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November 2021

China’s ‘Morally Bankrupt’ Olympics by Gordon G. Chang

https://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/17954/china-olympics

The disappearance of tennis star Peng Shuai this month has led many around the world to question the holding of the 2022 Winter Olympics in Beijing. The Games are scheduled to begin February 4.

It is now time for the world to face the reality of the Communist Party of China and the horrific system it has constructed. There is only one correct choice: Move the Games.

[T]he regime will make Peng publicly retract accusations or destroy her. The individual means nothing in China’s current system. Too many times state television has aired ghastly confessions of obviously worn-down individuals.

There are many reasons to boycott or move the Olympics from Beijing…. Of course, no ruling group that organizes rape, slavery, mass detention, torture, killings, and organ harvesting should be permitted, among other things, to host international sporting events.

The International Olympic Committee maintains these atrocities are none of its business. Yet the protection of athletes is. Peng’s detention tells us athletes will not be safe in China. The Games, after all, are first and foremost about the competitors, and their personal safety must be the primary concern.

Even at this late date, it is time to boycott or move the Games from China.

The disappearance of tennis star Peng Shuai this month has led many around the world to question the holding of the 2022 Winter Olympics in Beijing. The Games are scheduled to begin February 4.

Now, only the morally bankrupt could think it is a good idea to allow the hostage-taking, rapist-protecting, genocide-committing Chinese regime to host this competition.

It is now time for the world to face the reality of the Communist Party of China and the horrific system it has constructed. There is only one correct choice: Move the Games.

For decades, people overlooked the great crimes of Chinese communism because they had hope that it would, over time, evolve and become benign. When “reformer” Deng Xiaoping shoved aside Hua Guofeng, Mao Zedong’s chosen successor, and engineered at the end of 1978 the historic Third Plenum, outsiders thought they were seeing a new—and far superior—”New China.”

In fact, as the Communist Party embarked on gaige kaifang—the policy of “reform and opening up”—the regime both moderated its foreign policy and relaxed or eliminated totalitarian social controls. Then, optimism ruled.

But not now. The current ruler has reversed trends that many outsiders—as well as the Chinese people themselves—welcomed. The ruling group, never benevolent, has become even more monstrous under Xi Jinping.

Enter Ms. Peng, sporting hero and darling of the Chinese public. On November 2, she posted on Weibo, often called China’s Twitter, an accusation that Zhang Gaoli, aided by his wife, pressured her into providing sex.

The charge was unprecedented in the history of the People’s Republic of China. Zhang was once a senior leader, a vice premier who also served from 2012 to 2017 on the Communist Party’s Politburo Standing Committee, the highest ruling body in the country.

Wounds With a Russian Knife in Them by Amir Taheri

https://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/17955/wounds-russia-knife

The “interim solution” imposed by Russia denies Azerbaijan control of the enclave while preventing its ethnic Armenian population to develop working state structures. In other words, the wound remains open with a Russian knife in it that could be turned anytime Moscow wished.

Is the “situation” as developed in Transcaucasia a model of Russian behavior in the international arena?

Several examples could be cited in support of a “yes” answer.

By keeping all those nations in a state of crisis with their neighbors, Putin achieves one of his two geostrategic goals: preventing NATO expansion to Eastern Europe, Transcaucasia and Central Asia. Because no country in conflict with its neighbors would be allowed to join the US-led coalition, it is important for Russia to keep all those wounds open with his knife in them.

With the US behaving strangely for the past five years or so and the EU crippled by Brexit, the Western democracies have not been able to develop a coherent analysis of the Russian challenge let alone shape a policy to deal with it. Sending a small number of American or British troops to the Baltic republics and Poland may provide some beguiling TV news footage while huffing and puffing about sanctions could be seen as a sign of confusion rather than a strategy to stand against a de-stabilizing power.

One school of thoughts in Western policy-making circles is to let Putin choke on the morsels such as Syria, Libya, Iran, Donetsk, Transcaucasia and Belarus that he has bitten but cannot chew let alone digest. That may sound clever in pseudo-Machiavellian terms but could be disastrous in terms of big power politics.

It was supposed to be a five-year “breathing space” in which two belligerent neighbors would resolve their disputes and shape a durable peace with help from their big altruistic neighbor.

And yet, just months after the “good news” was spread by all concerned, Armenia and Azerbaijan have reignited their border war in Transcaucasia with Russian troops keeping a low profile.

