Secret Service screw-ups

The New Neo Posted on by

The revelations continue as we learn more and more about the obvious failures of the Secret Service last Saturday. It is incompetence of such a depth and breadth that one can’t help but think that, at the very least, some of those doing the planning and preparation didn’t deeply care if Trump lived or died.

We all dodged a bullet that day – not just Trump:

Here’s a list of nine failures that led to the failed attempt. I’m especially interested in number seven, and in learning the protocol for taking out a shooter before a shot is fired. I’m assuming there is such a protocol, but I don’t know. From now on, there had better be, and it can’t amount to letting the would-be assassin get shots off before he is killed.

Another fact that came out yesterday is that, although (as number nine points out) security at the rally last week did not include any drones, the shooter had surveyed the venue by drone earlier that day:

Shooter Thomas Matthew Crooks programmed the drone to fly over the Butler Farm Showgrounds before his assassination attempt on the former president, 78, law enforcement officials briefed on the incident said, according to the Wall Street Journal.

Investigators also believe he flew the remotely piloted aircraft around the campaign rally site more than once as he mapped out the course of the attack, further adding to the Secret Service’s stunning failure to protect Trump. …

A drone was later found in Crooks’ car after he was shot dead when he opened fire on Trump. …

He had reportedly staked the farm out days before Trump arrived and is believed to have also used a bike to explore the vast grounds of the Butler County Farm Show.

How do they know about the bike? Is there surveillance video that they’re only now viewing?

“Free Palestine from German guilt”

The New Neo Posted on by

It was decades ago that I first noticed complaints coming from some of the German youths who’d been taught about what Germany did in the WWII Holocaust. They were fed up with hearing about it. “What’s it got to do with us?” they asked. They weren’t responsible for what their parents – and/or their grandparents and now even sometimes great-grandparents – did back then.

Maybe young people today feel that way about history in general.

Years ago I also started to see the complaints pile up in blog comments and MSM article comments, and not just from Germans. Why don’t the Jews stop whining already? We’re sick and tired of it. Sometimes it crossed the line into Holocaust denial. Sometimes the commenter said he or she wanted more Jews to be killed, they were such a blight on humanity.

The internet was very good at spreading this stuff around. I noticed very early in my internet career that searches for anything connected with Israel or Jews would turn up reams and reams of the most vicious anti-Semitic material, and that a person would have to wade through it to get to anything worthwhile. After a few years of that, the search engines managed to tweak the algorithms so that somehow the worst of it was filtered out. But Jew-hating is – among other things – catching.

So last December this phrase caught my eye in an article I read [emphasis mine]:

“Free Palestine from German guilt.” That’s the message on several posters for the pro-Palestinian protests that have been organized since October in cities such as Berlin. These messages are seen in places where there have been demonstrations: in other places, rallies have been banned out of concern that there would be calls in favor of Hamas. The police closely monitored the authorized protests and have gone so far as to remove posters — and arrest those carrying them — with the “quite neutral” slogan of “From the river to the sea, equality for all,” recalls Christa Waegemann, Middle East Regional Director of the NGO Media in Cooperation and Transition.

There is nothing neutral about that “river to the sea” slogan, of course. It’s a call for the obliteration of Israel, and the addition of the word “equality” doesn’t change that. But it’s the “free Palestine from German guilt” slogan that’s of special interest to me, expressing as it does German weariness with bearing the burden of its historical guilt and a desire to free itself by supporting Palestine and accusing Israel of genocidal crimes.

Does much of the rest of Europe have the same desire to cast off its own guilt? After all, in many countries there was quite a bit of cooperation with the Holocaust. What better way to unburden oneself of that history than to decide that Jews are evil, almost as bad as the Nazis themselves were? What a relief that must be.

I believe that the US’s different history is one of the main reasons that Jew-hatred has lagged behind in this country – the US doesn’t share that sense of Holocaust guilt. But as I said, anti-Semitism is catching, and in the US it has also been imported through large numbers of students and especially professors from Arab countries teaching our university students, as well as financial support from countries like Qatar.

Friday roundup

The New Neo Posted on by

(1) An appeals court is blocking Biden’s student loan program – for now.

(2) In no surprise at all, the World Court declares Israel’s “occupation” illegal:

In a conclusive and unambiguous decision, the International Court of Justice declared in a non-binding ruling Friday that Israel’s 56-year long rule in “the Palestinian territory occupied since 1967” is “illegal,” and that it is obligated to bring its presence in that territory to an end “as rapidly as possible.”

“Non-binding” but excellent for anti-Israel propaganda.

(3) The polls are good for Trump, for what it’s worth.

(4) There’s increased evidence that Trump’s would-be assassin Crooks was an equal-opportunity killer and that Trump was a target of convenience. Crooks wasn’t averse to tracking Biden – and perhaps trying to kill him? Who knows – and we may never know – but my leading theory has been almost from the start that Crooks was mostly in the mold of the Las Vegas mass murderer and of Oswald: someone who felt superior and yet obscure, and wanted to make his mark as a master killer.

(5) Here’s Caroline Glick on Israeli and US parallels. She’s spoken and written of this before. But this is a more recent look in light of the Trump assassination attempt:

Trump’s convention speech

The New Neo Posted on by

I watched most of it last night, despite the fact that I generally hate speeches. I figured this one would be of special interest.

