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Ruth King

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Trump’s Latest Move Against the Press: Get to Da Choppa! Julie Kelly

By on October 13th, 2019

https://amgreatness.com/2019/10/12/trumps-latest-move-against-the-press-get-to-da-choppa/

Originally published at New York Post.

Since abandoning the daily press briefing, which had sunk into an embarrassing spectacle where journalists would bully former press secretary Sarah Sanders, the White House now favors “chopper-pressers” where the boss interacts with the media while his helicopter idles nearby.

In his latest battle with the American news media, President Trump is bringing out the heavy artillery: Marine One.

Since abandoning the daily press briefing, which had sunk into an embarrassing spectacle where journalists would bully former press secretary Sarah Sanders, the White House now favors “chopper-pressers” where the boss interacts with the media while his helicopter idles nearby.

Like his use of Twitter, Trump’s impromptu gaggles frustrate the media and enable him to control the message for the day.

There is no camera on the press, only Trump. You usually can’t hear the questions on television, only the answers. It takes away the media’s ability to grandstand. There are no Jim Acosta moments.

It also requires journalists to yell over each other and outshout the deafening blades of the president’s waiting ride, conduct that undoubtedly amuses the commander-in-chief.

Trump has held three chopper-pressers in the past 10 days. Thursday’s briefing lasted 11 minutes — the president fielded a number of questions related to Ukraine, Turkey, Joe Biden and his rally in Minneapolis that evening. In one exchange, Trump forced a reporter to ask about the so-called “whistleblower” three times before he answered:

Reporter: Do you know the whistleblower’s name?
Trump: What?

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FOREIGN POLICY Comments turned off

Trump’s Foreign Policy Deals Properly with Tyrants Roger Kimball

By on October 13th, 2019

https://amgreatness.com/2019/10/12/trumps-foreign-policy-deals-properly-with-tyrants/

Trump’s coddling of the dictatorial mind is not capitulation but a steely eyed gambit to get part—he hopes all, or a lot, but at least some—of what he and what the United States wants.

Over at PJ Media, my friend Roger L. Simon makes some sage observations about the proper conduct of foreign policy among great powers in general and, in particular, about the behavior of President Trump with respect to this important arena of human endeavor. 

Roger’s first point has two parts, a strophe, as it were, and an antistrophe. 

The strophe involves a patent moral dimension. We should not conceal—from others or from ourselves—the moral caliber of the leaders with whom we deal. Besides the United States, the world’s only other colossus is China. Not only does it preside over the second largest economy in the world, it is also eagerly and aggressively arming itself and asserting its prerogatives throughout Asia and, increasingly, throughout the world. 

Moreover, China has a dismal human rights record, a fact that is daily bruited about the Western world by reports of China’s savage treatment of the Uyghurs, for example, their efforts to create a surveillance state by imposing a system of “social credit” on its citizens, and its militant treatment of the protestors in Hong Kong. 

Last week’s flood of stories about the craven behavior of the National Basketball Association, Nike, Apple, and other American business interests that talk woke but act like hypocrites when their bottom line is threatened has simply reinforced what we all knew about those horrible people (I mean those running Apple, Nike, etc.) They wear bluejeans and eschew ties, they talk about love and “saving the environment,” but they instantly kowtow to tyrannical hegemons the moment it will aid their balance sheet. 

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WORLD NEWS Comments turned off

The Brexit Knot By Douglas Murray

By on October 13th, 2019

https://www.nationalreview.com/magazine/2019/10/28/the-brexit-knot/Britain now faces a great political and constitutional crisis

Being a classicist, Boris Johnson would be familiar with the Gordian knot. But for anybody whose schoolroom memories need refreshing, the knot in question was put in place by Gordius, king of Phrygia. Reputedly only a ruler of Asia would be able to untie the knot — making it a slightly less glamorous version of King Arthur’s sword in the stone. In any case, when confronted by the knot, Alexander the Great is said to have spotted the fast way to undo the problem and simply whacked at it with his sword, so proving that he should become the king of Asia.

If ever there was a fearsome knot in modern politics it is the question of Brexit. Not that the knot was as completely tied in 2016, when the British people were given a straightforward choice. The question the public was then asked was whether it wanted to “remain” in or “leave” the European Union. The public voted by a majority (52 percent to 48 percent) to leave, though it has since appeared that for those who set the question this was the wrong answer. Or at least not the answer that the political class expected the public to select. And so the knot tightened and became ever more knotty with each resulting effort to untie it.

