ELECTIONS Comments turned off

Trump Ducks the GOP Debate He thinks Republicans will nominate him for a third time without a real contest.

Posted By on August 21st, 2023

https://www.wsj.com/articles/trump-ducks-the-gop-debate-candidate-politics-gop-nominee-race-election-2024-polls-indictment-c838c967?mod=opinion_lead_pos3

Donald Trump’s decision to skip Wednesday’s presidential debate shows that he wants to avoid having to tussle with competitors who might criticize him. The more interesting question is how Republican voters will respond to the former President’s evident presumption that he owns their allegiance.

Instead of debating, Mr. Trump says he will commune somewhere with Tucker Carlson. The former Fox News host will be on hand less as an interviewer than to endorse the former President’s claims that Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine is America’s fault and that the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol riot was merely a case of exuberant supporters getting slightly carried away.

Mr. Trump clearly think he has the nomination all but wrapped up, and judging by the current polls he has reason to think so. But what a message he is sending about the loyalty he thinks GOP voters owe him.

It would mean the Grand Old Party is going to nominate, for the third time, a man who has been indicted four times on 91 felony counts. We don’t mean despite being indicted. We mean because he’s been indicted.

In order to spite the Democrats for their partisan prosecutions, GOP voters would be doing exactly what Democrats and the press corps want them to do. Democrats want Republicans to nominate the man who has shown over the last three national elections that he is the greatest voter turnout machine for the Democratic Party since Franklin Delano Roosevelt.

FOREIGN POLICY Comments turned off

Iran–Russia Collaboration Makes a Mess of Biden’s Foreign Policy By Zach Kessel

Posted By on August 20th, 2023

https://www.nationalreview.com/2023/08/iran-russia-collaboration-makes-a-mess-of-bidens-foreign-policy/

The administration’s diplomatic engagement with Tehran undermines its support for the Ukrainian war effort.

Since President Biden took office in January 2021, U.S. foreign policy has been directionless and increasingly contradictory. The botched Afghanistan withdrawal, the rudderless response to Chinese surveillance balloons flying over the contiguous United States, and the erratic approach to support for Ukraine reveal a White House that is more comfortable reacting to world events than shaping them.

This past week, the Washington Post published a report detailing Russia’s progress toward building an army of drones — with Iran’s help. Russia’s goal is “to domestically build 6,000 drones by the summer of 2025” as Iran “covertly provid[es] technical assistance.”

On the one hand, the Biden administration has pledged support for Ukraine’s resistance against Russian aggression: At every turn, the president has affirmed that the U.S. will do everything within its power to help Ukraine maintain its territorial integrity and independence from Russia. On the other hand, this is the same Biden administration that seeks to restore some form of nuclear deal with Iran and just made a lopsided prisoner exchange granting the Islamic Republic access to $6 billion in frozen assets.

EDUCATION Comments turned off

How Do You Spell ‘Mississippi’? By Ryan Mills

Posted By on August 20th, 2023

https://www.nationalreview.com/magazine/2023/08/28/how-do-you-spell-mississippi/

Students here long had some of the lowest reading scores in the country — but over the past decade, something changed.

The Magnolia State’s revolution in reading instruction

Columbus, Miss. — The boy’s word is “lap.”

“Let’s sound it out with our finger spelling,” says his summer-camp counselor, counting the sounds with him on three digits: “lll . . . aaa . . . p.”

The boy, who just finished first grade and speaks in a whisper, begins finding letters on Scrabble-like tiles. Consonants are on blue tiles, vowels on yellow ones. He pulls out the blue “l” and then the yellow “a.” Struggling to finish the word, he chooses a third tile, a blue “b.” Not quite right.

Remember, “balloons go up and pigs go down,” the female counselor says, noting the different shapes of a “b” and “p.”

After his one-on-one, the boy joins the other campers on the lawn outside, where teams of kids in matching baby-blue camp shirts are competing in a relay race, with one kid passing a balloon over her head, the next passing it between his legs, and so on until the balloon reaches the end of the line. The last kid excitedly stomps on the balloon, popping it, and then reads the message on the slip of paper inside — “I can see the dolphin in the ocean” — before running to the front of the line and passing the next balloon over his head.