GOOD NEWS FROM AMAZING ISRAEL FROM MICHAEL ORDMAN

Hot topics in recent positive Israeli news include the Israeli-led discovery of hot spots in cancer cells that can be exploited to destroy tumors, plus dozens of other hot medical innovations and breakthroughs. International news includes more examples of warming relations between Israel and the Arab world. Israeli tech hot topics include Intel’s (Israeli-developed) fastest microprocessor, several solar power energy projects and innovations, and four of the world’s best inventions of 2021. Record investments are fueling Israeli startups; two “fired-up” Israeli women won gold medals in judo and there are many heart-warming stories to celebrate life in the Jewish State.   Michael Ordman

www.verygoodnewsisrael.blogspot.com 

ISRAEL’S MEDICAL ACHIEVEMENTS
 
Targeting cancer hotspots. A team of researchers, led by Israel’s Weizmann Institute, used algorithms to find neoantigens – “hot spots” on tumors – that provide access to current immunotherapies for multiple cancer patients. The scientists then engineered T cells from healthy individuals to completely destroy the tumors.
https://www.jpost.com/health-and-wellness/new-israeli-cancer-study-leads-to-possible-breakthrough-in-immunotherapy-682152   https://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/315059
https://www.jci.org/articles/view/129466   https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dLbQwKHpLF0
 
App lowers blood pressure. A 3-year study of the digital health app from Israel’s Hello Heart (see here previously) shows that over 84% of participants with stage II hypertension achieved a reduction in their systolic blood pressure. It was the largest multi-year efficacy study of a digital therapeutic to control hypertension.
https://www.calcalistech.com/ctech/articles/0,7340,L-3920395,00.html
https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jamanetworkopen/fullarticle/2785012
 
11 more projects for precision medical research. 11 new projects have been granted a total of NIS 32 million in the 4th annual round of the Israel Precision Medicine Partnership (see here previously). They include AI for cancer and Crohn’s, discovery of new disease genes, and treatments for rare disorders.
https://www.timesofisrael.com/11-israeli-projects-get-millions-in-funding-for-personalized-medicine-research/  
 
New AI innovation lab for personalized treatment. Pfizer, AstraZeneca, Merck and Teva have opened AION Labs – a new Israeli innovation lab for startups to develop cutting-edge AI-based technologies for personalized treatments. Startups will use computational biology to discover and develop patient-centric precision medicines.
https://www.timesofisrael.com/new-innovation-lab-brings-together-pharma-biotech-giants-for-ai-therapeutics/
https://www.jpost.com/health-and-wellness/pfizer-astrazeneca-help-launch-computational-science-lab-in-israel-682248
 
Testing new treatments for safety. Israel’s Quris has launched a “patient on a chip” – the world’s first AI platform for predicting which candidate medicines will work safely in humans. Quris’s leadership team includes Israel’s Nobel Laureate Aaron Ciechanover and Dr. Robert S. Langer, co-founder of Moderna.
https://jewishbusinessnews.com/2021/10/18/quris-ai-to-predict-which-drugs-will-safely-work-in-humans/
https://www.quris.ai/
 
Roche partners Ibex for AI cancer detection. Roche has entered an agreement with Israel’s Ibex Medical Analytics to jointly develop an embedded image analysis workflow. It will allow pathologists to check biopsies using Roche’s NAVIFY & uPath software while seamlessly accessing Ibex’s AI algorithms, insights, and tools.
https://www.timesofisrael.com/israeli-startup-ibex-medical-aims-to-transform-cancer-diagnostics-with-ai-tech/
https://www.calcalistech.com/ctech/articles/0,7340,L-3920455,00.html
 
Hospital counters obesity with computer game. Israel’s Sheba Medical Center has launched a smartphone gaming-based program to help overweight children adopt a healthier lifestyle. They are using the Rumble app from Israel’s UVTAL (see here previously), and a smartwatch to monitor sleep, heart rate and physical activity.
https://www.jns.org/sheba-medical-center-initiates-gaming-program-to-combat-child-obesity/
 
A faster Aliyah for medical professionals. A new Israeli government program will speed and support the Aliyah process for Jewish health professionals. It will benefit some 3,000 Jews, mainly from the former Soviet Union, the US, Canada, France and Argentina and overcome the shortage evident during the Covid pandemic.
https://www.timesofisrael.com/israel-seeks-to-ease-immigration-for-doctors-nurses-due-to-manpower-shortage/
https://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/315208
 
Surgeons rebuild soldier’s shattered face. Two weeks after an IDF captain was shot in the head, surgeons at Rambam Hospital used 3D technology to rebuild his face. A bullet hit the officer near his brain, eyes, and tongue, shattering his jaw. But with the exception of some scarring, it will soon be completely restored.
https://www.timesofisrael.com/after-idf-soldier-takes-bullet-to-face-doctors-rebuild-his-jaw-in-high-tech-op/
 
