The Idiocracy of Tim Walz

The New Neo Posted on by

The self-described knucklehead doesn’t even know what a venture capitalist is:

“Sen. Vance became a media darling. He wrote a book about the place he grew up. But the premise was trashing that place he grew up rather than lifting it up,” Walz said on Tuesday of the Republican vice presidential hopeful, adding, “This guy is a venture capitalist cosplaying as a cowboy or something.”

“I don’t even know what a venture capitalist does most of the time!” he then yelled.

Social media reacted with quips and astonishment to Walz’s comments about the term “venture capitalist,” which regards one who invests in a startup business venture.

“Tampon Tim be like ‘vote for me. JD Vance is smart and I’m an idiot,’” a social media user reacted on X.

Walz is going for the Idiocracy vote. Maybe it’s a rather large bloc these days, alas.

[NOTE: If you’re unfamiliar with the movie Idiocracy, you might want to take a look. It’s transgressively, offensively funny.]

More details on the ignominious death of Sinwar

The New Neo Posted on by

From the British press:

A unit from the IDF’s 828th Bislamach Brigade was patrolling Tal al-Sultan, an area of Rafah, on Wednesday morning, when it came across a group of three Hamas fighters in the street and engaged them in a firefight.

The terrorists were ‘on the run’ moving from house to house, the IDF said, and became split up.

One of them, since identified as Sinwar, ‘ran alone into one of the buildings’. He went up to the second floor, and troops responded by firing a tank shell in his direction.

So – if that account is correct – it explains how Sinwar was originally identified as a terrorist, and why he ended up alone in the building where he ultimately died. Apparently he and the other two had been on the move.

Grenades were thrown at the IDF troops (it’s not clear from where), and then they decided to send a drone into the building into which the man later identified as Sinwar had gone. That’s how we got that amazing drone footage of him sitting in a chair, with a hand wounded from the gun battle in the street, looking at the drone and throwing something at it that appeared to be a stick.

And then:

Two 120mm tank shells slammed into the building, as well as a surface-to-surface Matador missile, according to Israeli reports, with shrapnel scything across the upper floors and killing Sinwar.

Unaware they had taken out Israel’s prime target, the soldiers did not return to the site until Thursday morning, when soldiers from the 450th Infantry Battalion were sent in to get a closer look.

So there was a delay, and then a different unit was the one that uncovered the body and recognized that it could be Sinwar. Also:

He was found with a weapon, a flak jacket and 40,000 shekels (£8,250).

‘Yahya Sinouar had a lot of cash and fake passports on him, he was ready to flee,’ Israeli army spokesman Colonel Olivier Rafowicz told French outlet CNEWS this morning.

He claimed that the items Sinwar had on him, which allegedly also included a card from UNRWA, the UN aid for Palestinian refugees, ‘may show that he was ready to flee and leave Gaza and his men behind.’

During his many years in Israeli prisons, Sinwar learned to speak fluent Hebrew. He could have fled to Israel, perhaps, and organized something horrific there. There are other possibilities as well, of course – Iran or Qatar come immediately to mind. But the shekels are interesting.

The details of Sinwar’s death are sordid and ignominious, far from glorious. That makes it harder for Hamas to present him as some sort of hero. I continue to wonder what percentage of Gaza’s population is rejoicing at the news. Israel has offered evidence that at least some people were happy. And then there’s this:

An opinion poll published in mid-September by the Palestinian Center for Policy and Survey Research (PSR), a think tank based in Ramallah and funded by Western donors, showed for the first time the majority of Gazans opposed the decision to attack Israel on October 7.

The poll, conducted in early September, found that 57% of people surveyed in the Gaza Strip said the decision to launch the offensive was incorrect, while just 39% said it was correct – down sharply from the previous poll in June.

Hamas has long been accused of crushing dissent in Gaza with beatings or worse. But recent months have seen some rare public displays of dissent.

This isn’t evidence of any newfound love of Israel. But it’s still an important thing if most Gazans come to think that the war against Israel was a bad move, and that it is they who have suffered a result, and will suffer from any future such aggression on their part.

