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Ruth King

MEDIA, NATIONAL NEWS & OPINION Comments turned off

New goal for New York Times: ‘Reframe’ American history, and target Trump, too by Byron York

By on August 18th, 2019

https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/opinion/columnists/new-goal-for-new-york-times-reframe-american-history-and-target-trump-too

Perhaps when you think of the founding of the United States, you think of the Declaration of Independence, the Constitution, the Bill of Rights, the Federalist Papers. Now, the New York Times wants to “reframe” your understanding of the nation’s founding.

In the Times’ view (which it hopes to make the view of millions of Americans), the country was actually founded in 1619, when the first Africans were brought to North America, to Virginia, to be sold as slaves.

This year marks the 400th anniversary of that event, and the Times has created something called the 1619 Project. This is what the paper hopes the project will accomplish: “It aims to reframe the country’s history, understanding 1619 as our true founding, and placing the consequences of slavery and the contributions of black Americans at the very center of the story we tell ourselves about who we are.”

Another, more concise statement from the Times: “The goal of The 1619 Project is to reframe American history.”

The basic thrust of the 1619 Project is that everything in American history is explained by slavery and race. The message is woven throughout the first publication of the project, an entire edition of the Times magazine. It begins with an overview of race in America — “Our democracy’s founding ideals were false when they were written. Black Americans have fought to make them true.” — written by Times writer Nikole Hannah-Jones, who on Twitter uses the identity Ida Bae Wells, from the crusading late 19th-early 20th century African American journalist Ida B. Wells.

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NATIONAL NEWS & OPINION Comments turned off

Roger Kimball: Trump and Tone

By on August 18th, 2019

https://amgreatness.com/2019/08/17/trump-and-tone/

True, the president does not speak or act like other statesmen. But whatever the man has said, he has acted with much greater forcefulness and clarity of purpose than his recent predecessors—with some commendable results.

One of the great difficulties in perfecting technologies like radar and sonar revolves around the problem of distinguishing accurately between noise and the real McCoy. Is that an enemy bomber or missile out there, or is it just a flock of birds?

Donald Trump presents his opponents, and even some of his friends, with a similar problem.  He speaks differently from most other statesmen on the world stage.  He is not beholden to many of the principles of diplomacy (what some cynics like me might be tempted to describe as “nostrums”) that inform the usual script of diplomatic relations. What part of his behavior is noise? What part is the vital signal?

Trump was elected primarily because of what he said about three things: immigration, trade, and international relations. He wanted to check the flow of illegal immigration, revise America’s trade deals with other nations (and with itself by addressing a misguided regulatory environment), and work to make sure that America’s interventions in foreign climes were in the service of its national interest while also assuring that America’s military was as strong and prepared as it could be.

Trump’s “Principled Realism” Revisited

Stepping back, I’d say that Trump’s successes on all three fronts have been mixed, whereby “mixed” I do not mean “poor.” I mean that he has his share—quite a large share, in fact—of successes and some frustrations. But all three issues—like most big things in life—represent on-going processes that are seldom solved all at once and, even then, do not stay solved for long. They require constant attention and flexibility, what Trump himself referred to in one of his greatest speeches as “principled realism.”

It must be difficult to be a paid-up member of the anti-Trump fraternity. Just a few years ago, there were thousands of females skirling about how crude Donald Trump is while parading around the Washington Mall in pink pussy hats. Dark rumors of “collusion” with the Russians to steal the election were gaining traction and crashed on to shore in the shape of Robert S. Mueller III, G-Man extraordinaire, the straightest of straight arrows, who assembled his posse of Hillary-supporting anti-Trump lawyers to perform the world’s greatest legal excavation and bring down the Bad Orange Man. Alas, it turned out that Mueller was really just Andrew Weismann’s Howdy Doody.

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ISRAEL Comments turned off

GOOD NEWS FROM AMAZING ISRAEL FROM MICHAEL ORDMAN

By on August 18th, 2019

http://verygoodnewsisrael.blogspot.com/2019/08/israels-good-news-newsletter-to-18th.html

 

ISRAEL’S MEDICAL ACHIEVEMENTS

A nano-vaccine for melanoma. Scientists at Tel Aviv University have developed a novel nano-vaccine for melanoma (skin cancer) that has proved effective in laboratory tests. Tiny particles made of bio-degradable polymer were packed with two “safe” cancer-expressed peptides for the body to develop immunity against.

http://nocamels.com/2019/08/israeli-scientists-nano-vaccine-treatment-melanoma/ 

https://www.timesofisrael.com/nano-vaccine-against-melanoma-developed-by-tel-aviv-university-researchers/

https://www.nature.com/articles/s41565-019-0512-0

New test for Alzheimer’s. The SRY subsidiary of Jerusalem’s Hadassah Medical Center has developed Vizamyl, a radioactive agent that can diagnose Alzheimer’s disease. Used in a Positron Emission Tomography (PET) scan, it estimates amyloid neuritic plaque density in the brain – the main indication of Alzheimer’s.

