Not nostalgic for 1968-1969

The New Neo Posted on by

And yet here we are.

In some ways it’s better than it was then. For example, the US isn’t actively at war abroad, and young people aren’t subject to the draft to fight in such a war. But in so very many ways it’s worse. The protesting students these days are far more likely to be ignorant and far more motivated by hatred (which is not to say there weren’t ignorant or hateful students back then). The students these days are far more likely to be highly organized and directed (which is not to say there wasn’t such organization and direction back then). And the authorities these days are even more likely to cave in to the students, many of whom are not even students (which isn’t to say there weren’t “outside agitators” back then and plenty of caving by administrations; see all my posts on Cornell in 1969).

I have no nostalgia for the 60s. I was young, and I guess that was nice. I certainly looked better. But the decade seemed to me to be another “low dishonest decade,” although the present time seems lower and even more dishonest. Then again, I wasn’t around in 1939, the decade in which the poem I just linked was written. It was awful, too, although for different reasons.

If you read the news – and just about everybody here does – you can easily see that the current pro-Palestinian and anti-Zionist and anti-Semitic demonstrations are occurring at many many universities and cities, and seem very well-supplied and orchestrated. Authorities differ in their responses depending on their own politics. Ace has several good posts on this; please see this, this, and this, among others.

Last night I was looking at comments at Gerard’s blog, and a commenter there mentioned this post Gerard wrote about the Berkeley riots for the “People’s Park”, and the reaction to them, occurring way back in 1969. Gerard was there at the time, and his piece is entitled “Regarding My ‘Walk-On Part in the War.'” I think it’s well worth reading for “compare and contrast” reasons. Among other things, the Berkeley students and the “outside agitators” weren’t spouting anti-Semitic hatred. Among others, they were up against Ronald Reagan. And something I had forgotten – if I even knew it at the time – was that the police fired buckshot at the students and one student, observing from a roof, was killed by the buckshot. An excerpt from Gerard’s essay:

First, you had the Highway Patrol showing up who were not as gentle as the Berkeley Police. Then you had the Oakland Cops showing up. “Gentle” was not in their instruction manual. Instead, their first move was to open their trunks and take out their street-sweeping shotguns. Then they racked them and opened fire.

This resulted in a lot of loose buckshot wounds with one person blinded for life, and one person killed outright. (James Rector. I remember his name today after fifty years because he was shot on the roof right above me as I was running away from the shotguns at speed.)

I suggest you read the whole thing. It includes many photos, as well as a short news video with a brief cameo appearance by none other than the young (I believe shirtless, if I’m not mistaken) Gerard Vanderleun.

Flying while disabled

The New Neo Posted on by

Commenter “physicsguy” observes:

… I was flying Southwest with their open seating policy [and] I observed that the number of wheelchair people at Delta, UA, American gates was about 50% less…those airlines have reserved seats. Many of the SW wheelchair people were in their 50s. I looked at it as a way to get first boarding even by passing the paid Group A pax.

Disney is running into the same issue and are cracking down. People were claiming disability and getting scooters and wheelchairs which then allowed them and their family to get first in line to rides again by passing both the paid lightning lane people and standbys. Disney said no more and now requires written medical documentation. I was wondering if Southwest does the same?

I had always assumed that in order to get disability boarding on the airlines one had to offer proof from a doctor, much as a person needs to do in order to get a handicapped placard for a car. But when I looked it up for physicsguy, I was surprised to see that I was wrong. Apparently, airlines are forbidden by law from requiring proof of disability. The whole thing is on the honor system, and although the airlines know that people abuse it, their hands are tied.

Here’s the scoop from a Southwest discussion board. The original question went like this:

I understand SWA has wonderful customer services, but departing Chicago yesterday to Florida (a miracle flight) the pre-board number was unreal. There were 10 wheelchairs (and some had person(s) accompanying them, 17 persons with canes (also with some person(s) accompanying them. So there were at least 40 pre-boards. When exiting the plane in Florida, the majority hopped up and exited asap. I even saw one person walking to her rental car in the garage without her cane. I had A-23, but was now A-63….I strongly suggest that SWA re-evaluate its pre-boarding procedure.

