Three Israeli hostages have returned home

The New Neo Posted on by

I don’t usually write posts on Sundays unless something momentous happens.

I consider the release of three female hostages momentous. I’ve written a great deal about the politics and strategy involved, and almost certainly I will again. But today I want to focus on the tremendous joy and relief that these three are home. They are with their mothers now and have spoken to other members of their families. I’ve linked to that particular site because it has some videos, although they don’t show all that much:

The cease-fire officially went into effect several hours late Sunday at 11:15 a.m., after delays caused by Hamas failing to deliver the list of the first three hostages scheduled for release. Later, the names Romi Gonen, 24, Emily Damari, 28, and Doron Steinbrecher, 31, were confirmed as the first hostages to be freed. These women are among the 33 hostages slated for release during the initial phase of the deal, ending their 471-day captivity by Hamas.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office released a statement after security forces confirmed the three were transferred to Israeli custody. “The government of Israel embraces the three returning hostages. Their families have been updated that they are now with our forces,” the statement said.

The government reiterated its commitment to bringing back all hostages and missing persons, adding that officials and security agencies will support the women and their families through the process. “Blessed are You, Lord, who frees the captives,” the statement concluded.

There’s also this:

On the other hand:

And then there’s this about another freed hostage: “Smiling Emily Damari reunites with mother, holds up hand with two fingers missing after she was shot on Oct. 7.”

From Mike Huckabee, who will be Trump’s ambassador to Israel:

“Gaza is in a mess…because of Hamas. And Hamas did what they did because of Iran, and they had the funding for it. So, maybe if somebody rebuilds it, it ought to be the Iranians. If they had enough money to build rockets and bombs and missiles, perhaps they have enough money to rebuild the buildings and houses. And instead of building tunnels to hide weaponry in and instead of violating every kind of norm of human behavior, maybe they could spend that money on feeding their people, giving them a place to stay, and medical attention.”

Huckabee concluded, “But that’s the responsibility of the people who messed this up, and that was Hamas, funded by the Iranians. Let us never forget why Gaza is a hellhole right now.”

There are many articles in Israeli papers about the hostages’ return. Here’s one with many more photos. It also mentions that the body of an IDF soldier killed in 2014 and held in Gaza since then was recovered in an IDF operation.

And here are some of Israel’s preparations for receiving the hostages and helping them reintegrate into normal life. Israel is uniquely positioned to be able to do that because not only has the country a lot of experience with freed hostages, but half of the population are descendants of survivors of the WWII Holocaust.

Childish things

The New Neo Posted on by

[NOTE: This is a repeat of a previous post. Just for fun.]

When I was a child, I spake as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child: but when I became a man, I put away childish things. —1 Corinthians 13:11

Children have a lot of time on their hands. In my case, there was a fair amount of solitary time, and I filled it with musings and experiments.

For example, there was lying-down-on-the-grass-and-looking-up-at-the-sky, great for studying floaters and musing on what they might be. Insects trapped in the eye? Single-celled creatures, likewise (close, but no cigar)?

And then there was the eating of dirt, an activity I tried only a few times before I abandoned it as unsatisfactory. But I still remember the taste—gritty and complex. Likewise, sucking on a wet washcloth during down time in the bath, an interesting combination of rough and refreshing.

Shining a flashlight on the fingers to see the red glow was rather nice. Lying in bed at night, waiting for sleep to overtake me, an entertaining feature was to press gently on my eyes with my fists and rub, causing the activation of phosphenes and a bit of a light show (the Greeks had described the phenomenon long before my time, but I was unaware of that and thought I’d invented the activity on my own).

Then there was the repetition of a familiar word until it became strange. This was accomplished by simply saying it aloud over and over to the point where it was leached of its original meaning and devolved to a mere sound. I recall this happening most effectively and dramatically with the word “pink,” but others will do quite nicely.

Many of these explorations took place in my yard, which had some dirt patches where grass stuggled to grow, and in the summer anthills were plentiful there. These were opportunities for some very mild ant torture that involved covering an ant with a bit of fine light sand and watching it emerge after a very short struggle, now temporarily and somehow satisfyingly light-colored rather than dark (did that make me both a budding racist and a PETA offender? Mea culpa!)

Our block—a dead-end street—featured areas that had been patched over with tar, and on hot days these bubbled up in splendid fashion. There was a plentiful supply of rocks in the gutters, the pointiest of which could be used to strike the tar bubbles and cause a pleasant pop, similar but not quite as good as the scented zap! of that same rock used on the dots that lined the paper rolls we otherwise would load into our cap guns as ammunition.

