The new RNC and election integrity

The New Neo Posted on by

I hope the shakeups at the RNC described here aren’t a case of “too little, too late.”

The following is from an interview with Lara Trump on “The Benny Show”:

We have the first-ever election integrity division.

First ever? It’s extraordinary that it took this long. There certainly have been efforts before, but apparently they’ve not been coordinated by the RNC.

More from Lara Trump:

We have, in 23 states, 78 lawsuits single-handedly to address this issue, to make it easier to vote and harder to cheat in 2024. …

In addition, we now have the ability to train poll workers. These are not just poll watchers, people who physically stand in a polling location and kinda look around and maybe might be able to see something. These are people who get to handle a ballot, who can count the ballots coming in and the ballots going out, so they know what the numbers should be at the end of the day.

On top of that, we are also hiring and we are asking for volunteer attorneys all across this country. We want you in a polling location near you every single minute that there is voting going on because we want to be able to address a problem immediately, in real-time. We cannot wait until it’s too late.

Good point. In terms of voting fraud, an ounce of prevention is worth far more than a pound of cure, because it is virtually impossible to do much after the fact to prove the existence of the type of fraud made possible by widespread mail-in ballots, ballot harvesting, and voting machines.

More:

But we also have to start thinking about things like legal ballot harvesting, something we’ve never embraced as a party. We’re going to start doing it now. …

We also have to embrace early voting. I know we want one day of voting in this country. It doesn’t exist right now. We’ve got to bank enough votes going into November 5th that we’re not playing catch-up on election day.

These all sound like excellent ideas. They need to be implemented pronto.

Is the universe twice as old as previously thought?

The New Neo Posted on by

This guy certainly thinks so:

Last year, theoretical physicist Rajendra Gupta from the University of Ottawa in Canada published a rather extraordinary proposal that the Universe’s currently accepted age is a trick of the light, one that masks its truly ancient state while also ridding us of the need to explain hidden forces.

Gupta’s latest analysis suggests oscillations from the earliest moments in time preserved in large-scale cosmic structures support his claims.

“The study’s findings confirm that our previous work about the age of the Universe being 26.7 billion years has allowed us to discover that the Universe does not require dark matter to exist,” says Gupta.

“In standard cosmology, the accelerated expansion of the Universe is said to be caused by dark energy but is in fact due to the weakening forces of nature as it expands, not due to dark energy.” …

To replace existing models with CCC+TL, Gupta would need to convince cosmologists his model does a better job of explaining what we see at large. His latest paper attempts to do that by using CCC+TL to explain fluctuations in the spread of visible matter across space caused by sound waves in a newborn Universe, and the glow of ancient dawn known as the cosmic microwave background.

While his analysis concludes his hybrid tired light theory can play nicely with certain features of the Universe’s residual echoes of light and sound, it does so only if we also ditch the idea that dark matter is also a thing.

I don’t pretend for even a moment to be able to evaluate the competing theories, but wouldn’t the jettisoning of dark matter be a feature rather than a bug?

Calling all astrophysicists and cosmologists!

Another roundup

The New Neo Posted on by

Sometimes there’s just too much news to do justice to it all. Thus, another roundup.

(1) Tony Bobulinksi address the House:

Brave man.

(2) Apparently we will finally get to see the Nashville shooter’s manifesto.

(3) If you’re confused by the various court rulings about the Texas law on detaining illegal aliens, reading this LI post but in particular this comment in response to the post should help.

(4) Trump might let Letitia James seize Trump Tower:

As Donald Trump faces a Monday deadline to post a $454 million bond in the civil fraud case against him in New York, insiders said he may be weighing a little-discussed option: Doing nothing.

The ex-president reportedly has been struggling to raise the cash for the bond — either from banks or wealthy friends — with his lawyers claiming on Monday that it was a “practical impossibility.”

