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August 2023

ENVIRONMENT AND JUNK SCIENCE Comments turned off

Democrats’ climate change blame game for Hawaii fire confronted by reality after Maui identifies cause White House clean energy czar John Podesta said Hawaii fires were ‘fueled by climate change’ By Thomas Catenacci

By on August 27th, 2023

https://www.foxnews.com/politics/democrats-climate-change-blame-game-hawaii-fire-confronted-reality-maui-identifies-cause

Hawaiian officials attributed the cause of catastrophic wildfires to alleged failures from the state’s main power utility company and downed power lines this week after Democrats blamed the disaster on global warming.

In a lawsuit filed Thursday, the government of Maui County, Hawaii, alleged Hawaiian Electric Company (HECO) and its subsidiaries failed to properly power down live electrical equipment amid a red flag windstorm earlier this month. Due to this failure, downed power lines operated by the utility company sparked a series of deadly fires on the island, the lawsuit claimed.

“The lawsuit alleges that the Defendants acted negligently by failing to power down their electrical equipment despite a National Weather Service Red Flag Warning on August 7th,” Maui County said in a release announcing its lawsuit. 

“The lawsuit further alleges HECO’s energized and downed power lines ignited dry fuel such as grass and brush, causing the fires,” the announcement added. “The lawsuit also alleges failure to maintain the system and power grid, which caused the systemic failures starting three different fires on August 8th.”

Maui County argued in the lawsuit that HECO has a duty “to properly maintain and repair the electric transmission lines, and other equipment including utility poles associated with their transmission of electricity, and to keep vegetation properly trimmed and maintained so as to prevent contact with overhead power lines and other electric equipment.”

However, Democratic lawmakers, a top White House official and Hawaii Gov. Josh Green have all blamed the event, which has claimed the lives of at least 115 people, on human-caused global warming.

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ISRAEL Comments turned off

GOOD NEWS FROM AMAZING ISRAEL FROM MICHAEL ORDMAN

By on August 27th, 2023

 www.verygoodnewsisrael.blogspot.com 

Two simple words define Israel’s non stop scientific, technical, medical and social institutions. They are “L’Chaim- To Life.” From Azerbaijan to Zambia the lives and hopes of billions are enhanced by Israel’s dazzling contributions to every aspect of beneficial human endeavor. rsk

As evidence read Michael Ordman’s catalogue. Here are a few highlights:

Medical history made by Israeli spinal surgeons and heart valve implants.

Israeli aid organization is bringing relief to survivors of Maui wildfires.

Two Israeli renewable energy companies are powering ahead.

An Israeli jetpack lets you swim like a dolphin.

Positive economic news for Israeli unemployment, energy, and tourism.

Amazon announces major Israeli investment.

Israeli women win gold medals in judoka and windsurfing.

An Israeli Arab, a Druze and a Jew give inspiring messages.

ISRAEL’S MEDICAL ACHIEVEMENTS
 
First AR spinal surgery. Dr Cezar J. Mizrahi of Jerusalem’s Shaare Zedek Medical Center has performed the world’s first Augmented Reality-assisted robotic spinal surgery on a patient with an unstable spine fracture. Dr Mizrahi previously (see here) performed the world’s first robot-assisted lumbar spine fusion.
https://www.jns.org/jns/topic/23/8/21/312010/   https://www.jpost.com/health-and-wellness/article-755470
 
First US heart patients to receive “forgotten” valves. (TY TPS) Israel’s Trisol Medical (see here previously) has successfully implanted its new Transcatheter Tricuspid Valves in two US patients. The valve is called “forgotten” as the aortic and mitral valves get most medical attention. 10 Israelis have already had the implants.
https://unitedwithisrael.org/major-milestone-as-israeli-heart-valve-implanted-in-first-us-patients
https://trisol-medical.com/   https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2cv9aHAjbnU
 
