Slowly improving

The New Neo Posted on by

And I mean slowly.

I’m talking about my physical health, not my mental state. My grief is, if anything, worse, as it all sinks in more and more.

But at least my fever is gone. I’ve entered a stage where I’m still “off” in the GI sense, still coughing but not as much, still tired but able to be on my feet most of the day. That’s progress.

Even though my son had a negative COVID test, our symptoms have been so perfectly COVID-like that I decided to test myself today. I would have bet a significant amount of money it would be positive. But I would have lost that bet: negative.

I don’t know the exact name of what I’ve got, but I can tell you I never want to get it again.

Not-so-lethal injection

The New Neo Posted on by

The attempted (and failed) execution of Christa Pike is grisly and extremely disturbing on almost every level. It starts with the 1995 murder itself, segues into the long delay before carrying out the sentence, and then the failure of the lethal injections to work.

Something is very rotten in the state of Tennessee:

Christa Pike was in critical condition Thursday and receiving “lifesaving care” at a hospital, her lawyers said, a day after a failed attempt to execute her pushed Tennessee’s governor to halt further executions this year and order an independent review.

Pike, who was sentenced to death for a 1995 murder, was taken to a hospital Wednesday night after surviving a double dose of the drug Tennessee uses to execute prisoners.

“We don’t have a sense of her prognosis or much update on her health at the moment,” attorney Randy Spivey said during a news conference. “But we know she is alive right now.”

The failed execution, which one death penalty expert described as unprecedented, led Republican Gov. Bill Lee to order a review, calling what happened “deeply disturbing” and indefinitely postponing Pike’s execution and another one that had been scheduled for this year. It also reignited the debate over the state’s execution procedures, including its single-drug lethal injections.

A horror show.

I guess voters have gotten tired of all the winning

The New Neo Posted on by

It makes no sense to me, but all signs are that the US voting public is poised to put Democrats in charge of Congress. As time passes, I become more and more convinced that voters operate through pique and illogic. Things aren’t perfect? Turn the bums out and put in the far greater bums.

I guess they want to see endless and meaningless impeachment theater again.

Meanwhile, the economy is doing rather well, although you wouldn’t know it from the MSM:

Ah yes, the midterms.

As I’ve said, you can make a case that the economy is great or that it’s bad.

You can bet that between now and November, the Democrats and the media — but I repeat myself — will be focusing on the bad.

It’s an old playbook, one that Bill Clinton’s pollster Mark Penn wielded to defeat President George H.W. Bush in 1992.

The economy had actually recovered from a brief recession in 1991, but voters thought otherwise — because the media told them so.

“There is often a huge disconnect between belief about the economy and the true economic state of affairs,” Penn wrote in his 2007 book “Microtrends.”

“Until the statistics are actually published, people tend to assess the economy through the eyes of the national media.”

During the 1992 election, Clinton repeatedly told us we were experiencing the worst economy in 50 years.

The press echoed that message dutifully.

But as Penn recounted with glee, “The statistics that came out after the election showed that the period leading up to November had actually been a period of record growth.”

Whether this is the best of economies, the worst of economies, or something in between, you can bet that for the next month-plus we’ll be told it’s the worst.

Then there’s the Iran War – in which very few Americans have died or even fought. It’s come down to an economic war at the moment, one we seem to be winning. And Hormuz is pretty much open.

Let’s see, what else? Crime way down. Border closed.

One fear I have is that, as older cohorts die off and are replaced by the young who’ve been steeped in decades of miseducation, the trend to the left will only increase.

In the meantime:

Health update

The New Neo Posted on by

I’m still recovering from the flu – slowly. That, combined with the emotional devastation of the loss, has made me feel weak and stressed.

I’m definitely trying not to rush things. I lie down a couple of times a day, which is an improvement over being in bed most of the time. My son had to leave today and unfortunately didn’t accomplish too much while he was here, because he was sick, too. He came down with it a couple of days before I did – probably having caught it on the airplane coming here – and then gave it to me.

Whew.

News roundup

The New Neo Posted on by

(1) The RAF Fairford plot surfaces again, and Andy Burnham claims Iran is somehow behind it. This story keeps morphing and morphing.