Magician saves choking baby. United Hatzalah’s Aharon HaKosem, “the magician” works performing magic shows in Hod Hasharon. In his unpaid work as a volunteer EMT, he was called to save a choking baby. After back blows and chest compressions, “abracadabra” – the infant spat out a small object and re-started breathing.   
https://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/315217
 

China and COVID: Dancing with the Devil Daryl McCann

https://quadrant.org.au/magazine/2021/11/china-and-covid-dancing-with-the-devil/

“Markson’s brilliant investigation leaves us confident enough that Beijing did not deliberately release SARS-CoV-2 upon the world. Once the virus was out there, though, and once the regime had regained its nerve, Beijing did everything in its power to turn an international crisis of their making into a victory. That is the phenomenon we are dealing with here. One of the more admirable figures to emerge in What Really Happened in Wuhan is Trump’s Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, along with several key White House advisers including Peter Navarro. Though all very different in their expertise and character, common to them all is the understanding that engaging in any kind of relationship with the CCP really is akin to dancing with the devil.”

The potential readership for Sharri Markson’s new book increased in June after American television celebrity Jon Stewart shared his views with a left-of-centre audience on the origins of COVID-19: “Novel respiratory coronavirus overtaking Wuhan, China. What do we do? Oh, you know who could we ask? The Wuhan Respiratory Coronavirus Lab. The disease is the same name as the lab. That’s just a little too weird, don’t you think?” Not too weird, according to Newsweek magazine, for the viewers who pushed back on social media with ripostes such as: “Honestly can’t tell if Jon Stewart was joking or had a senior moment on Colbert”; “Jon Stewart is flying real close to QAnon territory. Expecting him to go anti-vax any moment now”; and, of course, “like wow, way to throw more gas on the fire of anti-Asian hate”. Stewart’s detractors, though unlikely to be aware of it, were essentially conveying the official line of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). Why? Beyond everything else, Markson’s book makes a good start at answering that question as well.

In the first instance, though, What Really Happened in Wuhan establishes the high plausibility of the so-called “lab-leak” theory. It is more than a tinfoil-hat conspiracy dreamed up by the Trump administration, white supremacists, xenophobes, the Murdoch press, anti-Chinese bigots, Cold Warriors and so on—or what Hillary Clinton, in another context, would refer to as a “vast right-wing conspiracy”. One of the many intellectual tragedies of the Cold War was the tendency to conflate anti-communism (or anti-totalitarianism) with a
reactionary worldview. A resultant problem was the inability or refusal of self-styled sophisticated observers from the West to grasp the essential despotism of Soviet society, which existed even in what we might now call Late Communism. Revisionist historians, for instance, went out of their way to amplify the non-tyrannical aspects of everyday life in the Soviet empire to argue a broader point: the internal social and political dynamics of a Western society, though obviously different from a communist one, were of a piece.

New Book Reveals The Organization That Really Controls The Black Lives Matter Movement

https://dailycaller.com/2021/11/16/new-book-reveals-organization-controls-black-lives-matter/

Editor’s note: What follows is an excerpt from Charles Love’s “Race Crazy: BLM, 1619, And The Progressive Racism Movement.” 

If Black Lives Matter is the chaos arm of the movement, the Movement for Black Lives is the operating system. How a group so connected, so influential, and so well-funded can operate with no exposure in the age of social media is both a testament to its power and a sad statement of how far the media has fallen.

It would be so much simpler to have one or two organizations with chapters throughout the country. It would result in easier fundraising and better messaging. But the Black Lives Matter movement is a complicated web of connected groups.It is basically a race-based Ponzi scheme.

The most interesting thing about Black Lives Matter is not their IRS status; it is the fact that there is no longer a
Black Lives Matter organization. They maintain a page and the means to accept donations, and that is really all that remains of the original organization. Black Lives Matter is largely controlled by the Movement for Black Lives and Black Lives Matter Global Foundation.

For several months, the country has been beset by protests and riots. It is obvious that they are organized, but many believe they are being funded by the Black Lives Matter movement or others with political interests. There is no doubt that funds are being used to fuel the protests, agitate against the police, and support rioting and looting. That people dealing with the uncertainty of employment during the COVID-19 crisis would use their limited savings to travel around the country to protest, risk arrest, and meet the subsequent cash bail, merely in order to throw a rock at a police officer, is as likely as a spontaneous uprising in Benghazi.

The question is: Who is funding these protests, particularly the clashes with police? After being attacked by the Republican National Convention protestors, Kentucky Senator Rand Paul called for an investigation to trace the corporations funding the protests and riots. I agree with the sentiment, but I believe it will be nearly impossible to trace. There are so many organizations within the movement, most of which have no financial declarations or lists of their members.

And even if Black Lives Matter activists are funding the riots, there is a good chance that no one at the donor level
knows. The BLM movement has a decentralized, bottom-up structure. As I have pointed out, the movement is really a collection of many groups with a common enemy. If you are fighting racism, capitalism, immigration, or any gender issue, you are welcome. Similarly, there is no true leader. Each group operates independently of each other, and each group is made up of leaderless individuals.

The Right Outcome for Rittenhouse, But…  It’s possible that the fates will smile kindly on Kyle Rittenhouse. More likely, however, he will be rendered radioactive, a pariah. By Roger Kimball

https://amgreatness.com/2021/11/20/the-right-outcome-for-rittenhouse-but/

I do not have much to add to the cataract of commentary about Friday’s Kyle Rittenhouse verdict. Like all sane people, I applaud the young man’s acquittal on all charges. 

There seem to be essentially three sorts of responses to the decision. One is “Hallelujah, justice was done, let us chalk up the victory, and move on. The System™ works.” 

A second response, about which I’ll say a bit more below, is the standard-issue, angry woke identity politics response. According to this narrative, Rittenhouse is a “white supremacist” who acted as a vigilante when Kenosha, Wisconsin exploded in violence in August 2020, following the police shooting of Jacob Blake, a black man. According to this script, Rittenhouse wantonly murdered two people in cold blood—Joseph Rosenbaum, 36, and Anthony Huber, 26—and grievously injured a third, Gaige Grosskreutz, 27. This charge was the specialité de la maison of the so-called mainstream media and the Democratic establishment up to and including Joe Biden. 

In the aftermath of the verdict, the meme was supercharged by all the usual suspects. Rep. Jerry “the Waddler” Nadler (D-N.Y.), chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, was among the first to suggest the U.S. Justice Department bring federal charges against Rittenhouse since the state charges didn’t stick. I’m sure the ghoulish Merrick “the Moderate” Garland is considering it if only he can peel off enough agents from harassing parents attending school board meetings for the task. 

For his part, Biden, though acknowledging his disappointment that the 18-year old wasn’t going to be thrown in prison for the rest of his life, did at first say that the trial vindicated the judicial process and that “the jury system works.” Aides soon began walking that back, however, perhaps in preparation for the Nadler gambit of trying the boy twice. 

No More Summits for Biden The man is too weak and confused for public meetings with our adversaries. By Fred Fleitz

https://amgreatness.com/2021/11/20/no-more-summits-for-joe-biden/

Joe Biden on Monday finally got the summit he had long sought with Chinese President Xi Jinping. Biden officials and many in the mainstream media credited the three-and-a-half-hour virtual summit with reducing tensions between the two nations by promoting dialogue and diplomacy. 

But in fact, Biden should not have skipped his bedtime. The optics of him again appearing as an extremely weak and indecisive president, contrasted with the strong leader of a U.S. adversary, were so bad that White House officials should avoid any more bilateral meetings like this in the future.

It was clear that Xi came to the summit prepared to intimidate Biden and dominate the discussion. He bullied Biden with accusations against U.S. and Taiwanese officials for stirring up tensions with China over Taiwanese independence. Biden said very little in reply.

For his part, Biden took a much softer approach. He emphasized easing tensions and constructing “guardrails” in U.S.-China “competition,” urging China to act responsibly and sought more cooperation and diplomacy. 

Biden read a laundry list of U.S. grievances prepared by the State Department concerning human rights, arms control, Taiwan, regional security, and other issues. But he showed no urgency about any of them or expressed any serious U.S. policy to address them. 

Biden again failed to demand Chinese cooperation in investigating the origins of the coronavirus in a Chinese biolab, which thus far has killed more than 767,000 Americans. 

Although Biden said the United States “strongly opposes unilateral efforts to change the status quo or undermine peace and stability,” he endorsed the U.S. “One China” policy. He also didn’t complain about China’s recent provocations against Taiwan, flying large numbers of fighter planes and bombers into its Air Defense Identification Zone, practicing invasion tactics, and erecting mock-ups of U.S. aircraft carriers for Chinese air force pilots to practice attacking American warships.

Sex Offenders in Colorado Will No Longer Be Called ‘Sex Offenders’ Rick Moran

https://pjmedia.com/news-and-politics/rick-moran/2021/11/20/sex-offenders-in-colorado-will-no-longer-be-called-sex-offenders-n1534915

The Colorado Sex Offender Management Board (SOMB) has determined that referring to people who commit sexual crimes as “sex offenders” isn’t “person-first” language.

Instead, rapists, flashers, peeping toms, and other perverts will be called an “Adult who commits sexual offenses.” According to Denver Post writer Alex Burness, “Those who supported this change feel the ‘sex offender’ label is not nuanced enough and can impede rehabilitation.”

Leaving aside the documented fact that most sex offenders will re-offend and rehabilitation is a waste of time, what could these people be thinking?

“This language in the committees I’ve been on seems to be the most supported of these options. … It highlights the active reason why someone is in treatment, and it doesn’t assume the behavior is over,” SOMB member Carl Blake said.

“Victims advocates, therapists, law enforcement that I’ve spoken with, along with all of the DAs I represent, are not in favor of replacing this term,” SOMB member Jessica Dotter said.

The changes are not final. There will be a 20-day comment period for the public to weigh in before the board meets again in December.

Apparently, sex offenders are offended about being referred to as an offender.

CBS4:

Derek Logue says he shouldn’t have to carry the label for life, “Referring to me by a label for something I did half my life ago is inappropriate and downright offensive.”

He argued “client” would be a better term.

Public Defender Kathy Heffron agreed, “It takes into consideration the uniqueness of individuals who are receiving treatment.”

How about changing it to “inhuman monster”? Would that do?

It’s funny watching a Kennedy struggle with the Rittenhouse case By Andrea Widburg

https://www.americanthinker.com/blog/2021/11/its_funny_watching_a_kennedy_struggle_with_the_rittenhouse_case.html

I’ve never been a fan of the Kennedy mystique. When I think of John F. Kennedy, aside from the fact that I enjoy reminding Democrats that he would be a Republican now, I think of compulsive womanizing, massive drug cocktails, and the disastrous Bay of Pigs fiasco. My thoughts about Teddy Kennedy are even worse. With him, it’s a fake neck brace and Mary Jo Kopechne slowly suffocating in a car lodged in shallow water. I also think of his waitress sandwiches.

With those images in mind, I had to laugh (along with a lot of other people) when Maria Shriver, Teddy’s niece, announced on Twitter that she had no idea how to explain to her son how someone could commit a crime and not get “charged” for anything.

There’s a lot to unpack in the following tweet:

First, the tweet manages to imply that Shriver is trying to explain this mystery of life to a little boy, someone who is slowly learning his way around the world and struggling to form his own opinions. Maybe he’s ten or thirteen.

Nope. Her older son is 28 and her younger one is 24. Talk about infantilizing one of those boys…er, young men.

Second, Shriver has spent decades as a journalist and was First Lady of California during ex-husband Arnold Schwarzenegger’s term as a RINO governor in California’s statehouse. With that in mind, her statement that she’s shocked that Kyle Rittenhouse (who is much younger than both her sons) “didn’t get charged for anything” makes her sound like a moron.

What really happened back in September 2020 is that the Kenosha District Attorney charged Kyle with lightning speed. That’s why he was in court for three weeks, watching the allegations against him crumble.

‘Build Back Better’ Is Climate-Change Socialism, Not The Smaller Government We Need Lewis K. Uhler and Joseph Yocca

https://issuesinsights.com/2021/11/19/build-back-better-is-climate-change-socialism-not-the-smaller-right-sized-government-we-need/

Just 10 months into his administration, Joe Biden is seemingly a man on a destructive mission:  everything he touches augers spectacularly into the political dirt and his approval rating reflects the country’s dismay.

Last week, consumer prices jumped the highest in 31 years owing to non-stop stimulus checks, big government spending and energy sector “climate change” subsidies to electrical vehicle (EV) promoters and manufacturers. 

Everything from food prices to used cars increased faster than paychecks. If a working person didn’t receive a 6.2% pay raise this year, he/she is losing money, plain and simple.  There hasn’t been a measurement this dramatic in decades.

Inflation is not an act of God.  It’s completely manmade largely through government policy.  Nobel Laureate Milton Friedman famously pointed out that inflation is always and everywhere a monetary problem.  Between March 2020 and September 2021 the amount of money in circulation has increased a staggering 336%.  That year-over-year average price increases for consumables is 6% is not a reflection of the full measure of the problem, which is much worse. 

In poll after poll, Americans are recording their complete dissatisfaction with Biden’s job performance, the latest coming last weekend in an NBC Survey that had Chuck Todd almost in tears:  fully 71% feel our nation is on the wrong path, with only 22% saying things are going well.  And that tracks with many other polls pushing this administration underwater except a slight bump for “climate change”.