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May 2021

NATIONAL NEWS & OPINION Comments turned off

Matt Taibbi: Congressional Democrats heroic fight to save the rich

By on May 2nd, 2021

https://nationalpost.com/opinion/matt-taibbi-congressional-democrats-heroic-fight-to-save-the-rich

Josh Gottheimer, Democrat of New Jersey, made an inspired plea recently. The Harvard man and Alpha Epsilon Pi brother is a member of the so-called “SALT caucus,” a group of congressfolk threatening to hold up Joe Biden’s infrastructure bill if it doesn’t include a full repeal of a Donald Trump-imposed $10,000 cap on deductions of state and local taxes.

“It is high time that Congress reinstates the state and local tax deduction, so we can get more dollars back into the pockets of so many struggling families,” intoned Gottheimer, one of 32 members of the SALT caucus, which includes 8 Republicans. 

Pressure on Biden to repeal the SALT cap has been amping up, mainly from tri-state Democrats like Gottheimer, fellow New Jerseyan Bill Pascrell, and Tom Suozzi of New York. “No SALT, no deal!” the trio power-tweeted a few weeks back. Just a few days ago, Gottheimer even came up with a new way to argue the plan, offering to pay for the repeal of the SALT cap by increasing audits.

“There is a way to do this by going after what people owe already,” he said.

The effort by the “SALT caucus” to hold a $2 trillion relief bill hostage in order to help what they’re calling “struggling families” in the “middle class” is just the latest development in a years-long saga revealing Congress at its phoniest and most shameless.

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MEDIA Comments turned off

WIKIPEDIA SPREADING LIES AND ANTI-SEMITISM: DAVID COLLIER

By on May 2nd, 2021

https://david-collier.com/wikipedia-antisemitic/

Today – tens of millions of people – including many children -will type something into Google’s search box. Because of Google’s algorithm, a Wikipedia entry will almost always feature as one of the top results:

It has probably held true for a number of years that more people have their opinion shaped by Wikipedia on a daily basis – than by any other information source. I do not believe that most people fully understand the damage that Wikipedia is doing, nor the fact that action must be taken to challenge it.

When I write about Wikipedia, I always face the same three arguments:

Firstly the idea that everyone can edit Wikipedia. It is simply not true. Everyone can go onto a mundane page and make an edit – but the more important pages on Wikipedia are protected – which means only certain editors can make a change. These protections do not just stop abuse – they prevent challenges to the bias of the editors.

Secondly, is the notion that because most people know Wikipedia is not a reliable source it mitigates the damage. This is a deflection. Even many of those that know Wiki is tainted, still recommend using it as a starting point – especially teachers and academics. Google, the world’s leading search engine, literally treat it as the best source in the world. All those seeking information by starting on Wikipedia are still guided by the additional links that are on Wiki’s pages – and are left blind to those facts and arguments that have been airbrushed out.

Finally, there is the suggestion that is possible to counter the bias by simply adding editors with a more balanced outlook. There are just 15 million Jews on the planet. Everyone bravely fighting antisemitism online is aware that the haters swarm and we are vastly outnumbered – even with friends and allies. In a numbers game – and Wiki is a numbers game – the Jews will always lose. We desperately need allies to take the time to enter Wiki’s world – but on its own, it is not a strategy that we should depend on.

It isn’t just about Jews or Israel and it is not enough to sit idly by. Wikipedia is *damaging* truth and promoting an anti-western, antisemitic, anti-Israel narrative. This cannot be stated often or hard enough; When it comes to spreading disinformation – Wikipedia is the biggest fake news distributor on the planet.

Rogue Wikipedia

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DAVID'S SLINGSHOT DPS, NATIONAL NEWS & OPINION Comments turned off

Race and the Coming Liberal Crackup Bret Stephens

By on May 2nd, 2021

https://www.nytimes.com/2021/04/26/opinion/race-police-violence-liberalism.html

“Joe Biden’s resounding victory and his progressive policies are supposed to mark the real end of the Reaganite era of American politics. Don’t be surprised if they’re a prelude to its return, just as the last era of progressive excess ushered in its beginning.”

 Americans breathed a collective sigh of relief last week after Derek Chauvin was convicted of murdering George Floyd. The crime was heinous, the verdict just, the moral neat. If you think that systemic racism is the defining fact of race relations in 21st-century America, then Chauvin’s knee on Floyd’s neck is its defining image.

But what about a case like that of Ma’Khia Bryant, a Black teenager who was shot and killed last week by Nicholas Reardon, a white police officer in Columbus, Ohio, at the instant that she was swinging a knife at a woman who had her back against a car?

