MEDIA, NATIONAL NEWS & OPINION Comments turned off

Drew Pinsky once again attacks America’s morally corrupt media By Andrea Widburg

Posted By on March 15th, 2020

https://www.americanthinker.com/blog/2020/03/drew_pinsky_once_again_attacks_americas_morally_corrupt_media.html

Two weeks ago, Dr. Drew Pinsky was sounding an alarm. Unlike the media, though, he wasn’t shouting “We’re all going to die!” Instead, Pinsky sounded an alarm about the corrupt, uninformed, morally reprehensible American press, which was intentionally creating a panic.

A few days ago, Dr. Drew was back, this time on the Washington Examiner’s Examining Politics podcast, with Larry O’Connor hosting. And once again, Dr. Drew was complaining in powerful terms about how terrible the media’s coronavirus coverage is and about the profound disservice it’s doing to America.

While he refuses to speculate about the media’s motives in stoking panic, Dr. Drew wants as many people as possible to know that what the media says is wrong; that the current disease, while definitely serious, is not worse than the H1N1 flu season America survived in 2009-2010; and that common-sense behavior will see America through this flu too.

The following audio is just a little longer than 6 minutes, with Dr. Drew speaking fluidly and intelligently on a topic that can be frightening and confusing. If you have the time, make sure to listen because everything he says is important.

If you don’t have the time, the transcript is below, although it’s not as good reading it as it is listening to an impassioned Dr. Drew.

Dr. Drew: I don’t claim to know what’s motivating the media but, my God, their reporting is absolutely reprehensible. They should be ashamed of themselves. They are creating a panic that is far worse than the viral outbreak. The bottom line, everybody, is listen to Dr. Anthony Fauci of the CDC, do what he tells you, and go about your business. That’s the story.

NATIONAL NEWS & OPINION Comments turned off

This Is An Emergency! For the good of the country, and especially for the good of our leaders, we must prorogue Congress. We must do it today! And since we do not know how long this plague will last, we must do it indefinitely. By Roger Kimball

Posted By on March 15th, 2020

https://amgreatness.com/2020/03/14/this-is-an-emergency/

Panics are a species of moral intoxication. Like the physical kind, they are typically followed by a hangover. Not an upset stomach or headache, but a feeling of chagrin and resentment about one’s own gullibility, which quickly translates into irritation and resentment directed at the people who fueled the panic in the first place. ”

At a time of national crisis, it is important that we do everything possible to make sure that the important people without whom our society could not function are safe. I refer, of course, to our politicians, especially our distinguished members of Congress. Where would we be without their wisdom? How could we stagger on without their selfless dedication to the commonweal? Now that the Wuhan virus is cutting a wide swathe through our country, something must be done to protect these great men and women, many of whom are so dedicated to our welfare that they have stayed in Congress for decades—decades, just for us.

As I write, the news has just come in that a total of 50 people—50!—have died from the scourge of the Wuhan virus. No wonder people feel like the procession of flagellants in “The Seventh Seal.” This really is a pandemic akin to the Black Death.

Do you realize that in this country you have a 0.000000155963303 chance of contracting and dying from this dread disease? Especially if you are over 80 and in poor health. We must take action, and we must take action now, to preserve the lives of all those who govern us, who set our taxes, who impose all those rules and regulations that make everyday business such a joy to conduct.

ISRAEL Comments turned off

Sheba Medical Center at Tel Hashomer moves up a space to 9th in annual Newsweek ranking of world’s best hospitals.

Posted By on March 15th, 2020

http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/276656?utm_source=VeryGoodN

Newsweek magazine has deemed the Sheba Medical Center at Tel Hashomer the world’s ninth-best hospital, one place ahead of last year’s ranking, and placing it alongside the Mayo Clinic, Cleveland Clinic, Toronto General Hospital, and more.

Located in the Tel Aviv area, Sheba is israel’s largest medical facility, and also home to more than 25% of all Israeli clinical research.

In its performance rating, Newsweek cited the hospital’s collaborations with biotech and pharmaceutical companies worldwide to develop new drugs and treatments, in addition to its groundbreaking research in cancer, cardiology, brain diseases, genetics and more.