The civil service, it turned out, had not been instructed to prepare for the eventuality of a “leave” vote. Then–prime minister David Cameron and his colleagues may simply have expected the “remain” side to win. Or they may have feared that if word had got out that the civil servants were preparing for the possibility of a “leave” vote then that would have bolstered that side of the campaign. Whatever the reason, on June 24, 2016, Whitehall turned out to be unprepared for what was one of only two possible results.

With Cameron having resigned just hours after that vote, the stunned victors plunged into a bout of fratricide. The lead Brexiteer — Boris Johnson — was politically assassinated by his own leadership-campaign chief, the second most prominent Brexiteer — Michael Gove — who then made an unsuccessful bid for the leadership himself. Unsuccessful because, with the victors in disarray, a path through the middle of the Conservative-party membership (who vote in leadership elections) was created for Theresa May. And so the former home secretary who had given a single half-hearted speech in favor of Remain ended up becoming the Conservative-party leader, the prime minister, and the person responsible for making sure that Britain exited the European Union.

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MOVIES AND TELEVISION Comments turned off

Judy – A Review By Marilyn Penn

By on October 13th, 2019

http://politicalmavens.com/index.php/topic/politics/

If you like your biopics of legendary celebrities reducing them to formulaic caricatures, here’s one not to miss. Think of Alec Baldwin’s skillful skewer of our president which gets a laugh in a five minute skit on SNL and then imagine it stretched out to a feature length film with familiar side characters who are mostly evil in ways that are now shopworn tropes. Louis B Mayer, head of MGM, here a huge man towering over a petite Judy Garland, lives up to his reputation as a tyrant who forces the teen-aged girl to diet and keep working till all hours of the night His assistant, a nameless version of Annie’s Miss Hannigan, is brutal in snatching away hamburgers from our hungry heroine and adding to the cruel atmosphere of “the studio.” If reality were added to the film, we would meet Judy’s most formidable enemy – her mother – who began feeding her pills at the age of 10 and who saw all three of her daughters as viable meal tickets for her own unsuccessful marriage and life. Louis B offered the multi-talented young Frances Gumm a new name and an opportunity to find a big life her own – something that Shirley Temple most famously achieved despite a childhood spent in similar circumstances.

Renee Zellweger, an actress who displayed great subtlety in her performance in Jerry Maguire, here chooses to go for pursing her lips and concentrating on the exterior resemblances to the famous singer, including successfully mimicking her singing voice. But the poses take over and leave us with very little compassion for the interior life of a woman addicted to alcohol. drugs and men in ways that guarantee disaster. The theme of Judy’s role as mother, frustrated by financial problems and custody battles with the children’s father, can’t preserve our sympathy as we watch her continuing her spiral of self-destructive behavior despite its overwhelming consequences. What we’re left with is a superficial look at a very talented woman who unfortunately didn’t get sufficient help with serious psychological problems, trading that for the love and devotion of audiences throughout the world.

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NATIONAL NEWS & OPINION Comments turned off

What Is Impeachment For? By Andrew C. McCarthy

By on October 13th, 2019

https://www.nationalreview.com/2019/10/impeachment-process-political-not-legal/

It’s a political process, not a legal one — and the political climate is anything but static.

What is impeachment for? Seems like a simple question. Constitutionally speaking, it also appears to have a simple answer: to cite and remove from power a president guilty of wrongdoing.

Aye, there’s the rub. What sort of wrongdoing warrants removal from power?

I’d wager that the flames of impeachment were stoked more this week by President Trump’s foreign policy than they have been by any purported impeachable offense his opponents have conjured up over the last three years. By redeploying a few dozen American troops in Syria, the president acceded to a Turkish invasion of territory occupied by the Kurds. Ostensibly, that has nothing to do with the impeachment frenzy over Ukraine, whose government Democrats accuse the president of pressuring to dig up dirt on a political rival. But Turkey’s aggression could crack the president’s impeachment firewall.

There is rage over Trump’s decision. It is rage over a policy choice, not over high crimes and misdemeanors. Only the most blindly angry can doubt the lawfulness of the commander-in-chief’s movement of U.S. soldiers, even though it rendered inevitable the Turks’ rout of the Kurds.