Ben Crump, the Floyd family’s lawyer, accused the Columbus police in a tweet of killing “an unarmed 15yo Black girl.” Valerie Jarrett, the former Obama adviser, tweeted that Bryant “was killed because a police officer immediately decided to shoot her multiple times in order to break up a knife fight.” Jarrett wants to “Demand accountability” and “Fight for justice.”

An alternative view: Maybe there wasn’t time for Officer Reardon, in an 11-second interaction, to “de-escalate” the situation, as he is now being faulted for failing to do. And maybe the balance of our sympathies should lie not with the would-be perpetrator of a violent assault but with the cop who saved a Black life — namely that of Tionna Bonner, who nearly had Bryant’s knife thrust into her.

That’s a thought that many, perhaps most, Americans share, even if they are increasingly reluctant to say it out loud. Why reluctant? Because in this era of with-us-or-against-us politics, to have misgivings about the left’s new “anti-racist” narrative is to run the risk of being denounced as a racist. Much better to nod along at your office’s diversity, equity and inclusion sessions than suggest that enforced political indoctrination should not become a staple of American workplace culture.

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NATIONAL NEWS & OPINION Comments turned off

Caitlyn Jenner Opposes Trans Girls Competing in Women’s Sports in Schools By Zachary Evans

By on May 2nd, 2021

https://www.nationalreview.com/news/caitlyn-jenner-opposes-trans-girls-competing-in-womens-sports/

Caitlyn Jenner said on Saturday that she opposes allowing biological males who identify as transgender to compete in women’s sports in schools, in comments to TMZ.

Jenner, a Republican gubernatorial candidate for California, was asked her opinion on legislation under consideration in several states that would ban biological males from competing in women’s sports.

“This is a question of fairness,” Jenner said. “That’s why I oppose biological boys who are trans competing in girls’ sports in school. It just isn’t fair. And we have to protect girls’ sports in our schools.”

When the interviewer asked whether Jenner’s position was “delegitimizing” the identity of male athletes who transition to females, Jenner responded “have a good day.” Jenner later reiterated her position in a statement on Twitter:

“I didn’t expect to get asked this on my Saturday morning coffee run, but I’m clear about where I stand. It’s an issue of fairness and we need to protect girls’ sports in our schools.”

Jenner underwent sex-reassignment surgery in 2017, and told ABC in 2015 that she had struggled with gender dysphoria throughout her life. Jenner was born as Bruce Jenner and won the decathlon in the 1976 Olympics.

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EDUCATION Comments turned off

An Open Letter to Swarthmore President Valerie Smith . By Peter Berkowitz

By on May 2nd, 2021

https://www.realclearpolitics.com/articles/2021/05/02/an_open_letter_to_swarthmore_president_valerie_smith_145684.html

Dear President Smith,

Thank you for your “Reflections on Yesterday’s Verdict,” which you sent to Swarthmore students, alumni, faculty, and staff on April 21 and posted on the college’s website. Prompted by the announcement that Derek Chauvin had been found guilty of murdering George Floyd, you offered brief thoughts on the connection between liberal education and racial justice, social movements, and political change. As a Swarthmore graduate grateful for the long-ago introduction that the college provided me to liberal education, and as an observer of American politics troubled by the nation’s widening schisms, I read your message with great interest.

In the spirit of my Swarthmore studies, your reflections have left me with a number of questions. They revolve around the relation between politics and liberal education.

Your message asserts that “[a]lthough the verdict can never truly bring justice for Mr. Floyd and his family, it signals the impact of a powerful social movement.” You summon us to join in that social movement, stating, “We must dedicate ourselves anew to the struggle for lasting, meaningful change” in America to bring about “a more just, equitable, and safe society.”

You envisage a distinctive role for colleges and universities. “As an institution of higher learning, Swarthmore College is committed to contributing to that change — by continuing to foster an environment in which students can engage in deep, thoughtful, and frank conversations about the challenges facing our society,” you write. “This shared and vital work can and will continue to ensure we provide a transformative liberal arts education grounded in fearless intellectual inquiry.”

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NATIONAL NEWS & OPINION Comments turned off

Science, Politics, and COVID: Will Truth Prevail? Dr. Scott Atlas

By on May 2nd, 2021

https://imprimis.hillsdale.edu/science-politics-covid-will-truth-prevail/

The following is adapted from a speech delivered on February 18, 2021, at a Hillsdale College National Leadership Seminar in Phoenix, Arizona.