“The selection reflects another year of excellent and advanced medicine, breakthrough research and world-leading innovation,” said Sheba Medical Center Director General Professor Yitshak Kreiss, a former IDF Surgeon General who has headed the hospital since 2016.

“I am happy and proud of each one of our 9,131 dedicated and professional employees who think outside of the box every day. The continued rise in the rankings puts us in line with the world’s leading hospitals. As in every situation, and especially today when we are leading the national effort to treat the Coronavirus, it is a privilege to provide the Israeli population with the best medicine in the world.”

WORLD NEWS Comments turned off

Coronavirus: Europe on Lockdown by Soeren Kern

Posted By on March 15th, 2020

https://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/15737/coronavirus-europe-lockdown

The unprecedented restrictions on the movement of people, unimaginable only two weeks ago, is bringing life in Europe to a virtual standstill.

“We have to be prepared for the fact that Europe will be hit hard, that Europe will be hit even harder than China and that we will be dealing with this challenge for months.” — Austrian Chancellor Sebastian Kurz.

“The numbers are growing alarmingly fast.” — Austrian Chancellor Sebastian Kurz.

Europe is now the epicenter of the global coronavirus pandemic that has reached more than 45 countries on the continent. As of March 14, upwards of 42,000 people have tested positive for the disease, according to data from European health ministries.

The so-called Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) is spreading extremely fast: roughly 40,000 of the cases (95% of all cases) in Europe were confirmed during just the first 14 days of March.

Italy is Europe’s worst-affected country, followed by Spain, Germany, France, Switzerland and Norway.

In Europe as a whole, more than 1,600 people — 4.0% of those confirmed as having been infected — have died from COVID-19. In Italy, the lethality rate currently is 5.8%, according to the Ministry of Health.

As the scale of the unfolding crisis has come into view, European leaders have started to implement increasingly severe measures aimed at slowing the spread of the disease. The unprecedented restrictions on the movement of people, unimaginable only two weeks ago, is bringing life in Europe to a virtual standstill.

In Italy, the epicenter of Europe’s coronavirus outbreak, where more than 21,000 people have been diagnosed with COVID-19 (as of March 14), Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte ordered a nationwide lockdown. The quarantine of Europe’s third-most populous country, with 60 million inhabitants, bans non-essential travel to, from and within Italy; prohibits all public events; requires people to maintain a distance from each other of at least one meter (three feet); and shutters all bars, restaurants and shops (except for grocery stores and pharmacies).

WORLD NEWS Comments turned off

“Please, Please Help Us!”: The Persecution of Christians: December 2019 by Raymond Ibrahim

Posted By on March 15th, 2020

https://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/15730/please-please-help-us-the-persecution

A report cited by Fox News found that more than 6,000 Christians have been slaughtered by Islamic terrorists since 2015 — a thousand of them in just 2019.

“It is… genocide…. the longer we tolerate these massacres, the more we embolden the perpetrators. We give them a ‘green light’ to carry on killing.” — Baroness Caroline Cox, Fox News, December 24, 2019, Nigeria.

“Christian Syrian refugees … have been blocked from getting help from the United Nations Refugee Agency… by Muslim UN officials in Jordan.”

“You have this absurd situation where the scheme is set up to help Syrian refugees and the people most in need, Christians who have been ‘genocided,’ they can’t even get into the U.N. camps to get the food. If you enter and say I am a Christian or convert, the Muslim U.N. guards will block you….” — Paul Diamond, a British human rights lawyer, CBN News, December 4, 2019, United Nations in Jordan.

The following are some of the abuses Muslims inflicted on Christians throughout the month of December 2019, and categorized by theme:

The Slaughter of Christians

Nigeria: The Islamic State in West Africa Province released a video of the execution of 11 Christian aid workers on the day after Christmas. The brief video shows one Christian being shot, followed by 10 others, tied up and being beheaded by masked jihadis standing behind the hostages. “This message is to the Christians in the world,” a man’s voice narrates over the footage.

