Democrats for waste and fraud

The New Neo Posted on by

As far back as I can remember, people considered the federal government wasteful and inefficient when it wasn’t being actively intrusive and confiscatory, as well as subject to fraud and corruption. It was the sort of thing just about everyone knew, but most people shrugged it off for the most part because it was deemed an inevitable and inherent part of government.

Over the years it appeared to get worse. Democrats seemed to want more and more people dependent on the federal government, and although Republicans paid lip service to wanting to cut back, it rarely if ever happened. One reason was lack of will and energy to change things. Another was that many politicians benefited personally from the situation. Another was that, as the federal government grew larger, the task of “fixing” it – whatever that would look like – seemed insurmountable.

When Trump ran on a platform of “draining the swamp” in his first term, not all that much draining took place. He was just getting his feet wet in the swampy mud and laboriously learning how to walk there without getting sucked down by quicksand. Under constant attack, it took a great deal of his rather considerable energy merely to keep going.

I’m not sure what you expected in his second term, but I expected just a bit more swamp-draining and some mild reforms. But so far, we’re getting a lot more, and at a lightning clip. I think most people are gobsmacked at the pace and scope of what’s been happening. The left and most Democrats are horrified. The right is blinking in disbelief and wonder, and for the most part (with some caveats) stunned delight.

It also strikes me that years ago, before the widespread use of computers to keep records – governmental and otherwise – sweeping reform would have been even more difficult because getting the information would have been more labor-intensive. Now, though – well, you know what’s been going on with DOGE. Or with things like Tulsi Gabbard’s firing of the 100 intelligence workers who were discussing, on company time, the finer points of their sexual kinks. That certainly wouldn’t have been possible without a computer trail. Despite that evidence, those workers felt insulated from any consequences for their actions, and until now it made perfect sense to think so.

Maybe this won’t continue. Maybe the courts will stop it; there certainly will be plenty of courtroom challenges. But it’s an extraordinary effort which has uncovered not just the expected waste and fraud – probably greater in scope than most people would have thought, but nevertheless along the expected lines – but also the fact that, through USAID in particular, the taxpayers were footing the bill for a host of leftist projects and even appearing to fund some terrorists (see this).

The upshot is that the Democrats have to take the position of defending – or denying – fraud and waste in government. I don’t think most people are sympathetic to that argument. So Democrats are also emphasizing the plight of the laid-off. But when government workers fight ordinary standards of accountability and act as though their jobs are entitlements, they don’t engender much goodwill, either.

MSNBC fires people left and right …

The New Neo Posted on by

… but mostly left.

Because there’s no host there on the right to begin with.

Here’s the story of the firings and shufflings:

MSNBC host Jen Psaki will slide into a new primetime slot as part of a massive shakeup that includes the ouster of President Trump-bashing anchor Joy Reid, the embattled network confirmed Monday.

Psaki, the former press secretary for President Joe Biden, will take over the 9 p.m. duties Tuesdays through Fridays from current host Alex Wagner beginning in late April, the network said.

The overhaul at the left-leaning network by new president Rebecca Kutler also includes axing weekend shows hosted by Ayman Mohyeldin, Jonathan Capehart, Katie Phang and Jose Diaz-Balart.

I don’t think this will matter much, either to the leftism of the station or to its low ratings. Some people watch almost nothing but MSNBC, and they will probably continue to get their Rachel Maddow fix.

Kutler’s moves to shake up the network have angered some MSNBC insiders.

She is “canceling two hosts that made history. Alex Wagner is [the] first Asian-American primetime host and Joy Reid was the first black woman cable primetime host,” one source told The Post.

Typical highlighting of racial identities. I’m not sure what a “primetime host” on a cable news channel means, but Alex Wagner was eclipsed by this “Asian-American” news personality, although I suppose that’s ancient history:

Constance Yu-Hwa Chung Povich (née Chung; born August 20, 1946) is an American journalist who has been a news anchor and reporter for the U.S. television news networks ABC, CBS, NBC, CNN, and MSNBC. …

In 1993, she became the second woman to co-anchor a network newscast as part of CBS Evening News.

Not too shabby.

I never knew anything about Chung’s family, but this is worth mentioning:

The youngest of ten children, Chung was born in Washington, D.C., less than a year after her family emigrated from China, and was raised in Washington, D.C. Her father, William Ling Chung, was an intelligence officer in the Chinese Nationalist Government, and five of her siblings died during wartime.

