Oh, and another thing: Claudine Gay made a career out of taking down black male professors who were insufficiently leftist

The New Neo Posted on by

Another aspect of Claudine Gay’s illustrious career as a Harvard administrator:

…[I]n the face of numerous mounting scandals, many are defending Gay by claiming that the attacks against her are racial in nature.

They are not. They are all well deserved.

The demand that Gay resign stems from the utter lack of moral competency she displayed in her testimony before Congress, in which she said that calling for the genocide of Jews is only against Harvard rules in certain contexts. She also failed to condemn the Hamas atrocities against Israel in real time on October 7, another reason she should resign. There is also now evidence of serial plagiarism. And did I mention Gay has published no books — an unprecedented feat for a Harvard President, unless one travels back in time to the year 1773? …

Did you know that Claudine Gay during her Harvard career has repeatedly targeted and disrupted the careers of prominent Black male professors?

As Dean of the College, Gay terminated Ronald S. Sullivan, Jr. as Faculty Dean of the Winthrop House. Professor Sullivan, Jr., a graduate of Morehouse College and Harvard Law School, was the first Black faculty dean of a house in the history of Harvard College.

What was Professor Sullivan’s offense? Sullivan deigned to represent the disgraced movie producer Harvey Weinstein — an act of moral conscience, since all are entitled to legal representation in our legal system.

… Economics Professor Roland G. Fryer, Jr. was next in the sights of Dean Gay. Fryer was a top Black professor at Harvard. After having overcome all sorts of hardship and childhood deprivation, Professor Fryer joined the faculty at Harvard to become the second-youngest professor ever to be awarded tenure at Harvard, and went on to blaze a trail of distinction, including winning the MacArthur Fellowship and the John Bates Clark Medal.

Yet when Fryer undertook research into the killings of unarmed Black men in Houston, Fryer’s research found no racial disparities. He made the mistake of undercutting the racial narrative that the Left has adopted, and as a result, Gay did her best to remove all of his academic privileges, coordinating a witch hunt against him. Fryer survived Gay’s crusade of discharge but Fryer’s lab was shut down, his reputation tarnished.

The author of the piece is a black male, a former law professor and a graduate of Harvard Law School.

It is worth mentioning that the mechanism by which Roland Fryer was semi-canceled was the accusation of sexual harassment. You can find the story in this documentary made long before Gay’s current travails:

Trump news

The New Neo Posted on by

Some things Trump:

(1) The Trump campaign has released an interesting document:

The Trump campaign team has released what it says is documentation of election fraud in 2020 in the swing states of Georgia, Wisconsin, Pennsylvania, Arizona, and Michigan.

A summary of the points made in the document can be found at the link. And here’s the document itself.

I haven’t read it, mostly for two reasons. The first is that I’m familiar with a great deal of it. The second is that it’s moot because none of this got very far in the courtroom and the election was settled a long time ago in the sense that Biden became president.

However, I am convinced – and was convinced even before the 2020 election – that in many states the measures in place to provide election security are broken. While that remains the case, the US is vulnerable to election fraud that will be either undetectable or unprovable, and even if fraud does not occur the very existence of that sort of suspicion of fraud is both inevitable and disruptive to the peaceful transfer of political power post-election.

(2) Julie Kelly writes on the biases inherent in having the J6 trials in DC, a bias that will be obvious in the Jack Smith prosecution of Trump.

(3) Speaking of Jack Smith, Trump’s lawyers want him held in contempt of court: “Trump claimed Smith continues to violate the stay order from Chutkan as courts determine if the former president has immunity.”

(4) Biden plans to use J6 and evil Trump as the foundation of his 2024 campaign:

Biden isn’t trying to move the votes of people who already support Trump; he is trying to scare the Americans who have yet to conclude that they can stomach voting for Trump even though they know that Biden is a disaster. …

The “democracy” pitch that Biden has chosen is filled with irony. As Biden’s proxies work feverishly to push Republicans to support Trump, attack Trump in the courts, and remove him (and Biden’s Democrat opponents) from the ballot, the president will be viciously smearing half the country and claiming to defend “democracy.”

He will defend democracy by any means necessary, including throwing his political opponents in jail, censoring their supporters, sending the FBI after anybody who criticizes him, and attacking the Supreme Court.

How many voters see through that pitch at this point? I wish I knew the answer.

See also this.

(5) And in the continuing lawfare to destroy Trump and thus save democracy from the citizens who wish to vote for him, there’s this:

New York Attorney General Letitia James is calling for a $370 million fine against former President Donald Trump and his companies and a lifetime ban on him and two of his former company executives from the real estate industry in the state.