And the answer was this:

We follow federal regulations in offering preboarding to Customers with disabilities in order to comply with the Air Carrier Access Act: http://airconsumer.ost.dot.gov/publications/disabled.htm. Certainly and regrettably, some Customers have taken advantage of preboarding when they did not need it. Still, we cannot ask a Customer what their disability is or for “proof” of a disability. Additionally, we are unable to tell preboarding Passengers where they can/cannot sit on the aircraft (with exception of the emergency exit row). When a Customer requests to preboard, our Employees will ask 1) do you need assistance boarding the aircraft? and/or 2) do you have a specific seating need to accommodate your disability? If the answer to either question is yes, we must allow the Customer to preboard and we are only able to use these parameters to ascertain the legitimacy of a Customer’s preboarding request.

There is no question that some people will abuse this policy, but it seems the airlines are powerless to stop it, unless there’s been some change in the law since this 2017 discussion occurred. There is also no question that sometimes you can’t tell who is disabled by looking at the person; there are indeed invisible disabilities. In an airport, a passenger is usually required to walk long distances and might be carrying or pushing a bag. Some people who look completely fine and are not all that old might have significant trouble doing those things without assistance.

And even with handicapped placards for cars, which require documentation to get, people can and do abuse them. I’ve seen it happen with people I know, for example – where someone in the family is handicapped and got the placard, and then someone else uses it now and then. I’ve also seen genuinely handicapped people be harassed by others who think they don’t look handicapped enough to have the placard, and yet they are handicapped and need the help.

So the bottom line is that abuse will always happen, and harassment of the innocent will also happen. It seems to me, though, that the airline system, which requires no proof at all, is an invitation for people to take advantage.

Dhimmi Northwestern University pays the Jizya

The New Neo Posted on by

When I first saw the headlines for this story I thought they were satirical.

They are not.

I think Northwestern has actually succeeded in out-dhimmi-ing Columbia, which is saying something:

In the face of illegal “encampments” and violence, the Northwestern administrators put out a jubilant statement announcing that scholarships will be provided for “Palestinians” along with a building set aside for Muslim students.

“Most notable among those concessions is a promise to offer full-ride scholarships to Palestinian students and guaranteed faculty jobs for Palestinian academics.

“The University will support visiting Palestinian faculty and students at risk (funding two faculty per year for two years; and providing full cost of attendance for five Palestinian undergraduates to attend Northwestern for the duration of their undergraduate careers),” the document reads. “The University commits to fundraise to sustain this program beyond this current commitment.” …

Northwestern will also provide a “house for MENA/Muslim students” and will “advise employers not to rescind job offers for students engaging in speech protected by the First Amendment.”

Other concessions in the deal Schill and the rest of Northwestern’s leadership struck with the encampment occupants — one of whom assaulted a student journalist attempting to take video — include student oversight of the university’s partnerships with suppliers and the investment of its endowment.

In case you’ve not read up on your Muslim history, here’s what the Jizya is:

[In the] Arab-Islamic empire … a basic hierarchy between three groups emerged relatively early: at the top were (Muslim) believers, at the bottom of the hierarchy were unbelievers who should be fought, and there emerged an intermediate category of non-Muslims who had entered into an agreement with the Islamic state. Those in the third category were governed by a set of laws known as a pact, or dhimma in Arabic, and were called collectively ahl al-dhimma—literally “People of the Pact”—or just dhimmis. …

In exchange for the protection of the Islamic state, dhimmis were expected to pay a special tax, called the jizya. A document known as the Pact of ‘Umar spelled out the details of the agreement between the Islamic state and the dhimmis in considerable detail. … The Pact of ‘Umar lays out a variety of sumptuary laws, meaning laws whose ostensible purpose was to distinguish non-Muslims from Muslims in social interactions, place limits on non-Muslim behavior, and emphasize the social superiority of Muslims.

