If you’d like to see just how far Tucker Carlson has fallen …

The New Neo Posted on by

… take a look at some clips from his recent interview with Sir Jacob Rees-Mogg. His idiocy is on full display, as is his shameless “gee gosh golly” disingenuousness.

From the comments there:

Tucker Carlson is Exhibit A (the competition is tough) for the brain prion worm that produces antisemitism. It causes a once rational (though not terribly bright) person to go totally bonkers.

Here’s an excerpt:

And don’t think Carlson doesn’t have fans who look up to him and believe the horse manure he’s peddling. The only question is how many are influenced by him. I don’t know the answer, but it’s not zero.

Nidal Hasan: the wheels of justice grind slow

The New Neo Posted on by

Hard to believe that Nidal Hasan – aka the Fort Hood terrorist – is still alive. But perhaps not for long:

The Pentagon announced Monday night that Nidal Malik Hasan, 56, better known as the Fort Hood shooter, will be executed by a U.S. Army firing squad on a date to be determined by the Secretary of the Army.

The former Army major and psychiatrist fatally shot 13 unarmed U.S. soldiers and wounded 32 others during a deadly rampage on Nov. 5, 2009, at Fort Hood, Texas. He shouted “Allahu Akbar” during the massacre.

The shootings occurred inside a crowded medical building where soldiers preparing to deploy were waiting for medical exams and vaccinations.

It was the deadliest non-combat attack ever on an American military base.

Pentagon spokesman Sean Parnell announced on X that “Secretary of War Pete Hegseth has recommended — and President Donald J. Trump has approved — death by U.S. Army firing squad for convicted terrorist Nidal Malik Hasan.”

The original recommendation when he was sentenced was for the death penalty.

Hasan was a terrorist act waiting to happen:

Retired Colonel Terry Lee, after working with Hasan, recalled the fatal shooting of two recruiters in Little Rock, Arkansas, greatly affected Hasan. Lee told Fox News that Hasan made “outlandish” statements against the American military presence in Iraq and Afghanistan, reportedly saying that “the Muslims should stand up and fight against the aggressor”, referring to American soldiers. Hasan expressed hope U.S. president Barack Obama would withdraw troops. He was frequently agitated and argumentative with other Army personnel.

Despite these problems, in May 2009, Hasan was promoted to major. In July 2009 he was transferred to Darnall Army Medical Center in Fort Hood, Texas, moving into the city of Killeen. Two weeks later, he lawfully purchased an FN Five-seven handgun. Prior to his transfer, Hasan had received a ‘poor performance’ evaluation from supervisors and medical faculty. Despite concerns, his former boss, Lt. Col. Ben Phillips, graded his performance as “outstanding”.

Why is he still alive? This:

Due to mandatory appeals and the military’s historical reluctance to execute convicts, USA Today noted in 2019 that an execution would still be years away.

My guess is that Hasan would just as soon be executed and that he would consider it martyrdom.

The FlyDubai hijacker’s plan was pretty much just as you might imagine

The New Neo Posted on by

The terrorist copilot had been plotting his attack for a long time, and his plan was mega-destructive. Fortunately, it didn’t work. But it came close:

According to the officials, al-Hammami began his attempt to seize control of the aircraft only after it reached Jordanian airspace because he intended to continue toward Israel as though the flight were making a normal landing at Ben Gurion Airport, then crash the plane into the airport.

If he was unable to reach Ben Gurion, investigators believe al-Hammami planned to crash the aircraft into a U.S. military base in Jordan.

The investigation also found that the Omani pilot had planned to carry out the attack as early as July but postponed it because of a personal connection with one of the crew members aboard his flight at the time, deciding to “spare him” and wait for another opportunity.

Nice guy.

Note that the heroic passengers on the FlyDubai plane felt that some of the crew members were acting suspiciously, as though they might be in league with or at least sympathetic to the terrorist.

When a person is willing and even eager to martry him/herself, the sky’s the limit for the destruction possible. That is one of the main reasons Islam, with its emphasis on the rewards of martyrdom, is so potentially dangerous. Israel had gotten careless in letting others do the vetting:

“I searched and checked which company flies to Tel Aviv, and that’s why I chose flydubai,” he was quoted as saying. “I tried to get accepted by all the airlines. I planned the operation even before I was hired by the company.”

Earlier Sunday, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office announced a review of the security arrangements governing foreign civil aviation to Israel, following scrutiny of security gaps exposed by the incident.

It really was nothing short of a miracle that this plane and all its passengers were saved.

There’s an opportunity to close those gaps. And the problem isn’t limited to Israel or the Middle East. Jihadi pilots or and/or crew are possible anywhere, and with that ax in the cockpit – which I assume is standard equipment – the opportunity to do damage to a non-jihadi pilot is there.

For what it’s worth, Senate polling …

The New Neo Posted on by

… is within the margin of error:

“That is what I actually tell people because when you look at all these polls, they’re all within the margin of error,” Penn told Fox News. “So we know that the last election was two points, but we also know that turnout for the midterms, if you look at it, typically falls off about 20%.”