ENVIRONMENT AND JUNK SCIENCE Comments turned off

Greening Our Way to Infection John Tierney

Posted By on March 15th, 2020

https://www.city-journal.org/banning-single-use-plastic-bags-covid-19

The ban on single-use plastic grocery bags is unsanitary—and it comes at the worst imaginable time.

The COVID-19 outbreak is giving new meaning to those “sustainable” shopping bags that politicians and environmentalists have been so eager to impose on the public. These reusable tote bags can sustain the COVID-19 and flu viruses—and spread the viruses throughout the store.

Researchers have been warning for years about the risks of these bags spreading deadly viral and bacterial diseases, but public officials have ignored their concerns, determined to eliminate single-use bags and other plastic products despite their obvious advantages in reducing the spread of pathogens. In New York State, a new law took effect this month banning single-use plastic bags in most retail businesses, and this week Democratic state legislators advanced a bill that would force coffee shops to accept consumers’ reusable cups—a practice that Starbucks and other chains have wisely suspended to avoid spreading the COVID-19 virus.  

John Flanagan, the Republican leader of the New York State Senate, has criticized the new legislation and called for a suspension of the law banning plastic bags. “Senate Democrats’ desperate need to be green is unclean during the coronavirus outbreak,” he said Tuesday, but so far he’s been a lonely voice among public officials. 

The COVID-19 virus is just one of many pathogens that shoppers can spread unless they wash the bags regularly, which few people bother to do. Viruses and bacteria can survive in the tote bags up to nine days, according to one study of coronaviruses.

MEDIA, P.C.-CULTURE Comments turned off

#ME TOO GETS CHRIS MATTHEWS ON THE GLAZOV SHOW

Posted By on March 15th, 2020

https://jamieglazov.com/2020/03/13/glazov-metoo-gets-chris-matthews/

In this new Jamie Glazov Moment, Jamie discusses #MeToo Gets Chris Matthews, unveiling how The cheerleader of the Avenatti-Stormy Daniels circus meets poetic justice.

[This video credits Lloyd Billingsly’s Frontpage article: #MeToo Gets Chris Matthews.]

Don’t miss it!

ISRAEL Comments turned off

GOOD NEWS FROM ABSOLUTELY AMAZING ISRAEL FROM MICHAEL ORDMAN

Posted By on March 15th, 2020

www.verygoodnewsisrael.blogspot.com 

ISRAEL’S MEDICAL ACHIEVEMENTS
 
Lung cancer transplant patient receives his own lung. (TY David F) In a medical breakthrough, surgeons at Israel’s Beilinson hospital temporarily removed the left lung from a lung cancer patient. They then cut out a tumor from the lung that had been blocking the main airway and finally replaced the lung back into the patient.
https://jewishbusinessnews.com/2020/02/28/medical-breakthrough-in-israel-a-lung-was-removed-from-the-body-of-a-cancer-patient-cleaned-and-returned/
 
Coronavirus vaccine news. Latest progress on the vaccine being developed by Israeli scientists at the Migal Research Institute in Kiryat Shmona on the border with Lebanon. Also, an article on how the vaccine works.
www.nocamels.com/2020/03/israeli-scientists-avian-vaccine-adapt-coronavirus/
https://www.financialexpress.com/lifestyle/health/coronavirus-outbreak-israeli-scientists-confident-of-breakthrough-in-developing-vaccine-for-covid-19/1886367/
 
Helping coronavirus patients breathe. (TY UWI) Doctors at Jerusalem’s Alyn hospital developed Coughsync some 10 years ago to help relieve lung congestion in physically challenged and disabled children. Now it is being mass-produced to help clear secretions from the lungs of Chinese coronavirus patients on ventilators.
https://www.jpost.com/HEALTH-SCIENCE/New-Israeli-invention-used-to-treat-coronavirus-victims-in-China-617530  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KyW027huElc
 
Breakthrough in generating heart cells. (TY UWI) Researchers led by Professor Lior Gepstein of Israel’s Technion Institute and Rambam Medical Center have generated heart cells from stem cells that can be either atrial (upper) or ventricular (lower) chamber cells. It has significant benefits for testing cardiac treatments.
https://www.jpost.com/HEALTH-SCIENCE/Israeli-researchers-build-3D-model-of-heart-tissue-from-stem-cells-617525
 