The scene on the lawn looks like any other summer camp around the country. But while fun and games are an important part of the experience, the 20 or so kids at “Camp LIT,” a program of the Mississippi University for Women, are here in late June for a more important reason: to become better readers.

During the one-week camp — a first for the university’s department of speech-language pathology — students between the ages of six and twelve are each paired with a graduate student trained in the Orton-Gillingham method of reading. This involves one-on-one therapy to work on phonic building blocks of reading: letters and sounds, digraphs and blends. Every component of the camp, even arts and crafts, has a literacy element.

“These are typical kids,” says Ashley Alexander, the clinical director of the department. “It’s just reading that is a struggle for them.”

It is this intense focus on what is known as the “science of reading” that has brought so much positive attention to the Magnolia State in recent years.

For decades, Mississippi has trailed the national pack in a variety of critical measures; the state has one of the highest rates of poverty in the nation, its infrastructure is lacking, and its health-care system is consistently ranked among the nation’s worst.

ISRAEL Comments turned off

Anti-reform protesters have taken the IDF hostage’ The IDF is in the middle of a by-the-book psychological operation designed to overthrow the government, but doesn’t seem to realize it, says Brig. Gen. Ari Singer. David Isaac

Posted By on August 20th, 2023

https://www.jns.org/jns/idf/23/8/20/311744/

Anti-judicial reform protesters have turned the Israeli army into a political tool, and if the military doesn’t put a stop to it it risks losing the national consensus, says Brig. Gen. (res.) Ari Singer, former commander of the Israel Defense Forces reserves (2017-2021).

Protest leaders are conducting a “propaganda and influence operation” to topple the government, and appear willing to sacrifice the army’s reputation to do it, according to Singer. “It’s called psychological operations, or psyops, and it’s being carried out brilliantly by those leading the protests. It’s like they read the 101 manual on subversion,” he said.

The army doesn’t appear to recognize what’s happening, he continued, which is why it hasn’t adequately confronted the threat. “The army has to emphasize that it’s not a political tool. Once the army was taken hostage by the demonstrators, it should have reacted.”

Reservists opposed to judicial reform threaten to stop reporting for duty. Protest leaders have used those threats as ammunition against the government, claiming its pursuit of judicial reform risks national security.

Refusing to serve is generally regarded as unethical by Israelis, but former high-ranking officers have provided cover by issuing statements supporting “all protest actions—including the immediate suspension of volunteering.” Those threatening to stop reporting for duty also enjoy favorable media coverage, noted Singer.

Recently, the Hebrew press has been flooded with stories about potential damage to IDF readiness. The alarm prompted Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to hold a meeting last week with IDF Chief of Staff Herzi Halevi and other top officers on the army’s “fitness and cohesion.” Military fitness was also the topic of a confidential Aug. 16 Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee meeting.

The army’s reluctance to speak out forcibly risks its reputation within Israeli society, according to Singer. By seeming to tolerate those threatening refusal, it appears to be taking sides in the debate, he said, adding that the Air Force has already suffered a blow to its prestige. The army has so far focused on operational fitness, saying it’s ready for battle. But Singer says that’s too narrow a view. “We’re talking about long-term motivation, or trust. Do I trust the army? You can build trust for years but lose it in days,” he said.

Singer, who began his military career in the armored corps, served 40 years in the reserves, eventually commanding it.

BOOKS Comments turned off

“New Deal Rebels by Amity Shlaes – Random Thoughts and Questions” Sydney Williams

Posted By on August 20th, 2023

http://www.swtotd.blogspot.com

“…it is neither humanitarian nor Democratic nor American to indoctrinate the people of the United States with the idea that it is the duty of the government to support the citizen, rather than the duty of the citizen to support the government.”

Speech by John W. Davis, October 21, 1936 Democrat Presidential candidate 1924

Davis’ words in 1936 anticipated the penultimate sentence in President John F. Kennedy’s inaugural address twenty-five years later: “And so, my fellow Americans: ask not what your country can do for you – ask what you can do for your country.”

Davis’s and Kennedy’s words expressed a longing for a time when government was limited and the individual paramount, when Horatio Alger was honored, and when children were told success was up to them, that they could become whatever they wanted, as long as they were aspirant, focused, and diligent.