While some reports have raised speculation that Trump may “go nuclear” with a Chapter 11 filing to protect his prize real estate assets across Manhattan, experts said bankruptcy would create unwelcome complications as the 2024 election season comes to a head. …

A third possibility, however, is to let the deadline pass, leaving it to New York Attorney General Letitia James to seize Trump’s bank accounts or buildings — including Trump Tower, from which he declared his 2016 presidential run, and which famously includes his personal penthouse.

It’s an option Trump appears to have considered – partly because he believes the chances are good that he could recover the assets on appeal, even if he is forced to take his case to the US Supreme Court, according to friends.

The NY case has great potential to hurt the economy of New York by scaring off real estate investors, and such a taking of real estate assets would only further that perception and that reacion. It also will further the perception of Trump as a victim of injustice – a perception I believe is quite correct.

In the NY court system, Trump can’t appeal unless he posts the money. But if James seizes the assets, I assume that would give him the right of appeal, because it would be the equivalent? If not, I’m pretty sure he still could appeal on an emergency basis to a higher federal court.

(5) Trump is suing ABC and Stephanopoulos for saying he’d been convicted of rape:

“Judges and two separate juries have found him liable for rape and for defaming the victim of that rape. How do you square your endorsement of Donald Trump with the testimony we just saw, ” Stephanopoulos asked during the interview.

But because both defendants are part of the news media, actual malice and/or reckless disregard for the truth must be proved in order to win a judgment. It’s certainly been alleged, but proving it is often very very difficult, which is why the MSM feels free to issue such defamations for political purposes. From the complaint:

“These statements were and remain false, and were made by Defendant Stephanopoulos with actual malice or with a reckless disregard for the truth given that Defendant Stephanopoulos knows that these statements are patently and demonstrably false,” Trump’s attorney, Alejandro Brito, wrote in the 20-page complaint.

I predict that Trump won’t win this case, because of Sullivan and the resultant high burden of proof.

More IDF operations at al Shifa Hospital

The New Neo Posted on by

The IDF continues to conduct operations at al Shifa Hospital:

The IDF said that hundreds of terror suspects had so far been questioned at the hospital complex by field interrogators of the Military Intelligence Directorate’s Unit 504 and the Shin Bet security agency.

In a video statement from the hospital on Wednesday, IDF Spokesman Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari said troops had detained between 250 and 300 terror operatives at the medical center during the ongoing operation.

He said another 300 suspects were also being questioned.

“We are talking about many [Palestinian Islamic Jihad] operatives, including battalion commanders, Hamas operatives, including political officials,” Hagari said.

“We will reach all the terrorists in this area. Our goal is to arrest the senior officials alive and bring them in for interrogation. Whoever fights against us will be killed,” he continued. …

Hagari, in his statement, said the IDF was also providing food and water to the civilians sheltering at the hospital and brought in generators for Shifa’s ER.

You may recall that al Shifa is in an area of Gaza that was already dealt with – supposedly – by the IDF. But of course, terrorists can move around, and it’s logical to assume that they felt safe going back there, thinking the IDF wasn’t going to return any time soon. Apparently the IDF received intelligence that this had occurred, launched a raid, and found a substantial number of terrorists who had taken up residence there (probably mainly but not entirely underground).

Hamas seems to have a special affinity for hospitals, because if the IDF tries to kill or apprehend them there Hamas can count on MSM headlines saying that the big bad Israelis are attacking HOSPITALS!! The propaganda value is immense. It is, among other things, a violation of international law to attack hospitals – unless, of course, military operations are being conducted from there. A lot of pro-Hamas propagandists leave out that last little bit.

Note also that the Israelis are helping the hospital continue actual medical and humanitarian care.