And it was, especially Trump’s description of his own thought process and experience the day he got shot. He did a good job of being both dramatic and reflective as well as believable. His tone was contemplative, and his tribute to the dead and wounded moving.

The rest of the speech bored me, as most political speeches do. That’s just the way it is for me. It was really long, too; about an hour and a half. But I guess it did the job.

I don’t think most people who hate Trump are going to change their minds. Although there are some who might like this kinder, gentler Trump and will now switch, I think their numbers are low.

Then again, there’s this sort of thing:

Taking away the keys to Grandpa Biden’s car

The New Neo Posted on by

That’s what the current dilemma the Democrats face reminds me of: an elderly relative is fading and yet clings to the independence represented by driving, and relatives realize that person is a danger to himself and others and wish to take the car away. In families this often causes a great deal of conflict before the relatives win. Persuasion often doesn’t work, and the task must be accomplished by selling the car and giving away the keys so that the elderly person has no access anymore.

That latter process is the equivalent of using the 25th Amendment for Joe Biden. I’ve already written about how that might work, but so far they don’t seem inclined to go that route, although as time goes on that might change. Right now they’re doing a kind of public shaming, saying that’s he’s about to quit and having Democrat luminaries [sic] gently coax him in that direction. But Joe isn’t obliging.

The thing that amazes me is how transparent the Democrat’s lies about Joe are. Just a few short weeks ago he was supposedly sharp as a tack and Republican suggestions that he wasn’t were dismissed and reviled as lies. One little debate showed a naked emperor and the polls started being scary for Democrats, and just like that Joe is suddenly rejectable. What’s it all about? Winning.

But Joe has a point. It’s not at all clear that any other Democrat would do much better. The polls are slippery things. Then again, I doubt any other Democrat would do much worse. For example, I can’t think of a single Democrat I know (and I know a great many of them) who won’t be voting for the Democrat nominee, whether it be Biden or a player to be named later. It’s astounding how successful the demonization of Trump and other Republicans has been for so many people.

Speeches at the Republican Convention

The New Neo Posted on by

Peter Navarro delivered quite the barn-burner.

I’ve noticed varied YouTube comments on different postings of the speech. When posted by outlets neutral or friendly to the right, there was a great deal of praise for Navarro. At versions from leftist sites there was a lot of this sort of thing: “He’s a crook!” “The GOP is a party of cons and felons!” Interesting approach – and similar to the “Trump is a convicted felon!” meme – use a kangaroo court and charges for which no one on the left would be prosecuted, convict your opponents, and then criticize them for being felons. It’s so incredibly and transparently dishonest, and yet it seems to resonate with a lot of people on the left.

Another powerful speech was this by a woman whose son was killed in New York and who accused Bragg of inappropriately reducing the charges against the assailants:

There were also the heartbreaking Gold Star parents:

And of course there was J. D. Vance. I don’t much care for political speeches in general, but I see that people seemed to find him natural, energetic, and relatable. I think his rust belt appeal is real and important.

Tonight is Trump’s night.

ADDENDUM: See also this about Vance.

Will Joe give in?

The New Neo Posted on by

We have the rather odd spectacle of the Republicans rooting for Biden to stay in the race, and Democrats trying to push him out and replace him. Biden himself seems weak and frail at the moment, suffering from COVID – which I think he actually has, because there’s a mini-surge – and being barraged by requests and even demands that he step down.

How firmly can Biden cling to power, and for how long? As I’ve written before, he’s a stubborn old cuss. But as time goes on and the number of Democrat leaders calling – publicly – for his abdication increases, it seems he will probably waver. My sense is that the final result will depend on how many people tell him to pull out, and in what ways they threaten him if he doesn’t. If they make it clear that, if he doesn’t withdraw, they will challenge him at the convention and make it impossible for him to be nominated, then I believe he will see that he has no alternative but to quit before he’s forced out. But will they say that? And can they accomplish it? I have little doubt they would like to do so.

Lastly, of course, is the question of whether a replacement such as Kamala would do better. Polls are fairly useless at this point, although state polls in swing states are most helpful and national polls least helpful. And even though this campaign season may already seem endless, there are still over three months to go, and three months is a long time in politics. Do people really know Kamala Harris, and would more exposure to her over time enhance her appeal or detract from it? That’s just one of so many many unanswered questions. And for that matter, whom would Harris choose as her VP, and would it matter?

And then there’s fraud …

Changing one’s mind about Trump

The New Neo Posted on by

I’ve noticed that, in the coverage of the Republican Convention, the MSM seems to paint those who have changed their minds about Trump since 2016 as fickle hypocrites. For example, Trump’s current running mate J. D. Vance was basically a NeverTrumper back then, and the media wants us to remember that and distrust him for it.

On the other hand, one of the themes of the convention has been such mind-changing. That was the point of the speech given by Amber Rose, a model I’d never heard of before but who gave an interesting “changer” speech the other day:

The message is clear: do your own research on Trump and you’ll find that much of what you thought you knew – and hated – about the man is a lie.

It’s a clever approach – although because a mind is a difficult thing to change, it probably won’t work with most people. But it’s intriguing, and I can identify because although I was never a NeverTrumper I was extremely Trump-skeptical during the 2016 campaign. Trump won me over pretty quickly by his performance as president, but that’s because I kept an open mind to begin with.