While the immediate aim of the policies and agencies created by FDR’s New Deal was to alleviate the suffering brought on by the Depression, the long-term consequence was to empower the State at the cost of personal freedom and choice. The result was the birth of the “nanny” State, where government is viewed as overprotective and interferes unduly with individual choice. Kennedy’s call in 1961 was for greater individual self-reliance. But his words went unheeded; LBJ’s “Great Society” boosted the role of government, offering more entitlements. The 1980s and ‘90s provided a respite in the rate of change, but the momentum toward bigger government persisted. Progressive candidate Barack Obama spoke in late October 2008: “We are five days away from fundamentally transforming the United States of America.” Just as the stock market crash of 1929, provided the impetus for a more heavy-handed government response, the credit crisis of 2008 gave Mr. Obama the same excuse. As Rahm Emanuel, President Obama’s future White House Chief of Staff, exclaimed after the election: “You never want a serious crisis to go to waste. And what I mean by that is an opportunity to do things that you think you could not do before.”

When Roosevelt was inaugurated on March 3, 1933, the country was in the depths of the Great Depression. While the Dow Jones Industrial Averages were 30% higher than the summer of 1932, they were down 85% from their peak in 1929. Unemployment was close to 25% and real GDP was 26% lower than four years earlier. The Country was looking for a savior, and FDR appeared.

Once inaugurated in March 1933, Franklin Roosevelt took dramatic action. He declared a bank holiday, which shut down banks and the New York Stock Exchange for a week. In the interim, Congress passed a series of measures to ensure the integrity of the banks, including deposit insurance. When banks re-opened the immediate crisis passed. People re-deposited funds they had withdrawn, and the stock market opened higher. Over the next few years (like his successor seventy-six later with his “pen and phone”) FDR amassed power. In doing so, he created a plethora of agencies – “alphabet agencies,” as they were known. Among them: AAA (Agricultural Adjustment Administration), CCC (Civil Conservation Corporation), ERA (Emergency Relief Act), FDIC (Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation), NRA (National Recovery Act), PWA (Public Works Administration), REA (Rural Electrification Administration, TVA (Tennessee Valley Authority), and the WPA (Works Progress Administration) – all reporting to the Executive.

NATIONAL NEWS & OPINION Comments turned off

Biden takes in a 6-day vacay at Tom Steyer’s $18 million Lake Tahoe mansion … with a side trip to Maui By Monica Showalter

Posted By on August 20th, 2023

https://www.americanthinker.com/blog/2023/08/biden_takes_in_a_6day_vacay_at_tom_steyers_18_million_lake_tahoe_mansion__with_a_side_trip_to_maui.html

The residents of Maui must be so thrilled to hear that Joe Biden will interrupt his regularly scheduled weeklong vacation to make a one-day side trip to their fire-ravaged island.

No wonder a lot of them are telling the press they’d rather he didn’t.

The New York Post notes that this is one of many such trips he’s made during his presidency:

WASHINGTON — President Biden and his extended family arrived late Friday for a weeklong Lake Tahoe vacation at the $18 million waterfront mansion of billionaire climate investor Tom Steyer.

Biden, 80, and his scandal-plagued son Hunter, 53, showed up separately to the six-bedroom Nevada retreat, which is touted on Redfin as “one of Lake Tahoe’s finest lakefront properties and the pinnacle waterfront estate within the gated Glenbrook community.”

The home features a “spectacular lakeside gazebo [that] rests between the park-like grounds and the calming shores of Glenbrook Bay,” the real estate website says.

The president has enjoyed free vacations at the homes of other prominent Democrats, but the White House said that he will pay for the stay at Steyer’s three-acre property.

“The First Family is renting a private home for their stay in Lake Tahoe,” a statement read. “The home belongs to Tom Steyer and Kat Taylor. The First Family is renting the home for fair market value.”

Fair market value? If that was the case, why did he choose the home of a political crony? Fair market value means he could have chosen anyone. The Post points out that there’s no way of verifying “fair market value” which could be anything, actually, let alone whether he paid it. He has taken many such vacations at the homes of billionaires before, during his presidency, and reportedly never paid a dime, nor did he claim these to-dos as “gifts” on disclosure forms.

