Roundup

The New Neo Posted on by

(1) An Israeli airstrike is reported to have killed Deif and company:

Muhammad Deif, the elusive commander of Hamas’s military wing, and another top commander in the terror group were targeted in an airstrike in the southern Gaza Strip on Saturday morning, the Israeli military said.

Deif and Rafa’a Salameh were struck with large munitions above ground while in a low building between the al-Mawasi area and Khan Younis in southern Gaza, and not in a tunnel.

Hamas claimed that over 90 people had been killed in the strike.

According to the IDF’s assessments, no hostages were held at the site when the strike was carried out.

(2) Involuntary manslaughter charges against Alec Baldwin have been dismissed due to egregious prosecutorial misconduct.

(3) The UNRWA expose continues:

During raids over the last week on a Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad combat complex embedded in a former UNRWA compound, troops of the Commando Brigade’s combat team, operating under the direction of the 99th Division, located significant terror infrastructure embedded in the facility.

Among the weapons and infrastructure located in the UNRWA complex were war rooms used for surveillance operations, parts for UAV assembly, tactical drones, rockets, machine guns, mortars, explosives, and grenades, the IDF added.

(4) The pro-Biden wing of the Democrat Party doesn’t tolerate any backtalk:

Classy.

(5) Catfight:

When Kamala Harris took to the stage during a Democratic primary debate before the 2020 election and implied that Joe Biden was racist, his wife, Jill’s, response was crystal clear.

‘Go f**k yourself,’ the then-future first lady vented, as she allegedly admitted during a conference call with supporters.

And the relationship between the two women – that began badly enough during that contentious battle for the presidential nomination – has only gone downhill from there.

Now, political insiders have told DailyMail.com that Democratic advisors are struggling to push past the powerful role that Jill Biden’s loathing of Harris, 59, is playing in Joe’s resistance to pass the mantle to his VP as pressure ratchets up for him to step down as presidential candidate and allow another Democrat tackle Donald Trump.

According to one former Democrat operative in Jill’s circle, the women’s long-seated animosity is ‘one hundred per cent’ part of Jill’s resistance to having her 81-year-old husband step aside.

It’s probably a factor, but I am of the firm belief that neither Jill nor Joe would be willing to step aside even without the Kamala problem. Their selfish and narcissistic ambition is enormous.

Apparatchik Lawrence O’Donnell on Biden’s “big boy” press conference

The New Neo Posted on by

O’Donnell is shameless. I mean that literally [emphasis mine]:

The big question for Joe Biden is how does he handle speaking off the teleprompter? That’s been the big question since the debate…so what followed was nothing less than the most masterful televised presidential press conference about foreign policy. There have been other presidential press conferences that have exhibited mastery at different points by some presidents but on foreign policy, complex foreign policy involving the Middle East and the situation in Ukraine, this is as good as it gets with an American president.

O’Donnell is is 72 years old and has been a leftist commentator for quite a bit of his adult life. He also was a writer for The West Wing, and is a self-declared socialist – actually a “European” socialist, although he’s a Boston-born American who went to Harvard. What is “European” about him is anybody’s guess; probably his self-important pretentiousness:

In a 2005 interview, O’Donnell called himself a “practical European socialist”. O’Donnell also declared himself a “socialist” on the November 6, 2010, Morning Joe show, stating: “I am not a progressive. I am not a liberal who is so afraid of the word that I had to change my name to ‘progressive’. Liberals amuse me. I am a socialist. I live to the extreme left, the extreme left of you mere liberals.” On the August 1, 2011, episode of The Last Word, O’Donnell further explained: “I have been calling myself a socialist ever since I first read the definition of socialism in the first economics class I took in college”

So he hasn’t changed much since college – no surprise there.