Scott W. Atlas is the Robert Wesson Senior Fellow at the Hoover Institution at Stanford University. He previously served for 14 years as professor and chief of neuroradiology at Stanford University Medical Center. From July to December 2020, he served as Special Advisor to President Trump  as a member of the White House Coronavirus Task Force. 

The COVID pandemic has been a tragedy, no doubt. But it has exposed profound issues in America that threaten the principles of freedom and order that we Americans often take for granted. 

First, I have been shocked at the unprecedented exertion of power by the government since last March—issuing unilateral decrees, ordering the closure of businesses, churches, and schools, restricting personal movement, mandating behavior, and suspending indefinitely basic freedoms. Second, I was and remain stunned—almost frightened—at the acquiescence of the American people to such destructive, arbitrary, and wholly unscientific rules, restrictions, and mandates.

The pandemic also brought to the forefront things we have known existed and have tolerated for years: media bias, the decline of academic freedom on campuses, the heavy hand of Big Tech, and—now more obviously than ever—the politicization of science. Ultimately, the freedom of Americans to seek and state what they believe to be the truth is at risk.

Let me say at the outset that I, like all of us, acknowledge that the consequences of the COVID pandemic and its management have been enormous. Over 500,000 American deaths have been attributed to the virus; more will follow. Even after almost a year, the pandemic still paralyzes our country. And despite all efforts, there has been an undeniable failure to stop cases from escalating and to prevent hospitalizations and deaths. 

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ISRAEL Comments turned off

GOOD NEWS FROM AMAZING ISRAEL FROM MICHAEL ORDMAN

By on May 2nd, 2021

This week, a deadly crush at a religious festival, still under investigation, brought shock and gloom to Israel’s citizens and the nation’s protagonists. The resilient nation responded swiftly with succor to survivors. America’s strong commitment to Israel suffered a setback with the Biden administration’s reversion to past discarded policies. Behind the headlines Israel’s contributions to science, health, agricultural innovation, water resource technology and quantum computing continued apace. Here is another dazzling list brought to us by Michael Ordman. rsk

www.verygoodnewsisrael.blogspot.com 

 

ISRAEL’S MEDICAL ACHIEVEMENTS

Panic over. Israel is recording less than 100 new Covid-19 cases a day, with under 1,600 total infections. Swimming pools, gyms and dining at restaurants are to be opened even to the unvaccinated. And a new Israeli report shows that any country can control Covid-19 if more than 50% of the over-60s are vaccinated.
https://www.timesofisrael.com/scientists-israel-proves-every-developed-country-can-subdue-covid-with-vaccines/ https://www.timesofisrael.com/israel-sees-just-38-new-covid-cases-the-lowest-daily-tally-in-a-year/
https://www.i24news.tv/en/news/coronavirus/1619419343-israel-sees-just-36-new-covid-cases-in-24-hours-less-than-2-000-active-patients-in-total

Masks cut asthma and allergies. A study by Israel’s Sheba Medical Center has concluded that the wearing of facemasks protected many citizens not only from Covid-19 but also from asthma and allergies. Urgent visits to Sheba’s emergency unit during the pandemic by asthma patients dropped by 49% and hospitalizations by 65%.
https://unitedwithisrael.org/israel-sees-dramatic-drop-in-severe-asthma-due-to-face-masks/
https://www.israel21c.org/wearing-masks-for-covid-saved-us-from-asthma-and-allergies/

Nose spray blocks Covid variants. In recent trials at Israel’s Sheba Medical Center, the Taffix nose spray from Israel’s Nasus (see here previously) blocked 100 percent” of the British and South African variants of SARS-CoV-2 virus.  https://nocamels.com/2021/04/israeli-nasus-nasal-spray-taffix-covid-variants/
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MqdurzubL18

Poised to transform brain surgery. Israel’s Tamar Robotics (see here previously) is developing a surgical robot to revolutionize brain surgery. It will give doctors a minimally invasive tool to remove tumors and blood clots and treat other brain conditions that now require major surgery. See video of founder Professor Shohan.
https://www.timesofisrael.com/spotlight/israeli-startups-precision-robots-poised-to-transform-brain-surgery/
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xbPYQOycveU

Proteins that cause intestinal disease. Researchers from Tel Aviv University have developed an Artificial Intelligence platform that can identify the specific proteins that allow bacteria to infect the intestines. It should lead to new therapeutics that can neutralize the proteins and prevent disease, eliminating the use of antibiotics.
https://www.aftau.org/news_item/tau-researchers-identify-proteins-that-cause-intestinal-disease/
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/33707240/