Penn estimated that roughly 112 million people will vote this fall, compared to about 150 million in a presidential year. With close to 40 million voters staying home, the winner in a tight race is whichever side gets its people to show up.

“The polls here are neck and neck virtually everywhere,” he said. “So I wouldn’t say that you could pick a winner or a loser now. I think attitudes towards the economy in the next couple of weeks and turnout are going to be the two critical factors.”

Hard to dispute that.

Polls have become less valuable at predicting outcome these days.

Brazil will have a runoff election

The New Neo Posted on by

A surprise result of the Brazilian vote yesterday was that Bolsonaro is ahead, but neither candidate reached 50%:

Sen. Flávio Bolsonaro, an ally of U.S. President Donald Trump, and Brazil’s incumbent President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva will face off in a runoff Oct. 25 for the top job of Latin America’s powerhouse economy after neither won a majority in Sunday’s vote.

The country’s electoral court in Brasilia said neither the 80-year-old incumbent, seeking his fourth non-consecutive term, nor the 45-year-old son of former President Jair Bolsonaro would garner the majority vote needed for an outright win.

Another 80-year-old – what is it lately with these elderly politicians?

Lula, seeking to be encouraging ahead of an uphill battle to beat Bolsonaro in the runoff, said the result was “unexpected” as he had thought he could win in the first round.

“Tomorrow we start a new campaign,” Lula said. “I am very good in the knockout stage. We will see who has the best plan.”

Is fraud in the offing? Well, there’s this:

No significant fraud has ever been detected since Brazil adopted its electronic voting system in the 1990s.

The Organization of American States’ electoral observation mission reported Sunday that “the voting has been going smoothly and under adequate safety conditions.” Electoral authorities assured that electronic votes are secure and verifiable.

Voters appeared largely confident that the country’s voting system can’t be tampered with.

There’s also this, an article written in May indicating that the public has lost some trust in the system.

Bolsonaro is heavily favored to win the runoff:

Speculators on prediction market platform Kalshi now give Bolsonaro a more than 80% chance of winning the presidency. Before Sunday’s first round results came in, he had about a 60% chance to win. On Polymarket, Bolsonaro’s odds are now 85%, jumping from 63% before the first round count. …

While Bolsonaro was seen as a narrow favorite to win the presidency before Sunday’s first round, he was widely expected to trail the incumbent Lula in that initial tally, according to pre-election polls. This was the case even as Bolsonaro was favored to win a run-off. However, Bolsonaro secured more than 47% of the votes, and beat Lula’s first round total by nearly 2 percentage points.

If Bolsonaro does win, it would be part of a recent swing to the right in several Latin American countries.

Will Californians ever wise up?

The New Neo Posted on by

I fear the answer is “no.” Voting Democratic is a deeply-ingrained habit, plus the mail-in voting system solidifies Democrat control even further.

But news such as this should give people pause and let them know they are being ripped off, big-time:

The City Journal, a public policy magazine published by the right-leaning Manhattan Institute, recently investigated the striking array of entitlements available to illegal alien families in California. What they uncovered was staggering.

Perhaps their most disturbing discovery was that an illegal alien couple with two U.S.-born children and one illegal alien grandparent is eligible to receive benefits worth up to $100,000 in a single calendar year.

The authors, Christopher F. Rufo, Kenneth Schrupp, and Austen Hufford, call this extensive safety net California’s “Shadow Welfare System.” It includes “health care, rental assistance, college grants, tax credits, low-cost car insurance, and even smartphones.” And they’ve estimated the annual cost to California taxpayers to be nearly $11 billion.

I can’t recall when I first heard the term “virtue signaling.” I think it wasn’t long after I began blogging, more than twenty years ago. It has occurred to me more and more over the years that virtue-signaling is at the heart of the appeal to the Democrat voter. The idea is that one is proving oneself to be a good person, a kind person, a generous person, a non-bigoted person – and that those who vote otherwise are neither good, nor kind, nor generous, and that they are bigots.

This is also the source of the hatred many Democrats have for Republican voters. These convictions have broken up family and estranged old friends who should know better.

“Caught”

The New Neo Posted on by

This was one of the most amazing dance performances I’ve ever seen. The video doesn’t do it justice, so you’ll have to use your imagination. This is just a short excerpt:

Nothing says fairness like appointing Letitia James

The New Neo Posted on by

Governor Hochul apparently wants to make sure the Cornell frat men don’t get off:

Eiglarsh believes that the move to assign AG James to the case is not for her to conduct an investigation, but rather to indict the men.

“The governor is not assigning her for an independent investigation,” Eiglarsh said. “It’s, ‘Go bring justice,’ and justice is defined by indicting some of these kids. But keep in mind you can’t lump them all together. Each of these kids’ — their lives are precious. Same way the alleged victim is — each one. There needs to be proof beyond, and to the exclusion of, every reasonable doubt that meets the elements of the crime of a statute in New York. I think she’s going to find a way to bring charges.”