So, whom is O’Donnell addressing when he shamelessly calls Biden’s speech and performance so very masterful? I don’t think for a moment he believes what he says, but I think he is counting on the fact that most people haven’t seen Biden’s press conference and will take O’Donnell’s word for how very wonderful it was. It’s been my experience that most people rely on pundits to interpret reality for them, and O’Donnell knows that much of the MSNBC audience will take his word for it. He is confident in his own ability to not just interpret reality for that audience but to create reality.

Getting rid of Joe: let’s look at the 25th Amendment

The New Neo Posted on by

The Democrats face a quandary of their own making. They nominated a man in 2020 who was clearly on the wane, mentally and physically. They did it not because he’d be good at the presidency but because they thought he could win or could be made to win. And win he did, whether by hook or by crook.

They also thought – or some of them thought – that his continuing decline could be covered up for enough time to figure out an alternative for 2024. The debate on June 27 changed that calculus, but the perception of Joe’s fitness had already been faltering. No number of better – not good, but better – “press conferences” or teleprompter speeches will undo what was seen at the debate.

It seems pretty clear that the majority of Democrats would like to remove Biden from contention, but he has stubbornly and egotistically refused to go voluntarily. That was part of the Democrats’ 2020 bargain, too: “stubborn” and “egotistical” are Joe’s two middle names.

And it’s not as though Joe is utterly senile. I’ve been saying for a long long time that although Joe is significantly cognitively compromised, he still has some agency and some say in things. As commenter Niketas Choniates writes:

To me it seems clear that Biden is VERY old and has good and bad days. However, he is not a vegetable, he knows he’s supposed to be President and is officially at the head of the Executive. He also knows it’s the capstone of a long career in office.

He will not resign and he will not be removed by Amendment 25, because he’s competent enough to successfully challenge using the Amendment 25 process (which folks should get really get around to reading for themselves, because media is not truthfully representing it).

I think the only way he leaves the Presidency is feet first–he won’t be voted out because Wisconsin, Michigan, and Pennsylvania are fortified for democracy. A successful Amendment 25 removal would only happen if he really were a vegetable, or so senile that he actually doesn’t remember he’s President even on good days.

(If they tried to remove him in the “vegetable” scenario, I’m assuming that his staff and or his wife would produce a letter under his name challenging his inability, and Congress would insist on seeing and interacting with Joe Biden in person before voting whether to restore his powers, which would mean something like a month of no one knowing who has the powers of the Presidency.)

So let’s look at the relevant portion of the 25th Amendment:

Section 4. Whenever the Vice President and a majority of either the principal officers of the executive departments or of such other body as Congress may by law provide, transmit to the President pro tempore of the Senate and the Speaker of the House of Representatives their written declaration that the President is unable to discharge the powers and duties of his office, the Vice President shall immediately assume the powers and duties of the office as Acting President.

Thereafter, when the President transmits to the President pro tempore of the Senate and the Speaker of the House of Representatives his written declaration that no inability exists, he shall resume the powers and duties of his office unless the Vice President and a majority of either the principal officers of the executive department [sic][note 2][7] or of such other body as Congress may by law provide, transmit within four days to the President pro tempore of the Senate and the Speaker of the House of Representatives their written declaration that the President is unable to discharge the powers and duties of his office. Thereupon Congress shall decide the issue, assembling within forty-eight hours for that purpose if not in session. If the Congress, within twenty-one days after receipt of the latter written declaration, or, if Congress is not in session, within twenty-one days after Congress is required to assemble, determines by two-thirds vote of both Houses that the President is unable to discharge the powers and duties of his office, the Vice President shall continue to discharge the same as Acting President; otherwise, the President shall resume the powers and duties of his office.