There’s also this:

A UK-Iranian dual national has been arrested on suspicion of preparation of terrorist acts in connection with the incident at RAF Fairford, counter-terror police have said.

The 27-year-old man was arrested in Westminster, London. A second man, a 26-year-old UK national, has also been questioned under caution, and two properties in the area have been searched.

(2) FlyDubai hired a pilot who was clearly a risk for terrorism, and then they had him fly a Tel Aviv route. This guy appears to have been a smoking gun, and we still don’t know his name:

The prime minister [Netanyahu] went on Fox & Friends to state, “The attacker, the co-pilot who attacked the captain, is now being interrogated, but here’s what we do know: First, we know that he underwent Islamist radical indoctrination.”

Netanyahu pointed out that an Omani should never have been allowed to copilot a flight to Israel in the first place, precisely to avoid terrorist attacks. “Well, he was an Omani national, and we have constraints that say you can’t have pilots from countries that don’t have diplomatic relations with Israel.” Oman has been consistently supportive of the Iranian regime in its ongoing conflict with Israel this year.

Unconscionable.

(3) Ah, but the FlyDubai terrorism incident never happened, according to many people – or bots, or hired anti-Israel shills – on X. It’s just a staged op, like all the other news stories the left doesn’t like.

Or it did really happen, but had it succeeded it would have been justified.

See some of the tweets on this thread, for example.

(4) Attack the Texas Capitol building because you hate AIPAC? Makes zero sense. But why should it make sense?

(5) Meanwhile, Graham Platner’s (remember him?) replacement Troy Jackson has been jabbering away about how Israelis are committing genocide in Gaza. So much so that he decided to issue an apology:

In reiterating his view that that the three-year-old Israel-Gaza war “is a genocide,” Jackson said in the interview, “There are people here in Maine that don’t like to use that term only because, you know, they’re Jewish and, you know, what that means to them with the Holocaust.” …

On Wednesday, Jackson did not walk back his view of the conflict but apologized for offending Jews.

Jackson said in a written statement, “I believe what’s happening in Gaza is genocide, and I also understand that word carries particular weight for many Jewish families given the Holocaust—the genocide of six million Jews. In trying to acknowledge that, I misspoke and made a generalization about Jewish Mainers’ views that doesn’t reflect what I meant to say. I apologize for the pain that caused.”

In the interview, Jackson called for the U.S. to stop providing arms to Israel and labeled Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu “a war criminal.”

In his apology on Wednesday, Jackson continued, saying, “Mainers hold a range of deeply considered views, and I promise I will always listen and work to approach these conversations with the care and respect they deserve. In the U.S. Senate, I’ll fight antisemitism and work for lasting peace and security for Palestinians and Israelis.”

Sure thing. Very believable. Hope you never see the inside of the Senate.

(6) This sounds like a forward-looking idea:

AutoWarCom will change how the department handles drones.
“Warfare, however, has changed dramatically and suddenly,” according to Hegseth’s memo. “Advanced computing now enables precise, low-cost weapons to be produced at massive scale. These systems increasingly threaten our costly legacy platforms and disrupt our force projection. Urgent change is required.”

The Cornell gang rape allegations

The New Neo Posted on by

I suppose you’ve read about the Cornell fraternity gang rape allegations:

New details are emerging in the case of a former Cornell University student who claims she was drugged and gang-raped for multiple hours inside a fraternity house in October 2024.

The woman — identified only as Jane Doe, who was 20 at the time of the alleged incident — recently filed a civil lawsuit against seven then-Chi Phi fraternity members and the university, claiming they failed to protect her and prevent the alleged assault. While Cornell conducted an internal investigation, and expelled or suspended several of the men, no criminal charges were brought against the accused at the time.

The Tompkins County District Attorney’s Office confirmed on Monday, Sept. 28, that it will be reopening the criminal investigation amid pressure from the community and will bring the evidence to a grand jury. The DA said the woman’s sworn statement from November 2024 was different from what she alleges in the civil lawsuit, while her attorney claims investigators never followed up on her allegations.

