The three hostages released today were obviously starving

The New Neo Posted on by

Now it isn’t pretty young women who are being released, but middle-aged civilian men. The hostages returned today are described here:

The day began in Deir al-Balah in Gaza, where Hamas handed the hostages– Ohad Ben Ami, Or Levy and Eli Sharabi– over to Red Cross officials –the fifth group freed under a fragile Gaza ceasefire.

Emaciated and disoriented, all three [civilian] men were forced by their captors to address crowds gathered at their handover ceremony. A banner across the edge of the platform erected for the exchange declared “total victory” for Hamas in Hebrew and bore images of destroyed and rusted Israeli military vehicles. …

“He looked like a skeleton, it was awful to see,” Ohad Ben Ami’s mother-in-law, Michal Cohen, told Channel 13 News as she watched the Hamas-directed handover ceremony. …

Israel’s President Isaac Herzog also denounced the treatment of Israeli hostages as a “crime against humanity” after the men were paraded on stage.

“This is what a crime against humanity looks like! The whole world must look directly at Ohad, Or, and Eli — returning after 491 days of hell, starved, emaciated and pained — being exploited in a cynical and cruel spectacle by vile murderers,” the Israeli head of state said in a statement on X.

Here is a photo where you can see how thin they are:

And here are before and after photos. The “befores” are on the bottom, of course:

And yet the international community has been complaining that it’s the Palestinians who are starving. I have yet to see one in the crowds who looks as though that’s true.

Ben Ami was taken from his kibbutz home along with his wife, who was released in earlier exchanges.

Levy was kidnapped from the NOVA festival, where his wife was murdered on 10/7. They have a 2-year-old son, who is now 3 and has been with his grandparents.

That story is tragic enough. But I think you’ll agree that even more tragic is the situation of Sharabi:

Sharabi, who will turn 53 in February, was at his home in kibbutz Beeri with his British-born wife and their two teenage daughters when Hamas attacked it on October 7, 2023. The armed men shot their dog, before locking the family in their safe room and setting it on fire. The bodies of his wife and two daughters were later identified.

He was taken to Gaza along with his brother Yossi. The Israeli military said early last year that Yossi was killed and his body was in the hands of Hamas in Gaza.

While in captivity, Sharabi did not know that his wife and children had all been viciously murdered. There is a beautiful photo at the link of Sharabi with his wife and children; I couldn’t bear to duplicate it, so you’ll have to click on the link to see it – and please scroll down there and compare how he looks in the photo with his wife and daughters compared to his emaciation in the next photo at the link.

Also please note in the following excerpt the psychological sadism of the Gazans [emphasis mine]:

Released hostage Eli Sharabi’s first request when he was back in Israel was to see his family, because he was unaware that his wife and two daughters were murdered in the Hamas onslaught on October 7, 2023, Hebrew media reported. …

According to Channel 12 news, Sharabi was notified of his wife and daughters’ deaths after his return from the Gaza Strip. He was initially reunited with his mother Hannah and sister Osnat, and subsequently with other members of his family, including his brother Sharon. His family was reportedly given advice on how to break the terrible news. …

Hamas announced the death, to great applause, as masked terrorists paraded Sharabi, Ohad Ben Ami and Or Levy in central Gaza’s Deir al-Balah before handing the emaciated hostages to the Red Cross on Saturday morning.

At the handover ceremony, Sharabi had been asked in Hebrew how he was feeling by the masked Hamas gunman running the show, and said into the microphone, “I feel very, very happy today to return to my family and friends, to my wife and my daughters.”

All the while, of course, Hamas knew what had happened to his wife and daughters.

I think of Otto Frank, who survived concentration camps hoping that his wife and two teenage daughters had survived. When he returned home, after a while he got the news from others who had known them in the camps that he alone had survived to tell the tale. It was after that that Miep Gies, the valiant woman who had helped hide and feed the Franks and the others in the Annex, gave him Anne Frank’s diary, which she had saved in hopes of her homecoming that never was.

RIP to all those murdered on 10/7, and love and strength and blessings to the families.

Surrogate presidents Musk versus Hunter

The New Neo Posted on by

The left is all worried and outraged that Elon Musk, appointed by Trump as an advisor and “special government employee” – with a security clearance – is informing Trump on government waste, and making recommendations. Although it’s Trump making the decisions, the narrative is that Elon Musk is the real “unelected” president, a foreigner and a multi-billionaire.

So, now that they can’t say that Trump is an illegitimate president since he won so handily, they’ve pivoted to the story that Trump, that tremendous autocrat and wannabee dictator, isn’t really in charge and instead it’s Musk who is an illegitimate president running the show.