That’s a mouthful. The article goes on to add that the drafters of the amendment deliberately left the definition of “inability” vague:

… [There is] no specific threshold – medical or otherwise – for the “inability” contemplated in Section 4. The framers specifically rejected any definition of the term, prioritizing flexibility. Those implementing Section 4 should focus on whether – in an objective sense taking all of the circumstances into account – the President is “unable to discharge the powers and duties” of the office. The amendment does not require that any particular type or amount of evidence be submitted to determine that the President is unable to perform his duties. While the framers did imagine that medical evidence would be helpful to the determination of whether the President is unable, neither medical expertise nor diagnosis is required for a determination of inability … To be sure, foremost in [the minds of the framers] was a physical or mental impairment. But the text of Section 4 sets forth a flexible standard intentionally designed to apply to a wide variety of unforeseen emergencies …

It seems to me that, if enough Democrats were to come along, the 25th could be invoked to remove Joe despite his protests and/or challenges. But it would be a very bitter and divisive experience for the Democrats.

The Democrats in the Senate defeat the SAVE Act

The New Neo Posted on by

Voting for everyone! It’s “xenophobic” to worry about limiting votes to citizens:

Senate Democrats blocked the Safeguard American Voter Eligibility (SAVE) Act Thursday, a bill mandating proof of citizenship for federal voters, which passed the House late Wednesday.

Here’s the “xenophobic” charge:

Rep. Summer Lee: “Let me be clear: They don’t want you to vote. They don’t want to hear Black voices, Brown voices, LGBTQIA voices, young voices. Our fundamental access to our democracy is being politicized. And this xenophobic attack that we’re debating today will make it harder for Americans to vote. My Republican colleagues will claim that requiring IDs is a small ask, but nearly 30 million people lack a valid driver’s license, and about 15 to 18 million adults don’t have access to documents proving their birth or citizenship. Americans don’t need more obstacles. It’s already hard enough.”

Oh, so hard to vote! So hard to prove something a person has to prove in order to do things that are a lot more common than voting. But this is the rhetoric, and it works with a lot of people.

Meanwhile, faith in the integrity of our elections is gone, and that’s a dangerous thing.

Remember HR1. If the Democrats get into power again, they will pass a federal law banning things like proof of citizenship for voting, even in red states. The idea is permanent power for the left.

Joe’s “I Will Survive!” press conference

The New Neo Posted on by

It seems Joe lives to fight another day. He limbo-ed right down under that low low bar and then skedaddled on out of there.

I didn’t watch it, but I read about it. It seems he faded towards the end, but he was otherwise coherent in his lies and braggadocio, and did a halfway decent job of reading off a teleprompter. Bravo, Joe!

Why are so many Democrats opposed to the SAVE Act?

The New Neo Posted on by

Apparently they want illegal aliens to be able to vote. Only five Democrats joined the Republicans to vote for the Act:

In total, 216 Republicans and five Democrats voted to pass the bill, while 198 Democrats voted against the measure.

In May, Representative Chip Roy, a Texas Republican, introduced the SAVE Act, which would require those registering to vote to provide documentary proof of United States citizenship. It is already illegal for noncitizens to register to vote or to vote in federal elections.

The bill had 104 Republican co-sponsors, including top House Republicans such as House Majority Leader Steve Scalise of Louisiana, Majority Whip Tom Emmer of Minnesota, Republican Conference Chair Elise Stefanik of New York, and Republican Policy Committee Chair Gary Palmer of Alabama.

The bill should have passed unanimously, of course. The five who voted for it were Henry Cuellar of Texas, Don Davis of North Caroina, Jared Golden of Maine, Vicente Gonzalez Jr. of Texas, and Marie Gluesenkamp Perez of Washington.

Here’s the reason Democrats give for opposing the bill:

“A REAL ID drivers’ license, a Tribal ID, or a military ID would be unacceptable unless coupled with additional documentation, such as a birth certificate or an extract from a birth record that proves the applicant was born in the United States,” Clark wrote. “This would be an extreme burden for countless Americans, including military voters, Native voters, people who have changed their names (including tens of millions of American women), the elderly, the young, the poor, and naturalized citizens.”

An “extreme burden”? Give me a break. Naturalized citizens can’t prove they’re citizens? Married women can’t prove it’s their birth certificate? Absurd. How do all these people get passports? This “extreme burden” is okay for a passport? It’s the same old Democrat argument that millions of Americans are somehow incapable of getting proper ID, at least when it comes to voting.