The Democrats are trying to say Trump is the cognitively challenged one

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It seems a bizarre approach to me, but they must be getting feedback that their base loves it. Because I think that, for most other people, all it does is remind them of how the Democrats tried for so long to cover up Biden’s decline. After all, the fact that they could no longer keep up the pretense is the reason Kamala Harris is the Democrats’ candidate today, and everyone knows it.

And yet in her Fox interview, Kamala Harris continued to deny there was anything wrong with Biden. It’s such brazen gaslighting it deserves some sort of award. Plus, does it fool anyone?

Meanwhile, Trump has coherent long-form interviews with all sorts of people, and although he includes his trademark eccentricities such as what he calls “the weave,” he seems quite with it to me. That doesn’t stop the Democrats from claiming he’s exhibiting cognitive problems. They read it into this town hall meeting – interrupted by medical emergencies for two spectators and overwhelming heat, that then turned into a musical interlude – into some sort of evidence of mental lapses on Trump’s part.

And now there’s Trump’s appearance last night at a Catholic charity event, in which he seems to have been unusually entertaining and funny. You can read an account here and watch some clips. And yet Harris-Walz 2024 Rapid Response Director Ammar Moussa put out this statement about it:

Donald Trump struggled to read scripted notes written by his handlers, repeatedly complaining that he couldn’t use a teleprompter. He stumbled over his words and lashed out when the crowd wouldn’t laugh with him. The rare moments he was off script, he went on long incomprehensible rambles, reminding Americans how unstable he’s become. And of course he made it all about himself. He may refuse to release his medical records, but every day he makes it clear to the American people that he is not up to the job.

To me it seems a weird approach, for the aforementioned reason that Trump isn’t generally perceived that way but Biden was. In addition, Kamala isn’t sounding like the sharpest knife in the drawer. And “every day it’s she who makes it clear to the American people that she is not up to the job.”

Time for a laugh

The New Neo Posted on by

The Fox interview: how do you solve a problem like Kamala?

The New Neo Posted on by

I’ve seen many clips of last night’s interview on Fox News with Kamala Harris, read excerpts and reactions, but haven’t been able to bring myself to watch the entire thing. I’m sure Harris’ fans have good things to say about her performance: she’s so feisty and brave, and that sort of thing. And those who have no intention of ever voting for her say it was a train wreck, which I think it was. More to the point, of course, is what that tiny but oh-so-important group of undecideds in the middle might think, if they’re even paying attention. From what I’ve read and seen, though, I can’t imagine it won many of those people over.

Bret Baier seemed surprisingly tough and also well-prepared. The critique from the left was, predictably, He was so mean he interrupted her! And even, from some, How dare a white man do that to a black woman! Those who say those things don’t seem to understand that you can’t claim to be strong and not be able to take challenging question and/or interruptions. But then again, Kamala Harris is accustomed to dealing with an obsequious press.

One thing I can say for Harris, however: she had a game plan and she stuck with it. The game plan was and is rather simple: don’t get pinned down in any actual answers except Trump BAD! Over and over and over.

There were some extraordinary exchanges. For example:

BAIER: Your campaign slogan is a new way forward and it’s time to turn the page. You’ve been vice president for three and a half years. So what, are you turning the page from.

HARRIS: Well, first of all, turning the page from the last decade in which we have been burdened with the kind of rhetoric coming from Donald Trump that has been designed and implemented to divide our country and have Americans literally point fingers at each other. Rhetoric and an approach to leadership that suggests that the strength of a leader is based on who you beat down instead of what we all know the strength of leadership is based on who you lift up. The strength of an American president, which is one who understands that the vast majority of us have more in common than what separates us.

BAIER: More 70% of people…

HARRIS: That is about turning the page on rhetoric that people are frankly exhausted…

BAIER: …more than 70% of people tell pollsters the country is on the wrong track, they say the country is on the wrong track. If it’s on the wrong track, that track follows three and a half years of you being vice president and President Biden being president. That is what they’re saying. 79% of them. Why are they saying that? If you’re turning the page, you’ve been in office for three and a half years.

HARRIS: And Donald Trump has been running for office…

BAIER: But you’ve been the person in the office. Madam Vice President…

HARRIS: …both know what I’m talking about. You and I both know what I’m talking about.

BAIER: I actually don’t. What are you talking about?