I don’t know how many people are buying this tale, but I can guarantee that some are. I very much doubt, however, that the people in the MSM who write these things believe them.

Meanwhile, the MSM isn’t all that curious to know who ran the Biden White House all those years that Joe was cognitively compromised. They don’t seem all that interested in this sort of report [hat tip: commenter “Barry Meislin]:

Once a proud fundraiser for Joe Biden and Kamala Harris, [Lindy] Li has turned into an insider spilling the Democratic Party’s most closely held secrets—and, boy, does she have stories.

… Back in December [2024], she revealed new dirt on Joe Biden’s mental decline. “The president has not been cognitively fit to assume the duties of the Oval Office for a number of years now,” she told Fox News. “And it breaks my heart because I know President Biden and I love the man, but he is in no shape or form able to carry out the duties that the Commander in Chief requires …

But it’s her revelations about what happened in the White House in the aftermath of Biden’s devastating performance in his June debate on CNN with Trump that are truly jaw-dropping.

According to Li, Joe Biden, already staggering from public scrutiny, effectively lost control of the White House after that fateful debate. The event reportedly prompted an audacious power shuffle at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue—one spearheaded by none other than Hunter Biden.

Li alleges that, following Biden’s disastrous debate drubbing, Hunter essentially took over White House operations. Speaking with podcaster Shawn Ryan, she painted a picture of dysfunction at the highest levels of government: “After the [CNN] debate, Hunter basically commandeered the White House. He sat in on all of the White House top-level meetings. We had a former cocaine addict sitting in on the most sensitive meetings of the most consequential and most important government in world history. Does that sit right with you?”

Ryan’s immediate reaction—“No”—reflected what many are surely thinking.

“Without security clearance mind you,” Li added.

Hunter as Edith Wilson – who cares?

Trump and the ICC

The New Neo Posted on by

It’s easy to lose sight of some of Trump’s actions in the three weeks – is it only three weeks? – since he was inaugurated. So much has happened.

But I don’t want to ignore this EO of Trump’s concerning the International Criminal Court:

I, DONALD J. TRUMP, President of the United States of America, find that the International Criminal Court (ICC), as established by the Rome Statute, has engaged in illegitimate and baseless actions targeting America and our close ally Israel. The ICC has, without a legitimate basis, asserted jurisdiction over and opened preliminary investigations concerning personnel of the United States and certain of its allies, including Israel, and has further abused its power by issuing baseless arrest warrants targeting Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Former Minister of Defense Yoav Gallant. The ICC has no jurisdiction over the United States or Israel, as neither country is party to the Rome Statute or a member of the ICC. Neither country has ever recognized the ICC’s jurisdiction, and both nations are thriving democracies with militaries that strictly adhere to the laws of war. The ICC’s recent actions against Israel and the United States set a dangerous precedent, directly endangering current and former United States personnel, including active service members of the Armed Forces, by exposing them to harassment, abuse, and possible arrest. …

The United States will impose tangible and significant consequences on those responsible for the ICC’s transgressions, some of which may include the blocking of property and assets, as well as the suspension of entry into the United States of ICC officials, employees, and agents, as well as their immediate family members, as their entry into our Nation would be detrimental to the interests of the United States.

The ICC is one of those Orwellian institutions so prevalent these days. Under the guise of “international law,” it manages to allow corrupt dictatorships and countries that trash human rights to sanction countries such as the US and Israel, particularly the latter. The UN and the ICC and other international groups such as Amnesty are responsible for a great deal of the propaganda success of terrorists.

Trump sanctioned the ICC during his first term. The Biden administration lifted those sanctions as one of its early moves (the linked article is from April of 2021):

President Joe Biden on Friday lifted sanctions and visa restrictions on officials of the International Criminal Court, reversing another foreign policy move by former President Donald Trump.

The Biden administration move will please human rights activists as well as many of America’s allies in Europe, a group Biden is determined to reconnect with in the wake of souring relations under Trump.

Still, the Biden administration, like other Republican and Democratic administrations in the past, remains wary of the ICC, whose jurisdiction the United States does not recognize. Just weeks ago, the U.S. slammed the ICC for moving toward investigating Israel’s treatment of the Palestinians, noting that Israel also does not submit to the court’s jurisdiction. The Trump administration had imposed the penalties in part because of ICC efforts to investigate actions of the U.S. and other parties in Afghanistan.