Opening the arteries. MultiGeneAngio from Israel’s VESSL Therapeutics is in human trials for treating peripheral and coronary artery disease. The patient’s cells are extracted, enhanced with genes and re-implanted, to increase blood flow to oxygen-starved muscles. And VESSL’s MultiGeneGraft treats end-stage renal disease.
https://jewishbusinessnews.com/2021/04/25/vessl-therapeutics-is-a-medtech-startup-offering-new-cardiovascular-treatments/  http://vessltherapy.com/

Repairing bones. Scientists at Israel’s Technion Institute have new technology for bone and soft tissue repair. Instead of grafting bone from elsewhere in the body, they used stem cells from the soft tissue inside discarded teeth. They then combined this with other cells to repair spinal cord in laboratory tests.
https://jewishbusinessnews.com/2021/04/27/technion-scientists-develop-new-technology-for-bone-and-soft-tissue-repair/   https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1002/adfm.202008687

European approval for smart IVF treatment. Israel’s AIVF (see here previously) has received the CE Mark for its unique AI IVF analysis platform that avoids risky biopsies. AIVF’s system improves the success of IVF treatment – a costly and invasive process. US approval is now also being sought.
https://www.calcalistech.com/ctech/articles/0,7340,L-3906485,00.html

ISRAEL IS INCLUSIVE AND GLOBAL

Arab woman is Vice President of Hebrew U. The Hebrew University of Jerusalem has elected Professor Mona Khoury-Kassbari Vice President of Strategy and Diversity.  She will be responsible for broadening the mix of faculty members and students from Orthodox Jews, Arabs, Ethiopians and those with disabilities.
https://www.jewishpress.com/news/israel/israeli-arabs/hebrew-u-appoints-arab-woman-as-vice-president/2021/04/28/

Saving life in Jerusalem. Khaled is one of nearly 700 Muslim paramedics in United Hatzalah – Israel’s emergency medical organization. During Ramadan, Khaled fasts during the day but still responds to all calls and treats patients of all religions equally.
https://www.jns.org/view-from-the-other-side-of-violence-saving-lives-in-eastern-jerusalem/

Making every drop of water count. (TY UWI) Great video of Israel’s globally enhancing water technologies. A single drop of saltwater taken from the Mediterranean, travels from an Israeli desalination plant to a domestic tap, is drunk, re-cycled, and piped across Israel to water crops via Israeli drip irrigation. Hardly a drop is lost.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YscEfqIllt4

La Parisien promotes post-Covid Israel. (TY JNS) Israel’s success in beating coronavirus attracts much attention in the international media. French magazine Le Parisien devoted a cover story to Israel as an example of “life after Covid”. It describes a busy Tel Aviv and Israel’s unprecedented national vaccination operation.
https://www.israelhayom.com/2021/04/25/french-magazine-devotes-cover-story-to-post-covid-israel/

Israeli and UAE jets in exercise together. Israeli Air Force planes flew alongside Emirati aircraft week as part of the Iniohos international aerial exercise hosted by Greece. The other countries involved were Cyprus, France, the US, Spain and Canada. The UAE and Israel flew together also in 2017 and 2019 (see here previously).
https://www.timesofisrael.com/israeli-uae-fighter-jets-fly-together-in-large-international-exercise-in-greece/
https://unitedwithisrael.org/watch-idf-fighter-pilots-join-uae-troops-for-aerial-drill/

Another agreement signed with UAE. (TY JNS) Israel and the UAE signed a bilateral accord to tackle pandemics, cybersecurity and data protection. The agreement will also see the enactment of large-scale joint economic and health-related projects. Minister Yuli Edelstein said it would “bolster Israel’s healthcare system”.
https://www.israelhayom.com/2021/04/22/israel-uae-sign-healthcare-agreement/

AI for social good. (TY JNS) Google has partnered Tel Aviv University to launch a new program to promote AI-related multidisciplinary research for the benefit of society. AI for Social Good selected 10 researchers who are using Artificial Intelligence to advance humanity by addressing major global social issues.
https://www.jewishpress.com/news/on-campus/google-tau-launch-new-program-ai-for-social-good/2021/04/27/

Aid to Uruguay, Ethiopia, India & Caribbean. Doctors from Israel’s Sheba Medical Center are heading to Uruguay to help it tackle coronavirus. Also, from Assuta Ashdod Hospital to Ethiopia and equipment from Israel’s SmartAID to India. And IsraAID responders go to the Caribbean following a major volcanic eruption.
https://www.jpost.com/israel-news/israel-to-send-covid-aid-to-uruguay-665521
https://unitedwithisrael.org/israel-dispatching-team-to-ethiopia-to-help-fight-covid-19/
https://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/305115
https://www.jns.org/israaid-sending-team-of-responders-to-caribbean-in-wake-of-volcano-eruption/