Last August, Biden and his family spent seven days at the nine-bedroom Kiawah Island, SC, mansion of donor Maria Allwin, whose family runs a hedge fund, after asking her to use the home, a source told The Post at the time.

“They’re not paying. They’ve never paid,” the source said.

NATIONAL NEWS & OPINION Comments turned off

Uniparty’s Plan to Save ‘Our Democracy™’ Unfolds Trump is an existential threat to their continued existence By Roger Kimball

Posted By on August 20th, 2023

https://amgreatness.com/2023/08/20/unipartys-plan-to-save-our-democracy-unfolds/

The fish are plentiful today. There’s Hunter Biden and his various lies: about the sources of his prodigious income, his payment (that is, non-payment) of taxes, drugs, guns, child support, laptops and prostitutes. There’s Joe Biden and his lies, the sources of his prodigious income, and—the latest—his use of pseudonymous email accounts when writing to Hunter and Hunter’s business partners to discuss the weather—or was it the whether and how to siphon 20 million of the crispest into virtually untraceable bank accounts?

There’s the seemingly endless series of indictments directed at Donald Trump. The latest new there, if I am up to date, is that he told people to watch election returns on One America News Network. Clearly part of a RICO conspiracy. Someone whose math is sharper than mine calculated that President Trump is potentially on the hook for 450 years in the slammer for . . . well, his torts are mostly in the eye of the beholder.

This coming week, Fox News, whose leaders have made no secret of their contempt for Trump, are holding the first Republican debate. Problem: as of this writing, it looks as though Trump will not be participating. How rude! And to Fox News, which hates him, and to the RNC, which doesn’t like him very much. How could he do this?

The really delicious thing is that even if Trump doesn’t show up for the debate, he will upstage everyone. The word at the moment is that he’ll do an interview with Tucker Carlson on Twitter at the same time as the debate. My bookies report that viewership of that interview, should it take place, would be far higher than the viewership for watching Chris Christie throw his, er, weight around. Quick: who is Doug Bergum and does anyone care? Yes, the event will be an opportunity for Tim Scott and Vivek Ramaswamy to shine. It will also be a sort of last bite at the apple for Ron DeSantis and his sputtering campaign.

But let’s face it, whether Trump shows up or not, he is the star of the show. If he doesn’t show, his performance will be like that of Tallulah Bankhead who, late in her career, was dissed by some pushy ingenue. “I could upstage you dahling,” Tallulah said, “without even being on stage.” She did, too, by the simple expedient of precariously balancing a champagne glass half-on-half-off a table when she made her exit. The ingenue came on for her big scene, but all eyes were glued to the glass: would it or would it not fall off the table? (No one knew that she had put sticket tape on the bottom of the glass).

I don’t know what is going to happen in this election anymore than you do, Dear Reader. But I have been amused by the absolute certitude of the chattering class, which assures us with hands wringing that 1) Trump is a very bad man 2) That he cannot win the general election but that 3) The clever but insidious Dems will assure that he wins the nomination, thus assuring a Republican defeat come November 2024.

WORLD NEWS Comments turned off

‘Killing Christians Takes Us to Paradise’: The Persecution of Christians, July 2023 by Raymond Ibrahim

Posted By on August 20th, 2023

https://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/19909/killing-christians-paradise

“The Taliban are working to completely erase Christianity or any religious minority from the country, even stating that there are no Christians in Afghanistan, an obviously false claim. Many Christians have gone underground to avoid being kidnapped by the Taliban ‘courts.’ The rising starvation rates and increasing poverty in Afghanistan create an even higher security threat to these believers since now the Taliban are offering financial compensation to anyone who reports on Christians… and Afghans are desperate, further heightening the security risk [to Christians.] Unless ransomed by their families, Christians captured by the ‘courts’ face brutal torture and even death. If redeemed, the survivors and their families, often bankrupt from the exorbitant ransom demands, must flee their homes to avoid repeated kidnappings from the various Taliban gangs. Because of the persecution, many Christians escape to Pakistan and risk capture and death by the Taliban. Even if they make it to Pakistan, they must conceal their faith for fear of receiving worse treatment in already poor conditions. Some Christian refugees decide to return to Afghanistan, deciding they have a better chance of survival under the Taliban than in Pakistan.” — Report by International Christian Concern, July 13, 2023, Afghanistan.