https://www.jpost.com/HEALTH-SCIENCE/New-non-invasive-brain-test-could-help-prevent-stymie-Alzheimers-597620

Good results for anti-radiation vaccine. I reported previously (see here) on the PLX-R18 stem cell treatment for radiation sickness from Israel’s Pluristem. Animal trials by the US Department of Defense demonstrated that PLX-R18, administered before and after radiation exposure increased survival rates by 46-70%.

https://www.jpost.com/HEALTH-SCIENCE/Pluristem-gets-positive-results-from-radiation-treatment-trials-597271

US approval for antibacterial dental fillings. I reported previously (Aug 2018) about Israel’s Nobio and its nano-polymer that causes bacteria to die immediately on contact. Nobio has just received FDA approval to market its antibacterial material for dental fillings.

https://www.timesofisrael.com/startup-nobio-gets-fda-nod-for-antibacterial-dental-fillings/

Agreement for psoriasis treatment. I reported previously (see here) on the small molecule treatments from Israel’s Can-Fite for psoriasis, liver and inflammatory diseases, and cancer. Can-Fite AND South Korea-based Kyongbo have just signed a distribution agreement for Can-Fite’s psoriasis treatment Piclidenoson (CF101).

https://www.calcalistech.com/ctech/articles/0,7340,L-3767633,00.html

Innovation hub for hi-tech medicine. Israel’s Innovation Authority and the National Digital Israel Initiative are setting up an innovation hub dedicated to computational biology, digital health, pharmaceuticals, and artificial intelligence. They are asking for bids worth up to NIS 32 million to build the hub.

https://www.calcalistech.com/ctech/articles/0,7340,L-3767709,00.html

Ultrasound skin therapy. Israeli startup SofWave Medical is developing non-invasive ultrasound technology for skin tightening. It targets specific layers of skin to reduce wrinkles and has received CE (European) approval. SofWave has just raised $8.4 million of funding.  https://alon-medtech.com/portfolio/

https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/sofwave-medical-closes-8-4m-financing-round-announces-appointment-of-louis-scafuri-to-ceo-position-300896907.html

https://www.calcalistech.com/ctech/articles/0,7340,L-3767858,00.html

Facial recognition of genetic diseases. Israeli-founded FDNA has developed artificial intelligence to detect physiological patterns (phenotypes) that reveal disease-causing genetic variations. With one of the fastest growing and most comprehensive genomic databases, FDNA is changing the game for precision medicine. https://www.fdna.com/

First response training for medics in Chile. (TY Hazel) Israel’s emergency service Magen David Adom is helping to train municipal security personnel as first responders to medical emergencies in the Chilean capital Santiago. It is in preparation for Chile hosting two major international conferences at the end of the year.

https://www.israel21c.org/israels-mda-helps-build-first-responder-system-in-chile/

Israeli-Druze officer saves Jordanian boy. (TY Hazel) Kalai Housam Tarif, an Israeli Prison Officer of the Druze community, donated half of his liver to an unrelated eight-year-old boy from Jordan. Surgeons at Schneider Children’s Medical Center in Petach Tikvah transplanted around half of Tarif’s liver to save the boy.

https://unitedwithisrael.org/israeli-prison-officer-donates-liver-lobe-to-jordanian-boy/

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WORLD NEWS Comments turned off

The Extinction of Christians in the Middle East by Giulio Meotti

By on August 18th, 2019

https://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/14691/extinction-christians-middle-east

“I don’t believe in these two words [human rights], there are no human rights. But in Western countries, there are animal rights. In Australia they take care of frogs…. Look upon us as frogs, we’ll accept that — just protect us so we can stay in our land.” — Metropolitan Nicodemus, the Syriac Orthodox archbishop of Mosul, National Catholic Register.

“Those people are the same ones who came here many years ago. And we accepted them. We are the original people in this land. We accepted them, we opened the doors for them, and they push us to be minorities in our land, then refugees in our land. And this will be with you if you don’t wake up.” — Metropolitan Nicodemus.

“Threats to pandas cause more emotion” than threats to the extinction of the Christians in the Middle East. — Amin Maalouf, French-Lebanese author, Le Temps.

Convert, pay or die. Five years ago, that was the “choice” the Islamic State (ISIS) gave to Christians in Mosul, then Iraq’s third-largest city: either embrace Islam, submit to a religious tax or face the sword. ISIS then marked Christian houses with the Arabic letter ن (N), the first letter of the Arabic word “Nasrani” (“Nazarene,” or “Christian”) . Christians could often take no more than the clothes on their back and flee a city that had been home to Christians for 1,700 years.