Well he might ask. What she’s talking about is the only thing she feels comfortable talking about, which is that Trump is evil. Trumpety Trump Trump Trumpa-dump. Meanwhile, of course, as she goes on and on about the awfulness of Trump, she seems not to notice that it is she who thinks her own “strength as a leader is based on beating down Trump,” – or contnually attempting to do so.

Her next statement to Baier was this:

HARRIS: What I’m talking about is that over the last decade, people have…but listen, over the last decade, it is clear to me and certainly the Republicans who are on stage with me. The former chief of staff to the president, Donald Trump, former defense secretaries, national security advisor, and his vice president, one that he is unfit to serve…that he is unstable, that he is dangerous, and that people are exhausted with someone who professes to be a leader who spends full time demeaning and engaging in personal grievances and it being about him.

There’s that irony again: does she not understand that she has become the “someone who professes to be a leader who spends full time demeaning and engaging in personal grievances and it being about Trump”? Does she not even hear herself?

And then:

BAIER: Your campaign slogan is A New Way Forward and It’s Time To Turn The Page. You’ve been Vice President for 3.5 years. What are you turning the page from?

HARRIS: The last decade of Donald Trump.

Decade? He’s been in power for a decade? Who knew? He started in 2014? He’s been in power during the entire Biden/Harris administration? If he’s been so powerful for so very long, including during the nearly four years that Harris has been VP, why would he disappear if she were to be elected?

As time goes on and I hear more from Harris, I become more worried about what kind of president she actually would be if, heaven forbid, she won the election. Someone on some comment thread wrote, “She makes Hillary Clinton look like Dinah Shore.” And I have to add that she makes Biden look competent. Even in his addled state, he can draw on decades and decades of maneuvering in the political arena. The guy was never especially smart, but he had something on the ball – some sort of wily ability. I don’t know what Kamala has, and I don’t think she knows either, except identity politics and the demonization of Donald Trump. I certainly hope it won’t be enough to get her into the White House.

Here are two videos made after the interview. The first is from Baier:

The second is Ben Shapiro’s reaction:

Sinwar dead: can it be?

The New Neo Posted on by

I was astounded when I read the news that the IDF had killed Sinwar, and also somewhat disbelieving. But when I read that they had announced that DNA testing had confirmed his identity, I became convinced that Sinwar has finally met his end.

The circumstances are amazing in the sense that we had read he was always surrounded by twenty-or-so hostages. But that’s not how the scenario went:

Sinwar, architect of the October 7 Hamas invasion and slaughter in southern Israel, was shot dead along with two other terrorists in a firefight in Rafah, in southern Gaza, on Wednesday, the Israel Defense Forces and Shin Bet security agency announced.

He was not being directly targeted, and troops only realized that one of the three dead terrorists was apparently Sinwar when they inspected the scene of the firefight on Thursday morning. …

Part of Sinwar’s finger was removed for expedited testing as the location was booby-trapped. His body was extracted and brought to Israel later Thursday.

In a joint statement, the IDF and Shin Bet said Israel’s military activities gradually constricted Sinwar’s area of operations, ultimately leading to his death.

There was some intelligence that Hamas “senior officials” were hiding in the area, but it seems pretty clear that the troops didn’t know they had zeroed in on Sinwar until after he was dead. More intelligence afterwards – “indications from Gaza” – also let them know that Sinwar might have died.

I sometimes wonder how it is that Israel has enough DNA information on these terrorists to identify their bodies, but there are several ways it could happen. The first is through relatives. But for Sinwar, there’s another obvious method, which is that he was in Israeli prisons for many years and only released in the Shalit deal. While in Israel he had major medical treatment for cancer. I strongly suspect that Israel is very familiar with his DNA for that reason.

And this is especially interesting, if true:

According to an unsourced report on Channel 12, Sinwar had previously been hiding with the six hostages who were executed by their Hamas captors on August 29 and whose bodies were recovered by the IDF on August 31 — Hersh Goldberg-Polin, 23, Eden Yerushalmi, 24, Ori Danino, 25, Alex Lobanov, 32, Carmel Gat, 40, and Almog Sarusi, 27.

It said Sinwar likely gave the order to kill the six as he fled.

It said the firefight on Wednesday took place in the same area as the six hostages were held and killed.