Biden is thinking about (or his aides are thinking about) pulling the weapons plug on Israel

The New Neo Posted on by

[Hat tip: commenter “sdferr”]

The Gaza War is one in which good and evil are quite clearly delineated. The Palestinian side features the October 7 atrocities and murders purposely targeting Israeli civilians when there was supposed to be a ceasefire in place, the desire of Hamas to obliterate Israel and Israelis and Jews, Hamas’ use of civilian locations such as hospitals in order to maximize its own civilian casualties and to lie about and inflate their numbers still further, and the enormous amount of support for Hamas and October 7 that the civilian population of Gaza has shown. This is in contrast to Israel’s efforts to reduce the number of Gazan civilian casualties while still defending itself and trying to eliminate Hamas, the willingness of Israelis to live and let live if only the Palestinians would stop trying to destroy Israel and Israelis, and Israel’s own two million Arab citizens.

The propaganda coming from the Arab world and the left about all of this represents not just lies, but Orwellian inversions of the truth. And one of the worst things about it is that some in the west are either believing those lies and preparing to act on them, or are cynically going along with the lies for the partisan political benefit of pleasing their own pro-Hamas left wings and their own Arab populations.

In Canada:

Canada will end arms exports to Israel, Foreign Affairs Minister Mélanie Joly told the Toronto Star today (Tuesday).

“It is a real thing,” Joly said.

The announcement follows the approval by Canada’s parliament on Monday of a motion submitted by the New Democratic Party (NDP) on Palestinian statehood. The motion included calls for an immediate ceasefire to end Israel’s military operations in Gaza and to end arms sales to Israel.

The motion was non-binding. Nevertheless, the Trudeau government intends to comply with it.

And then there’s Euopre. Here’s an article from about a month ago:

A court in the Netherlands on Monday told the Dutch government it must stop exporting F-35 fighter jet parts to Israel, citing a “clear risk” that Israel’s fleet was being used to commit serious violations of international law in the Gaza Strip.

Three human rights groups, including Oxfam, brought the case to The Hague Court of Appeal, seeking to overturn a previous court decision that allowed the Dutch government to continue exporting F-35 parts to Israel. In Monday’s ruling, the court ordered the government to stop such exports within seven days.

The ruling came after the Italian and Spanish foreign ministers said recently that their countries had stopped all arms sales to Israel since the war began in Gaza more than four months ago, after Hamas’ attack on Israel. A regional government in Belgium also said it had suspended two licenses for gunpowder exports to Israel.

And from the Biden administration:

But growing doubts have been raised over the reliability of this supply, with a senior Israeli official telling ABC News, in a report published on March 15, that Washington has begun “slow-walking” some military aid to Israel. This comes amid increasingly harsh criticism by the Biden administration of Israel’s war effort.

Despite denials by American officials, the report cited the Israeli official as noting a major slow-down in the rate of arms deliveries. The official reportedly raised concerns over the availability of 155mm artillery shells and 120mm tank shells. “The United States had been supplying similar munitions to Ukraine, which also reports specifically running low on 155mm artillery shells,” the report said. …

Other observers noted that from the moment the Americans removed these armaments from Israel, Israeli decision-makers should have looked to pre-position hundreds of thousands of shells as a replacement and wondered how long it took for Israel’s Defense Ministry to sign a contract with Israeli defense firm Elbit to produce substitute shells.

The entire article is worth reading. It describe the armament situation in Israel and what might be done about it.

One of the many goals of Hamas and the Palestinians is to isolate Israel, and they know how to use propaganda to do it. It’s something they’ve been successfully accomplishing since at least the 1960s, and it has reached critical mass in the west during the last decade or two.

More on the spread of the “bloodbath” hoax

The New Neo Posted on by

I bring you Hillary Clinton:

Such a useful truncated quote to spread around.

I was listening to a podcast made yesterday by the Ayn Rand Center, and the people speaking – who are definitely not on the left, but who also do not like Donald Trump – were repeating the “bloodbath” meme as though it were true. Even though they are people who are usually quite alert to propaganda and quite good at rejecting and even debunking it, it was shocking that they had bought into the propaganda. But the truth about that particular quote from Trump hadn’t reached them even by yesterday. That brought home to me (once more, with feeling) the power and reach of a lie, and how entrenched it can become despite evidence that ought to invalidate it in everyone’s minds.

