“Why Can’t We Talk?” by Sydney Williams

https://swtotd.blogspot.com/

Ambrose Bierce, in his 1906 The Devil’s Dictionary, provided two definition of the transitive verb “Defame:” 1) “To lie about another.” 2) “To tell the truth about another.” People of myriad cultural backgrounds have long had difficulty communicating, as Rudyard Kipling expressed in the first two lines of his 1889 poem “The Ballad of the East and West:”“Oh, East is East, and West is West, and never the twain shall meet,Till Earth and Sky stand presently at God’s great judgement Seat;”

Most politicians do not communicate honestly. They promise one thing while campaigning and promote another when governing. Speaking before the 2004 Democratic National Committee, Barack Obama embraced unity: “There is not a black America, a white America, a Latino America, an Asian America; there’s the United States of America.” But four years later when he became President, he chose discord over unity. In the words of Jason Riley, writing in last Wednesday’s The Wall Street Journal: “…he started talking about racist policing and black voter suppression, and he embraced divisive racial provocateurs… All the colorblind talk went out the window.” Mr. Obama is not alone. Politicians on both sides have long campaigned on the promise of unity and then ruled with a “divide to conquer” strategy.

We are sorted by identity into “hot issue” buckets, like race, gender, immigration, climate and abortion. For example, if one does not agree with the preferred woke policy prescriptions of President Biden, one is a racist, a homophobe, a xenophobe, a denier or a sexist. Case closed, no room or time for debate. Social media companies, instead of being impartial arbiters permitting the free exchange of ideas have closed Twitter accounts of conservative “deplorables” and declared opinions contrary to what is currently “woke” to be “harmful” or “hurtful.” Given their political leanings, this has meant that conservative speech is shut down. The same thing is true on college campuses where speeches by conservatives are cancelled.

THE TRANSPARENCY REVOLUTION AND OUR WAR ON WASTE — IN 3 EASY STEPS: ADAM ANDRZEJEWSKI

https://mailchi.mp/dd688b95db60/35b-from-us-taxpayers-funded-world-health-organization-58677?e=0c8ccf8e98

We can’t make America great again until we make America accountable again.

This week, in San Diego, at the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) convention, our CEO, Adam Andrzejewski, challenged elected officials from across the country to embrace the Transparency Revolution.

The three-day conference was packed with hundreds of America’s state legislators, including new members and recently elected officials.

During a 20-minute presentation Andrzejewski laid out the blueprint to establish a new era in governance.

As outlined in the speech, here are three easy steps any public official can take to embrace the Transparency Revolution:  
Open The Books – Show citizens the money! Proactively post all financial line-by-line transactions online. Don’t be like California (we are suing the state as they refuse to open up their checkbook!).
Declare War On Waste – Identify. Cap. Cut. Dig deep! It’s a target rich environment.
Read The Bill – Do we have a representative republic if our representatives don’t even read the bills they are voting on?

WATCH ON YOUTUBE:
THE TRANSPARENCY REVOLUTION & OUR WAR ON WASTE

President Donald J. Biden

https://www.nysun.com/editorials/president-donald-j-biden/91791/

For someone who ran for office as the anti-Trump, President Biden has lately taken on something of an orangish hue. When the Covid variant known as Omicron popped up, Mr. Biden rushed through a travel ban for South Africa and seven other sub-equatorial states. Yet candidate Biden had called it a “disgrace” when, in February 2020, Mr. Trump imposed a similar “African ban.” Mr. Biden reckoned it was “designed to make it harder for black and brown people” to come here.

It seems to make sense to Mr. Biden now. Then again, too, when Mr. Biden took office he ended the Trump administration’s successful “Remain in Mexico” immigration program. He stoked the controversy by calling it inhumane. Since then, the border situation has become so dire that it is again emerging as a political issue. Now the administration, under court pressure, has agreed to revive Mr. Trump’s policy, with — in typical Biden fashion — “humanitarian improvements.”

Mr. Biden campaigned on returning America to the articles of appeasement with Iran. He harshly criticized the Trump administration for pulling out. In the White House, though, Mr. Biden somehow discovered that Iran is resistant to American diplomacy, and is determined to pursue its nuclear program regardless. Nor will the ayatollahs permit negotiations on ballistic missiles, drones, human rights and support for terrorism — all issues Mr. Trump pushed. Now the Vienna talks are collapsing.