Attorneys from James’ office requested the punishment in post-trial motions filed Friday in the Trump fraud case. They said that Trump owes $168 million of interest allegedly saved through fraud; $152 million from the sale of the Old Post Office building in Washington, D.C., the site of one of Trump’s hotels; $60 million through the transfer of the Ferry Point Golf Course contract; and $2.5 million from severance agreements for former Trump Organization chief financial officer Allen Howard Weisselberg and ex-Trump Organization controller Jeff McConney.

James also called for lifetime bans for Trump, Weisselberg and McConney from participation in the real estate industry as well as from serving as officers or directors in New York corporations or entities. The attorney general also asked for five-year bans for Trump’s eldest sons, Donald Trump Jr. and Eric Trump, with the same conditions.

Not only are they seeking to destroy Trump and his family, but it’s also a warning to anyone who might be tempted to work for him.

Roundup: Epstein names and more

The New Neo Posted on by

(1) Epstein was – among other things – a big Democrat donor, and plenty of Democrats schmoozed with him, some repeatedly. But that doesn’t inevitably lead to the conclusion they were complicit in his crimes of sexually exploiting underage girls.

And so the release yesterday of a bunch of names wasn’t much of anything:

Did Jeffrey ever talk to you about Bill Clinton?” the witness was asked. “He said one time that Clinton likes them young, referring to girls,” the person answered.

Actually, we already knew that – i.e. Monica Lewinsky. And this statement about Clinton liking them young was also by a woman saying that someone else – Epstein – told her this. It really doesn’t mean much of anything, and Clinton is exonerated by certain other information released.

And then there’s Stephen Hawking. You have to go to the link to see what I’m talking about.

(2) The Democrats are trying to get additional Republicans, not just Trump, thrown off ballots under a twisted interpretation of the 14th Amendment. Who are the real “insurrectionists” here? Personally, I think even some people who tend to vote Democrat might be alarmed by these machinations of Democrat lawfare.

(3) This seems to me to be a smart move by Trump:

(4) Poor Claudine Gay, victim of rampant racism. I’m pretty sure she’ll find a cushy new gig somewhere, and Harvard will find another DEI hire.

(5) Vivek has a moment with a reporter.

(6) This interview is worth watching, chilling yet psychologically interesting:

New Amazon portal for ordering through neo

The New Neo Posted on by

A commenter has kindly called it to my attention that my Amazon link symbol/ad that used to appear on the right sidebar (or towards the bottom on cellphone screens) is no longer appearing. Apparently, widgets like that (that’s what that sort of symbol is called) have been discontinued. When this occurred I’m not sure, but it seems to be connected to some huge overhaul in how Amazon wants sites to handle links – something of which I was blissfully unaware till now.

So after doing some research at Amazon about the new system, I’ve created an alternative method here. For convenience, I’ve also placed a link on the sidebar, and you can click on that link and order. I’ll get a commission that way, and you won’t have to pay any more than the ordinary price. Or just click on this link and order, and I think that should work. This is the method to use until I do some more research and find out if there’s some symbol I can put in the sidebar to replace ye olde widget.

You can find this post again by going to the category on the right sidebar called “Amazon orders.” Thanks very much!

China bust

The New Neo Posted on by

I must confess that I initially found this article rather confusing.

The headline: “Maine authorities bust illegal marijuana operation in China.” Intriguing, but what on earth were Maine authorities doing in China, of all places? And arresting people?

The article had a photo of three obviously Chinese-looking people, two men and a woman. And the lede was as follows:

Maine authorities say they raided an illegal marijuana operation in China over the weekend, arresting three people and seizing 970 plants.

Curiouser and curiouser, as Alice would say.

And then it struck me – because I know a thing or two about Maine – that this was in China, Maine:

China is a town in Kennebec County, Maine, United States. The population was 4,408 at the 2020 census. China is included in the Augusta, Maine micropolitan NECTA.

According to the United States Census Bureau, the town has a total area of 56.86 square miles (147.27 km2), of which 49.88 square miles (129.19 km2) is land and 6.98 square miles (18.08 km2) is water. Bodies of water in the town include China Lake (3939 acres), Three Mile Pond (1174 acres), and Branch Pond (310 acres).

But why was the town named “China”? The reason isn’t what one might think:

The name of the town was chosen by Japheth Washburn. He wanted to call the town Bloomville, but people from the town of Bloomfield objected, saying that the similarity of names could cause confusion. Mr. Washburn settled on the name China, because it was the name of one of his favorite hymns. This widely sung hymn was written by Timothy Swan of Northfield, Massachusetts in 1790 and was published in Swan’s “New England Harmony” in 1801.

