What’s going on with Candace Owens these days?

The New Neo Posted on by

Nothing good. And why would I even pay attention?

Well, she supposedly has something like the most views of any podcaster. Are they supporters, or just people following her out of morbid curiosity? What’s more, are they real, or are they just bots sent by entities trying to stir up trouble? Whichever it is, I believe she does have much influence with a significant number of people.

If you aren’t familiar with the extremely far-fetched conspiracy theories she’s airing, about Jews and the Macrons and about Turning Point and Egyptian planes and all the rest, here’s a pretty informative summary. I’ve cued up about an 11-minute segment, but you don’t even have to watch that much to get the flavor of it:

Turning Point finally answered her ridiculous charges recently, challenging her to some sort of debate, which she apparently sort-of kind-of accepted in the sense of saying she would offer a response on her own podcast. This whole thing is a distraction from what TPUSA does best, which is getting out the vote, especially among young people. But it seems to me that’s part of the goal of Owens, Tucker, Fuentes, and the lot: to split the MAGA base, if possible.

Speaking of which, this is as good a time as any to mention that Tucker Carlson has become a 9/11 truther. Hey, why ever not? And of course, he tries to implicate Israel.

The J6 bomber suspect: roundup

The New Neo Posted on by

(1) From the start, I think it’s been assumed that whoever the J6 pipe bomber might be, he or she was connected to J6, either as sympathizer, decoy, or saboteur. But I’m beginning to think that it’s at least possible that the timing was a coincidence. After all, the bombs were placed the day before, and in general it was a time of great turmoil in DC and around the US.

(2) And then there’s Jake Tapper’s assumption, even as he was showing a photo of suspect Brian Cole, that said suspect was a white man.

(3) There are plenty of rumors swirling around about Cole. You can see some here. I don’t really get into the rumor thing, especially at this early date.

(4) It seems that during Biden’s tenure (or pretend-tenure), neither the FBI nor the DOJ were all that interested in getting to the bottom of this. At any rate, I think this is correct in stating that Cole is probably the actual pipe bomber.

(5) On yesterday’s thread on the subject, there was some discussion about the case being weak. For example, see this comment:

NO EXPLOSIVES? Literally, no explosives make it into the FBI criminal complaint!

This may be amended to include it, admits Kyle Seraphin, the expert Viva Frei interviews, says. A different and almost uninterrupted interview is just over 20m, HERE https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=29arVE9xDTk

This may be better to digest.

Or this

Viva Frei hosts an ex-lawyer and FBI Whistleblower to break down the criminal complaint. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oUuXkItROj0

This expert says the details identifying Brian Cole, Jr, are the weakest he’s ever seen in such a Federal document. By itself iits a mere 7 pages! “It’s a bizarre story line.”

If true, this case may well not be closed.

I see nothing especially bizarre about it.

Also, please look at the document itself and see what it is actually about and what its purpose is:

Because this affidavit is being submitted for the limited purpose of establishing probable cause in support of a criminal complaint, I have not included each and every fact known to me concerning this investigation. I have only set forth the facts that I believe are necessary to establish probable cause that Defendant violated 18 U.S.C. §§ 844(d) & (i).

By no means is it meant to be comprehensive.

Updates on the J6 pipe bomber arrest

The New Neo Posted on by

Interesting stuff coming out.

The DOJ says that all the evidence was there, but the Biden administration wasn’t especially interesting in solving the case. Why is that no surprise?:

Attorney General Pam Bondi said during a press conference announcing the arrest of Brian Cole Jr. that existing evidence led to the FBI’s breakthrough in a cold case that had “languished” for nearly five years.

“What I will tell you is that evidence has been sitting there collecting dust,” Bondi said. “This wasn’t a new tip. It wasn’t some new evidence. It was the hard work of President Trump’s administration.”

Bondi said federal investigators were able to identify Cole after spending months “sifting through evidence that had been sitting at the FBI with the Biden administration.” She said bringing charges against Cole was not a result of any new witnesses or leads but rather “good, diligent police work and prosecutorial work.”

In addition:

According to a criminal complaint filed in U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia reviewed by USA TODAY, Cole lives in a home with his mother and other family members.

Which explains the nice house.