007 – license to kill cancer cells. (TY OurCrowd) Israel’s Edity Therapeutics reprograms immune cells to recognize tumors that hide from the body’s regular immune system. Edity’s ED 007 cell therapy inflames these tumors, triggering the body’s own immune system to kill the cancer without risk of side effects or rejection.
https://www.timesofisrael.com/spotlight/meet-007-the-cell-with-a-license-to-kill-cancer-created-by-an-israeli-startup/   https://edity-tx.com/  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LBEl1TwExmo
 
Chicken corneas fight cancer. Israeli biotech ExoProTher is developing an anti-cancer therapy using protein generated from the p53 gene in the corneas of chickens. The foreign protein binds to cancerous human p53 protein, destroying tumors without side effects. The cornea is highly cancer resistant and full of p53 protein.
https://nocamels.com/2023/08/new-protein-based-cancer-drug-does-not-affect-healthy-cells/
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IhR6-W6CM0E   https://www.exoprother.com/
 
Blood test and therapy diagnosis for bipolar disorder. Researchers at Haifa University have identified a blood test to diagnose patients who suffer from bipolar disorder. The test also can predict if the patient will respond to the most common treatment – Lithium carbonate. It can save misdiagnosis and wrong medication.
https://nocamels.com/2023/08/researchers-develop-blood-test-to-diagnose-bipolar-disorder/
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41380-023-02183-z
 
AI video analysis to determine Crohn’s therapy. Researchers at Israel’s Sheba Medical Center and Intel have achieved 81% accuracy in predicting if biologic therapy would relieve a patient with Crohn’s Disease. They used machine-learning to analyze videos of complete capsule endoscopies (CE) of the small intestine.
https://www.jpost.com/health-and-wellness/article-750247
 
Skin care for cancer patients. EGFR inhibitors are common treatments for cancer but cause severe skin problems that cannot be fully alleviated. Israel’s EMRIS is developing a topical solution to block EGFRi monoclonal antibodies and allow the patient to continue treatment without the debilitating side effects.
https://www.calcalistech.com/ctechnews/article/r1iz3yhj2
 
Preventing PE. Pulmonary Embolism (PE) is the third leading cause of cardiovascular-related death and the number one cause of preventable hospital death. Israel’s Althea Medical is developing an over-the-wire medical device that physicians can use to remove blood clots quickly and safely from arteries in the lung.
https://www.calcalistech.com/ctechnews/article/bjacbkk2h
https://www.peregrinevc.com/portfolio/althea-medical/
 
Air transportation for cancer patients. United Hatzalah, Lahak Aviation and Sheba Medical Center together have launched a pilot service to bring cancer patients from remote parts of Israel to hospital for treatment. Previous dangerous and stressful 3–4-hour journeys are reduced to a safe, comfortable 40-minutes.
https://israelrescue.org/blog/caring-for-israels-periphery-one-cancer-patient-at-a-time/
 
Mental health therapy in the Gaza envelope. (TY Mara) Local mental health therapists at the Jewish National Fund-USA’s Eshkol Resilience Center in Sderot provide support for residents of the Gaza Envelope region.  They help their community cope with difficult times in one of the fastest-growing regions in Israel.
https://www.jpost.com/israel-news/politics-and-diplomacy/article-747637
 

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NATIONAL NEWS & OPINION Comments turned off

Flight Risks :By German Lopez

By on August 27th, 2023

Close calls: Near Misses on Airport Runways

The U.S. has not had a fatal plane crash involving a commercial airline in more than 14 years — an incredible safety achievement.

But the elaborate system that keeps planes from crashing is struggling. In recent years, air traffic controllers, who guide planes out of harm’s way, have suffered a staff shortage. Out of 313 air traffic control facilities nationwide, just three as of May met staff targets set by the Federal Aviation Administration and the union representing controllers.