I wonder whether children still have the time and inclination to do these things. If they do, they’re not telling the adults. Nor did we—till now.

Once again, will the hostage deal take place?

The New Neo Posted on by

Hamas is not known for keeping its word.

Netanyahu has issued this statement today:

“We will be unable to move forward with the framework until we receive the list of the hostages who will be released, as was agreed,” Netanyahu.

“Israel will not tolerate violations of the agreement,” he declared.

Bruce Hoffman, an expert with the US Council on Foreign Relations, told The Post the hitch could ultimately derail the fragile accord. “One has to ask if Hamas isn’t deliberately sabotaging the deal,” he said.

“This is what they agreed to. It seemed the most basic of all the demands by the Israelis.”

“One has to ask”? One doesn’t have to ask. The sadists of Hamas lie and play games, in addition to everything else they do. They want to exact the maximum suffering from Israel and the maximum gain for themselves, if possible.

Perhaps they will go through with the deal. Perhaps they won’t, and if they don’t they will of course blame Israel, as will more than half the world and at least some of the desperate families of the hostages. Perhaps the Hamas terrorists know where the hostages are. Perhaps they don’t. Perhaps they’ve been bluffing all this time and the hostages are dead (although I happen to think a significant number – at least 25 or 30 – are still alive).

This seems as good a time as any to repeat and clarify something I’ve said before. Many people believe that if Israel did not negotiate for the freedom of the hostages, the refusal would end hostage-taking by Islamic terrorists such as Hamas. I disagree. I think hostage-taking is a win for Hamas no matter what happens. They get the pleasure of having total control of the hostages. What a sense of power! That part of their motivation is similar to what drove someone like Ariel Castro, the man who kidnapped and tortured the three young girls in Cleveland, Ohio, for many years.

Not only can the Hamas kidnappers inflict pain and suffering on the hostages, and wield the power of life and death over them and release periodic videos of their pathetic state, but they cause the hostage families and millions of Israels and Israeli-sympathizers around the world to suffer. The taking of hostages – whether Israel bargains for their lives or not – also increases division and anger within Israel. These phenomena are their own rewards to those who hate Jews, Israel, and Israelis. Getting terrorists back in an exchange is a bonus, but it is not the only point and IMHO it may not even be the most major point of the whole undertaking.

Netanyahu added that the incoming Trump administration has promised support for a renewed military offensive if Gaza breaks the agreement (emphasis mine) “If we do have to resume fighting, we will do so in new ways and with very great power.”

Three hostages – of thirty-three in the first phase of the exchange – are expected to be released tomorrow, if all goes well.

Trying to save its own reputation, the NY Times pretends Biden’s decline wasn’t obvious

The New Neo Posted on by

Does the Times really think people will believe it’s that stupid and unobservant? In other words, does the Times think people are that stupid and unobservant?:

After actively engaging in a coverup of Biden’s cognitive state — the brave, intrepid journalists at NYT are out with a tell-all piece on the coverup — blaming Biden’s inner circle, and taking zero responsibility themselves.

Everything they lied about for years, they now admit is true — Biden’s “walkers” to hide his shuffle, the short stairs to AF1, his frequent falls, cognitive lapses, telepromper woes, needing naps for debate prep — everything.

Legacy media is attempting to rewrite history and play the hapless victim of a White House inner circle that managed to dupe them for four years, in a vain attempt to salvage their tattered reputations and cratered credibility.

Here’s a link to the Times article, with its “now it can be told” facts:

[Biden’s staff] rearranged meetings to make sure Mr. Biden was in a better mood — a strategy one person close to him described as how aides should handle any president. At times, they delayed sharing information with him, including negative polling data, as they debated the best way to frame it. They surrounded him with aides when he walked from the White House to the waiting presidential helicopter on the South Lawn so that news cameras could not capture his awkward bearing.

Funny how everyone on the right saw it, and has seen it, for years.

More:

They had Mr. Biden use a teleprompter for even small fund-raisers in private homes, alarming donors, who were asked to provide questions beforehand. They came up with replacing the grand steps that presidents use to board Air Force One with a shorter set that led directly into the belly of the plane. They chastised White House correspondents for coverage of the president’s age. They hand-delivered memos to Mr. Biden describing social media posts the campaign staff had persuaded allies to write that pushed back on negative articles and polls.

This was no secret.

