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.

Why, it’s Schrödinger’s cat in the flesh

The New Neo Posted on by

First, for those who are not familiar with Schrödinger’s cat:

In quantum mechanics, Schrödinger’s cat is a thought experiment, sometimes described as a paradox, of quantum superposition. In the thought experiment, a hypothetical cat may be considered simultaneously both alive and dead, while it is unobserved in a closed box, as a result of its fate being linked to a random subatomic event that may or may not occur. This thought experiment was devised by physicist Erwin Schrödinger in 1935 in a discussion with Albert Einstein to illustrate what Schrödinger saw as the problems of the Copenhagen interpretation of quantum mechanics. …

Although originally a critique on the Copenhagen interpretation, Schrödinger’s seemingly paradoxical thought experiment became part of the foundation of quantum mechanics.

Although I initially thought it was a joke, this seems to be a true story. And it’s got the closed box, and the dead-or-alive unknown:

A Utah couple accidentally shipped their pet cat in an Amazon return package, trapping it in the box without food or water for six days.

The cat, named Galena, was eventually discovered safe and well in California, Utah’s KSL-TV was the first to report. …

Carrie Clark, one of the cat’s owners, noticed the pet had gone missing on April 10, the outlet reported.

For nearly a week, Clark, along with family and friends, searched the couple’s house and neighborhood and plastered missing posters around town hoping to locate the cat, KSL-TV reported. …

Clark then received a text notifying her that Galena’s microchip had been scanned, and later that day, she received a call from a veterinarian in California. …

The vet told Clark the cat was found inside an Amazon return package, alongside five pairs of steel-toed work boots.

Alive.

It could happen to anyone, right? Maybe even Kristi Noem.

I think that Galena has used up more than one of her nine lives on that journey.