You need to read the whole thing to get the picture of what is being alleged and whether her story changed. She initially was very drunk but says the sex was consensual, but then other men entered the scene and the situation changed to rape, although her memory is murky due to having ingested multiple substances. As with so many such cases, it becomes virtually impossible to tell what really happened, except that it reflects very poorly on everyone involved.

Because I’ve been blogging so long, I have written on the subject before – not about the Cornell case, but on related cases. Here’s a post of mine that’s nearly twenty years old but still relevant. Please read.

ADDENDUM:

I’m completely with Paglia on this:

Another dementia warning

The New Neo Posted on by

What’s the point of telling us all these warning signs of impending dementia? If there was much to be done to prevent the deterioration, I could understand it. But as far as I know there isn’t a whole lot except recommendations for general health like exercise and keep a healthy weight.

But anyway, here’s the latest correlation with dementia:

Participants with a voice disorder but no hearing loss were 58 percent more likely to develop cognitive problems or dementia later on, while for those with a voice disorder and hearing loss the chances more than doubled: 104 percent. …

It’s important to note that cause and effect isn’t proven here: having a voice quality problem doesn’t mean later brain health complications are inevitable, or that the voice issues are directly triggering cognitive decline, dementia, or Alzheimer’s disease (the study didn’t separate these three end results).

One thing that occurs to me is that voice problems – particularly, a soft voice – can go along with Parkinson’s, which can also correlate with dementia.

FlyDubai – not

The New Neo Posted on by

It seems that we had a Flight 93 situation with a happier ending. But then again, compared to 9/11, this time the terrorists didn’t have to slay both pilots to take over the plane. The terrorist was one of the original pilots.

So much progress in 25 years.

Here’s the story:

The FlyDubai Boeing 737 Max 8 plane flying to Tel Aviv from the United Arab Emirates was cruising at around 34,000 feet when one of the pilots tried to take control in what Israeli sources say was an attempted hijacking, the Jerusalem Post reported.

“One pilot stabbed the other and tried to do 9/11,” an official told Channel 12 of the horror that saw Israeli fighter jets scrambled as a precaution.

Some of the 174 passengers onboard also filmed horrific footage of one of the pilots covered in blood.

“We’re here during the hijacking of an airplane. At this point we’ve subdued the terrorists,” one passenger said, begging for help as blood ran down his head. …

The atttacker is believed to be Omani and had worked at FlyDubai for less than a year, sources told the Jerusalem Post.

It might be time to step up the vetting process for FlyDubai pilots. Then again, people can be very duplicitous.

Two off-duty pilots were able to land the plane; the rudder had been damaged during the incident. The perpetrator – the co-pilot – is still alive and is under arrest. And here’s an article about the off-duty pilots who landed the plane, one of whom is said to have been British.

On the other hand, we have the NY Times coverage of the incident. There’s this:

“Flight to Israel Diverted After Cockpit Clash”
Passengers intervened after a clash broke out in the cockpit of a flight to Tel Aviv from Dubai, forcing the plane to make an emergency landing in Saudi Arabia, according to accounts from those on board.

A clash broke out. No perpetrator. It takes some skill to write a headline like that. And even if it was based on earlier, incomplete reports, why is that headline and intro still up there? Google tells me the article is from 44 minutes ago.

Then we have this Times article, which I will assume was originally written later:

“Live Updates: Plane to Israel Narrowly Averts Disaster After Pilot Stabbing”
Passengers said that they broke into the cockpit and subdued the attacker, who Israeli officials said was one of the pilots. The motive for the attack was not clear.

Another masterpiece of sorts, although far more subtle than the previous one. The plane itself “averts disaster.” And of course, we haven’t a clue what the motive could be.

NOTE: Much more here as well as here.

I’m taking it easy today …

The New Neo Posted on by

… although “taking it easy” is a relative thing.

I’m still sick, for example. But my temperature without any Tylenol at all has now reached 99.1. That’s not so bad. However, I’m still feeling pretty crummy.

I was going to post a lengthy essay or two on this and that, but simply couldn’t muster the energy. And so I decided to put compulsivity aside for a moment and just post this note.

This has been a strange and difficult time.