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Author: New Neo

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New Neo

Neo is a writer with degrees in law and family therapy, who blogs at the new neo.

Posted by New Neo on January 13, 2018 32 Comments
The latest furor is over certain remarks that Trump is alleged to have uttered during a meeting about immigration with Dick Durbin, Lindsay Graham, and "other government officials." His alleged remarks (some of which he has disputed) were criticized variously for both form and content: that the words were vulgar, and that they were bigoted. The most salient thing on which accounts seem to agree is that Trump referred to some countries—perhaps in Africa, perhaps also Haiti—as "shitholes" or "shithole countries." Let's go with that, anyway, as a good possibility.

Posted by New Neo on December 16, 2017 21 Comments
The recently-released Strzok/Page text messages reveal a pro-Clinton and anti-Trump bias on the part of Strzok and Page that got them removed from their respective positions. The texts made it difficult for them to be seen as part of an objective investigation of the very people for whom they had such strong feelings. And yet the public's trust in the integrity of such investigators rests on the idea that they can, and will, put aside such feelings entirely because most investigators are going to have political opinions and biases.

Posted by New Neo on December 03, 2017 101 Comments
In the wake of the recent spate of sexual offense allegations, particularly against politicians such as Roy Moore, "credible" and "credibly" have become the latest buzzwords. Take this Politico piece, for example, written by a former Bush speechwriter named Matt Latimer [emphasis mine]:
In the wake of the Roy Moore fiasco, a number of “hot takes” have made their rounds in the media. How obviously hypocritical it is, for example, for evangelical leaders to stand behind a man credibly accused of sexually assaulting a minor...

Posted by New Neo on November 08, 2017 29 Comments
I wasn't very concerned about yesterday's Virginia gubernatorial election results, because I figured that Northam (D) would win and it probably had more to do with Gillespie (R) being a poor candidate than anything else, plus I consider Virginia a purple state becoming ever more blue. But the results in the state legislative races---and the fact that, as of this sitting, the Virginia House may be poised to be controlled by Democrats for the first time in many years---is particularly unsettling. The magnitude of that victory was unexpected and represents a big change; prior to this election the GOP held an approximately 2-1 majority there.

Posted by New Neo on November 07, 2017 56 Comments
So far it's been difficult to get information on the question of whether the parishioners in the Texas church where yesterday's mass murder took place were prohibited from carrying guns. Here are the pertinent rules in Texas:

Posted by New Neo on October 23, 2017 43 Comments
Actress Mayim Bialik of "The Big Bang Theory" waded into the Harvey Weinstein scandal by stating that she conducts herself in a manner that is neither immodest nor flirtatious.  Bialik has since felt the wrath of social media for expressing her position on female modesty she notes is rooted in her Jewish heritage and faith. As a result of the backlash to her statements, Bialik has apologized for her statements.
In [a NY Times] op-ed Friday, written [by Bialik] in response to allegations of sexual assault against Hollywood mogul Harvey Weinstein, the observant Jewish actress said she has long made decisions that she considers “self-protecting and wise.” “I have decided that my sexual self is best reserved for private situations with those I am most intimate with,” Bialik wrote. “I dress modestly. I don’t act flirtatiously with men as a policy.”

Posted by New Neo on October 06, 2017 64 Comments
We still know very little about Las Vegas mass murderer Stephen Paddock, and that's probably the way he wanted it to be. So it seems apropos that the photo of him most widely circulated after the killings shows him with his eyes closed. So far, it seems he left no obvious note or manifesto to explain himself, either, unlike so many other mass murderers with political or ideological motivations. Neither family members nor his girlfriend say they can shed any light whatsoever on what might have caused him to murder 59 people and injure over 500 others.

Posted by New Neo on September 08, 2017 11 Comments
Steven Hayward of Powerline calls our attention to an interview given by New York's Mayor Bill de Blasio. It's quite revealing---not just about de Blasio, but about the leftist mindset concerning the role of government, our legal system, and what people themselves want [emphasis mine]:
Q: In 2013, you ran on reducing income inequality. Where has it been hardest to make progress? Wages, housing, schools?

Posted by New Neo on August 21, 2017 61 Comments
Antifa justifies its violent actions against neo-Nazis protesting peacefully by saying that the speech of Nazis constitutes violence:
Antifa leaders admit they're willing to physically attack anyone who employs violence against them or who condones racism -- as long as force is used in the name of eradicating hatred...