On the hustings, Mr. Biden pledged to “repair” American relations with Communist China. He vowed especially to end the “trade war” over tariffs levied by President Trump. Yet the tariffs have remained in place. Mr. Biden is also continuing the effort begun under the Trump administration to crack down on Communist Chinese espionage in the United States, to oppose Beijing’s intrusive and destabilizing Belt and Road Initiative, and to remain firm in relations with Taiwan.

GOOD NEWS FROM AMAZING ISRAEL FROM MICHAEL ORDMAN

http://www.verygoodnewsisrael.blogspot.com

On eight days of Chanukah we light candles, and on each of those days Israel contributes research and development of dazzling scientific and technological advances that bring the light of hope to millions of people. rsk

ISRAEL’S MEDICAL ACHIEVEMENTS
 
New way to treat blood cancer. (TY JBN & WIN) Scientists at Israel’s Bar-Ilan University have found that malignant cells in hematologic cancer (leukemia, lymphoma, and multiple myeloma etc.), rely on a cytoskeletal protein, called WASp. Attacking WASp can destroy malignant cells without threatening healthy ones.
https://www.jpost.com/health-and-wellness/bar-ilan-u-team-develops-treatment-approach-for-hematologic-cancers-683190    https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/25210148/
 
Digitizing neurology. Israel’s NeuraLight uses video from smartphone or web camera, to catch neurological patterns and digital markers. Its computer vision and deep learning algorithms help accelerate development of therapies including Parkinson’s, Alzheimer’s, Multiple Sclerosis, and other neurodegenerative diseases.
https://www.calcalistech.com/ctech/articles/0,7340,L-3921318,00.html   https://neuralight.ai/
 
Small molecules to treat ALS. Israel’s Neuromagen is developing a new class of small molecules to treat ALS (Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis – Lou Gehrig’s Disease), and other neurodegenerative diseases. The molecules activate the enzyme telomerase reverse transcriptase, which protects and rehabilitates neuronal cells.
https://in.bgu.ac.il/en/pages/news/ALS_neuromagen.aspx   https://www.neuromagen.com/
 
Innovative eye treatment technology. Israel’s BioLight (see here previously) is partnering with Tel Aviv’s Sourasky (Ichilov) Medical Center, to locate and develop innovative technologies in ophthalmology. Also, Biolight’s subsidiary Diagnostear has begun a clinical trial in India of its diagnosis of Dry Eye Disease.
https://www.calcalistech.com/ctech/articles/0,7340,L-3923641,00.html
https://bio-light.co.il/wp-content/uploads/2021/10/DiagnosTear-article-oct-2021-00000002.pdf
 
Natural remedies for feminine ailments. Israel’s Algamed is using natural-based compounds made from algae plus its own innovative FemTech to treat sensitive feminine conditions. The algae excretes a gel that keeps it moist, and has numerous anti-bacterial, anti-inflammatory, antiviral, and anti-aging benefits.
https://www.calcalistech.com/ctech/articles/0,7340,L-3923598,00.html
 
Fast genetic data analysis. Israel’s Geneyx Genomex utilizes the world’s largest unified global knowledge base for interrogating genetic-based diseases and disorders. It provides fast analysis, interpretation, and reporting to help labs accelerate the development of targeted and personalized therapeutics.
https://www.calcalistech.com/ctech/articles/0,7340,L-3922324,00.html  https://geneyx.com/
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UhhxgCLq1sU
 
Massive donation for autism research. The Canadian-Israeli Azrieli Foundation has given NIS 40 million ($13 million) to the National Autism Research Centre of Israel in BeerSheba (see here previously). It is the largest ever donation for an autism infrastructure project in Israel.
https://www.timesofisrael.com/with-massive-donation-israel-autism-center-aims-to-impact-policy-worldwide/
 
Best of Health. Israel’s Aidoc, (see here previously) has been selected the “Best New Health Application” award of the University of California San Francisco (UCSF) Health Awards competition. Aidoc’s artificial intelligence (AI) solutions have revolutionized medical imaging.
https://jewishbusinessnews.com/2021/11/04/ucsf-health-awards-israeli-aidoc-is-best-new-health-application-in-u-s/
 