Two years ago, ISIS was defeated in Mosul and its Caliphate crushed. The extremists, however, had succeeded in “cleansing” the Christians. Before the rise of ISIS, there were more than 15,000 Christians there. In July 2019, the Catholic charity, Aid to the Church in Need, disclosed that only about 40 Christians have come back. Not long ago, Mosul had “Christmas celebrations without Christians”.

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NATIONAL NEWS & OPINION Comments turned off

WHO PERFORMED EPSTEIN’S AUTOPSY?

By on August 18th, 2019

The autopsy neither confirms nor rules out foul play. Dr. Barbara Sampson is a highly regarded and reputable medical examiner….rsk

THE FACTS: Epstein’s lawyers asked Baden, a well-known pathologist, to attend the autopsy. He did not perform it. Reports circulated Thursday on Facebook and Twitter suggesting that Baden was chosen to do the autopsy as part of a cover-up to protect important people who have been tied to Epstein, among them President Donald Trump and former President Bill Clinton.

New York City Chief Medical Examiner Dr. Barbara Sampson performed the autopsy Sunday on Epstein, who died Saturday from an apparent suicide, the AP reported. Epstein was found early Saturday in a Manhattan jail cell at the Metropolitan Correctional Center, where he was awaiting trial on sex trafficking charges. Sampson said it is routine for private pathologists to observe an autopsy.

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NATIONAL NEWS & OPINION Comments turned off

‘You can still sense the love’: Baby boomers revel at Woodstock 50 years on

By on August 17th, 2019

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-music-woodstock-reunion/you-can-still-sense-the-love-baby-boomers-revel-at-woodstock-50-years-on-idUSKCN1V7087

Thousands of flower-crowned visitors made the journey to the Bethel Woods Center for the Arts, which now owns the original festival site, to hear some of the same musicians including Arlo Guthrie, attend a planned Saturday concert by Santana, and feel the spirit of community that the 1969 festival produced.

“Even though I’m seeing the site 50 years later, I feel like I’m there at the first concert,” said Peter Hadley, 63, who arrived on Thursday. “Everybody greets us, talks to us. It’s the love that started back in ‘69 and it’s present here, now.”

Woodstock, which was held at Max Yasgur’s dairy farm in upstate New York from Aug. 15-18 and featured about 30 acts, became a logistical nightmare when more than 400,000 people showed up, causing traffic gridlock for miles.

This weekend, in stark contrast to 1969, attendees found metal detectors, indoor plumbing and abundant food vendors at the Bethel Woods Center, which is hosting several concerts to mark the anniversary.

But those making the return trip said they had been unfazed by the chaos and unsanitary conditions in 1969, and instead remembered the kindness of locals, law enforcement and other concert-goers who offered food and medical aid.

Arlene Seymour, 69, arrived for the weekend wearing the same tie-dye shirt she bought on her way to the 1969 concert. She fondly recalled sharing food with people she had just met and sleeping in the trunk of a stranger’s car to avoid the rain.

“It just wouldn’t happen like that today,” she said. “Because of the environment in the world, people would be worried to have it so loose.”

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ANTI-SEMITISM Comments turned off

Spare me the peace and love mythology of Woodstock – there’s nothing more phony than a festival Julie Burchill *****

By on August 17th, 2019

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2019/08/17/spare-peace-love-mythology-woodstock-nothing-phoney-festival/

It was fifty years ago this week that Woodstock stopped the Vietnam War and ushered in a new era of peace, love and understanding – sorry, that should read when 400,000 hippies sat in mud sharing one toilet for every 800 people like a bunch of huge overgrown toddlers staging a dirty protest. They had turned their backs on conventional society but when it turned out that they couldn’t even feed themselves, the ladies of the local Jewish community centre prepared 30,000 sandwiches which were handed out by local nuns.

Despite their railing against authority, more than 300 off-duty policemen were drafted in to keep order along with several hundred State Troopers and personnel from a nearby airport base to airlift the precious performers. One hopes they were being paid more than the onsite workers who were on a miserable $1.60 per hour minimum wage compared to, say, Santana, who were getting $2,000 per hour.

But at least none of them were amongst the three deaths that occurred including a man run over in his sleeping bag by a never-identified tractor driver and an 18-year-old Marine who had survived Vietnam but overdosed on some of the nasty drugs circulating, many of which were laced with rat poison. 

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HISTORY, ISRAEL Comments turned off

Enlisting Arabs for the Nazi Cause The mufti urged the Arabs to “Kill the Jews wherever you find them. This pleases God, history and religion.” Dr. Alex Grobman

By on August 17th, 2019

Part III of The War of Words

From 1941-1945, historian Antonio J. Muñoz estimated that about 5,000 Arab and Indian Muslims volunteered to serve in the German armed forces, hardly sufficient to constitute an army of liberation. Their worth as a military force was negligible compared with units created with Muslims in the Balkans and the USSR. Though the Germans failed to conquer the region, the units did have propaganda value which the Nazis exploited.