The article keeps up the pretense that Biden’s problem were mostly physical, in terms of walking, balance, and stamina. It continues to downplay his obvious cognitive problems that were present even in 2020 during that campaign. And the debate with Trump last June? Here’s how the Times treats it:

Mr. Biden needed naps during the debate preparations and then turned in a halting, incoherent performance universally described as “disastrous” by panicking Democrats. Even close aides aware of the president’s frailties were stunned by what they saw. It was, as Senator Chuck Schumer of New York recounted in a recent interview, “a big shock.”

Three weeks later Mr. Biden dropped out of the race.

Note how the Times skips the story of how he was “persuaded” to drop out.

What’s Trump got planned for executive orders?

The New Neo Posted on by

Remember? Trump said he’d be a dictator, but only on day one, drilling and closing the border. During the campaign, the left parlayed that into the idea that Trump will be an actual dictator, and that he’s so bold and shameless that he even announced it!

Now his press secretary has said of these orders:

“There will be tens of them. I can assure you of that,” Trump’s national press secretary, Karoline Leavitt, told Fox News on Sunday.

There’s a lot to do, and especially to undo. Some will no doubt be connected to the two things he mentioned, drilling and the border. Also deportations of illegal aliens, particularly people who have committed crimes or are otherwise under orders to be deported but haven’t been. And of course the J6 defendents.

What’s the history of day one executive orders, and executive orders in general? At the moment, the record for initial orders is held by none other than Joe Biden:

Since 1937, only three U.S. presidents have issued executive orders on their first day in office. This exclusive group includes Joe Biden, Donald Trump, and Bill Clinton. …

The Federal Register tracks all executive orders signed by presidents beginning in 1937, excluding former President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s first-term executive orders. …

President Joe Biden holds the record for the most executive orders signed on the first day and first week in office. On his first day, Biden issued nine executive orders, six of which reversed orders from the Trump administration. These reversals included rescinding policies targeting communities that shielded undocumented immigrants from deportation and requiring the use of face masks in federal buildings and lands.

Biden’s use of executive orders during his first week in office was prolific, with a total of 22 orders signed.

During his presidency, Biden signed 160 executive orders. But that didn’t hold a candle to FDR, who signed a whopping 2,023 during his terms two and three; Truman, who signed 906; Clinton, who signed 364. George H.W. Bush had the lowest number since the count began in 1937: 46.

One of Trump’s executive orders will probably be to extend the TikTok cancellation window for 90 more days, in hopes of a sale.

NOTE: An early order of Biden’s took the Iran-backed Houthis off the terrorists list. Great. And now, in the last days of his presidency, guess what? This past Wednesday, Biden put the Houthis back on the list. One less thing for Trump to do.

King Joe and Queen Kamala have spoken

The New Neo Posted on by

The topic? The dearly departed Equal Rights Amendment. I remember having to write about the ERA back in law school – and believe me, that was a long time ago.

Those two brilliant lawyers, Joe Biden and Kamala Harris, seem to think they can revive it by fiat.

Actually, I don’t believe they really think that – although who knows what Joe thinks these days? They’re just messing with our minds in order to move the Overton window. The fact that they’re both saying this means it was orchestrated by the person or persons who have been orchestrating so very much during this administration.

And so we have this from Joe Biden:

And this from Kamala Harris:

And this from lawyers such as Jonathan Turley:

The most information you’ll get about the hostage deal at this point …

The New Neo Posted on by

… can be found in this video, IMHO. Highly recommended:

Israel isn’t just negotiating with terrorists for hostages. It is negotiating with a terrorist-controlled neighbor that isn’t exactly a country but wants to be one and has the backing of the majority of the countries in the world. Not only that, but Israel has at its northern boundary another terrorist-controlled country, and is surrounded by other countries (Syria, for example) who want to destroy it. Even its sort-of friends in the area – Egypt, for example – help out the terrorists from time to time.

This is an extremely special and in fact unique situation. What’s more, Israel itself is small in both area and population, and much of its population is composed of people who are literally related to each other. It was never an option, as far as Israel was concerned, to leave the hostages there and count them as already dead. You may coldly and dispassionately decide that this is a stupid way for Israel to look at it, but as the speaker in the video points out, it can be argued that that is not the case. My point of view, which I’ve stated before, is that part of the reason that Hamas and others take hostages is not just to get their terrorists back (although that is certainly one of the reasons), it is to torture Israelis, both the captive ones and their families and friends and everyone else who lives in Israel or cares about Israelis. You might say that, to terrorists, taking Israelis hostage is intrinsically satisfying and rewarding, whether they get terrorists out of prison in exchange or not.