So, why did the Biden administration lift the sanctions, if it remained “wary” of the ICC and “slammed” it? The answer highlights one of the many many differences between the Biden administration and Trump:

“We continue to disagree strongly with the ICC’s actions relating to the Afghanistan and Palestinian situations,” Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in a statement that announced an end to the sanctions. “We maintain our longstanding objection to the Court’s efforts to assert jurisdiction over personnel of non-States Parties such as the United States and Israel. We believe, however, that our concerns about these cases would be better addressed through engagement with all stakeholders in the ICC process rather than through the imposition of sanctions.”

Aha! You see, they “disagree strongly.” They “maintain” their “longstanding objection.” Disagreeing and objecting are mere words, quite meaningless in the real world – as events later proved. Do sanctions work? Probably not all that much. But they certainly have a better chance of doing something effective than mere words.

The news cycle …

The New Neo Posted on by

… outruns me every day.

But I keep trying.

By the way, the problem with the bot attacks is a bit better. I added still another layer of protection, courtesy of my host. But it’s not perfect. Time will tell if I have to do more.

But in the meantime, my apologies for any delays you might experience. It’s a frustrating problem.

Trump and women’s sports

The New Neo Posted on by

This involves one of Trump’s campaign promises. The Democrats had chosen to support a form of “transgender rights” – biological men in women’s sports as long as the men claimed to be women – that harmed the girls and women the party had always claimed to defend, a position so extreme it even troubled some Democrats. With an EO, Trump banned federal funding for entities that allow biological men to compete in women’s sports.

Note how that CBS News article frames it in the lede – not as banning biological men, but as banning girls and women who just happen to be trans girls and women. Many readers probably wouldn’t even know that this means biological boys and men:

President Trump on Wednesday signed an executive order to ban transgender girls and women from competing on sports teams that match their gender identity, marking his latest move targeting transgender rights.

I wager a lot of trans people don’t like how far the movement went when people like swimmer Lia Thomas pushed for being considered a woman when there was no question Lia was a post-pubescent male with the body of a post-pubescent male. It’s only much further down in the story that CBS News even attempts to explain what the EO really refers to.

Allowing biological males who identify as women to compete in girls’ and women’s sports is a very unpopular hill that the Democrat candidates chose to die on [emphasis mine]:

A recent New York Times/Ipsos survey found the vast majority of Americans, including a majority of Democrats, don’t think transgender athletes should be permitted to compete in women’s sports. Of the 2,128 people polled, 79% said biological males who identify as women should not be allowed to participate in women’s sports.

Here’s the signing ceremony. Note how relaxed Trump is:

Voting for Kamala: the interviews

The New Neo Posted on by

Commenter “JohnTyler” observes:

Even in the edited version [of her 60 Minutes interview], Kamala comes across as a stupid, ignorant moron.

I still do not understand how any sentient human could have cast their vote for such an incredibly dumb and ignorant individual; and over 49% of voters did exactly that.

It’s interesting to hear all the reasons, supplied by democrats, why Kamala lost the election. You will note that not one commentator states the obvious; that she is just plain stupid and ignorant.

It is really frightening that someone of her “intelligence” could garner such a significant percentage of all the popular votes.

I think I’ve got an answer.

Harris had a fairly low profile as VP. Only political junkies on the right would have seen some of her inane exchanges, and it was easy to have missed most of her off-the-cuff statements and only seen a teleprompter speech or two, if that.

Most Democrats hate Trump and knew they wouldn’t be voting for him. But a lot of them tuned into the Harris/Trump debate in order to see how it would go. Kamala lied quite a bit during it, but that was the usual propaganda that most Democrats already believed, and other than that she acquitted herself fairly well and Trump was fuming and talking about Haitians eating cats and dogs. So the debate would have only solidified their confidence in their choice of Kamala for president.

So, why waste time watching interviews? I’ve asked quite a few people I know – all of them intelligent – what they thought of Kamala’s interviews, and none of them had watched a single one. And why should they? They’re busy people, Trump was a disaster or Hitler, Kamala was fine and cleaned his clock in the debate, so why waste time watching an interview with only her?

Therefore they simply had no idea how awful she came across. To this day they have no idea, because they certainly weren’t about to watch her interviews after the election.

That may even have been part of the reason Trump sued CBS: in order to expose the entire interview and draw attention to it.

Kamala’s CBS editors made her sound semi-coherent

The New Neo Posted on by

We now have have the unedited footage of Kamala Harris’ 60 Minutes interview.

It’s about what you’d except. Instead of relatively succinct – although nevertheless vague – answers, we have meandering, lengthy, vague and often meaningless responses. Plus, some of the worst ones were left out. CBS edited the interview to make her look better, but even then she didn’t look good.

Here’s an article that describes some of the cuts.

And here’s the original:

Here’s an example of her answering the “why do you want to be president?” question:

A few more details on Trump’s Gaza plan

The New Neo Posted on by

I don’t think the word “plan” is exactly correct. Vision? Suggestion? Proposal? Fantasy? Negotiating tactic?

At any rate, here are more details:

Writing on the Truth Social platform, President Trump announced that no U.S. troops would be needed to implement the plan. …

“The Gaza Strip would be turned over to the United States by Israel at the conclusion of fighting,” President Trump said on Truth Social.

“The Palestinians … would have already been resettled in far safer and more beautiful communities, with new and modern homes, in the region. They would actually have a chance to be happy, safe, and free,” he said. “The U.S., working with great development teams from all over the World, would slowly and carefully begin the construction of what would become one of the greatest and most spectacular developments of its kind on Earth.”

Move over, Marshall Plan. Say hello to Gaza-by-the-sea.

Note the “no US troops” statement, which should placate the worst fears of those who voted for Trump to greatly limit troop commitments abroad. I never thought he had any intention of involving US troops, even though he had left it open when he made his announcement. Note also that this assumes an Israeli victory. Plus, unspecified “development teams from all over the world” would be part of it. Trump’s greatest real estate project.

As I wrote earlier, no one knows whether any of this will happen, and there’s an excellent chance it will not. But it certainly has changed the conversation, and one of the most important elements of that change is that it makes it clear there is no 2-state solution in the sense that it’s been used in the past. If this is a 2-state solution, it’s a completely different one.

When Arabs have moved to European countries – or when Palestinians have moved from Gaza or the West Bank to Egypt or Jordan or Lebanon – in the past many have kept to their murderous and destructive ways. If the Gazans move now, will this be the case once again, especially when united with their leftist champions in Europe? Or, with the near-destruction of Gaza, are at least some of them ready to just live their lives in a better place, not continually thinking they have a right to return to Israel itself? I think it’s a longshot. But it’s an intriguing thought. And no one seems to have a better one.

Trump’s second term so far: I guess this is what “draining the swamp” looks like

The New Neo Posted on by

It may have been the most basic and early of Trump’s campaign promises, back when he was first running for president: to drain the swamp. Making illegal immigration less easy was another, of course, and the more general Make America Great Again, which seemed to me to primarily be referring to making the country economically more independent and prosperous, and making us more respected as a superpower abroad that meant what it said and said what it meant and was willing to back it up.

But draining the swamp was, as Trump would say, YUGE. And in his first term he lost that battle, YUGELY. In fact, the swamp came very close to draining him. Meanwhile, he had learned more of the perils of the swamp: where the quicksand is, where the most dangerous creatures dwell. And now he’s fighting them as best he can, with a group of capable people, many of whom have learned firsthand up close and personal how dangerous the swamp can be.

The swamp is bigger than he ever thought, but he has more help this time. The swamp, of course, is fighting back. So far his attack has been a blitzkreig type, very fast. But don’t underestimate the power of the swamp to regroup and fight back very very hard.

The USAID is an especially hidden area of the swamp, and shining a light in there has caused a great deal of turmoil among those who have benefited from its largesse. And the FBI and the DOJ have been attempted agents of Trump’s (and the J6ers) destruction – not everyone in those agencies by any means, but some portion of the higher-ups who decided to twist the law into a pretzel to get those on the right they perceived as enemies.

We on the right used to complain that there were no consequences for any of the wrongdoing we saw. Well, now the attempt is to bring those consequences at last.

I believe there only will be legal prosecution for a few, and that’s okay with me. There also will be many legal challenges from the swamp, and judges on the left (and perhaps even on the right, if the case is sound) may find for the plaintiffs. But nevertheless, an enormous and sweeping effort is being made and I believe a significant portion of it will be successful.

There’s so much going on that I can’t cover everything in depth. What I’ve been doing, and what I plan to keep doing, is concentrating on the efforts I find most interesting or important, and also providing overviews such as this one. And of course links such as these:

From Ace, “USAID and the CIA Funded Trump’s First Impeachment.”

At Legal Insurrection, “US State Department Recalls All USAID Staffers from Foreign Assignments.”

From The Federalist, “The Constitution Vindicates Trump’s Firing Of 17 Inspectors General.”

From The Federalist, “If Presidents Can’t Control Executive Agencies, Elections Are Fake.”

There’s much, much more.

It’s also one thing to make light of the reaction of the left, such as “heads are exploding.” But there’s really nothing light about this. The press and the left are labeling it a coup, a dictatorship, an illegal takeover. The grounds for believing that – even on the part of relatively moderate Democrats – have been prepared for many many years. This is an extremely volatile situation.

Interesting times.