. There is no secular utopia waiting for us in the post-Christian, neopagan world now coming into being — no future in which we get to retain the advantages and benefits of Christendom without the faith from which they sprang. Western civilization and its accoutrements depend on Christianity, not just in the abstract but in practice. Liberalism relies on a source of vitality that does not originate from it and that it cannot replenish. That source is the Christian faith, in the absence of which we will revert to an older form of civilization, one in which power alone matters and the weak and the vulnerable count for nothing.

What awaits us on the other side of Christendom, in other words, is a pagan dark age. Here, in the third decade of the 21st century, we can say with some confidence that this dark age has begun.

Hmmm... There's something I read once...it's right on the tip of my tongue...

Our Constitution was made only for a moral and religious people. It is wholly inadequate to the government of any other.

-John Adams

Oh yeah, that's it.

News From The Hat

State of Canadian Armed Forces' combat readiness growing worse, government report warns

Only 58 per cent of the Canadian Armed Forces (CAF) would be able to respond if called upon in a crisis by NATO allies right now — and almost half of the military's equipment is considered "unavailable and unserviceable" — says a recent internal Department of National Defence (DND) presentation obtained by CBC News.

The presentation, which touches on everything from readiness and equipment to recruiting and ammunition supplies, is dated Dec. 31, 2023.

It's the latest comprehensive snapshot of the state of the military.

The overview paints an alarming picture of the forces' decline in readiness — one that's even worse than the figures presented in last year's federal budget documents.

We failed in 1812, but things are looking good if we want to have another go at capturing Canada.

Today's Cartoon

For those who speak American and not English:

Gotta love England. It's the only place I know where even decent and moral people can pop a couple of faggots in their mouth and then suck on a nice fag afterwards.

Miscellaneous Links

The 10 The Who Songs That Conquered The 1970s

Can't really argue with the list, but I would have put Baba O’Riley at #1. That's a song that always makes me crank the volume and step down on the accelerator. And I also agree that 'By Numbers' is a criminally overlooked album.

Keys woman stalked neighbor for nearly 2 years after victim honked at peacocks, cops say

Unfortunately her name isn't Karen.

Blue State Blues: What Javier Milei Understands that Joe Biden Does Not

Argentina is looking better and better these days.

And that's about all I have time for. Sorry, but my day is booked, I have a funeral, a meeting with a client, a chamber event and then a birthday party. My friend wants me to say a few words at his mom's funeral, and I never even met the woman. I figure I'll just say a few lines and then quote Donne. Still, kinda awkward.

Tonight's ONT has been brought to you by private events:

posted by WeirdDave at 10:00 PM

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