Anti-viral nasal spray is a hit. Israel’s Enovid (see here previously) is ramping up production of its SaNOtize anti-Covid Nasal spray to keep up with demand. It is to manufacture up to 250,000 units per month in the US alone. In August, Enovid struck a deal with India’s Glenmark to manufacture the spray for South-East Asia.
https://nocamels.com/2021/11/sanotize-anti-covid-nasal-spray-production/
 
Smell the coronavirus. Very interesting article about Israel’s NanoScent (see here previously), which has developed a device so sensitive that it can detect viruses in the breath, such as SARS-Cov2. 50% of employees are female and it is another example of Christian Arabs, Muslims, and Israeli Jews working side by side.
https://www.calcalistech.com/ctech/articles/0,7340,L-3921893,00.html
 
The world’s steepest decline in Covid morbidity. Israel has seen the biggest drop in coronavirus morbidity anywhere in the world, according to global trackers. Covid-19 may be here to stay, but thanks to boosters, virus-killing masks, nasal sprays, and vaccine passports, Israel has only some 5,500 active cases (115 serious).
https://www.algemeiner.com/2021/10/29/israel-sees-worlds-steepest-decline-in-covid-morbidity/  
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2021-10-30/israel-uses-booster-shots-masks-and-passports-against-covid/100569256  https://www.timesofisrael.com/
 

A Good Word for Melbourne’s Queer Film Festival Timothy Cootes

https://quadrant.org.au/opinion/qed/2021/12/a-good-word-for-melbournes-queer-film-festival/

“Although they may shudder to hear it from from Quadrant, we should offer three hearty cheers for the organisers and schedulers of the Melbourne Queer Film Festival. For once, when the anti-Zionist cancel mob came howling to have an Israeli film scratched from the programme, the organisers told them what to do with their complaints.”

he Melbourne Queer Film Festival (MQFF), I suspect, is not an event to which many Quadrant readers will have rushed to secure tickets. This fixture on the LGBT-etc calendar, squeezed in between Carols by Queerlight (self-explanatory) and Southern HiBearnation (no, Google ‘bear’ for yourselves) offers attendees two weeks of cinematic merry-making, or so I’d been led to believe. The theme of this year’s event, I’m sorry to report, is frequent sniping and a decided lack of chirpiness, and I see little prospect of renewed cheer occurring before closing night.

The trouble began with the inclusion in the lineup of Adam Kalderon’s film The Swimmer, a story about a gay Olympics prospect, the institutional discrimination he faces and his struggle for self-acceptance. Topical and important issues, the reviewers would say. The film also features, I have been reliably informed, lingering close-ups of strapping young fellows in Speedos. For many viewers, that all sounds like a jolly night at the cinema, so one could be excused for wondering what all the bloody fuss is about.

Well, The Swimmer, you see, is an Israeli production, and it turns out that screening such a film is something of a festival faux pas. As soon as the incriminating schedule arrived in the inbox, there was a good deal of inquiry as to why MQFF had failed to adopt the expected policy of anti-Israel fanaticism. A vigorous social media campaign soon got underway, urging MQFF to drop the film, apologise for all the bruised feelings, and commit to being a better ally in the future.

This noisy reaction is due to the fact that some portion of the festival’s supporters also happen to be enlistees in Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS), a movement which seeks to extirpate all traces of Israel’s business, cultural and general dealings with the rest of the world. One of the many accusations they bung around is pinkwashing, a term which calls for a bit of elucidation.

Like Obama, Biden Silent on Iran Mullahs Killing Peaceful Protesters by Majid Rafizadeh

https://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/17986/iran-killing-protesters

“We call on President Joe Biden, Secretary Antony Blinken, and all members of Congress to stand with the Iranian people. Diplomacy with the world’s leading sponsor of terrorism is never going to produce a favorable result that benefits the American people or the Iranian people. Diplomacy with the Islamic Republic was destined to fail from day one.” — Iranian Americans for Liberty, reported by Benjamin Weinthal, Jerusalem Post, November 27, 2021.

“[W]hen millions of Iranians took to the streets in June of 2009, when they demanded freedom from a cruel regime that threatens the world, when they cried out, ‘Are you with us, or are you with them?’ – the American president was silent,” — Mitt Romney, October 8, 2012.