I wonder how many people who think they hate Trump are basing their opinions almost solely on lies told about him over the years?

And speaking of bloodbaths:

DC and our dying blue cities

The New Neo Posted on by

Here’s an article describing how depressing and dangerous Washington DC has become.

Now, you might say that DC has been that way for a long time. But it’s clear that it’s recently gotten even worse.

You also might say “Who cares?” Well, I do. Not only is DC our capital, but it used to be a fun place to visit. And DC is hardly alone; there’s been a decline in so many of our big cities. And if you also don’t care about them – perhaps because such cities are Democratic strongholds or because you live far away? – I think you’re being short-sighted. Not only were many of these cities beautiful and lovely to visit – San Francisco being a prime example – but in each case a great many people are sinking with those cities, and a great many states. Coming soon to a city and state near you?

You might also say that if things get bad enough in those cities, maybe voters there will vote for something different; something better. Yes, every now and then a Soros DA is recalled, but I don’t see much changing in such cities as a result.

The combination of lengthy COVID restrictions, work from home, post-Floyd-riots’ relaxation of controls on crime, the demonization of police and their resultant flight, and illegal immigration and criminal gangs ha been a big part of the mess that so many of our cities have become. I wonder if this can be reversed, and if so how.

And in addition to the human cost and the economic cost, we have the undeniable fact that these blue cities have become the perfect venues for political trials against the right. Right now we see this especially in DC, New York, and Atlanta. Prosecutors there feel comfortable using twisted and novel legal theories to charge those on the opposing side, and confident in judges and juries to convict. This is a very ominous development.

These cities and their decline affect us all.

Roundup

The New Neo Posted on by

(1) Here’s a good piece by Matthew Continetti:

… AEI researcher Nate Moore investigated Trump’s growing favorability rating and found that the former president is more popular now than at any point since he left office. The source of this newfound popularity is minority voters. “While his support has ticked up among white and black Americans,” Moore wrote this week in The Liberal Patriot, “the share of Hispanic Americans who have a favorable view of Trump has doubled over the last year from around 20 percent to 40 percent.”

John Burn-Murdoch, chief data reporter for the Financial Times, analyzed election surveys going back to the 1950s. He found that the Democrats’ advantage among nonwhite voters is at its lowest point since JFK was president. Black and Hispanic voters are matching their party preferences with their ideological preferences. Fewer self-identified conservative nonwhites vote Democratic for communal reasons.

This re-alignment has been predicted for many years, but will it really translate into votes this time? And if so, is it fairly permanent or is it dependent on Biden’s abominable performance?

(2)SCOTUS hears oral arguments on a case involving “suppression by the Biden Administration of social media speech Biden and his cronies don’t like.” I’ve read many discussions of how it’s been going, and it appears that a majority may be wanting to preserve the government’s ability to do this in a crisis. But I would caution about making predictions based on how oral arguments go.

(3) Hamas operatives returned to one of their favorite haunts: al Shifa hospital. The IDF was forced once again to attack them in the hospital:

The Israel Defense Forces early Monday morning launched a raid on Gaza City’s Shifa Hospital, amid intelligence that senior Hamas officials were in the area and using the hospital to plan and carry out terror activity, the military said. …

By Monday evening, some 20 Hamas gunmen were killed inside the hospital premises and another 20 were killed in the surrounding area, the IDF said.

In one incident inside the hospital, the IDF said troops of the Navy’s Shayetet 13 commando unit killed a senior Hamas commander, Faiq Mabhouh.

Mabhouh, who served as the head of operations in Hamas’s internal security, was armed and hiding inside the Shifa complex, “from which he was working to advance terror activity,” the IDF said.

Mabhouh was killed amid an exchange of fire during an attempt to arrest him, the IDF said. In a nearby room, the IDF said troops recovered a cache of weapons.