As I’ve also written before, this war is a marathon rather than a sprint. I don’t know how Israel will ultimately change things for the better, but in the larger picture, the prisoners released in this exchange do not change that long-term strategy, whatever it may be.

CNN found liable for defamation

The New Neo Posted on by

Because the person defamed was not a public figure, the standard was lower:

A Florida jury found CNN liable on Friday in a high-stakes defamation trial against U.S. Navy veteran Zachary Young, who alleged that the network maligned him as an “illegal profiteer” with a report on Afghan evacuees being charged thousands of dollars to flee the country following the U.S. military withdrawal.

Following two days of deliberations, the jury ruled that CNN must pay Young $4 million in financial damages and $1 million for emotional damage, adding that Young is also owed punitive damages. The trial is now heading into a second phase to determine the amount of punitive damages Young should receive from the network.

And of course this was in Florida. Had it been in NYC or especially in DC, the verdict might have been different.

This is interesting:

Additionally, CNN’s legal team argued in court filings that at the “time of its reporting, CNN knew little about Young’s financials, his model, or whether he’d successfully evacuated anyone because whenever anyone [including CNN] asked Young to explain his business, he obfuscated, behaved unprofessionally, lied, and hid.”

Are people required to answer the MSM’s questions? Apparently CNN thinks so. And why didn’t CNN wait till it knew the facts, instead of implying that what Young did was illegal? This appears to be why:

Throughout the trial, Freedman presented a series of Slack messages and emails from Marquardt and other CNN staffers in which they referred to Young as a “s***bag” with a “punchable face.” In one message to an editor, Marquardt said they were “gonna nail this Zachary Young mf***er,” while an editor responded: “Gonna hold you to that one cowboy!” In another message, Marquardt said of Young: “It’s your funeral, bucko.”

In depositions and court filings, CNN and its lawyers defended the harsh remarks as “banter” that’s part of a candid newsroom and that it didn’t impact the editorial process.

Sure thing. Highly objective.

I seem to remember another person with a supposedly “punchable face” who ultimately was paid quite a bit by various news agencies (including CNN) for defamation: Nicholas Sandmann.

Monday’s inauguration will be moved inside due to cold weather

The New Neo Posted on by

At least, that’s the reason that’s being given by Trump:

The weather forecast for Washington, D.C., with the windchill factor, could take temperatures into severe record lows. There is an Arctic blast sweeping the Country. I don’t want to see people hurt, or injured, in any way. It is dangerous conditions for the tens of thousands of Law Enforcement, First Responders, Police K9s and even horses, and hundreds of thousands of supporters that will be outside for many hours on the 20th (In any event, if you decide to come, dress warmly!).

Therefore, I have ordered the Inauguration Address, in addition to prayers and other speeches, to be delivered in the United States Capitol Rotunda, as was used by Ronald Reagan in 1985, also because of very cold weather.

When I look up the weather forecast for DC on Monday, it says 24 degrees with winds between 10 and 20 miles per hour. That’s indeed cold, and although for New Englanders it’s not at all unusual, it’s bitter for DC. I suspect, however, that moving the ceremony inside also makes security much easier. I’ve been worried about security for that day, and so I prefer this solution.

Here are the cold weather precedents:

The last time the ceremony was moved inside was for Ronald Reagan in 1985, also due to extremely cold temperatures. It was 7 degrees with some stiff winds topping 30 mph, which put the wind chills well below zero.

Wow. That is much colder. More:

Historically, early presidential inaugurations were often held indoors within the Capitol, explained FOX News Senior Congressional Correspondent Chad Pergram to FOX Weather, noting that President Thomas Jefferson’s inauguration followed this tradition.

Pergram further explained that President James Monroe initiated the practice of holding inaugurations outdoors. This shift occurred after the War of 1812, during which the British forces burned the Capitol building.

In addition, every US schoolkid knows – or used to know; I have no idea what they learn these days – that President William Henry Harrison apparently contracted pneumonia because of standing in the cold and wet to deliver his inauguration address in 1841, and died a month later. Although many people on the left would love for Trump to follow that particular precedent, he’s not taking that chance.

The first inauguration I can recall was that of President Kennedy. I was a child at the time, and I watched it in black-and-white on TV, and I remember it as very cold. Looking it up now, I see that was indeed the case:

In 1961, when John F Kennedy was sworn in, temperatures didn’t get past 22F (-5C) in the afternoon and there was 8 inches (20cm) of snow on the ground.