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NATIONAL NEWS & OPINION Comments turned off

CHARLOTTE’S NEWS WEB (MINNEAPOLIS 3, 2019)

By on October 13th, 2019

https://www.americanthinker.com/articles/2019/06/somalis_have_changed_minneapolis.html

Somalis have Changed Minneapolis=By Sunny Lohman

Everyone not lying to themselves predicted when the federal government under Bill Clinton – aided and abetted by Lutheran Social Services, Catholic Charities and World Relief Minnesota — plopped 30,000 Somalis down into the midst of the kind, virtue-signaling, eager-to-help Midwesterners of Minneapolis (of which I am one) that it would lead to some grave consequences for our community.

Now, due to continuing refugee placements as well as chain migration there are an estimated 80,000 Somalis living in the Twin Cities metro area, or more like 79,000 if you subtract those who’ve left the country to join terrorist organizations like ISIS.

Anyhoo, here’s a week Minneapolitans had with their Somali neighbors last month:

On Wednesday, May 15th a couple of University students were attacked on campus at the East Bank Train station by two Somali thugs. It was an attempted robbery that the guys rebuffed sustaining injuries that required a hospital visit.

On Thursday, May 16th two Somalis burned down the pavilion at Lake Calhoun [or Lake Bde Maka Ska if you’re a virtue signaler) an eating and hanging out meeting place in the heart of the city enjoyed by generations of Americans around the prettiest city lake you’ve ever seen. This is in the most expensive neighborhood in Minneapolis.

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FOREIGN POLICY Comments turned off

US should support, but also prod, Ukraine By Lawrence J. Haas

By on October 13th, 2019

https://thehill.com/opinion/international/465523-us-should-support-but-also-prod-ukraine

President Donald Trump’s controversial interactions with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky must not distract attention from the important question of U.S. policy toward Russia in connection with its war in Ukraine – especially as Zelensky and key European leaders send disturbing signals that they want to appease Russia’s Vladimir Putin in hopes of ending the war.

Ukraine remains a key issue of East-West contention and, at the moment, the highest profile flashpoint of Putin’s efforts to extend Russia’s influence far beyond its borders. How the United States and its allies respond will go a long way toward either containing Putin or encouraging him to push harder.

Washington should reaffirm that it won’t recognize Russia’s annexation of Crimea, maintain its sanctions on Moscow, look to add more sanctions in the face of Russia’s further aggression in Ukraine and elsewhere, and seek additional ways to fortify Ukraine beyond the military aid it has already provided.

Washington also should discourage French and German calls to accommodate Putin in hopes of reducing East-West tensions – calls that are causing serious splits in Europe over how best to respond to Putin’s aggressive behavior around the world.

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ENVIRONMENT AND JUNK SCIENCE Comments turned off

Elizabeth Warren’s Cruel Plan For “Environmental Justice” Francis Menton

By on October 13th, 2019

https://www.manhattancontrarian.com/blog/2019-10-10-elizabeth-warrens-cruel-plan-for-environmental-justice

Elizabeth Warren wants to be known as the Democratic presidential candidate who has a “Plan” for everything. I count some 50 of these Plans here on her website. They cover everything from “health care is a basic human right,” to “a new farm economy,” to “fighting for an accessible and inclusive America,” to “addressing our maternal mortality epidemic,” to “how we can break up big tech,” to “universal child care,” and on and on and on — and obviously, I was just getting started. Every one of these things is some form of centrally-directed, bureaucrat-run, taxpayer-funded boondoggle of massive government expansion.

Well, now we can make that 51 Plans, because yesterday Warren came out with the latest and greatest of them all, titled “FIGHTING FOR JUSTICE AS WE COMBAT THE CLIMATE CRISIS.”

I know what you are thinking: How could she possibly have missed that one in the first 50? I can’t answer that, but you really need to look at this one if you want to get an appreciation of the levels of utopia that an uber-progressive like Warren thinks can be quickly achieved by government fiat backed by infinite amounts of government money and equally infinite numbers of bureaucrats. And while we’re at it, let’s make it explicit that anyone who opposes any part of this is an evil racist:

From predominantly black neighborhoods in Detroit to Navajo communities in the southwest to Louisiana’s Cancer Alley, industrial pollution has been concentrated in low-income communities for decades – communities that the federal government has tacitly written off as so-called “sacrifice zones.” But it’s not just about poverty, it’s also about race. . . . We didn’t get here by accident. Our crisis of environmental injustice is the result of decades of discrimination and environmental racism compounding in communities that have been overlooked for too long. It is the result of multiple choices that put corporate profits before people, while our government looked the other way.

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ISRAEL Comments turned off

The European Union Commission’s war against Israel Moshe Dann

By on October 13th, 2019

https://www.jpost.com/Opinion/The-European-Union-Commissions-war-against-Israel-604470

Moreover, according to EUC spokespeople, the EUC supports “non-military” branches of Hezbollah in Lebanon and Syria through transfers of funds to those governments.

According to the European Union Commission’s website, during the last decade the EUC has given over two billion euros to Palestinians in the “West Bank” and the Gaza Strip. This does not include extra payments for health, welfare and education, and legal services to assist claims against Israel. Additionally, the EUC is funding illegal Arab building in Area C, which is under Israeli control via the authority of the IDF and its civilian branch, COGAT. This includes assistance to Palestinian Authority residents who infiltrate into Area C and build illegal homes in Arab villages.

The EUC’s stated purpose is to promote an independent sovereign Palestinian state based on the 1949 Armistice lines (the “two-state-solution”) and “end the occupation of Palestinian territory.” Oblivious of the fact that the PLO/PA and Hamas are corrupt, brutal dictatorships which support and engage in terrorism, the question is:  Why does the EUC waste so much money to advance a goal – Palestinian statehood – which threatens the State of Israel? Is the European community using Arab Palestinians as proxies in a renewed attempt to wipe out as many Jews as possible in Israel? Are EUC policies intended to promote eliminating Israel and genocide? 

Moreover, according to EUC spokespeople, the EUC supports “non-military” branches of Hezbollah in Lebanon and Syria through transfers of funds to those governments. There is, unfortunately, no accountability for how these funds are used.

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ISRAEL Comments turned off

GOOD NEWS FROM AMAZING ISRAEL FROM MICHAEL ORDMAN

By on October 13th, 2019

www.verygoodnewsisrael.blogspot.com 

The Jewish festival of Sukkot (Tabernacles) celebrates Israel’s fruit harvest. The latest positive Israel newsletter includes many examples of the fruits of Israeli labor. Lives saved by new medical treatments, innovations and humanitarian activities; new vegan foods, successful startups, record numbers of tourists and reviving endangered species.I will publish my next newsletter, hopefully, on Sun 27th Oct.  Wishing a Chag Sukkot Sameach / Happy Tabernacles to all who celebrate it. Michael Ordman

 

ISRAEL’S MEDICAL ACHIEVEMENTS
 
Positive results in human trial of ALS treatment. As reported (here)previously, the stem cell ALS therapy developed by Israel’s Kadimastem showed promise in the lab. Now, early results from human trials at Hadassah hospital in Jerusalem show that it has significantly slowed down disease progression without major side effects.
https://www.timesofisrael.com/early-clinical-trial-for-als-sufferers-shows-biotech-firm-on-the-right-track/
 
Helping doctors focus on treatment. (TY Atid-EDI) Israel’s Maverick Medical AI has developed software for reading patient notes to analyze chronic conditions and risk factors. US Health Systems (USHS), in partnership with Arizona Complete Health, is to deploy Maverick’s software within its organization.
https://www.prnewswire.com/il/news-releases/maverick-medical-ai-announces-its-first-commercial-deployment-at-ushs-health-system-to-automatically-detect-medicare-advantage-risk-factors-300910593.html
 
Predicting high-risk cardiac patients. (TY Atid-EDI) As reported (here)previously, the algorithms of Israel’s Medial EarlySign detect disease early. Its latest algorithm identifies cardiac patients with a high risk of complications after hospital discharge following a Percutaneous Coronary Intervention (PCI) procedure.
https://earlysign.com/news-and-events/new-study-shows-earlysigns-machine-learning-algorithm-can-predict-which-cardiac-patients-are-at-high-risk-following-discharge/
 
Blocking bone cancer in children. Scientists at Israel’s Weizmann Institute have had promising results in the lab with experimental treatments for Ewing sarcoma – a bone cancer common in teenagers with a specific defective gene. Mifepristone – a glucocorticoid receptor blocker – stopped the cancer spreading to other organs.
https://www.weizmann-usa.org/news-media/news-releases/a-new-route-to-blocking-children-s-bone-cancer
https://www.cell.com/cell-reports/fulltext/S2211-1247(19)31150-7
 
Another early warning of Alzheimer’s. As reported (here) previously, there are at least two signs of the early advance of Alzheimer’s disease. Now doctors at Jerusalem’s Hadassah Medical Center have developed Clara – an AI chatbot that questions the patient and compares the answers to a baseline. It is 95% accurate.
https://www.israel21c.org/israeli-chatbot-could-diagnose-early-alzheimers-disease/
https://www.pnas.org/content/112/52/16024.short https://psycnet.apa.org/record/2018-23212-001

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