And:

Cole’s credit card and checking account records showed that he purchased multiple items as early as October 2019 through late 2020 consistent with the components used to manufacture two pipe bombs placed at the RNC and DNC offices, according to his 7-page charging document.

Cole bought components including a galvanized pipe, end caps, electrical wire, battery clips and white kitchen timers, court records also said. Investigators tracked Cole’s purchases at Home Depot, Lowe’s, Walmart and Micro Center.

The suspect bought items including safety glasses, a wire-stripping tool and a machinist’s file, which could be used to make pipe bombs, records also said. Cole then allegedly continued to buy the components after the pipe bombs were found, including a kitchen timer, more nine-volt batteries and galvanized pipes during January 2021. …

Provider records show Cole’s cell phone connected with towers consistent with his being in the area of the RNC and DNC offices on Jan. 5, 2021.

In addition, court documents continued, a Virginia license plate registered to a 2017 Nissan Sentra that he owns was captured on camera the same day at 7:10 p.m., at the South Capitol Street exit from Interstate 395 South. That’s “less than one-half mile from the location where the individual who placed the devices was first observed on foot,” the records said.

Seems like a fair amount of evidence to me.

There’s nothing much coming out about possible ties to groups like Antifa, or about possibly being an anarchist.

ADDENDUM: The suspect has been working for a bail bond company.

And then there’s the poetry book

The New Neo Posted on by

I had originally thought Gerard’s poetry book would be ready for sale by November 1.

Dream on.

Then it seemed highly likely it would be ready by December 1. But then I ran into printer troubles. Trust me – you don’t want to hear the details. So the following is a very quick summary.

I didn’t want to use the print company I’d used for The Name In the Stone, even though I liked the quality of that book, because I wanted a company that would also do the mailings. I found such a company, but the quality of the photos in their proof copy was substandard. So I went back to the original company and ordered a proof from them, thinking I’d figure out a way to deal with the mailings but at least I was pretty sure the print quality would be excellent.

Today I got that proof in the mail, and the quality of the photos was bad. It was completely different from The Name In the Stone, which they had printed for me about a year ago. When I called the company to find out what’s going on, I discovered a little factoid they’d neglected to mention earlier: some time during that year, they had changed their printing machines. Often, when people make a change of that sort, it’s an improvement. They’re not even contending that this was an improvement; it was a downgrade.

Needless to say, I’m unhappy about this. I ended up ordering one more proof from them, though, this time with a different kind of paper they said should help approximate the photo quality of the essay book from last year. I wonder, but I guess I’ll find out.

I still think the poetry book might be ready before the holidays, which was certainly my original plan. But maybe not. I think it’s more important to get it looking right than to rush it for the holidays.

Minnesota judge tosses jury conviction of Somali couple for fraud

The New Neo Posted on by

Who needs a jury? – says a Minnesota judge, who decided to throw out one of those convictions for fraud we’ve heard so much about:

Abdifatah Yusuf and his wife, Lul Ahmed, were charged in June 2024 and were accused of stealing $7.2 million from the state’s Medicaid program while operating a home healthcare business. The Minnesota Attorney General’s Office said the business lacked an office building and operated for “years out of a mailbox.”

The attorney general’s office said Yusuf received Medicaid money by billing for services not provided and services that lacked “any documentation,” and overbilled for services.

Yusuf allegedly used the money to fund a “lavish lifestyle,” including shopping sprees at luxury stores such as Coach, Michael Kors, Nike, Nordstrom and more.

A jury found the couple guilty. But the judge, Sarah West (who looks to be about twelve years old, going by her photo at the link) threw the verdict out because she said the evidence was circumstantial. The jury foreman begged to differ with her ruling:

Ben Walfoort, the jury foreperson in Yusuf’s case, said the decision to convict wasn’t a complicated one.

“It was not a difficult decision whatsoever,” he said, according to KARE. “The deliberation took probably four hours at most. Based off of the state’s evidence that was presented, it was beyond a reasonable doubt,” Walfoort said. “I am shocked. I’m shocked based off of all of the evidence that was presented to us and the obvious guilt that we saw based off of the said evidence.”