Not as much wind, though? More on the weather here:

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers was put in charge of clearing the streets during the evening and morning before the inauguration, and were assisted by more than 1,000 District of Columbia employees and 1,700 Boy Scouts. This task force employed hundreds of dump trucks, front-end loaders, sanders, plows, rotaries, and flamethrowers to clear the route. Over 1,400 cars which had been stranded due to the conditions and lack of fuel had to be removed from the parade route along Pennsylvania Avenue.

I see from footage of JFK’s inauguration that he seems to have worn a topcoat without a scarf. And then there’s the bit about the top hat and JFK:

NOTE: Does getting chilled predispose a person to coming down with a cold or pneumonia? Well, maybe a little tiny bit:

“If you’re a little bit colder outside, your body’s immune system may just drop a little bit because it’s spending extra effort to keep you warm. That’s not with everybody, but, in some cases, it may predispose you to a cold,” says Dr. Bracamonte.

But, he says, the cold weather itself doesn’t cause the common cold. However, as winter temps dip down, the chances of spreading a respiratory virus go up because more time is spent indoors with others.

Hostages: deal or no deal?

The New Neo Posted on by

Israel says not so fast:

Israel’s government is aiming to vote Saturday night, local time, to accept the terms of a ceasefire and hostage agreement, multiple outlets reported, delaying implementation of a deal that negotiators hoped to go into effect on Sunday.

While President Biden, President-elect Trump, and Qatar’s emir announced Wednesday that a deal had been agreed between Israel and Hamas, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu delayed beginning the internal Israeli process of approving the deal.

There is dissension in Netanyahu’s cabinet:

Diaspora Affairs and Combatting Antisemitism Minister Amichai Chikli (Likud) threatened in a lengthy statement on Thursday to resign his position as a minister if the incoming hostage deal terms include a retreat from the Philadelphi Corridor on the Gaza-Egypt border or “if we do not return to fight in order to complete the goals of the war.”

I trust very little that I read about this deal. It seems to still be in a state of flux, plus I don’t trust reporting in general. However, from what I’ve seen, I think both of his stated goals are being met, although I’ve also read articles that seem to state the opposite.

One of the things that seems to matter – or that might matter – is this statement of Trump’s. Strip away the bragging (difficult, I know; there’s so much of it) and pay attention to the promise itself [emphasis mine]:

This EPIC ceasefire agreement could have only happened as a result of our Historic Victory in November, as it signaled to the entire World that my Administration would seek Peace and negotiate deals to ensure the safety of all Americans, and our Allies. I am thrilled American and Israeli hostages will be returning home to be reunited with their families and loved ones. With this deal in place, my National Security team, through the efforts of Special Envoy to the Middle East, Steve Witkoff, will continue to work closely with Israel and our Allies to make sure Gaza NEVER again becomes a terrorist safe haven. We will continue promoting PEACE THROUGH STRENGTH throughout the region, as we build upon the momentum of this ceasefire to further expand the Historic Abraham Accords. This is only the beginning of great things to come for America, and indeed, the World! We have achieved so much without even being in the White House. Just imagine all of the wonderful things that will happen when I return to the White House, and my Administration is fully confirmed, so they can secure more Victories for the United States!

Gaza is full of terrorists, and that was the case even without the release of 1000+ more who are presently in Israeli prisons and are slated for release in the deal.

That is, if the deal goes through. It’s not over till the Israeli cabinet sings. And until the exchange happens. And until Hamas doesn’t violate the ceasefire or break the deal in other ways. And even then it’s hardly over. As Trump says, this is only the beginning, whether of “wonderful things that will happen” during Trump’s turn, or of the hostage deal itself.

ADDENDUM:

Almost all the commentary I read or hear about the deal is that it’s awful, terrible, a surrender, shocking, a betrayal by Trump. I think that’s a very shortsighted way to look at it, although of course it might end up that way. But as I believe I wrote in another post on the subject, this deal is like an iceberg and most of it is unseen: what Trump promised, what Hamas will ultimately do, what the Israelis will ultimately do, and whether there was any other way to get some of the hostages back. There was not, IMHO.

I’ve looked for someone who agrees with me on this, and I found this clip from Ben Shapiro. He’s nothing if not articulate, and he articulates my position very well. The portion I’ve cued up is a little over five minutes long: