This is an amazing hostage story

The New Neo Posted on by

Please watch. It’s not long.

All the hostages were not kept under the same circumstances or by the same people, so there was and is some variation their experiences – plus of course the variation in their personalities prior to being taken hostage. This young woman seems to have drawn on a source of strength that she may or may not have exhibited prior to her becoming a hostage. Perhaps her captor was also less hardened and sadistic to begin with than many other captors. But for whatever reasons, she was able to project some unusual quality of – for want of a better word, I’ll use her captor’s word – light in the darkness.

The Iowa caucuses

The New Neo Posted on by

So, let’s see.

Were there any surprises? If you look at the poll averages and then at the results, the only real surprise was that DeSantis did better than expected and came in second.

Does it matter? Because DeSantis and Haley were nevertheless close in Iowa (Vivek closed up shop after his poor showing), I doubt either will drop out right now and that means they’ll go into New Hampshire and split the non-Trump vote. Polls in New Hampshire indicate that Trump wins, although in the 40s rather than the 50s, Haley is a very strong second, and DeSantis way behind. However, the polls include Christie and Vivek, both of whom are now gone from the race. Will that change much and help DeSantis? Perhaps a little, but probably not a lot.

I’m not sure why Haley is doing so well in New Hampshire. However, it’s a quirky state and polling there in recent years hasn’t been especially reliable. But I’m almost sure Trump will indeed do well there, so what does second place even matter – not just in New Hampshire but in general? After all, I don’t think Trump would be influenced when picking his running mate, whom I believe will come from the ranks of people who have not run against him in 2024. And I also believe that the only way he loses the nomination is if something catastrophic happens that means he is unable to run, or voters desert him in droves. The former is more likely than the latter; Trump’s voters are especially loyal. It is only if Trump is unable to continue running that the second-place finisher might end up being the nominee, if Trump’s delegates turn to him or her. But that possibility, however remote, is why I think both DeSantis and Haley will continue to duke it out for that second-place spot until their monies run out.

I keep reading that Trump set some sort of record, getting the “largest margin of victory at the caucuses, surpassing Dole’s hold of 18% in ’96 (Trump was up nearly 30% compared to the next candidate, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis).” But that’s an absurd comparison. There’s no equivalent to 2024 and Trump for two simple reasons. The first is that usually there are more candidates at this point, and more candidates ordinarily makes it harder for any one of them to amass a really strong lead. The second and probably far more important reason is that Trump is close to the position of being an incumbent. He is a former president with a record of accomplishment that has earned the loyalty of his supporters, who are very very loyal indeed. To compare him to other candidates in previous years is a poor analogy.

The Iowa caucuses are today

The New Neo Posted on by

The outcome seems to me to be a foregone conclusion.

But you can talk about it all here. Or the weather, which is very cold in Iowa today.

Or this song:

I saw the original Broadway production as a very young child and developed quite a crush on Robert Preston. I was attracted to his energy.

COVID: looking back

The New Neo Posted on by

Fauci’s been testifying that some of the social distancing recommendations for COVID were based on nothing much:

The idea was everyone staying six feet away from each other would slow the virus spread.

From that flowed the “need” to close businesses, shut schools, and generally immiserate average Americans.

Yet, per Fauci (in Wenstrup’s words), the 6′ guidelines “sort of just appeared” without meaningful scientific input and “likely not based on scientific data.”

Looking back, I found this old post of mine from quite early in the pandemic, mid-April of 2020. In it I wrote:

Personally, I’m all for the continuation of a certain amount – a milder amount – of social distancing. And in particular, since I’m in a high risk group because of age and a pre-existing condition, I plan to be fairly strict with myself. But that has nothing to do with what should happen in the larger society. I wouldn’t advocate a bunch of parades, of course. But I believe businesses need to reopen and people need to get back to something approximating regular commerce and regular life, and it needs to happen pretty soon in most places.

It is possible that there are huge costs in terms of illness, but it is virtually certain there are huge costs as well in keeping things closed. Those latter costs are not just economic, either. They can and probably will impact on physical and mental health as well, with people shut in and worried about their livelihoods, taking it out on each other in many instances, drinking, not exercising, overeating, becoming depressed, and not tending to other medical needs.