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ELECTIONS Comments turned off

Media hysteria means Arizona election audit may be on to something By John D. O’Connor

By on May 2nd, 2021

https://www.americanthinker.com/blog/2021/05/media_hysteria_means_arizona_election_audit_may_be_on_to_something.html

While an uncertain public awaits  results from the Arizona election audit, the immediate major media outcry, prematurely denouncing it, should be viewed as the audit’s hitting a major media nerve.  The media’s reaction vividly demonstrates their fear of a searching re-examination of the election purity they have so arrogantly and unwaveringly proclaimed.

After all, if this election were as well run as touted (with the customary admission to the mere occasional and inevitable, but insignificant, error), then the Biden-centric media should be cheerleading the effort.  Shouldn’t the audit, to use a favored media word, be anticipated to “debunk” the claims of widespread irregularities?

The media have drawn great succor from numerous court cases turning down challenges to the 2020 election results.  However, these claims raised issues not properly cognizable by our judicial system.  Ordering a recount is one thing; relitigating a multimillion-vote election is quite another.  It looks tremendously suspicious that, after Republican poll-watchers were banished, massive blocs of Detroit votes were introduced in the early morning, with 95% Biden selection.  But what exactly is a smart person in black robes supposed to do with this tableau?  Overturn the election without taking evidence?  Convene a three-month trial with numerous witnesses and experts, while Biden and Trump cool their heels?  A wise court should toss the case, as each reviewing jurist did.  But this rejection should not be seen as validating the election process, as the major media did.

The election process itself, not the judicial system, is supposed to be administered so as to provide the public with confidence in the announced tallies.  For this reason, the only widely recognized judicial remedy, as in Bush v. Gore, is an order to recount, which brings the process back to its proper venue: the election centers.  So the unsuccessful Republican and Trump lawsuits to invalidate the various election results do not validate the propriety of election procedures; they merely demarcate the limited jurisdictional boundaries of our judicial system.

But that is not how major media, at once partisan and ignorant, have spun this string of unsurprising Republican defeats:

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ANTI-SEMITISM Comments turned off

Granting Value to the World Roger Kimball

By on May 2nd, 2021

https://amgreatness.com/2021/05/01/granting-value-to-the-world/

By making happiness incompatible with man’s essence, Schopenhauer found himself deaf to Goethe’s wisdom: “If you want to delight in life, then you must grant value to the world.”

In the great contest to be the world’s gloomiest philosopher, there are many high-ranking competitors.

I won’t say that philosophers have cornered the market on gloominess. There are other walks of life that have always been abundantly supplied with people who can find a cloud in any silver lining.

But as a group, philosophers can give anyone a run for his money.

It is true that the sage Zarathustra is said to have been born laughing. And Aristotle seems to have been a happy, well-adjusted family man.

There are other cheerful chaps (interestingly, all great philosophers in history have been male) scattered here and there.

Some people will find it odd to find Thomas Aquinas on the list of those with a sunny disposition. But anyone who was so plump that he had to have a semi-circle cut out of the refectory table cannot have been too gloomy.

Then there was the great Nicholas of Cusa, the 15th century German cardinal, statesman, scientist, philosopher. He was a world-affirming fellow, as was proved by his having endowed a monastery with a vineyard for its perpetual support. Someone told me it is still going strong, 500 years later, though I haven’t checked up on that.

That Gloomy Philosophy

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MEDIA Comments turned off

Fake News: New York Times, WaPo, NBC forced to retract false claims about Giuliani By Kathianne Boniello

By on May 2nd, 2021

https://nypost.com/2021/05/01/new-york-times-wapo-nbc-forced-to-retract-false-clai

The New York Times, Washington Post and NBC News all issued retractions Saturday for their coverage of Rudy Giuliani following a raid of his Manhattan apartment by the FBI.

The Times appended their correction to a story about the role Giuliani may have played in the 2019 recall of ambassador Marie L. Yovanovitch and whether he received a warning from the FBI about Russian disinformation.

“An earlier version of this article misstated whether Rudolph W. Giuliani received a formal warning from the F.B.I. about Russian disinformation. Mr. Giuliani did not receive such a so-called defensive briefing,” The Times wrote Saturday in a note attached to the piece.

The Washington Post’s correction, on a story about prominent Americans being targeted by Russian disinformation, was similar.

“An earlier version of this story, published Thursday, incorrectly reported that One America News was warned by the FBI that it was the target of a Russian influence operation,” the paper said.

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