Joseph Schechtman credited the mufti in helping establish espionage networks to provide information about British troop movements. His news transmissions to the Middle East reported acts of sabotage that would normally have been censored. His agents, who infiltrated the Middle East by land or by air, cut pipe and telephone lines in Palestine and Transjordan and destroyed bridges and railways in Iraq.

He also organized an Axis-Arab Legion known as the Arabisches Freiheitskorps that wore German uniforms with “Free Arabia” patches Schechtman said. As part of the German Army, the unit guarded communications facilities in Macedonia and hunted down American and British paratroopers who jumped into Yugoslavia and were hiding among the local population. The legion also fought on the Russian front. Another major success was el-Husseini’s recruitment of tens of thousands of Balkan Muslims into the Wehrmacht.  Moshe Shertok (Sharett), chief of the political department of the Jewish Agency, reported that on a visit to Bosnia in 1943, the mufti appealed to local Muslims to join the Moslem Waffen-SS Units and met with the units that were already operational.

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ISRAEL Comments turned off

Brother and Sister Seriously Injured in Car-Ramming Terror Attack in West Bank

By on August 17th, 2019

https://www.algemeiner.com/2019/08/16/brother-and-sister-seriously-injured-in-car-ramming-terror-attack-in-west-bank/

Two Jewish siblings were seriously wounded when a Palestinian rammed his car into them at a bus stop in the West Bank on Friday morning.

Dramatic video showed the car, driven an assailant later identified as Ala Harimi, speeding off the road and slamming into the brother and sister before turning over.

Harimi, who was shot and killed as he emerged from the overturned vehicle, had been imprisoned in Israel in 2014 and 2015 for “popular terrorism.”

The victims were identified as Nachum Navis and his sister, Noam, both of Elazar, a Jewish community in the West Bank.

After being treated at the scene, Nachum was evacuated to Hadassah Ein Kerem Hospital with “severe” injuries, while Noam was sent to Shaarei Tzedek Hospital in Jerusalem with “moderate” injuries.

MDA paramedic Lior Levy said that when they arrived at the scene they found a 17-year-old male and 19-year-old female behind the bus stop.

“The boy was unconscious and had a head injury with general trauma and the young woman was partially conscious,” Levy said. He said that the MDA gave the pair “life-supporting treatment” at the scene.

The brother and sister were waiting to take a bus to join their parents on vacation.

Hamas praised the terror attack claiming “the growing rage of our people and the stabbing and car-ramming events are a response to the breaking into the Al-Aqsa Mosque. If such events continue in the West Bank there will be a flare-up in the region.”

Elazar is near Migdal Oz, where Yeshiva student Dvir Sorek was found stabbed to death last week in an apparent terror attack.

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HISTORY Comments turned off

Olive Oatman, the Pioneer Girl Abducted by Native Americans Who Returned a Marked Woman She may have been released by her captors, but she could never escape captivity. Meg Van Huygen

By on August 17th, 2019

https://getpocket.com/explore/item/olive-oatman-the-pioneer-girl-abducted-by-native-americans-who-returned-a-marked-woman?utm_source=pocket-newtab

About a century and a half ago, some Native American tribes of the Southwest used facial tattoos as spiritual rites of passage. Through a series of strange tragedies (and some possible triumphs), a white Mormon teenager who was traveling with her family through the area in the mid-19th century ended up sporting one too, a symbol of a complicated dual life she could never quite shake.

In 1851, the Oatman family, having broken from the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, was traveling through southeastern California and western Arizona, looking for a place to settle. As newly inducted Brewsterites—followers of Mormon rebel James C. Brewster—they’d been advised that California was, in fact, the true “intended gathering place” for Mormons, rather than Utah.

The group of approximately 90 followers had left Independence, Missouri, in the summer of 1850, but when they arrived in the New Mexico Territory, the party split, with Brewster’s faction taking the route to Santa Fe and then south to Socorro, and Royce (sometimes spelled Roys) Oatman leading a group to Socorro and then over to Tucson. 

When the remaining dregs of the Oatman-led party approached Maricopa Wells, in modern-day Maricopa County, Arizona, they were warned not only that the southwestern trail ahead was barren and dangerous, but that the native tribes in the region were famously violent toward whites. To continue, it was made clear, was to risk one’s life.

The other families elected to stay in Maricopa Wells until they had recuperated enough to make the journey, but Royce Oatman chose to press on. And that’s how Royce, his wife Mary, and their seven children, aged 1 to 17, found themselves trekking through the most arid part of the Sonoran Desert on their own.

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