Here’s the hymn. But why is it called “China”? I haven’t a clue.

The Iranian blast was ISIS

The New Neo Posted on by

In no surprise whatsoever, ISIS has claimed “credit” for the blast in Iran:

ISIS claims responsibility for a pair of explosions that killed at least 84 people near the grave of General Qassem Soleimani, the head of Iran’s elite Quds Force who was killed in a US drone strike in Iraq four years ago.

Iran’s First Vice President Mohammad Mokhber accused Israel of having a hand in the attack, saying that “the representatives of the Zionist regime” had spilled blood with the blast.

Sure thing, Mokhber. We all know about those Zionists who control ISIS – not. But when in doubt, blame the Jews.

This is actually part of a Shiite/Sunni fight that’s been going on for just about as long as Islam has been going on. This is one of the current forms it takes: a bitter power struggle between ISIS and Iran. Although they two agree on hating the Jews and America, they are in many other ways opposed to each other – and, being Islamic jihadis and fanatics, this often takes the form of killing each other. The rest of the non-Islamic world cares a lot less about that, because there are no Jews involved, despite accusations.

My day at the dentist

The New Neo Posted on by

Actually, it started over a month ago when I was out west and broke a tooth. Split it longitudinally down the middle between front half and back half, with the back half disappearing and leaving the front part looking quite normal. It’s something I’d never done before and which still puzzles me. I wasn’t even chomping on anything all that challenging.

Today was the day for the temporary crown. After I put my shoes on while getting ready to go out, one of my socks felt like it needed a bit of pulling up. So I slipped out of the shoe – they’re very easy-on, easy-off – and saw to my horror a large bug crawling out of the shoe, over the top and down, and then towards a crack in the wall where it mercifully disappeared. Will I now have to look inside my shoes with a flashlight every time I put them on? Did I mention this was a very large and revolting bug, one of those scuties I wrote about long ago?

I decided to assume it would tell it’s scutie friends beyond the wall to beware of getting into those black boats belonging to the weird creature on the other side. They may look cozy and comfy at first, but you run the risk of suddenly getting crushed.

My dentist is new and rather young. He bought the practice of my old dentist who was, well, old. I had a crush of sorts on the old dentist, who “got” my humor and used to joke back, and who was actually very attractive despite his advanced age (married, alas). This new dentist seems competent and kind, but I’d never had work done by him and this was apparently a challenging job.

So I was nervous.

I was there for three hours. I’m not a dental-phobic, but there’s always some tension and this was a bit more grueling than usual, with more drilling and other involved machinations. They had all these new-fangled gadgets – for example some sort of scanner probe that takes a topographic portrait of your entire mouth that ends up looking like a white mountain range with pink foothills. This is supposed to replace old-fashioned impressions (which I never found to be a problem) and lead to a better-fitting crown. And so I suppose it did, although the first crown wouldn’t fit and they had to make a second.

I found afterwards that I felt very tired. I think it’s because even if you are trying to relax and think you’re doing a pretty good job, there’s a low-level constant stress that leads to tensing of various muscles for a long time even if you’re unaware of doing that. Dentistry is an exercise in trust; you’re in the hands of two strangers poking around inside your mouth and inflicting discomfort at times or even pain, and you’re captive in that chair and will be paying a great deal for the privilege.

However, all’s well that ends well.

A terrorist attack of unknown origin in Iran

The New Neo Posted on by

As a sort of companion piece to my previous post today, there’s this news from Iran:

Explosions at an event honoring a prominent Iranian general slain in a U.S. airstrike in 2020 have killed at least 103 people and wounded over 140 others, state-run media in Iran reported Wednesday.

A senior official called the blasts a “terroristic” attack, without elaborating on who could be behind them amid wider tensions in the Mideast over Israel’s ongoing war against Hamas in the Gaza Strip. No group immediately claimed responsibility for the attack. …

The blasts struck an event marking the fourth anniversary of the killing of Gen. Qassem Soleimani, the head of the Revolutionary Guard’s elite Quds Force, who died in a U.S. drone strike in Iraq in January 2020. The explosions occurred near his grave site in Kerman, about 500 miles southeast of the capital, Tehran.

I’m going to assume they certainly weren’t celebrating his killing – which occurred during the Trump administration – but mourning it.

As for who was responsible for this attack, it’s like an Agatha Christie novel: there are way too many suspects to say. But if it’s Israel – and I have no idea whether it is – it would be a way to remind Iran officials that we can get you, too.