“If the free world wants to stand on the right side of history, they should support the Iranian people who have been fighting for their freedom for the last 43 years. The Iranians need free internet because the regime has already shut down the internet in Isfahan. They want to kill the protesters ….” — Iranian dissident Sheina Vojoudi, Jerusalem Post, November 26, 2021.

Will the Biden administration stand with the Iranian people?

The Biden administration appears to be repeating the Obama Administration policy of choosing to be silent in the face of the Iranian regime’s bloodshed, human rights violations, and crackdowns that kill and wound peaceful protesters.

Lessons from the Totalitarian Past Augusto Zimmerman

https://quadrant.org.au/opinion/the-law/2021/12/lessons-from-the-totalitarian-past/
It is increasingly clear the principle of legality is no longer regarded as important by some elements of the judicial elite, at least insofar as governments can allege the ’emergencies’ they declare justify the enactment of measures that profoundly affect our fundamental rights and freedoms. There is an unsettling precedent for the law’s endorsement of the unacceptable.

Excerpts

Unfortunately, the Australian legal profession has generally accepted the use of emergency powers by the executive government, thus enabling authorities to issue executive orders that impose heavy fines and imprisonment for non-compliance with certain arbitrary measures. Apparently, even the principle of legality is no longer regarded as important by some elements within the judicial elite, at least insofar as the government can allege that an “emergency” justifies the enactment of measures that profoundly affect the enjoyment of our fundamental rights and freedoms.

When one looks at the German legal profession in the 1930s, leaving aside those who were committed to the Nazi ideology, it becomes apparent that legal positivism played a significant role in the failure of lawyers to stand up against the Nazi atrocities. As noted the late Charles Rice, when the Nazis moved against the Jews, most lawyers who personally opposed the Nazi regime were ‘disarmed’ by legal positivism.[8] This wouldn’t be so if those lawyers had responded to the early Nazi injustices with a sound and principled denunciation rooted in traditional principles of the natural law. However, embedded in the positivist dogma that ‘law is law’ regardless of its substantive nature, many German lawyers became defenceless against laws of arbitrary or criminal content.[9] Because such lawyers ‘argued that the evolution of law should be viewed as following purely positive patterns’, Seitzer and Thornhill explains, ‘they concluded that the validity of law depended on its status as an internally consistent set of rules, and it could not be reconstructed or interpreted on the basis of moral prescriptions’.[10]

However, the vast majority of lawyers in Germany were supportive of Hitler. These lawyers embraced the notion that Germany was an organic unity and the spectacle of a divided parliament was unnatural to them. The principal characteristic of German lawyers, including law professors, was illiberalism.[21] The German legal profession generally welcomed Hitler’s appointment as Chancellor.[22] In October 1933, in their annual convention at Leipzig, 10,000 lawyers raised their right arms in a Nazi salute and swore, ‘by the soul of the German people’, that they would ‘strive to follow the course of our Führer to the end of days’.[23] On that very day the official journal of the Ministry of Justice exhorted the German legal profession to ‘march as an army corps of the Führer’.[24]

The Reich Minister, Hans Frank, was the head of the German Bar Association (1933–42), the Elected President of the International Chamber of Law (1941–42), and also President of the Academy of German Lawyers. Frank
believed that ‘the basis for the interpretation of all legal sources is the National Socialist ideology that is particularly manifested in the party program and the Führer’s statements’.

The Extraordinary Hidden Costs of the Climate-Change Transition By Edwin T. Burton

https://www.nationalreview.com/2021/12/the-extraordinary-hidden-costs-of-the-climate-change-transition/?utm_source=

How climate policy will weaken the West

T o achieve per capita economic growth, an economy must either produce goods and services that were not previously produced or produce the existing goods and services in a more efficient way. If an economy continues to produce the old goods and services but replaces the inputs with a more costly set of inputs, per capita growth will be negative. Such an economy would become poorer over time and less wealthy in per capita terms. This is the likely future of the U.S. and Europe as they stumble their way toward an effort to transition their economies to a different, more expensive, set of energy sources.

If, as a homeowner, you were suddenly told that you needed to rebuild your home with a whole new set of more costly materials, you would not be pleased. But if the goal of this costly rebuilding were saving the planet, you might tolerate the transition.

Hoping to spare you and your neighbors the harmful effects of your current building materials, you begin the transition. The fact that there is a target date for this transition will, of course, dramatically increase the costs of this transition, which will be considerable in any event. When the transition is complete, you will have less wealth than you would have had, had there been no such transition. But you say to yourself, at least I am doing some future good for me and my neighbors. Saving the planet seems like a worthwhile goal.