I don’t recall Chung being especially partisan during her career. But even back then I didn’t watch much TV news and preferred to read the news instead.

Nasrallah’s useful idiots

The New Neo Posted on by

A group in New York City held a vigil for Nasrallah on the day of his funeral. Here are some quotes from the vigilistas:

On Sunday evening, multiple collegiate chapters for Students for Justice in Palestine held a vigil service for Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah—who was killed in an Israeli air strike on September 27—in New York City’s Washington Square Park. The poster encouraged attendees to bring flags, flowers, and candles, and of course mask-wearing was “highly suggested.” The strangest thing about this vigil was not its lack of ceremony or prayer, but that very few of the 100 or so in attendance knew who Nasrallah was. …

Most of the people The Free Press spoke with said they supported Hamas and Hezbollah, even if they didn’t know who Nasrallah was. Haniya, a college-aged woman with a cheetah-print headscarf, said she showed up to “stand in solidarity with Hezbollah, Hamas, and the entire Resistance Axis in the Middle East.” When asked about the murders of the Bibas children, she said, “I don’t think any person from Palestine would celebrate a dead baby. That’s the difference between people with humanity and people without.”

Like so many, she’s got it backwards. And then there’s this:

Back on the other side of the barricades, a protester named Chucky wore a Palestinian flag around his neck like a cape, and a utility vest with a body camera. He was there to “keep the Zionists away,” he said, and was worried that a fight might break out. When asked about Nasrallah and Hezbollah, Chucky said, “I’m not going to speak on Nasrallah’s history. You can do your own research.”

Moments later, he admitted: “I don’t know much about Hezbollah.”

That last quote makes me think of this – a much happier song from happier days:

The anti-Trump Resistance resists …

The New Neo Posted on by

… with particular force because they see their entire edifice of power threatened.

I recall that, at the beginning of Trump’s first term, I started reading about the self-styled Resistance to Trump. The word was chosen for its Nazi-fighting associations: if they were the Resistance, who was Trump?

And when I say “at the beginning,” I mean the very beginning. I knew people who wanted him impeached before he’d done anything as president, and I first read an article about resistance [see *NOTE below] to Trump by government workers either prior to Trump’s first inauguration or shortly thereafter. That article was not an exposé by some reporter critical of the movement – it was a brag about how workers within the agencies were planning to sabotage and thwart whatever Trump was trying to do. They were extremely proud of themselves, and they were quite organized. I wish I could find the article today, but so far I haven’t located it.

The first time I wrote in depth about the movement was in this May 2017 post entitled “A slow-motion coup d’etat.” That was four months into Trump’s first administration. I didn’t invent the title; I took it from a Federalist article I was discussing that you can find here, and from which I will quote again. Looking at it now, almost exactly eight years later, I wouldn’t call the author a Trump supporter. But he is alarmed at the Resistance:

Arguably, what has been branded as “The Resistance” — but in actuality is the totalitarian might of the administrative state and their partisan allies — began with the Democratic Party’s scorched-earth campaign against the political nominations of the Trump White House. But beyond the partisan rancor of the legitimate and often frustrating nomination process, more sinister forces were at work.

Mother Jones, unwittingly, sheds light onto the mindset of the administrative state in a piece detailing the resistance of EPA bureaucrats. An anonymous and unelected government employee wrote to Mother Jones laying out a lengthy argument justifying his or her resistance to reforms by EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt and objection to directives from the White House [a lengthy quote from the letter follows] …

This is not the words of a dutiful civil servant but of a partisan tyrant who would see his own view, his own agenda, and his own lens of politics dominate over that of the elected government of the United States. In their minds they are but a guardian of the people, albeit one that must stand up to and ultimately negate the will of that very same people. …

Complicit with the authoritarian nature of the administrative state is factions within the United States intelligence community both inside and outside the White House. They have engaged in a campaign of selective leaks and plots to undermine the president of the United States and weave a media narrative of Russian influence, conspiracy, and now obstruction of justice. With their media allies, they have leaked information and intelligence that — while lacking any actual criminal element — has allowed a narrative to arise that casts a dark shadow over the White House and those who live and work in it.