Most criminal convictions are based primarily on circumstantial evidence. You know that West has done something really unusual by the fact that Keith Ellison has challenged her ruling:

The Minnesota Attorney General’s Office, led by Democrat Keith Ellison, has filed an appeal of West’s decision to overturn Yusuf’s verdict.

Remember the J6 pipe bomber?

The New Neo Posted on by

He or she has long been a mysterious figure, one whom the Biden administration seemed to have less interest in pursuing despite relentlessly hounding everyone else concerned with J6. Now someone has been caught who is purportedly this bomber, but we still know very little about him:

A suspect was arrested Thursday morning and charged with transporting explosives and attempted malicious destruction in connection with the planting of pipe bombs outside the Democratic and Republican National Committees on the eve of the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol riot.

Federal agents swarmed the Woodbridge, Va., home of 30-year-old Brian Cole Jr. following the break in the case that has vexed and embarrassed the FBI for nearly five years. …

Authorities did not publicly indicate any motive for the crime, with one high-placed FBI source rejecting earlier claims that Cole may have had “anarchist” leanings.

Neighbors in the suburban cul-de-sac described a young man who shunned most human interaction and doted on a pet Chihuahua.

So far he seems to be a type of person with whom we’ve become quite familiar: a cipher who may have lived his main life online, except for venturing out into the real world to commit a criminal act. It’s premature to come to any conclusions, although my guess is that a sizable number of people will automatically think he’s the proverbial patsy.

Another aspect of the story is that about a month ago, there was this:

Thursday’s arrest also firmly debunked a prior report from The Blaze. In early November, reporter Steve Barker claimed the suspect had been identified as former Capitol Police officer Shauni Kerkhoff. Barker added that Kerkhoff had quit the force six months after the riot and then “slipped quietly into a three-letter intelligence agency,” fueling the conspiracy theory that the Capitol riot was an inside job.

I skipped that story at the time because it seemed way too shaky.

After all, Orwell did set Nineteen Eighty-Four in Britain

The New Neo Posted on by

[Hat tip: Ace.]

This is what it’s come to:

An assault victim has been convicted of a homophobic hate crime after she branded her attacker a ‘f****t’ in text messages whilst ranting about being beaten up.

Care home worker Elizabeth Kinney, 34, was said to have sent a ‘barrage’ of messages to a former friend during which she described being attacked by a male mutual acquaintance.

During the messaging the single mother-of-four even sent pictures of her injuries from the assault, which resulted in her being admitted to hospital.

But Kinney, an aspiring nurse, was reported to police over the use of the word ‘f****t’ to describe the unnamed man and later charged with malicious communications offences.

At Sefton magistrates court Kinney, from Tranmere, pleaded guilty to causing to be sent by public communication network an offensive, indecent, obscene or menacing messages.

She insisted her words were a ‘thoughtless rant’ and that she was not attacking anyone’s sexuality.

But JPs said her remark was ‘homophobic’ and gave her an ‘uplifted’ sentence of a 12 month community order.

The article goes on to add that no one has been charged in the alleged assault.

Let me just say that “former friend” would certainly be the case – accent on the “former.” Because it seems it was this former friend who reported Kinney to the Thought Police. The ex-friend seems to have complained that receiving these texts constituted a terrible trauma for her:

Outlining the facts, Jacqueline Whiting, prosecuting, said: ‘The defendant and the victim in this matter had been friends but had a falling out which resulted in an incident on the October 27, 2024 whereby abusive and homophobic text messages were sent to the victim causing her alarm and distress.

‘The Crown place this offence in the highest category of its type due to the effect related to sexual orientation and the greater harm because it had moderate impact.’

Chilling.

NOTE: The article is adorned with sexy photos of Kinney – seemingly selfies. Don’t know what that’s all about.

NOTE II: Please see this previous post of mine on the subject of free speech – or rather, the lack thereof – in Britain.

Trump Derangement Syndrome, revisited

The New Neo Posted on by

I’ve certainly tackled giving explanations for the TDS phenomenon before, but the topic came up again today in this thread (see especially the first comment and the many responses to it). So I thought I’d add a bit more.