Arguing that churches should never exist in Muslim-majority regions, on Sunday, July 2, Muslims broke up a Christian worship service even as police stood by looking on. — Morning Star News, July 17, 2023, Indonesia.

She was heard yelling, “You the minorities should not always ask to be respected!” — Morning Star News, July 17, 2023, Indonesia.

This video captures some of the most recent damage of beheadings and desecrations. The report concludes by saying the motivation of the “unknown vandals” remains “a mystery to police.” — Kronen Zeitung, Austria.

“Blasphemy laws are often used as a weapon of revenge against both Muslims and non-Muslims to settle personal scores or to resolve disputes over money, property or business. A mere allegation is enough to provoke a mob to riot and lynch falsely accused suspects in Pakistan. At least 1,949 persons were accused under the blasphemy laws between 1987 and 2021, according to the Center for Social Justice. A large number of these blasphemy cases are still awaiting justice.” — Morning Star News, July 12, 2023, Pakistan.

These laws are, moreover, becoming more, not less, severe….

“The… situation became tense after the Friday prayers when announcements were made from mosque loudspeakers asking people to gather for a protest.” — Tahir Naveed Chaudhry, a Christian and former lawmaker, Morning Star News, July 4, 2023, Pakistan.

“The blasphemy charge against Shahzad stems from personal grudges against him by the complainant, Ullah … [who] had engaged in legal battles with Shahzad over a piece of land allotted by the government for constructing a church building.” If found guilty, [he] faces up to ten years in prison. — Morning Star News, July 4, 2023, Pakistan.

ISRAEL Comments turned off

GOOD NEWS FROM AMAZING ISRAEL FROM MICHAEL ORDMAN

Posted By on August 20th, 2023

https://verygoodnewsisrael.blogspot.com/

In the 20th Aug 23 edition of Israel’s good news, the highlights include:

Three Israeli medical breakthroughs to combat diseases in the heart, lungs, and brain.

Israeli firefighters helped extinguish forest fires in Greece and Cyprus.

An Israeli innovation boosts production of hydrogen from water.

Israeli robots can protect fish stocks or teach English.

New Israeli trade agreements with Vietnam and Ivory Coast.

“Beautiful” debut Israeli concert by Christina Aguilera.

Record number of twins born in 24 hours at Jerusalem hospital.

ISRAEL’S MEDICAL ACHIEVEMENTS

A miniature human heart, grown from stem cells. (TY WIN) Researchers at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem and Israel’s Technion Institute have created a tiny functioning human heart, smaller than a grain of rice. It will help scientists study the heart and develop new treatments for cardio-vascular diseases.

https://www.timesofisrael.com/israeli-researchers-grow-miniature-beating-model-of-a-human-heart/

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L-eKR6AQPZQ  https://www.nature.com/articles/s41551-023-01071-9

Short-circuiting the lung cancer gene. (TY JNS & Israel21c) Researchers at Israel’s Weizmann Institute have found that Erbitux – a therapy for colon and neck / head cancer – can also cure lung cancer in non-smokers with a mutated EGFR gene. They have also identified a biomarker to identify those patients.

https://wis-wander.weizmann.ac.il/life-sciences/select-group-study-may-bring-improved-therapy-preselected-lung-cancer-patients  https://www.cell.com/cell-reports-medicine/pdf/S2666-3791(23)00295-1.pdf

Busting the protein link to Alzheimer’s. Israeli biotech MemoryPlus has developed a peptide to block the interaction of proteins PTEN & PSD-95, that causes memory loss in Alzheimer’s patients. The disease makes excessive PTEN, which attacks PSD-95, weakening the brain’s synapses. The peptide also lowers PTEN levels.