A narrative comprised of the Russian government “hacking” the presidential election, collusion between the Trump campaign and the Russian government, and Trump being compromised by the Russian government dominated the media before the final votes of the election were even tallied. Skepticism was suspended for what can only be described as a concerted effort to undermine the elected president of the United States.

Shortly after the inauguration, this narrative escalated via select leaks …

It goes on for quite some time. And keep in mind that it was written eight years ago, and refers to efforts that began even before Trump’s inauguration.

If they felt threatened by Trump’s presidency then, imagine what they feel now. Well, you don’t have to imagine; in that very same periodical, The Federalist, Margot Cleveland wrote yesterday describing current efforts in the same direction by similar people.

And there’s this by Beth Brele, entitled “CNN: Deep State Bureaucrats Threaten To Sell State Secrets If Trump Isn’t Nice To Them.” It appeared in the Federalist yesterday, and says:

In the piece, CNN warned, “As the CIA weighs staff cuts, current and former intelligence officials say that mass firings could offer a rich recruitment opportunity for foreign intelligence services — like China or Russia — who may seek to exploit financially vulnerable or resentful former employees.”

The piece goes on.

“… on the CIA’s 7th floor — home to top leadership — some officers are also quietly discussing how mass firings and the buyouts already offered to staff risk creating a group of disgruntled former employees who might be motivated to take what they know to a foreign intelligence service.” …

Is that a threat from the CIA? Is CNN reporting that Trump should keep everyone employed because, if he doesn’t, former CIA agents will spill U.S. secrets to our enemies? Apparently so.

But if that’s the case, these are exactly the employees who should be fired.

That seems pretty obvious.

There’s also this sort of thing:

They feel more threatened than ever. What’s next?

[*NOTE: The first use of the term “resistance” i can find in this blog to describe the anti-Trump crowd was on February 28, 2017, about a month after his inauguration: see this. But it wasn’t the first time I’d heard of it.]

First world problems

The New Neo Posted on by

There’s been so much big news every day since Trump’s inauguration that it’s hard to keep up. Today, though, I was further hampered by a new computer problem – this time a bum modem. I’ll skip the details, but let’s just say I’m too tired from struggling with that (and fixing it, I think) to write some of the larger posts I had planned for today, although I hope to get around to them tomorrow or the next day.

Meanwhile, I went out for a walk while it was still light out. I can’t wait till the clocks spring forward in just a couple of weeks!

Speaking of which, I saw this the other day:

German election results …

The New Neo Posted on by

… were pretty much as expected. That indicates that opinion polling still seem to work in Germany:

With vote counting finished, preliminary results show the conservative Christian Democratic Union (CDU) led by chancellor candidate Friedrich Merz and its sister Christian Social Union (CSU) won the election.

The far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) was projected to finish second … [having] nearly doubled its vote share.

The center-left Social Democrats (SPD), led by current Chancellor Olaf Scholz, recorded not only its worst result in a federal election but also its largest loss of votes compared to previous elections.

The neoliberal Free Democratic Party (FDP), whose withdrawal from the coalition triggered the snap election, also suffered heavy losses. The party won’t enter the Bundestag after failing to meet the 5% threshold.

But Friedrich Merz, head of the CDU, has said he will not form a coalition with the AfD. Therefore, although by European and German standards the CDU is a conservative party, any coalition government that is formed will have to be with a party to the left, almost certainly the SPD, which has recorded terrible losses in this election. The gain is on the right, but because it’s the so-called “far right” that grew the most, paradoxically Merz has turned his back on a coalition of the right.

How “far-right” is the AfD? I tried to answer that question in this post of mine from a few days ago. My answer was that, as far as I can tell – and I’m no expert on the subject of Germany’s politics – the party does have some anti-Semitic elements. How large these elements loom I’m not sure, and in Germany the danger of this possibility, as well as the whole idea of a German nationalist party, engenders understandable concern. However, the opposite – in particular, a huge influx of unassimilated Muslims, as well as leftist policies on energy – have harmed both Germany and Europe.

[NOTE: I am almost certainly not the only one in whom the name ‘Friedrich Merz” conjures up fond memories.]