I want to start by saying that the depth and breadth of the phenomenon defies a complete explanation. That’s not to say there aren’t many rational examples of reasons to dislike Trump; see the list in this comment, plus the added:

None of these, singly, explains it. Even all of these together don’t explain it. They do not explain the absolute visceral bile, the intensity, the insanity, the tendency to foam at the mouth and act irrationally, stupidly, murderously.

Some people merely dislike Trump and won’t vote for him – but we’re not talking about them. We’re talking about those who believe he is the personification of evil, and that it is therefore virtuous and right to hate him with every fiber of their beings. Often, they’ve been macerated in propaganda to that effect, and it takes root and then builds and builds with every new “fact” about him. He’s a rapist. He’s corrupt in the financial sense. He’s a liar. He a bigot and white supremacist. He murders innocent people and rounds up old abuelas to send them back to their doom. The fact that he really often is rude and a bully adds to the reasons to hate him, but that’s not the root of it.

I also submit that people who suffer from TDS ordinarily know others who share the sentiments, and they reinforce each others’ belief system. Especially for women, there’s often an extra layer of Trump reminding them of an abusive or otherwise upsetting man in their lives, perhaps a sibling or father or uncle or boss or date or boyfriend or ex or co-worker or fellow student. Someone by whom they felt victimized. But although it may be the case that more women exhibit TDS – after all, more women than men are Democrats – it is by no means confined to women.

Before TDS, there was Reagan DS and Bush DS, and let’s not forget Palin DS. But TDS is more intense and more widespread, in part because Trump really does have an abrasive personality and seems to take delight in stirring up antagonism.

What to do if you’re confronted with a loved one or friend with TDS, and it’s become a big problem between you? I would suggest a therapist except for the fact that finding an unbiased one would be quite a task these days. So I think you should go to the Braver Angels site and start reading. You can even join, although you don’t have to do so in order to get the benefit of what they have to offer. If you find anything helpful there, use it and perhaps even show it to the TDS sufferer in your life. Pay special attention to this, as well as this.

And good luck. You’ll need it.

Explaining the Tennessee special election

The New Neo Posted on by

I’ve read a wide variety of analyses of the results, from “it’s really a plus-ten-point GOP district, so this is exactly as expected” to “the Republican should have done a lot better and this is a wake-up call.”

Roger L. Simon – who’s been living near Nashville for quite a few years now – has this to say:

What does this mean? Not a lot. I would define it as “Much Ado About Nothing… Much.”

That, of course, will not stop the thumb suckers who already have their thumbs out and are ready to point blame. I predict two explanations:

One, typical Republican voter passivity, especially without Trump running.

Two, changed demographics. All those domestic p/p[ gtvyf migrants who have been moving from blue states to red states to escape state income tax have brought their blue state values with them.

While there might be some elements of truth here, I reject both of these overall.’

Regarding the passivity, it’s not the voters who are passive so much as the Republican leadership, starting at the top. This is true of several red states, but definitely of Tennessee. (Neighboring Georgia is worse.) The local GOP, with a few exceptions, never got in gear to seriously win this election against the target-rich Behn until the last couple of weeks. The Democrats had been going full tilt for a long while. Don’t blame the GOP voters.

Simon goes on to add that the newcomers are mostly conservatives.

His explanation – passive and complacent leadership – dovetails with what I wrote in yesterday’s post: “Behn got a head start in early votes that probably occurred before the GOP was alerted to the danger of an upset.”

I’ve also read that Nashville is now populated by quite a few of those young “we wuz robbed” type voters who voted in NYC for Mamdani’s promises of “affordability”:

Not unlike NYC, Nashville is now filled with both 20somethings who really cannot afford to live there and are susceptible to all this affordability nonsense and blue state migrants who are gonna import their politics. Both are more highly motivated to vote in these special elections. As for the former: elite overproduction is a thing. Lots of these 25 yo folks who hit all the marks and got their NYU degree are pissed when they look around and see some dude who went to Alabama or Tennessee and studied accounting or see trades people earning more than they are tending bar. Then I think their impulse is to go into politics and figure out how to expropriate it.

Well, Roger Simon rejects the “blue state migrants” explanation. But I think that the “angry, entitled 20-somethings who know nothing about socialism” explanation may well be correct. Watch out for that demographic.