Aviation officials worry the shortage is leading to close calls, in which planes nearly crash. There were at least 46 near misses involving commercial airlines last month, according to an investigation by my colleagues Sydney Ember and Emily Steel that published this morning. Those close calls are still a small fraction of the nearly 1.4 million flights in the U.S. each month, and it is not clear whether the rate is increasing.

But any close call is dangerous, potentially leading to a fatal crash that breaks America’s safety streak. As a spokesman for the F.A.A. said, “One close call is one too many.” The agency’s goal is to reduce the number of such near misses to zero. Staff shortages make that harder.

“The controllers we’ve talked to take real pride in their job, and they work really hard to make sure these planes are safe,” Emily told me. “But they’re worried that the circumstances around their jobs could make them slip up and that those mistakes could be very dangerous.”

What is behind the shortage? Part of the problem goes back decades: In the 1980s, President Ronald Reagan fired thousands of air traffic controllers who were on strike. The F.A.A. then hired new controllers. Many retired when they became eligible to do so 20 years later. And now, another 20 years later, another wave of controllers is retiring.

Chronic disinvestment in government services is another cause. Over the past decade, the number of fully trained controllers has fallen 10 percent, while airport traffic has increased 5 percent. The F.A.A. has asked for more money to increase hiring. Even if the agency receives those funds, it will take time to hire new controllers and train them.

In the meantime, the U.S. risks more close calls. Some in aviation worry it’s only a matter of time before the overworked system fails to stop a deadly crash.

“Aviation officials will say that we have the safest system in the world,” Sydney said. “But underlying that success are risks and issues that deserve attention.”

In some near misses, airplanes have come so close to each other that officials described the encounters as “skin to skin.”

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FOREIGN POLICY Comments turned off

Biden’s Disastrous Withdrawal from Afghanistan Still Haunts the West by Con Coughlin

By on August 27th, 2023

https://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/19918/afghanistan-withdrawal-haunts-west

Putin is nothing if not an opportunist, and the images of American forces and their British allies struggling to contain the surging crowds at Kabul airport who were desperately trying to flee the country will have confirmed the Russian leader’s view that, so long as Biden remained in power, he had nothing to fear from the US.

By ordering US forces to withdraw from Afghanistan, Biden effectively gave Putin the green light to press ahead with his invasion plans.

In every sense, the invasion of Ukraine started in Kabul, so much so that the Russian military build-up on the border with Ukraine prior to the invasion only got seriously underway after the August 2021 withdrawal.

Now, thanks to the utter incompetence of the Biden administration’s handling of the Afghan crisis, Afghanistan, Ukraine, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and most urgently Taiwan all find themselves struggling to deal with the disastrous consequences of the Biden administration’s ineffectual leadership.

Had the warplanes been provided when President Volodymyr Zekensky first requested them at the end of last year, they may have arrived in time to make a calculable difference to the Ukrainian ground offensive, where a lack of effective air cover has slowed the Ukrainian advance.

Biden’s dithering over the issue, with the White House initially ruling out approving the transfer of the jets before eventually changing its mind, now means that it is highly unlikely the warplanes will be in action this year, by which time the Ukrainian offensive will have ended.

Chinese leader Xi Jinping, who has told his army to “prepare for war”, appears to have reached the same conclusion as Putin.

In such circumstances, the Ukrainian people and the Taiwanese could be forgiven for believing that, just as happened in Afghanistan, Biden’s inability to provide effective leadership on the world stage will simply result in them being abandoned to their fates.

It is not just the beleaguered people of Afghanistan who are suffering as a result of US President Joe Biden’s catastrophic decision to arbitrarily end America’s military involvement in the country two years ago.

It is now abundantly clear that Russian President Vladimir Putin’s decision to launch his brutal invasion of Ukraine was taken as a direct consequence of the weak leadership Biden displayed over his handling of the Afghan issue.