The “Israel commits genocide” club

The New Neo Posted on by

Years ago – certainly by the time of Durban in 2001 – it became more clear that most third-world countries and NGOs had an enormous animus for Israel:

In 2001, an NGO Forum ran separately from the World Conference against Racism in the nearby Kingsmead Stadium in Durban, from 28 August to 1 September. It consisted of 3,000 NGOs and was attended by 8,000 representatives. The declaration the NGO Forum adopted was not an official document of the conference. The final NGO document called “for the reinstitution of the UN resolution equating Zionism with racism” and “the complete and total isolation of Israel as an apartheid state”.

Note the venue: Durban is in South Africa, the country currently leading the “Israel is committing genocide” pack in the ICJ. Ex-president Jimmy Carter also made his contribution in 2006, with a book he wrote entitled Palestine: Peace Not Apartheid.

It got steadily worse over the years. And then October 7 and its aftermath made the situation crystal clear to anyone paying attention. At this point, not only do the vast majority of third-world countries want Israel and Israelis (and perhaps non-Israeli Jews as well) destroyed, but the leaders of many Western countries are looking the other way or blaming Israel for attacking Gaza in response to 10/7. For the most part, with a few exceptions (Germany being a major one), many European countries are reluctant to take a stand on the ICJ case, wary of trouble from their own sizable Moslem populations.

Here’s an article from Brendan O’Neill in Spiked describing the situation; I’ve bolded a point he makes that I think is highly insightful:

… [T]he West’s woke left laps it up. They’re glued to the ICJ proceedings. They appear to derive a perverse relish from seeing the Jewish State in the dock. They ask not one critical question about the moral credentials of Israel’s accusers, for to do so would muddy the moralistic waters they swim in; it would add irritating complexity to the infantile narrative they have fashioned in which Israel is evil incarnate, and thus anyone who opposes Israel is good. …

These Western activists are as hypocritical as the nation states pointing a blood-stained finger at Israel. In Britain, radical members of Labour are giddily cheering the showtrial at The Hague. …

And I accuse the Western left of being the running dogs of all this global Israelophobia. Of forfeiting their right to be treated as serious moral actors by aligning with the demagogues, Islamists and outright racists who have dragged the world’s only Jewish nation to court on the most trumped-up charge imaginable. Of flagrantly abandoning their supposed commitment to anti-racism by whitewashing Hamas’s orgy of racist violence that gave rise to the current war. And of emboldening the fascists of Hamas by promoting the libel that says Israel is a genocidal state. After all, if Israel is guilty of the worst crime known to man, why should Hamas not attack it again, and again, and again, until the Nazi-like threat it poses to the Palestinian people has been eradicated? I accuse you of giving moral succour to fascists.

And it’s been going on for many many decades.

There’s also this, which lists the overt supporters of South Africa’s case. They’re the gang you’d expect:

The Organization of Islamic Cooperation was one of the first blocs to publicly back the case when South Africa filed it late last month. It said there was “mass genocide being perpetrated by the Israeli defense forces” and accused Israel of “indiscriminate targeting” of Gaza’s civilian population.

The OIC is a bloc of 57 countries that includes Iran, Iraq, Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Egypt. Its headquarters are in Saudi Arabia. The Cairo-based Arab League, whose 22 member countries are almost all part of the OIC, also backed South Africa’s case.

South Africa drew some support from outside the Arab world. Namibia and Pakistan agreed with the case at a U.N. General Assembly session this week. Malaysia also expressed support.

A much smaller group overtly supports Israel: the US, UK, Hungary, Germany, Austria, Guatemala, and the Czech Republic. The NGOs and many other groups, however, are on Hamas’ side:

The [South African] lawsuit has also been supported by hundreds of activist groups, NGOs, political parties, unions, and other organizations, with (as of mid-January 2024) over 1400 showing support in the form of a letter organized by the newly-formed International Coalition to Stop Genocide in Palestine. Some of that letter’s signatories, and other supportive organizations, include [I’ve highlighted a few organizations of particular familiarity or interest]:

Al-Haq
Al-Mezan Center for Human Rights
Amnesty International
Boycott from Within
CodePink [otherwise known as Women for the Violent Rape of Israelis]
De-Colonizer
Democratic Socialists of America
Human Rights Watch
International Jewish Anti-Zionist Network
International People’s Assembly
Israeli Committee Against House Demolitions
Israelis Against Apartheid
Jewish Voice for Peace [one of the most rabidly Israel-hating groups of all; membership is far-far-leftist Jews but also non-Jews]
La Via Campesina
National Lawyers Guild
Nelson Mandela Foundation [Mandela was actually a big supporter of Palestine and Arafat: see this]
New Zealand Labour Party
Palestinian Centre for Human Rights
Palestinian General Federation of Trade Unions
Palestinian NGO Network
Progressive International
RootsAction
People’s Forum
Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom [women again]
World Beyond War
World March of Women [more women]

Of course, nothing the ICJ does has any teeth, and Israel will do what it feels it must do despite the verdict, which is virtually guaranteed to go against it. But the relative isolation of Israel among the nations of the world, and the NGO non-virtue signalers, is an indication of how morally bankrupt most of the world has become.

It’s Martin Luther King Jr. Day

The New Neo Posted on by

What a complex man! Inspirational, courageous, transformative, flawed in his private life. People continue to argue about what he stood for in terms of the relationship between black people and white people, and what he’d be saying about it all if he were alive today at 95. I don’t know the answer, so I’ll just post a famous speech of his:

What’s up with the smiley-voice?

The New Neo Posted on by

We’ve all seen the smiley face. But you probably have also heard the disembodied smiley voice. Why are these ladies – and it always seems to be women, or at least female-sounding AI – so very very happy-happy?

I hear the smiley-voice in recorded announcements all over the place in stores. We’re offering this or that deal!!!!! We’re about to close in 15 minutes, so take your groceries to the checkout aisle!!! These voices have a built-in lilt that makes the speaker sound exceptionally amused in an extremely phony way.

Do you hear them, too? Do they drive you nuts, too?

NOTE: I can’t find examples on YouTube. If you can find one, please post a link in the comments.

Germany to come in on Israel’s side at the ICJ

The New Neo Posted on by

Germany announced yesterday:

Germany is planning to intervene in the ongoing genocide case against Israel at the UN’s top court, a government spokesman said on Friday.

“German government firmly and explicitly rejects the accusation of genocide that has now been made against Israel before the International Court of Justice. This accusation has no basis whatsoever,” spokesman Steffen Hebestreit said in a statement.

He stressed that Germany bears special responsibility for Israel due to the Nazi genocide of Jews during World War II, and said the government will continue to support Israel to defend itself against Hamas.

This Politico article (which seems to have an anti-Israel slant) reports on the following exchange:

Caroline Gennez asked German officials a rhetorical question in an interview with a Belgian weekly: “Do you really want to be on the wrong side of history twice? Will we continue to stand by while ethnic cleansing takes place? Surely that was ‘never again’?”

Germany, which has offered Israel unyielding support since the October 7 Hamas attack, has stood in stark contrast to public statements in recent months from officials from Ireland, Spain and Belgium.

I’m not sure how the German officials responded, but I’d suggest the following response to people like Gennez: “Why do you want to be on the wrong side of history this time, defending savage genocidal Jew-hating murderers like Hamas, and blaming Israel for defending itself?”

As for Caroline Gennez herself, she’s pretty much what you’d expect:

Caroline Gennez … is a Belgian socialist politician who has been serving as the Minister of Development Cooperation and Urban Policy in the De Croo Government since December 2022. She is a former chairwoman of the Socialist Party … in Flanders. …

[In 2003] she called for a boycott of the Israeli song in the Eurovision song festival contest.

Many countries of Europe are right up there – or down there – with Belgium. But I must say that Belgium is in the forefront.

But at least some countries besides Germany, in Europe and elsewhere, are on Israel’s side, although I don’t think they’re planning to do as Germany has announced it will do: to intervene in the ICJ proceeding on Israel’s behalf. But support is support, and I’m surprised that Trudeau voiced any support for Israel at all. My guess is his motive was fear of political disapproval from the Canadian people if he didn’t at least offer some sort of verbal support:

Germany’s statement is very strong:

The German government sharply rejected on Friday allegations before the UN’s top court that Israel is committing “genocide” in Gaza and warned against “political instrumentalization” of the charge …

As a signatory of the 1948 Genocide Convention, [Germany] has the right to join cases and put forward its arguments on the case. …

[German spokesman] Hebestreit acknowledged diverging views in the international community on Israel’s military operation against Hamas in Gaza.