And note how many supposedly moderate Democrats go along with this.

More “now it can be told”: Chuck Todd says everybody knew about Biden

The New Neo Posted on by

From NBC News’ Chuck Todd:

NBC News chief political analyst Chuck Todd on Wednesday claimed a senior cabinet secretary told him in 2022 that President Biden couldn’t run again.

The former “Meet the Press” host discussed dwindling confidence in Biden’s campaign on his podcast “The Chuck Toddcast” with Politico columnist Jonathan Martin. While floating potential exit paths for Biden to step down, both criticized Democratic Party members for refusing to publicly voice their concerns.

“The politicians of the Democratic Party in the last few days have shown that a lot of them don’t have the courage of their convictions. They simply aren’t going to stand up and say in public what they’ve been telling folks like us in private for years. This is not a new story,” Martin said.

It’s not a new story on the right. But you said the right was lying and distorting the truth, and that Biden was basically fine. Now you say you knew differently and were covering up the truth and lying yourselves – to preserve “democracy” (that is, Democrats). We’ve known you were liars for a long long time. But now that you admit that you always knew the truth and hid it, why would anyone who previously trusted you trust you now?

Why would anyone ever trust you again? They answer is that no one on earth should, and you’re admitting it.

More:

Todd recounted, “I had a cabinet secretary two years ago — two years ago — out of the blue asked me, ‘Do you really think he’s gonna? He can’t run again like this.’ And I said, ‘Well, you have more interaction with him than I do.’ And they said, ‘I don’t have a lot of interaction with him.’ This is a pretty senior cabinet secretary. This was two years ago.”

He added, “It’s the classic open secret, the nonversation. It’s the story everybody knows, and that everybody was afraid to talk about.”

Does that “everybody” include you Chuck? Well, I guess you’ve now overcome your fear. And why might that be? Might it be because the truth is now impossible to hide? I’m sure you can give it the old college try, though.

Then again, maybe the truth is out because Obama has decreed it must come out.

And Biden still does better than his possible replacements do in polls against Trump

The New Neo Posted on by

I can’t say I’d rely overmuch on polls right now – or perhaps ever. But still, I find these results very curious:

The latest Emerson College Polling survey found Trump with 49 percent and Harris with 43 percent among registered voters in a potential match-up, a 6-point lead for the former president. Another 8 percent were undecided.

Harris notched the same share of support as Biden, who also scored 43 percent against Trump — but Biden trailed the presumptive Republican nominee by 3 points, with 43 percent to Trump’s 46 percent, and 11 percent undecided.

So Biden does better than Harris, but it seems to be because he cuts slightly more into support for Trump, not because he gets more votes himself. Therefore the gap is smaller.

And it’s not just the unpopular Harris – it’s also the other Democrats who are mentioned as possible Biden replacements:

Trump was also up in hypothetical head-to-heads against eight other prominent Democratic and independent names floated as potential Biden replacements. He led by 6 points over Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), 7 points over former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and 8 points over California Gov. Gavin Newsom (D).

Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg, former Vice President Al Gore, Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro, Sen. Elizabeth Warren (Mass.) and Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer all came in behind Trump in additional tests.

But a new poll from the Democratic pollster Bendixen & Amandi Inc. found more promising results for Harris — putting the vice president ahead of Trump by 1 point. Harris scored 42 percent to Trump’s 41 percent, while 5 percent of voters picked a third-party candidate and 12 percent were undecided.

I suppose you could just say the polls are worthless at this point, and call it a day. Twelve percent undecided? Does that mean they’ll stay home? Or are those the mail-in ballots waiting for opportune Democratic harvesting?

And national polls are especially worthless; it’s the state polls that matter – or at least, that matter more.

But the whole thing could help explain why the Democrats seem to be resigned to running Biden – for now.