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BOOKS, HISTORY Comments turned off

THE GREAT CRISIS OF OUR TIME: JOHN WATERS

By on August 27th, 2023

https://www.realclearhistory.com/articles/2023/08/26/great_crisis_of_our_time_975593.html

Nearly 100 years ago, Winston Churchill wrote an essay called the “Mass Effects in Modern Life.” In it he wondered whether the best of human potential had been handed over to assembly lines and machine processes, what he referred to as the “magic” of mass production. “Science in all its forms surpasses itself every year,” Churchill observed. The year was 1925. Churchill had seen a great deal of change in his life. He had lived through the mass sacrifice and suffering of the Great War, the rise of a collectivist ideology in Soviet Russia, and a second wave of industrialization that stretched from the late nineteenth century into the early twentieth century. Though science had delivered “material blessings” in “measureless abundance,” the face of society was changing.

Gone were the master craftsmen and creators. Gone were the pioneers and adventurers, whose bold choices spurred the enterprise that followed their discoveries. In the place of “eminent men” was industrial repetitiveness, powerful and productive but lacking in whatever elusive qualities that once imbued the lonely individual with a sense of honor, and an ambition to leave his mark on the world. Modern civilization proved “hostile to the development of outstanding personalities and to their influence upon events.” More artist than politician, Churchill saw through the mysteries of the times and concluded that as man becomes more dominant over science and technology, “the individual [himself] becomes a function.” This tiny speck that is a person no longer thinks of “himself as an immortal spirit, clothed in the flesh, but sovereign, unique, indestructible.” He loses his faith; he loses himself.

Modern life seems depleted of meaning and purpose, writes political philosopher Glenn Ellmers. In his new book The Narrow Passage: Plato, Foucault, and the Possibility of Political Philosophy (Encounter, 2023), Ellmers explores what went wrong in the American political community over the last 100-plus years, tracing a line from Machiavelli to Nietzsche on to Hegel and then Foucault in search of that rogue strain of thought that produced this modern condition. At less than 100 pages, the book offers no solutions. Instead, like Churchill, Ellmers illuminates the problem: how the individual became part of an aggregate; why “our dignity has no quantitative value.” I spoke with Ellmers about his book and ideas. What follows is a lightly edited transcript of our conversation.

What is the “great crisis” of our time?

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IMMIGRATION Comments turned off

The Biden border crisis rages on

By on August 27th, 2023

https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/opinion/editorials/the-biden-border-crisis-rages-on

What little progress President Joe Biden made in bringing a semblance of order to the southern border in June was wiped out by a huge surge of immigrants in July, according to numbers released on Aug. 18 by the Department of Homeland Security.

The latest border encounter numbers reveal that the border crisis Biden created is not abating at all. It can be no surprise that Democratic cities and states, eight so far, are declaring emergencies because they are feeling the pain inflicted by Biden’s border policies that they supported.

There were 183,503 encounters at the border in July, 27% more than the 144,566 encountered in June. June’s number was an improvement from 206,701 in May. All three numbers dwarf the 25,019 encountered in July 2017.

Former President Barack Obama’s DHS Secretary Jeh Johnson once testified that anything more than 1,000 encounters a day represented a “crisis.” Biden has overseen 29 straight months of encounters higher than the highest month under the previous administration.

It is no longer just Republicans sounding the alarm. Democratic mayors and governors have declared states of emergency in their jurisdictions to deal with the flood of immigrants overwhelming their communities.

“This influx of migrants, the unanticipated nature of their arrival, and our current space and staffing challenges have put an immense strain on city resources to the level where they’re on the verge of reaching a breaking point at this time,” Denver Mayor Michael Hancock, a Democrat, said in December.

“State employees and our partners have been miracle workers throughout this crisis,” Gov. Maura Healey (D-MA) said earlier this month. “But in recent months, demand has increased to levels that our emergency shelter system cannot keep up with, especially as the number of families leaving shelter has dwindled due to a lack of affordable housing options and barriers to securing work.”

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