All The World's An ONT And We Are Merely Players

Welcome to Thursday night. Anyone in the mood for a little ONT? I don't know about you guys, but I'm running across a lot of people who need this reminder:

Run Away Lady

Let's start with a clip that made me say WTAF?

She needs to find anther “instructor” post haste. And a better outfit to shoot in. I'm told that boob brass is not fun.

Syria

Have you been following events there? This article pretty much nails it.

Terrorists Liberate Terrorists From Other Terrorists

What Jerusalem knows and Foggy Bottom has yet to learn is that the Middle East is a bunch of tribal factions, warlords and gangs pretending to be countries, but despite the flags, anthems, UN memberships, World Bank positions and invites to climate change summits, are all some version of Al-Jawlani bouncing between ISIS, Al Qaeda and a new governing coalition.

Over a thousand years of Islam comes down to some guy with a beard uniting a few key families with whose backing he then seizes a bunch of cities that used to belong to long lost great civilizations and then his men settle down to some murdering, looting and raping while thanking Allah for the privilege of a mission to kill, loot and rape the world. Or die trying.

The stationary bandit theory isn’t some abstraction in the Middle East: it’s everyday reality.

Common Sense Libertarians?

Most Libertarians that you meet are actually libertines. But here Austin Peterson lays out his agenda for a Libertarian Party that frankly I'd consider joining.

Libertarian principles have gained new momentum in efforts like DOGE (Decentralization of Government Entities), spearheaded by figures like Vivek and Elon Musk. Their work aims to reshape the government by recommending structural reforms, including dismantling outdated agencies. The involvement of Ron Paul as an advisor to this initiative has inspired confidence that the MAGA movement is fertile ground for those dedicated to shrinking the administrative state. Paul may finally get his comeuppance on his old enemy: the State.

As Ramaswamy put it in his speech to the National Conservatism conference, “[Donald Trump] didn’t just blindly parrot the party’s historical orthodoxy… he offered an entirely new worldview… one that shattered the historical neoliberal consensus to its core.” This critique of the old orthodoxy on trade, immigration, and the regulatory state created the conditions for a political realignment.

Libertarian Nationalism builds on this shift, reclaiming libertarian principles and combining them with the pragmatic realities of governance and national identity. It rejects the pacifism, hyper-individualism, and cultural hedonism that have weakened old-school libertarianism. Instead, it offers a vision of liberty grounded in pride, strength, and the preservation of American values.

This Is Such A Cool Idea. I'd Give My Left Nut To Have One Of These.

Remembering the PBY Catalina Landseaire

The optimism of the post-WWII era remains unparalleled, and justifiably so. One dark, painful episode had just wrapped, and humanity was itching to embark on new adventures, to live life to its fullest – whether in a literal sense or just by use of the imagination, in the case of those who couldn't afford the real thing.

That's the context in which the Landseaire was born, a land-sea-and-air recreational vehicle unlike any other. The Landseaire was designed as a step up from private or corporate jets in the form of an all-in-one package deal. It wasn't as much a means to travel from Point A to Point B, but a destination in itself since it could land anywhere without an issue – be it on water or on land.

The Landseaire was the ultimate penthouse because, unlike a regular penthouse, this one could fly, float, and land wherever its residents wanted. That's because, unlike most concepts that have made their way into the pages of history, the Landseaire was deeply rooted in the past it was trying to make millionaires forget, being based on a surplus of Consolidated PBY Catalina military aircraft.

Basically they converted surplus PBYs into flying Rvs. And yes, that's a metal an idea as it sounds.

Cato Is At It Again

Civil Society or Political Society?

I don't disagree with the article's take on the decline of civil society, but the article, like many things put out by Cato, is weakened by it's incessant “both sides” bias. For example:

A society whose members hate and resent one another cannot persist for long, certainly not as a civil society. And with the loss of civil society comes the loss of civil liberty. The rule of law is transformed into rule by law, an instrument of retribution, redistribution, and revenge, policies that parties on the left and right have been threatening with increasing vehemence. Far-left “black bloc” militants and rioters (often referred to as “antifa”) and far-right militants and rioters (members of the “Proud Boys” among them) are quite eager for violence; their brutality is a small taste of what may come if civility is not restored.

The Proud Boys are a tiny fringe movement that is shunned by most of the right, Antifa is openly courted and supported by the Democratic Party. And the failure to identify the rise of the authoritarian left, using the same tired old Commie playbook to divide the nation into factions, as THE primary factor in the breakdown of civil society, dooms it to irrelevancy.

Headline Of The Week

Sex-crazed workers at troubled VA facility had 12-person orgy — and one official bedded 32 co-workers: bombshell probe

Oh, there's a probe, is there? I just bet.

This Is Cool

Here's the backstory.

Tonight's ONT has been brought to you by the Air Force:

posted by WeirdDave at 10:00 PM

| Access Comments