Northwestern is acting like conquered territory. But it goes beyond that. Not only are the university administrators signaling their own weakness and the weakness of their campus, and not only are they emboldening future Islamicist extremists and discouraging their own Jewish students and those who support them, but they are telling Hamas that attacks like October 7 give huge benefits all around the world.

Nice job, Northwestern! I hope every person who donates to the university informs them they won’t be seeing any more of their money. Of course, Soros may take up the slack.

Roundup

The New Neo Posted on by

(1) That relief pier that’s being built offshore in Gaza is now estimated to be costing $320 million. It seems to me that Hamas will be getting the lion’s share, and much of the rest will go to terrorist-supporters.

(2) In no surprise whatsoever, the Columbia administration’s red line to the occupiers turns out to be a Bidenesque/Obamaesque red line – in other words, meaningless. Most other schools are no better; see this. But now at Columbia there’s a threat to expel them. That’s something the occupiers must think an empty threat. See also this.

(3) Trump held in contempt again. Ho hum; what else is new?

(4) Britain cracks down more on the trans movement.

(5) There’s a class action suit against the FAA for its race-based hiring:

The Federal Aviation Administration is the subject of a massive class action lawsuit alleging that since 2013, thousands of qualified applicants have been denied employment as air traffic controllers based on race [and DEI].

The lawsuit filed by the Mountain States Legal Foundation represents nearly 1,000 people who went to school at their own expense to be air traffic controllers through a network of university-sponsored Collegiate Training Initiative (CTI) programs. These programs, run in cooperation with the FAA since 1991 to train and test future air traffic controllers, were the entry point for the overwhelming majority of the ATC workforce.

Pressure, pressure: two more Israeli hostages in videos from Hamas

The New Neo Posted on by

A few days ago Hamas released “proof of life” videos of two Israeli-Americans held hostage since October 7:

In their latest depraved move, the terrorist group/political entity Hamas released a “proof-of-life” video Saturday of American hostage Keith Siegel, a father of four and grandfather of five. Appearing alongside fellow hostage Omri Miran, the Chapel Hill, N.C., native looked strained and haunted, and his eyes welled up with tears during the nearly three-and-half-minute-long clip. …

The video is not dated, but the 46-year-old Miran says he has been held hostage now for 202 days. Siegel and Miran also say they are aware of the efforts to get all the Hamas captives released …

So these videos do seem recent enough to be considered “proof of life.” It doesn’t surprise me; I’ve said that some hostages are alive, perhaps as many as half – and I think it’s no accident that all the recent hostages shown are also Americans. All the hostages are highly valuable to Hamas and are more valuable alive than dead, as is evidenced from these videos which were met with renewed demonstrations in Israel demanding the hostages be released at just about any cost:

Thousands protested in Tel Aviv on Monday night, calling on the government to make a deal with the Hamas terror group for the release of hostages who have been held in the Gaza Strip since October 7, in a rally that later descended into clashes with police forces, arrests, and claims of violence toward a lawmaker and relatives of a hostage.

Amid heightened preparations for the military to launch an offensive in the Gazan city of Rafah, demonstrators lit a bonfire on Tel Aviv’s Begin Road, near the IDF’s headquarters, and spelled out “Rafah can wait — they [the hostages] cannot” in large Hebrew letters.

Relatives of hostages and captives who were released in the week-long truce in November took part in the protest, calling on the government to stop the war in order to bring the abductees home.

The rally came as Hamas was set to give a response to an Israeli offer that would see a 40-day pause in fighting and the release of potentially thousands of Palestinian security prisoners in exchange for 33 living hostages, and a second phase of a truce consisting of a “period of sustained calm” – Israel’s compromise response to a Hamas demand for permanent ceasefire.

When I read stories like that I experience sharply mixed feelings of sympathy for the families and anger at the extent of what’s being asked. Don’t they see that this only causes more suffering and more hostages being taken in the future? Don’t they see that their current suffering is the result of earlier lopsided hostage deals? Well, they might see, but right now they are suffering unbearably as are their kidnapped loved ones (those who are alive, anyway) and they desperately want that suffering to end.

