I Am ONT The Great And Terrible!

Howdy boys and girls, welcome to Thursday night. Tonight's tip: It's never to late to finish the job.

Home Sweet Home

A $1 million starter home? It’s becoming the norm in these cities

In more than 200 U.S. cities, the typical starter home comes with a price tag of $1 million or more, according to a new analysis, underscoring the affordability challenge many first-time homebuyers face.

The data, compiled by real estate company Zillow, found that there were 237 cities where the typical starter home was worth $1 million or more. Five years ago, there were only 84 such cities.

The typical "starter home" was defined for the analysis as being among those in the lowest third of home values in a given region but worth at least $1 million. 

I couldn't find a list of the cities, although the link does have a map showing how many cities are in each state. I'd like to know how they define “city” as well.

Extremist Islamist preacher found guilty of directing terrorist organization in UK

On Tuesday, infamous Islamic extremist preacher Anjem Choudary was found guilty of directing a terrorist organisation, membership of a proscribed organisation, and encouraging support for a terrorist organisation. The charges stemmed from the 57-year-old Pakistani-Brit's involvement in the delivery of online lectures to followers in North America which resembled Al-Muhajiroun, a banned terror group. 

Among those who helped facilitate the lectures was Khaleed Hussein, a 29-year-old gas station attendant from Edmonton, Alberta. He was convicted of membership in a proscribed organisation.

According to the Metropolitan Police, the verdicts were handed down following a six-week trial at Woolwich Crown Court in east London. Choudary, who has long resided in the area, was arrested on July 23, 2023, while Hussein was taken into custody hours later upon touching down at Heathrow after flying in from Canada to meet the preacher.

So here's the question. How do we balance our constitutional rights, freedom of religion, association and speech, with actual terrorist groups, or groups openly advocating for terrorism? How do you define the line?

Lost In Space

NASA says no return date yet for astronauts and troubled Boeing capsule at space station

Already more than a month late getting back, two NASA astronauts will remain at the International Space Station until engineers finish working on problems plaguing their Boeing capsule, officials said Thursday.

Test pilots Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams were supposed to visit the orbiting lab for about a week and return in mid-June, but thruster failures and helium leaks on Boeing's new Starliner capsule prompted NASA and Boeing to keep them up longer.

NASA’s commercial crew program manager Steve Stich said mission managers are not ready to announce a return date. The goal is to bring Wilmore and Williams back aboard Starliner, he added.

“We'll come home when we're ready,” Stich said.

What's the over/under on how long before they have to ask Space X to bail them out?

How Absurd!

Politico Says Vance Has ‘Weird,’ That Is, Normal, Views on Gender

The mind reels with lurid possibilities. What are Vance’s “weird views on gender”? Does he think that men can magically turn into champion female swimmers and women of the year? Does he think drag queens should be sent into primary schools to teach children the glories of the latest LGBTQWTF fantasies? Does he think parents should lose custody of their children if they don’t affirm their delusions that they belong to the opposite sex? 

Nah. Politico would think all that was as normal as pink hair and nose rings. What Politico finds “weird” is that Vance is “staunchly opposed to abortion” and has even compared the left’s sacramental child sacrifice to slavery, another moral evil that once enjoyed the protection of a Supreme Court ruling. Even worse, as far as Politico is concerned, is the fact that Vance has “promoted Viktor Orban’s pro-natalist policies in Hungary, which offer paybacks to married couples that scale up along with the number of children.” Good heavens! He wants people to have more children? But what about their carbon footprint?

Personally, I don't know a lot about Vance, but the more I see the useless GOPe complain about his selection, the more I'm willing to believe that he is a good choice.

The Deep State

US, NATO Allies Work to 'Trump-Proof' Ukraine Support Amid Presidential Race Shake-Up

At the Aspen Security Forum in Aspen, Colorado, last week, Secretary of State Antony Blinken, when asked directly about "Trump-proofing," for the first time spoke to the various steps the U.S. and its allies have taken to guard against the possibility of Trump ditching commitments to Ukraine should he return to the White House.

The term "Trump-proofing" has become a common expression among pundits, academics and reporters amid the rising questions over the future of the support when a new U.S. president is sworn into office in January.

In line with his "America first" agenda, Trump has criticized the more than $53.7 billion in military aid the U.S. has sent to Ukraine, according to a tally by the State Department. His pick for vice president, Sen. JD Vance, R-Ohio, has been more blunt.

In a podcast when he was running for the Senate seat in 2022, Vance said, "I gotta be honest with you, I don't really care what happens to Ukraine one way or the other."

These people need to be prosecuted for treason.

Eyewitness Account

‘I Was Four Feet Away When I Heard the Bullets’

I’m still in shock. I can’t make sense of any of it right now. As a journalist, you’re always looking 360 degrees around you at all times—but for details, not for danger. 

The whole thing was deeply disorienting. We’ve all seen enactments of this sort of violence—in movies or documentaries—but when you experience it, it doesn’t happen that way. There’s no soundtrack, no visual signposts. It’s just unreal.

What’s clear to me after today is that if someone is determined to commit an act of political violence, they will find a way.
Earlier that afternoon, before the shooting that left two people dead including the gunman, I asked an 11-year-old: “Is this your first Trump rally?”

“Yeah,” he smiled, “but it’s not going to be my last.”

From the great Salena Zito.

Tonight's ONT has been brought to you by the 4th of July festival in Glacier View, Alaska :

Here's the story

posted by WeirdDave at 10:00 PM

| Access Comments