Looking down the block you see multiple new homes being constructed utilizing the exact same materials that you are being asked to remove from your house. These materials are much cheaper than those used in the project on which you embarked, and thus your neighbors, constructing their new homes, will likely be prospering by producing their homes, identical to yours in most respects, by using the cheaper building materials.

Biden’s Travel Restrictions Don’t Follow the Science By Joel Zinberg

https://www.nationalreview.com/2021/12/bidens-travel-restrictions-dont-follow-the-science/

The rules should apply to everyone, regardless of citizenship or residency status, and use all the scientific tools available.

 J oe Biden never tires of saying his COVID-19 policies follow “the science.” He recently pontificated that he would battle the emerging Omicron coronavirus variant “with science and speed, not chaos and confusion.” So why is he relying on policies that he earlier criticized as xenophobic and ineffective and that are being condemned around the world as racist?

Back in January 2020, little was known about the emerging disease COVID-19 and the virus that causes it, SARS-CoV-2. Tests, vaccines, and treatments were unavailable. All that anyone knew for sure was that the disease seemed to have started in Wuhan, China, and that is where nearly all the known cases were. The Trump administration announced on January 31, 2020, that the United States would temporarily suspend the entry of foreign nationals who had been in China during the prior 14-day period.

Later that day, Biden accused Trump of “xenophobia” and “fear mongering.” So-called “fact checkers” labored mightily to claim that Biden wasn’t specifically referring to the China travel ban when he made his remarks because he might not have been aware of the travel restrictions. But he certainly was aware of the ban when he tweeted the next day, “We are in the midst of a crisis with the coronavirus. We need to lead the way with science — not Donald Trump’s record of hysteria, xenophobia, and fear-mongering.” On March 12, 2020, after Trump expanded the travel ban to include Europe, Biden tweeted, “Banning all travel from Europe — or any other part of the world — will not stop it.”

Biden campaign adviser and now White House chief of staff Ron Klain was certainly aware of the travel restrictions when he testified to Congress on February 5, five days after they were announced. Klain labeled the restrictions an ineffective “Band-Aid” because they did not cover American citizens traveling from China and were based on “the color of the passport someone carries.”

‘Flash Mobs’ By James Dillon

https://www.americanthinker.com/articles/2021/12/flash_mobs_.html

“We need to be shocked by a generation’s bold descent into anomy. When absence of conscience becomes commonplace, when sociopaths loiter around every corner and patrol every sidewalk, and when the fruits of a liberal society fall largely to those who least appreciate the origins and purposes of our freedoms, then promises of life, liberty, and happiness for all are in jeopardy, and democracy itself is at stake.”

The facile assembly of large mobs of miscreants to raid retailers in San Francisco, Oakland, and Los Angeles is even more alarming than it seems.

The events are novel and even a bit entertaining, posing only a minor challenge to law enforcement if police are permitted to intercede.

More important than the incidents per se, however, is what they may reveal about the participants.

Lootings have been widely reported, mainly on the West Coast.  At Union Square in the heart of San Francisco:

“At least 40 thieves allegedly broke into a Louis Vuitton store on Friday [November 26], grabbing whatever they could before loading it into a series of cars parked curbside out front. The shoplifting caravan cut a swath through San Francisco’s high-end boutiques, creating a scene of chaos while stealing more than $1 million in merchandise.”

The New York Post described the another event, in Oakland, California:

“Hey, look — here are 80 people engaged in a large-scale smash-and-grab robbery of a Nordstrom in Walnut Creek outside San Francisco last weekend, one of a series of jaw-dropping thefts over the last several days, including an operation that cleared out a Louis Vuitton on San Francisco’s Union Square.”

Another Oakland location had  two similar lootings:

 “Prime 365 says more than 30 burglars ran through their store.

“In [a] video, you can see a long line of people rushing in, and in one instance, even pushing each other out of the way to grab hats off a shelf.”

Although the signature of these attacks is the large number of offenders, several robberies have involved, in each instance, only a handful of perpetrators (perps). Press accounts do not distinguish assaults with dozens of offenders from those with only a few, using the same terms – “flash mobs” and “smash and grab,”” for both.