It’s up to the government to do what’s best, but I think the government may be close to caving from the pressure. For example, I keep reading stories such as this:

Slamming the Netanyahu government for making what he said were dangerous “strategic concessions” in order to secure the release of Israeli hostages held by Hamas in Gaza, Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich on Tuesday appeared to threaten to bolt the coalition if it approves an agreement currently being negotiated in Egypt.

Speaking with the press following a meeting of his far-right Religious Zionism faction in the Knesset, the cabinet member said that while he would have received kudos for coming out in favor of a deal, he believes that such a course of action would endanger Israeli civilians and that he is “ready to pay the political price” to prevent an “existential threat” to the State of Israel — even if it means going to the opposition.

Smotrich skipped a cabinet meeting to attend the faction meeting, amid ongoing political disagreements within the government over the deal and Israel’s pending ground operation in Rafah.

There is little question in my mind that the goal of Hamas in releasing the video was to increase the pressure on the wavering and divided Israeli government on this issue, and to fuel more demonstrations. What will the government do? I don’t know. But I’m very worried.

NOTE: It’s not the case that all the hostages’ families are part of these demonstrations. Some do not want a deal because they realize the extreme dangers and have been standing against conceding to the terrorists. See this.

The sleeping cheetah

The New Neo Posted on by

Today for some unknown algorithhmic reason, Google thought I’d like this story of a guy in a wildlife preserve sleeping next to a cheetah:

Imagine dozing off under the shade of a tree after a taxing day out in the sun, only to wake up to the gentle nudge of a wild cheetah snuggling against you. This isn’t the start of a fable or a campfire story. It’s what happened to Dolph Volker, a wildlife photographer and animal enthusiast, during one of his volunteering stints at Cheetah Experience, a sanctuary for endangered species in South Africa.

It’s an old story; the guy has a YouTube channel with videos such as this one:

Well, whatever floats your boat. The cheetahs seem pretty tame, but they are nevertheless wild animals and I’ll be taking my siestas somewhere else.

But the reason I’m writing this post is that it stirred up a memory I had pretty much forgotten, which is that as a teenager I very much liked this painting by Henri Rousseau:

I had seen the original many times at MOMA and there was just something about it that appealed to me – the sense of danger and yet safety, the mystery, the fact that the gypsy wouldn’t even have been aware of the visitation come morning, or that perhaps it was all just a dream.

I liked the painting so much that when I became a freshman in college, I bought a large print of it at the college bookstore and hung it over my bed in the dorm. I had a roommate who thought it a rather odd and disquieting choice, but I found it comforting.

I haven’t thought of that painting in many decades until today.

California fraudsters, public and private

The New Neo Posted on by

First, we have a lawyer who has been DA George Gascon’s third in charge. Once again, it’s a good idea to read the whole thing, because it’s complex and an excerpt really doesn’t do it justice:

LA County Assistant DA Diana Teran, who oversaw George Gascón’s efforts to prosecute law enforcement officers instead of criminals and to release thousands of felons from prison early, was arrested Saturday on 11 felony charges related to the “unauthorized use of data from confidential, statutorily-protected peace officer files.” Like many alleged felons in Los Angeles County, Teran was out on bail less than an hour after her arrest.

Unlike many alleged felons in Los Angeles County, the Diana Teran scandal has the potential to topple the county’s power structure, or to put a severe dent in it.

That potential exists because of the sheer volume of personnel and criminal cases Teran was involved with that might now be challenged in court, and because her actions at issue in the criminal case allegedly involve coordination with high-ranking county officials, such as Inspector General Max Huntsman, District Attorney George Gascón, and current and former members of the county Board of Supervisors. …

It’s more convoluted than any script Hollywood could come up with. …

[For example,] Between 2014-18, as Constitutional Policing Advisor for LASD, Teran withheld exculpatory evidence from Internal Affairs Bureau (IAB) investigations and findings, leading to the discipline and termination of deputies who should have been exonerated.
NOTE: Those deputies’ personnel files would then contain inaccurate information about their actions, and could improperly taint cases they were involved in.