It also said that the IDF had checked when the six hostages’ bodies were recovered whether terrorists killed in the area had included Sinwar. This was found not to be the case, but indications, including DNA evidence, were found at the time that Sinwar had been in the area.

I remember that reports of the killing of the six hostages included the note that the area was checked for the DNA of terrorists.

Not only was the area where Sinwar was killed boody-trapped, but he was wearing a military vest with grenades.

And remember all the shrieking a while back from the Biden administration and much of the world that the Israelis shouldn’t go into Rafah? Fortunately Israel didn’t listen.

I think it goes without saying, but I’ll say it anyway: Sinwar was the architect of October 7 and the political leader of Hamas. I hope his death will serve to deeply demoralize remaining Hamas forces and those Gazans who have supported Hamas.

Various world leaders have used the opportunity of Sinwar’s death to renew calls for a ceasefire; I kid you not. And Biden has done some bragging, saying the Israelis did it with the help of his administration:

Biden says he will soon speak to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and other Israeli leaders “to congratulate them, to discuss the pathway for bringing the hostages home to their families, and for ending this war once and for all, which has caused so much devastation to innocent people.”

Actually, it’s an opportunity to end this war by finishing the job in the military sense.

From Netanyahu:

Turning to the hostage families, Netanyahu says this is “an important moment” in the war. “We will continue with all our strength until the return of all of your loved ones, who are our loved ones.”

Netanyahu then turns to Gazan civilians: “Sinwar ruined your life. He told you he was a lion, but in reality he was hiding in a dark den. And he was killed when he fled in a panic from our soldiers.”

“To the Hamas terrorists I say: your leaders are fleeing and they will be eliminated,” he continues.

He says that anyone holding hostages will be allowed to live if they lay down their weapons and release their captives.

“And at the same time I say, whoever harms our hostages, his blood will be on his head,” says Netanyahu. ” We will come to a reckoning with him.” …

Addressing the people of the Middle East, Netanyahu says there is “a great opportunity to stop the axis of evil and create a different future.”

Netanyahu says that Sinwar’s killing makes clear to critics in Israel and abroad why his government insisted on continuing the war.

I think it’s always been clear. Problem is, Israel’s “critics” don’t want Israel to win this war.

Nevertheless, this is a day of great hope.

Roundup

The New Neo Posted on by

So much news …

(1) Pay now or pay later, but somebody pays. And I’m surprised that the WaPo is reporting on this:

(2) Harris calls a question about whether Trump will put all non-white people in camps “an important point.” She doesn’t go so far as to say Trump will do it, but she says:

You’ve hit on a really important point and expressed it, I think so. Well, which is? He is achieving his intended effect to make you scared. He is running full time on a campaign that is about instilling fear. Not about hope, not about optimism, not about the future. But about fear.

Another case of Harris saying Trump is doing what she is doing here. The entire Democrat platform is based on two things: fear of Trump and the giving of supposedly free stuff by the Democrats.

(3) Hat tip: commenter “sdferr.”

Good for Tom Cotton.

(4) The Harris campaign lies about a musical interlude at a Trump rally. The rally was stopped to attend to the needs of two people in the crowd who had medical emergencies, and the Harris campaign says it happened because Trump got lost and confused. That’s rich, coming from the group that covered up Biden’s cognitive difficulties for years. And although even ABC said it wasn’t true, Harris has continued the lie:

(5) Federal employees are worried that Trump might win.

The FBI quietly admits that crime went up

The New Neo Posted on by

Well, well:

When the FBI originally released the “final” crime data for 2022 in September 2023, it reported that the nation’s violent crime rate fell by 2.1%. This quickly became, and remains, a Democratic Party talking point to counter Donald Trump’s claims of soaring crime.

But the FBI has quietly revised those numbers, releasing new data that shows violent crime increased in 2022 by 4.5%. The new data includes thousands more murders, rapes, robberies, and aggravated assaults.

The Bureau – which has been at the center of partisan storms – made no mention of these revisions in its September 2024 press release.

Shhh – wouldn’t want people to notice if it confirms what the right has been claiming.

More:

It’s been over three weeks since the FBI released the revised data. The Bureau’s lack of acknowledgment or explanation about the significant change concerns researchers.