Dan Bongino is new FBI Deputy Director

The New Neo Posted on by

Dan Bongino has been named Deputy Director of the FBI, and the Hill coverage I just linked has an unintentionally humorous lede:

President Trump’s selection of Dan Bongino as deputy FBI director adds another conservative firebrand to the top of the agency, fueling concerns from Democrats the bureau will be politicized.

Ha ha – that’s a good one, Hill, a real knee-slapper: will be politicized. Tell me another one.

Actually, they’re afraid it will be politicized in the wrong direction. They were ecstatically happy when it was politicized in their favor and used to destroy those they considered their enemies.

Bongino is described in the headlines of many of these MSM articles as a talk show guy. For example, NPR uses this headline: “What to know about Dan Bongino, the media personality tapped as FBI deputy director.” The NY Times goes with this: “Right-Wing Commentator Named F.B.I. Deputy Director – The choice of Dan Bongino is a radical departure from the bureau’s history of having a veteran agent serve in the key role that oversees operations.” They know that the headlines are all that many people read, so headlines are important. And it’s not as though it’s untrue; Bongino is a “right-wing commentator.” But that’s not why he was chosen. And although the Times does say – not in the headline, but in the first paragraph – that Bongino also has been a NYC police officer and Secret Service agent, it’s clear from the headline what they wish to emphasize.

Plus this:

The role of deputy director does not require Senate confirmation, meaning two steadfast Trump loyalists will effectively be at the uppermost reaches of an agency known for its tradition of independence.

I wonder whether it was ever known for being politically independent. In the days of J. Edgar Hoover? I wouldn’t exactly describe it that way. But whatever independence it once had – whatever objective application of the law and its energies – ended when it turned its focus on Trump and the right. I’m not sure what date to give the beginning of that pivot, but it certainly was in place early in Trump’s first presidential term. But those who are either oblivious to that fact or who applaud it are of course upset at Patel and Bongino.

The Hill article quotes none other than that pillar of objectivity and fairness, Senator Adam Schiff:

Trump installs another loyalist who won’t say no to any immoral or unethical act. And our law enforcement agencies — and the public safety — are further degraded.

Further degraded? You and your party have degraded it so much that there’s almost nothing left.

A bit more on Bongino’s background, from Wiki:

Bongino joined the United States Secret Service in 1999 as a special agent. In 2002 he left the New York Field Office to become an instructor at the Secret Service Training Academy in Beltsville, Maryland. In 2006, he was assigned to the Presidential Protection Division during George W. Bush’s second term. He remained on protective duty after Barack Obama became president, leaving in May 2011 to run for the U.S. Senate.

Also in 2011, The Baltimore Sun reported that Bongino was the lead investigator of a car rental fraud scheme. His work contributed to two people being indicted on federal wire fraud charges. …

In May 2018, after Republican Congressman Trey Gowdy and some conservative legal experts challenged Trump’s claims that the FBI had spied on his 2016 presidential campaign, Bongino claimed Gowdy had been “fooled” by the Department of Justice. In February 2019, he accused Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein of attempting a coup against Trump.

Bongino reportedly told the House Judiciary Committee during hearings on police brutality that efforts to reduce the funding of police departments were an “abomination” that should be dropped “before someone gets hurt”.

After Joe Biden won the 2020 election and Trump refused to concede, Bongino backed his false claims of election fraud, and claimed that Democrats had rigged the election.

Bongino was a strong critic of face mask mandates during the COVID-19 pandemic, stating that face masks are largely ineffective and deriding them as “face diapers” on occasion.

Most of that seems correct, doesn’t it? Whether or not fraud occurred in 2020, or enough fraud to affect the results, there certainly was enough “rigging.”

I say let Patel and Bongino give it a try. Bongino wouldn’t have been my first choice or even second or third for this position. But perhaps he’ll do a good job in helping clean up the FBI. It certainly could use some cleaning up.

I feel like venting my spleen

The New Neo Posted on by

As soon as I typed that title, I started thinking that you don’t often hear people talk about venting their spleens anymore. In fact, I began to wonder, did I ever hear it? Or did I merely read it in old novels? And is its origin in the ancient ideas about the four humors? Choleric, for example?

The answer is yes, it’s about the humors:

The phrase “vent one’s spleen” originates from ancient Greek and Roman medical theories known as humorism. According to this theory, the spleen was believed to be the organ responsible for producing and storing black bile, one of the four humors or bodily fluids. This idiom may be used in various occasions, such as during heated debates, arguments, or discussions where individuals passionately express their discontent or dissatisfaction. It can also be used in personal settings, such as venting frustrations to a trusted friend or family member, or even in written form, like venting through social media posts or blog entries.