Posted by New Neo on August 06, 2017 27 Comments
The transcript of President Trump's call with Mexico's President Peña Nieto, leaked and then published by the WaPo, contained some remarks about New Hampshire that generated a lot of criticism. The context in which Trump raised the issue was in speaking to the Mexican president about the problem of drugs supplied by Mexico:
“We have a massive drug problem, where kids are becoming addicted to drugs because the drugs are being sold for less money than candy,” Trump said. “I won New Hampshire because New Hampshire is a drug-infested den.”

Posted by New Neo on July 29, 2017 4 Comments
As expected, the news has come of the death of Charlie Gard. This sad and troubling case has drawn worldwide discussion, and questions and concerns have been raised about what might happen in a similar case here. Some analogies have been made to the well-known US case of Terry Schiavo, but there were very important differences in the fact situation there that makes Schiavo a poor analogy. That case involved a battle between the husband and parents of the adult Schiavo over what her expressed wishes about end-of-life care had been. In contrast, Charlie Gard is an infant, and his case pitted his parents' wishes against the opinions of the hospital and doctors.

Posted by New Neo on July 06, 2017 7 Comments
There has been new rioting in Venezuela of an extremely disturbing sort:
A mob stormed Venezuela’s opposition-dominated National Assembly on Wednesday with the apparent acquiescence of government troops and carried out a startling attack on lawmakers and journalists. Bloodied lawmakers were treated for broken ribs and head injuries, and journalists said the attackers had stolen their equipment. The episode in Caracas, which coincided with Venezuela’s Independence Day, was a sharp escalation of lawlessness in a country roiled by a failing economy and daily street demonstrations.

Posted by New Neo on May 22, 2017 19 Comments
Lately it seems as though there's a story a day reporting some new Trump administration scandal based on a leak from an anonymous government "official." We are asked to take the facts in those stories on trust, without a chance to evaluate the veracity or motives of the source of the remarks. This over-reliance on the anonymous source gives both the journalist and his/her informant an overwhelming power. The most famous anonymous source of them all, of course, was Deep Throat of Watergate fame. He was not only a seminal figure in Nixon's denouement (and thus a hero to liberals everywhere), but he was so renowned that he had his own nickname, taken from a popular porn flick. The reporters involved in the story became famous too; Bob Woodward was played by movie star Robert Redford and Carl Bernstein by Dustin Hoffman in the film "All the Presidents Men."

Posted by New Neo on May 08, 2017 10 Comments
Is the American Health Care Act (AHCA) the most dreadful program ever? You would think so, from the coverage of it in the press. You would also think, from the vehemence with which they're carrying on, that the AHCA was a statute that had been passed by both houses, and not a first effort subject to change in the Senate. The headlines on the subject are replete with words like "shameful", "horrific", and "abomination."

Posted by New Neo on April 21, 2017 27 Comments
Amidst all the discussion of the new book Shattered, describing the failed Hillary Clinton campaign, Rolling Stone author Matt Taibbi has written an article emphasizing Hillary's failure to even know why she was running, and the inability of her campaign to convey any reason to the public:
"...a root problem that confounded everyone on the campaign and outside it," they wrote..."[was that] Hillary had been running for president for almost a decade and still didn't really have a rationale." Allen and Parnes here quoted a Clinton aide who jokingly summed up Clinton's real motivation:

Posted by New Neo on April 08, 2017 21 Comments
After the Syrian gas attack, President Trump had a choice: do nothing or do something. It's a choice all presidents face, because sooner or later they will be tested---usually sooner, and not just once but many times and in many ways in many places. When faced with similar circumstances in Syria, Obama declared the existence of a red line and then ignored it. This is one of the worst response/nonresponses possible. It indicates indecision and lack of resolve, a president who talks tough but his threats means nothing and can be safely ignored.

Posted by New Neo on March 28, 2017 16 Comments
Was the end goal of Obamacare to create the expectation of universal health coverage? Charles Krauthammer thinks so:
On Friday's edition of 'Special Report' on Fox News Channel, syndicated columnist Charles Krauthammer made the case that President Obama's strategy for Obamacare was not to create a perfect health care system, but to create the expectation that health care is something the government is responsible for. He said Obama had been successful at "creating the expectation of universal care" and that as a result "the zeitgeist of the country has really changed."...
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