Banfield said that people should withhold judgment until “every scrap” of evidence has been reviewed, comparing the case to the 2006 Duke University lacrosse case, in which three men were falsely accused of rape.

Hochul and James are excellent examples of what happens when the left completely takes over a state, and there is no need anymore to even have a pretense of fairness or evenhandedness. Here’s an almost humorous statement by James (at the very end):

Reporter: “Attorney General, on your Facebook page three days ago, you wrote, ‘What this young woman has been forced to endure is horrific and unacceptable. I’m holding her in my heart and in my prayers. To her and to all survivors, you’re not alone. We stand with you.’ Why did you affirm her allegations as fact without doing your own fact-finding investigation? And to the governor, why did you appoint an official who made a public statement affirming those allegations as fact as someone who’s supposed to be doing an investigation?”

New York Governor Kathy Hochul (D): “I will answer that. I have every confidence in our Attorney General to do what she has always done. Look at the facts, examine the record, and draw the proper conclusions. That’s exactly what’s going to happen in this case. Attorney General, please.”

New York Attorney General Letitia James: “I will not comment on a Facebook post.”

“A Facebook post” – that’s her very own Facebook post that she won’t comment on – because she doesn’t need to.

Who hired the extremist co-pilot, and why?

The New Neo Posted on by

Curiouser and curiouser:

The Wall Street Journal is out with an exclusive alleging that the co-pilot who stabbed his captain on FlyDubai Flight 1073 as they flew between Dubai and Tel Aviv earlier this week, nearly downing the aircraft, had been banned from flying in his home country of Oman “over concerns he had adopted radical ideological views,” and that, despite the ban, FlyDubai hired the man anyway, “allowing him to pilot on the sensitive route connecting the United Arab Emirates and Israel.”

FlyDubai operates at two airports in Oman, Muscat and Salalah, but the aspiring terrorist co-pilot couldn’t fly those routes due to the ban. According to the Journal, whether the Omani government shared their concerns about the co-pilot’s radicalization with other countries or airlines is unable to be determined. But if he was hired by an airline that operated in a country in which he was prohibited from flying, it would seem that the carrier at least knew of the ban and would be curious as to the nature of the ban. Regardless, the route between Dubai and Tel Aviv is obviously subject to heightened scrutiny and security, and given that Israel doesn’t allow pilots whose passports are from countries with which it does not have diplomatic relations to land in the country — which includes Oman — that FlyDubai assigned this man to that route anyway is alarming and needs to be fully investigated.

Negligence, or malign intent on the part of the airline? Will we ever learn the answer? I doubt it. I think the tale will fade from view without our ever knowing.

The story itself, however, is one of feel-good heroics. So many brave heroes – the pilot and so many of the passengers – plumber, dentist, all.

We can celebrate, but the line between celebration and tragedy is often paper-thin, and that is true here. The plane could easily have broken apart from the forces that damaged the rudder. The new pilots might have had trouble landing it. The dentist who brought the plane out of a precipitous dive might not have acted properly or in time.

And yet, tragedy was averted and we can cheer.

Why was Christa Pike the only one of the three people involved in the murder who got the death penalty?

The New Neo Posted on by

Three teenagers brutally murdered another teenager over thirty years ago. The crime was especially cold-blooded and horrific. One, Christa Pike, received the death penalty. The other two did not.

The story:

Christa Pike, now 50, has been in prison since she was 18 years old over the murder 1995 murder of Colleen Slemmer. She wasn’t the only one found guilty — but she is the only one who ended up on death row.

According to the University of Tennessee Knoxville, Slemmer was a 19-year-old Job Corps participant when she was tortured and murdered behind the agriculture campus steam plant on January 12, 1995. Pike and two others — 17-year-old Tadaryl Shipp and 18-year-old Shadolla Peterson — were also involved.

Shipp – who was Pike’s boyfriend at the time – was found guilty but because he was 17 years old he was ineligible for the death penalty. Pike was 18 and received the death penalty. Peterson – also 18 – is alleged to have been the lookout, and agreed to testify against the other two:

However, Peterson, who was initially indicted on a first-degree murder count, cooperated with police and entered a guilty plea to an information charge of being an accessory after the first-degree murder, according to Knox News.

Where is Shadolla Peterson now?
In exchange for testifying against Pike and Shipp, Peterson received 460 days in jail and a six-year probation sentence.

Pike was the only white defendant; the other two are black. Did this factor into the decision? I have no way of knowing, but the differing sentences seem to have more to do with the different ages of Shipp and Pike, plus Peterson’s cooperation.

Does this differential treatment based on one year of age bother you at all? It bothers me. In addition, most of the coverage till now has maintained that it was Christa Pike who carved a tetragram into the victim. But this is apparently untrue; in a post-conviction hearing, Shipp confessed to doing it.

Legally, it doesn’t much matter. They could all be argued to have been guilty of felony murder, including Peterson, had the prosecutors wanted to treat the perps that way. But I assume they needed Peterson’s testimony to convict the others, and let her walk.