Blog entries! There you have it.

Except there’s a glitch. Black bile, associated with the spleen, was historically connected to melancholy. Yellow bile – the “choleric” humor connected with anger – was supposedly secreted by the gallbladder. So it really should be “venting my gallbladder,” shouldn’t it? However, it just doesn’t sound as good.

But I digress. Or do I?

What am I angry about? Maybe not angry; maybe just annoyed – or perhaps even a trifle melancholy? It’s that it seems every time I do anything – have a doctor’s appointment, go to the theater or a museum, have my car fixed – I get an email asking me to rate the experience. I ordinarily don’t answer unless for some special reason I want to give some feedback. But then a day or two later I get a repeat email asking the same thing, and then another, and then another …

Finally it ends. I don’t want to block the email address in case they happen to send me something important. And I realize in the scheme of things this whole topic is very small, almost nothing. But still annoying.

And the phenomenon seems to be building. It started quite a few years ago, but the number of companies or groups asking for feedback was not large. Now the practice seems near-universal. And it’s not as though there’s any evidence the organizations involved actually pay attention and improve their customer service. Quite the contrary.

There now. I feel better. Perhaps I vented my spleen and my gallbladder.

Today’s hostage return …

The New Neo Posted on by

… was the usual sickening theater from Hamas. But it also engendered the usual joy at seeing the hostages return to Israel and their families. This time the cynical and abusive “ceremonies” around the hostage release seemed to feature even more Gazans than usual hanging around to watch the show, most of them videoing the festivities with cellphones held high.

This time, we saw the return not only of three male civilian hostages kidnapped on October 7, but also of Avera Mengistu, an Israeli of Ethiopian ethnicity who suffers from mental illness and who has been a hostage for ten years. And yet Hamas made a spectacle of him, as well, although they didn’t make him give a speech.

And there was this little touch for one of the Israelis who was captured at the NOVA festival:

Shem Tov was also directed to kiss two of the masked Hamas gunmen on the tops of their heads by the terror group’s cameramen, who were filming alongside the hostages and the gunmen at the carefully staged handover event.

Shem Tov’s father comments:

Malki Shem Tov, father of Omer, says his son was held for most of his captivity alone in a tunnel.

“He said that he was in tunnels alone for the whole time — [almost] 500 days… For the first 50 days he was with Itay [Regev] and all the rest, on his own,” Malki tells Kan TV.

He says Omer “didn’t see daylight at all.”

His returned son is still “our Omer… Omer the funny, Omer the optimist, just 16-17 kilos less.”

Regarding this morning’s handover ceremony, “he told us that they compelled him to wave and to kiss [on the top of the head] that [masked] guard who was standing next to him. He said they told him what to do. You can see in the footage that someone came up to him and told him what to do.”

Was this meant to convey the idea that he was thanking his captors, and that he liked them? Also, that he is subservient to them? I don’t recall any other hostage being asked to do this; it’s a new one to me.

Here is Shem Tov in much happier footage, reuniting with his parents:

The other hostage who has been in Gaza for about ten years and was released, Hisham al-Sayed, is a Bedouin Israeli who was spared being made a spectacle like the others. My guess is that this was because of one or both of these factors: he is in extremely bad shape, and/or Hamas doesn’t want to highlight the fact that they held an Arab hostage all that time. Also, like Mengistu, al-Sayed is mentally ill – that’s apparently part of the reason each of them voluntarily entered Gaza before being held hostage there for a decade.

The show is for the inhabitants of other Arab countries, and for Hamas sympathizers all over the world, to supposedly project strength and to humiliate the hostages further, as well as to torment the hostages’ families just a little more.

There are four more hostages to be returned in Phase I, but it is assumed that they are all dead. Their heartbreaking stories can be found here.

As for Shiri Bibas, her body is now in Israel and forensics also indicate she was brutally murdered in Gaza. As were her baby and toddler. Three generations of her family – her parents, herself, and her children – were murdered by Hamas. Her husband endured unimaginable hardship as a hostage and is now left to mourn, but at least he is in Israel with surviving family members. Please pray for him.