In the MSM, this becomes a story with a headline that Israel raided a hospital. Take a look, for example, at the BBC headline: “Israeli forces raid Gaza City’s al-Shifa hospital.” How many people read past the headline to learn that there were terrorists hiding there?

And in paragraph four they get the Hamas propaganda:

Gaza’s Hamas-run health ministry said Israel was committing a war crime.

The Israeli military said there was no obligation for medical staff or patients to leave, and that the hospital could continue its important functions.

But several medical staff inside the hospital told the BBC that the electricity had been cut and that they had been instructed by the Israeli military not to move, prohibiting them from properly treating patients.

“We are trapped where we are inside the department,” said Dr Amer Jedbeh, a 31-year-old surgical resident.

“A shell hit our building on the first floor, injuring several people. One man died – we could not save him. We are working only with first aid, essentially, we cannot operate because there is no electricity or water.”

Dr Jedbeh said two patients on life support at the intensive care unit in the same building had died because the electricity supply was cut ahead of the raid. “All the machinery is off,” he added.

“Colleagues from the main building say there are many injured there who need surgery but we cannot get to them and they cannot bring the patients to us.”

Much more appears in the article of that sort of account – uncorroborated – than about the terrorists.

(4) A WaPo columnist calls for Kamala Harris to step aside for the good of the party. Prediction: she won’t.

(5) Trump’s lawyers say he can’t make bond in the civil fraud case against him in New York:

Donald Trump told an appellate court here Monday that he can’t obtain a bond for the full amount of the civil fraud judgment against him — more than $450 million, including interest — raising the possibility that the state attorney general’s office could begin to seize his assets unless the court agrees to halt the judgment while the former president appeals the verdict.

Trump’s lawyers said in a court filing that “ongoing diligent efforts have proven that a bond in the judgment’s full amount is a ‘practical impossibility,’” adding that those efforts “have included approaching about 30 surety companies through 4 separate brokers.”

One of the goals of these cases is to ruin Trump financially and make him radioactive to financiers.

BLOODBATH!!: the leftist MSM gives a classic course in how to lie with truncated quotes

The New Neo Posted on by

That icky horrible bloodthirsty Hitleresque Trump just promised a BLOODBATH if he’s not elected, screams the MSM and plenty of pundits. What could be better evidence of his dangerousness and his desire to spark a civil war of vengeance, as well as his desire to commit violence.

Except that of course that’s not what he said. That doesn’t stop the left or the MSM from distorting Trump’s words or the words of any other person on the right. They know that propaganda is sticky and lies are worth it.

Or are they? Is there a point at which you can’t fool enough of the people enough of the time?

If you want to get up to speed on what happened in this particular incident, see this, for example, which was posted yesterday:

On Saturday, you could watch the making of a hoax in real time. In the latest fake story that the media, the Biden campaign, and their fellow travelers are pushing about Trump, we don’t even have to wait that long, as the lie is obvious from the in-context video.

Here’s one of the main accounts that started spreading the b.s. out-of-context edited video. It has more than 13 million views and it’s still up, without correction.

That was followed by this:

In the comments at X, the longer excerpt from Trump’s speech was published in this response from Viva Frei:

Shorter version: Trump was talking about the auto industry. And he was using a common metaphor, not talking about workplace violence.

The Biden administration spread the lie (see also this):

The right sprang up to correct the lies on various media platforms. But I would wager that enormous numbers of people who saw the original “Trump calls for bloodbath!” story have not seen the corrections. As I’ve said many times, the left counts on this. They almost always know full well that they are lying; the full quote is ridiculously easy to find. They simply don’t care. They see an opportunity to use some out-of-context words to hurt the right, and they go for it.

Biden and company are still using what’s become known as The Charlottesville Hoax. It’s still one of the foundations of their campaign. They have carefully piled lie on lie on lie over the years, creating a very strong edifice of lies in which many voters believe. If not for this, Biden’s support would be much further down in the gutter than it is.