Sheba is now world’s 9th best hospital. Newsweek magazine listed Israel’s Sheba Medical Center at Tel Hashomer as the world’s ninth-best hospital, up one place from last year (see here). Newsweek highlighted Sheba’s groundbreaking research in cancer, cardiology, brain diseases, genetics plus its global collaborations.
http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/276656
 
Contact lenses to correct color blindness. (TY Israel21c) Tel Aviv University researchers have developed customizable contact lenses that can correct deuteranomaly, a form of red-green colorblindness. Ultra-thin optical devices were incorporated into off-the-shelf contact lenses.
https://www.geek.com/news/these-high-tech-contact-lenses-correct-color-blindness-1819860/
https://www.osapublishing.org/ol/abstract.cfm?uri=ol-45-6-1379
 

ISRAEL Comments turned off

A new perspective on the Jordanian option following Trump’s peace plan Although Trump’s “Deal of the Century” has many excellent aspects, it is too expensive and wasteful. By Moshe Dann

Posted By on March 15th, 2020

https://www.jpost.com/Opinion/A-new-perspective-on-the-Jordanian-option-following-Trumps-peace-plan-620985

Rejection of President Trump’s “Deal of the Century” by Palestinian leaders has resulted in a stalemate that leaves Palestinians who desire national self-determination frustrated and angry. The problem is because of the fixation on creating a Palestinian state only west of the Jordan River. This has prevented thinking about any other options.

For the last three decades, based on the Oslo Accords, the international community has tried to resolve the dispute over Judea and Samaria (the West Bank) by creating an autonomous area for Palestinians under a “Palestinian Authority” – but not a state – while allowing for some Israeli settlements.

Promoted as a “peace agreement,” it soon proved to be a failure. The reason is that it was based on the false assumption that Arab and Palestinian leaders wanted peace with Israel. Rather than moving toward peace, the Palestinian Authority, the PLO, Hamas and other terrorist organizations only made the situation worse. Unsatisfied with what they were given, local autonomy, they continue to condemn Israel and support terrorism.

ANTI-SEMITISM Comments turned off

Sydney M. Williams:“Corona Virus and the Economy”

Posted By on March 14th, 2020

http://swtotd.blogspot.com/

What impact Covid-19 will have on the global economy no one now knows, but at least two things seem clear and will have consequences, both of which have been instrumental in keeping inflation at bay. First, the benefits of globalization and, second, the process of “just-in-time” inventory. Both bear risks.

The concept of free trade is a search for an ideal, not unlike King Arthur’s Knights’ quest for the Holy Grail. However, the reality of free trade can never be. Yet the closer we get the better all are served. Free trade is based on the concept of division of labor, popularized by Adam Smith, of labor costs, and by the availability of natural resources and of the means of shipping resources and finished goods. Theoretically, each nation should manufacture for consumption and export that which it can produce most cost-efficiently – whether the product is soybeans, oil or electronics – and import what it needs.

Easier said than done. Every country has arable land. Every country has workers skilled in multiple areas, not just in those for which they are best known. No country wants to be totally dependent on another. Exploitation and subservience are, though, unfortunately, natural conditions of man. As well, intellectual property is protected in some countries, but not in others. Rule of law does not apply evenly. Nevertheless, the goal of global trade is worthy. For one, it takes advantage of efficiencies, resources availability and labor costs. But, most important, trade requires that countries communicate and come together, and gathering is better than isolating.

Trade has reduced inflationary pressures on the price of consumables, by outsourcing manufacturing and assembly to countries with low labor costs. Medicines produced by American companies in India or China would have been more expensive if produced in New Jersey or Illinois. The same could be said of automotive parts and consumer electronic gadgets. While low prices for finished products have benefitted consumers, the losers include factory workers and lab technicians – and perhaps consumers if and when supply disruptions come. In July 2019, the U.S.–China Economic Security Review Commission invoked a Department of Commerce study that found that 97% of all antibiotics come from China. The Corona Virus, originating in Wuhan, has highlighted the disadvantage of dependency on China for something as vital as antibiotics.