https://nocamels.com/2023/08/protein-busting-drug-could-be-new-era-for-alzheimers-therapy/

https://shiraknafo.com/   https://www.crunchbase.com/organization/memoryplus

The power of enzymes. (TY Yehoshua) Israel’s Enzymit is developing enzymes to enable some life-changing chemical reactions (see videos). First, though, it has synthesized hyaluronic acid – a natural biopolymer used to heal eyes, wounds, inflammation, and more. This avoids the use of animal tissue or costly alternate processes.

https://www.i24news.tv/en/news/israel/technology-science/1690889148-israeli-startup-enzymit-achieves-breakthrough-in-hyaluronic-acid-production   https://enzymit.com/   

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=94pdvpoyaaw  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GnPgbJu_sG4

Making science fiction a reality. Israeli-founded Bionaut Labs (see here previously) has safety-tested its micro robot containing a magnet, that can travel via spinal fluid, directly to the brain, to deliver therapy or perform surgery. It can also navigate to any part of the body. Bionaut plans to begin human trials in late 2024.

https://www.timesofisrael.com/spotlight/400m-apple-face-id-inventors-create-tiny-robot-to-treat-brain-disease/

https://www.ourcrowd.com/companies/bionaut-labs  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8PrPbevTDqE

Heart diagnosis AI that any doctor can use. Doctors at Israel’s Sheba Medical Center have developed AISAP POCAD (AI Point of Care Assisted Diagnosis) to diagnose a patient’s cardiac problem As Soon As Possible. The AI system uses any manufacturer’s supplied combination of handheld ultrasound probe and digital tablet.

https://www.timesofisrael.com/sheba-startup-uses-ai-to-help-doctors-image-and-diagnose-cardiac-issues-in-minutes/   https://www.aisap.ai/   https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6JdoIQXNPz8

European grant for preemie formula. Israel’s ELGAN (see here previously) has been awarded a $2.5 million grant by the European Innovation Council (EIC). It will help ELGAN clinically test its ELGN-GI oral formula for the treatment of intestinal malabsorption that prevents preterm infants from absorbing nutrients.

https://nocamels.com/2023/07/startup-treating-newborns-in-serious-condition-raises-2-5m/

 

World-first newborn surgery saves baby’s ovaries. (TY Israel21c & JNS) Surgeons at Jerusalem’s Hadassah Ein Kerem detected twisted fallopian tubes in a fetus during a routine ultrasound of the mother. They immediately delivered the baby and performed a complex operation to save her ovaries.

https://www.jpost.com/health-and-wellness/article-753159

More heart ops for children from South Sudan. Israeli NGOs IsraAID and Save A Child’s heart returned to South Sudan to assess children who needed heart surgery (see here previously). They screened 74 children including 4-year-old Gladys who was in urgent need. Gladys was rushed to Israel for surgery.

https://www.israel21c.org/israeli-ngos-screen-south-sudan-kids-for-lifesaving-surgery/

https://saveachildsheart.org/children-in-israel

WORLD NEWS Comments turned off

Brexit: Lottery as Politics by Amir Taheri

Posted By on August 20th, 2023

https://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/19908/brexit-politics

It depends on what we mean by Brexit….If we go by its simplest meaning, that is to say ceasing to be a member of the European Union, Brexit has succeeded.

Leaving aside control of borders and curbing immigration, Brexit became a vehicle for all sorts of fantasies. The UK was to regain its imperial role as leader of the Commonwealth, albeit in the service of world peace and prosperity. Creative trade agreements were to be signed with the United States, China, Japan and any other nation that recognized the advantages of having the UK as partner.

Needless to say, that hasn’t happened.

In the UK today, more than 25 percent of children have foreign mothers. (In London it is 52 percent). Of every ten British children, one is a Muslim-born citizen. In a decade or two, “little Englanders” may even be a minority as a new globalized society takes shape.

“Brexit has failed!” This is what Nigel Farage, the politician who was the cheerleader for Britain leaving the European Union, said in a television interview last week.

A day later it was the turn of former Prime Minister Boris Johnson, the man who railroaded Brexit through the parliament, to echo Farage. In his newspaper column, he said the UK “is still stuck in the European Union orbit.”

For a brief moment, Prime Minister Rishi Sunak seemed to amplify that echo with a tweet that implied the UK was still part of the EU. (Needless to say the tweet was hastily corrected.)

Well, has Brexit failed?