“However the German government decisively and expressly rejects the accusation of genocide brought against Israel before the International Court of Justice,” he said.

“The accusation has no basis in fact,” he said.

Netanyahu told German Chancellor Scholz, “Your stance and Germany’s stance on the side of the truth moves all the citizens of Israel.” Scholz was the very first Western leader to visit Israel in support after 10/7.

It’s been almost eighty years since the end of WWII, but this is indeed moving – in both senses of the word.

Excess deaths and COVID vaccines: interpretation of medical data

The New Neo Posted on by

I’m really tired of feeling the need to write this sort of thing, having dealt with it over and over again over the last few years. It is my observation that many people have no idea how to interpret medical data – and some of them are even doctors and science reporters. I’m not an expert either, but I learned long ago how to read data of that sort, and I think I’m generally not bad at it.

As for me, I don’t have a dog in the vaccine versus anti-vaccine race. I’m certainly not eager to believe that tons of vaccinated people are dropping like flies from the aftereffects of the vaccine, but if the data is there the data is there and I would acknowledge it. But I’ve read literally hundreds of studies that someone or other says proves it, and I have yet to find one study that actually indicates it strongly, much less proves it.

I’ve written many posts about this in the past, and it would take me a long time to gather them. This post is going to take me long enough without doing that, but here’s one, for example.

So now we have this:

First six months of 2023, 26,000 excess deaths particularly in young and middle aged males. And the main cause of it? Heart conditions: 47% inexplicable heart conditions. 50-64 age group just in the 13 month period after Covid, 44% higher. …

But even the bold Katie’s challenge to the MSM did not mention that all too obvious elephant in the room of explanation – vaccine injury.

The Lancent piece is here. The blog post is entitled “How will they explain away these latest excess death figures?” I’ll oblige with ideas that immediately came to mind before I even read the Lancet study: isolation and depression and lack of exercise and healthful eating due to lockdowns and other stresses; fewer doctors and much longer waits for health care, including people being unable to find doctors (it’s extremely difficult where I live, for example); lack of mental health care; and COVID infection itself, which is known to more commonly cause more heart problems than the small and generally mild and transient problems sometimes caused in young men by COVID shots.

And then when I found the Lancet article and looked at it, I saw that the researchers had indeed covered a lot of that – so I’m not sure why the author of the blog post would wonder what they would say to “explain away” the figures (or just perhaps explain them?). If you read the study report, you’ll see what they actually said:

The causes of these excess deaths are likely to be multiple and could include the direct effects of Covid-19 infection, 1 acute pressure son NHS acute services resulting in poorer outcomes from episodes of acute illness,4 and disruption to chronic disease detection and management.5 Further analysis by cause and by age-and-sex-group may help quantify the relative contributions of these causes.

The article goes on to say the following:

…[T]here were 22% more deaths in private homes than expected compared with 10% more in hospitals, but there was no excess in deaths in care homes and 12% fewer deaths than expected in hospices. For deaths involving cardiovascular diseases the relative excess in private homes was higher than all causes at 27%. Deaths in hospital were 8% higher and deaths in care homes only 3% higher.

That doesn’t seem to track with vaccines being the cause, because the vaccination rates in care homes and hospices would be very likely to be higher than the vaccination rates in the well population.

The Lancet article is a short one and tells us little else about causes. My belief is that fallout from the lockdown – including greater difficulty in getting health care and/or reluctance to get it – is much to blame, in addition to depression and stress and perhaps the after-effects of COVID infection itself.

Excess death numbers are only one aspect of the anti-vaccine data that I’ve discussed at length. Another is cardiomyopathy and another is the VAERS data (see this, for example). As I said, I detest writing about this at this point, but every now and then I revisit it. I think people’s minds are made up, though.

I also haven’t bought a lot of what the government did regarding COVID and I consider the lockdowns to have been a terrible mistake. If you look at my early writings on COVID, you’ll see that I have been quite consistent about that.

NOTE: On cardiomyopathy and COVID vaccines, I had an exchange in the comments today in which I presented a great deal of data. Please see this for what I wrote, which basically amounts to an entire post on the subject.