“I have checked the data on total violent crime from 2004 to 2022,” Carl Moody, a professor at the College of William & Mary who specializes in studying crime, told RealClearInvestigations. “There were no revisions from 2004 to 2015, and from 2016 to 2020, there were small changes of less than one percentage point. The huge changes in 2021 and 2022, especially without an explanation, make it difficult to trust the FBI data.”

There are many things that make it difficult to trust the FBI, and not just to distrust their data.

The actual changes in crimes are extensive. The updated data for 2022 report that there were 80,029 more violent crimes than in 2021. There were an additional 1,699 murders, 7,780 rapes, 33,459 robberies, and 37,091 aggravated assaults. The question naturally arises: should the FBI’s 2023 numbers be believed?

No.

The article goes on to add that these figures contain a lot of “estimated” data anyway, plus:

Another problem with FBI crime data is its reliance on reported crimes. Most crimes go unreported, with only about 45% of violent crimes and 30% of property crimes brought to the police’s attention, according to the National Crime Victimization Survey. …

A half-century ago, the DOJ provided a total crime measure, including both reported and unreported crime. The results of the department’s Bureau of Justice Statistics 2023 National Crime Victimization Survey, released in mid-September, tell a very different story from the FBI data.

The NCVS interviews 240,000 people each year about their personal experiences.

Instead of the FBI’s 3.5% drop in the reported violent crime rate in 2023, the NCVS found a 4.1% increase in the reported violent crime rate. Even with the revised FBI numbers, in 2022, the FBI’s 4.5% increase pales in comparison to the NCVS’s 29.1% increase. …

While the FBI claims that serious violent crime has fallen by 5.8% since Biden took office, the NCVS numbers show that total violent crime has risen by 55.4%. Rapes are up by 42%, robbery by 63%, and aggravated assault by 55% during Biden’s term. Since the NCVS started, the largest previous increase over three years was 27% in 2006, so the increase under Biden was slightly more than twice as large.

The increases shown by the NCVS during the Biden-Harris administration are by far the largest percentage increases over any three years, slightly more than doubling the previous record.

Lots more at the link.

Hezbollah’s extensive tunnel world

The New Neo Posted on by

Since the IDF entered Gaza after October 7, we’ve seen many photos and videos of the vast underground network there. Now that the IDF is in southern Lebanon, it has discovered an even more sophisticated network of tunnels. In Gaza, Israel found the tunnels after Hamas’ attack on southern Israel. In Lebanon, Hezbollah was still in the readiness stage for a massive and deadly invasion of northern Israel:

According to IDF spokesman Brig. Gen. Daniel Hagari, the complex was designed for a Radwan battalion to arrive, suit up, then head into Israel on foot and on motorbikes.

IDF forces captured the complex late last week and found anti-helicopter missiles, mortar shells, rifles and other munitions.

One of the operatives was holed up in the bunker, and was killed by the Air Force.

Some of these tunnels were right next to UN posts in the region:

Note that preparations with Iran for the October 7 attack by Hamas began in the first year of the Biden administration. No coincidence.

Also, the US has issued this threat – to Israel:

More:

Notably, the letter from U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin was addressed to Defense Minister Yoav Gallant and Strategic Affairs Minister Ron Dermer, bypassing Netanyahu.

The letter demands that Israel take concrete steps to improve the humanitarian situation in Gaza within 30 days. In addition to ensuring regular aid transfers, the U.S. also calls on Israel to allow Red Cross visits to Palestinian detainees and to halt Knesset legislation that would prevent the Palestinian aid agency UNRWA from operating in Israel.

The deeper implication of the Blinken-Austin letter is that if Israel does not address the humanitarian crisis in northern Gaza within 30 days, it could face a severe arms crisis, as the U.S. continues to delay shipments of heavy bombs. Failure to meet the U.S. demands could jeopardize the continuation of military aid, which requires approval from both Blinken and Austin.

It seems it was a mistake for Israel to trust the US. But for a long time, support for Israel was bipartisan. That ended with Obama, and the Biden administration (otherwise known as Obama’s third term) has continued the confrontational hostility, which has increased in this election year in order to placate the Democrats’ very large left flank.