As I said, much much more at the link.

And then there are private actors who think big. This one’s about counterfeit postage. Does that sounds like a small matter? It’s not:

A San Gabriel Valley woman who was accused of using counterfeit postage on tens of millions of packages pleaded guilty Friday to defrauding the United States Postal Service out of more than $150 million.

Lijuan “Angela” Chen, 51, pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to defraud the U.S. and one count of using counterfeit postage, according to a statement from the U.S. Justice Department.

Chen, a resident of Walnut, has been in federal custody since she was arrested in May 2023. A co-defendant, 51-year-old Chuanhua “Hugh” Hu — who authorities say is considered a fugitive hiding in China — has been charged with one count of conspiracy to defraud the U.S., three counts of passing and possessing counterfeit obligations of the U.S. and one count of forging and counterfeiting postage stamps.

In all, authorities allege that the duo mailed more than 34 million parcels containing counterfeit postage labels from January 2020 through last May.

That’s a whole lot of parcels. Harness that energy for something good and you’d have something.

Bret Stephens on the Trump prosecutions

The New Neo Posted on by

I don’t subscribe to the Times because I just don’t want to give them money. But I saw this post at Althouse discussing a recent piece by Bret Stephens, the Times’ resident Trump-averse “conservative.” It contains the following quote from Stephens:

What really worries me about this case is that, if Trump isn’t convicted, it is going to turbocharge his campaign.

Trump will be able to say, with some credibility, that the Deep State really was out to get him.

Althouse adds:

The Deep State should have thought about that before going out to get him. Also, if you think it’s credible that the Deep State is out to get him and that’s a reason for you to hope he’s convicted, you ought to be ashamed of yourself.

Well, yes – but (as Althouse almost certainly knows) they do not feel at all ashamed; they feel righteous.

That quote from Stephens is extraordinarily tone-deaf. Does Stephens think that the prosecutions/persecutions haven’t already turbo-charged Trump’s campaign? If so, he’s either not paying attention or fooling himself, or both. He seems to think that a kangaroo-court conviction gives people who weren’t already inclined to find Trump guilty the idea that he must be guilty.

I don’t know if that is so at all, but I know that the left and the Trump-haters are counting on it. Therefore they must at least state that they themselves of course believe he’s guilty, whether they actually believe it or not.

Then there’s “Trump will be able to say, with some credibility, that the Deep State was out to get him.” He will be able to say with some credibility? Does Stephens think this statement of Trump’s has no credibility at present? That gives Stephens absolutely zero credibility, not only because of the extreme weakness of the cases against Trump, plus their suspicious timing in terms of the election, but also due to a host of other proven ways in which the Deep State has been out to get Trump ever since the campaign of 2016.

And yet this is what passes for Deep Thought on the part of Stephens and the Times.

Ode to the microwave

The New Neo Posted on by

I had some Chinese food leftovers for lunch a little while ago. Heated them up in the microwave for a few second and voilà! Done.

Which got me to thinking –

Leftovers used to be a chore
Heating them up, a tedious bore.
On a stove in a little pot
And then you’d burn em, like as not.

Then a million years ago
Came microwaves. At first, you know
We tried to cook in them instead.
“This is not so good,” we often said.

But finally the truth got clear
As we all got our acts in gear
And saw that in the acid test
The microwave was at its best

With leftovers. A problem solved.
Just pop ’em in. Don’t be involved
With pots and pans and burnt-on food
No need to fuss, no need to brood.

And we forget that olden day
As though it’s always been this way.
Don’t take for granted the largesse –
The microwave is true progress.

Still Stayin’ Alive

The New Neo Posted on by

[Hat tip: commenter “Ruth.”]

One of the most well-known and satirized songs on earth, instantly recognizable and not just by those who were alive when it first came out:

Interestingly, they didn’t really have to change the line about The New York Times’ effect on man.