IMMIGRATION, MEDIA Comments turned off

‘Do You Hear Yourself?’: Vance Blasts ABC Host for ‘Nitpicking’ Trump’s Rhetoric on Immigration Haley Strack

Posted By on October 14th, 2024

https://www.nationalreview.com/news/do-you-hear-yourself-vance-blasts-abc-host-for-nitpicking-trumps-rhetoric-on-immigration/

Ohio Senator and Republican vice-presidential candidate J. D. Vance, in an interview on Sunday morning, blasted ABC News anchor Martha Raddatz’s criticism of Donald Trump’s comments on immigration, days after the former president had claimed that Aurora, Colo., has been “invaded and conquered” by illegal immigrants.

Trump’s claim that the Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua has taken over apartment complexes was labeled “grossly exaggerated” by Aurora’s mayor, Raddatz pointed out.

“Well, Martha, you just said the mayor said they were exaggerated. That means that there’s gotta be some element of truth here,” Vance said. “Of course, President Trump was actually in Aurora, Colorado, talking to people on the ground, and what we’re hearing is people are terrified by what has happened with some of these Venezuelan gangs —”

Raddatz interrupted the candidate.

“Senator Vance, I’m going to stop you because I know exactly what happened. I’m going to stop you. The incidents were limited to a handful of apartment complexes, and the mayor said, ‘Our dedicated police officers have acted on those concerns.’ A handful of problems,” Raddatz said.

“Only, Martha? Do you hear yourself?” Vance responded. “Only a handful of apartment complexes were taken over by Venezuelan gangs, and Donald Trump is the problem, not Kamala Harris’s open border? Americans are so fed up with what’s going on, and they have every right to be,” Vance responded. “I really find this exchange, Martha, sort of interesting because you seem to be more focused with nitpicking everything that Donald Trump has said rather than acknowledging that apartment complexes in the United States of America are being taken over by violent gangs.”

ELECTIONS Comments turned off

The Strange, Mythological Campaign of Kamala Harris Harris is distancing herself from her record, misrepresenting her past, and shifting blame for policy failures onto Donald Trump, creating a disconnect between her actions and campaign messaging. By Victor Davis Hanson

Posted By on October 14th, 2024

https://amgreatness.com/2024/10/14/the-strange-mythological-campaign-of-kamala-harris/

Increasingly, little if anything remains real about the Harris campaign.

Take ideology and the issues.

It is now well known that Kamala Harris was rated as the most left-wing of all current senators, including Bernie Sanders—according to GovTrack, a non-partisan compiler of evaluators in Congress. The Voteview project found her voting record the most liberal of all senators of the 21st century, except for radical Elizabeth Warren.

Harris as vice president in a 50/50 Senate has proven the decisive passing vote on more deadlocked bills than any other vice president in history—all thirty-three of them proudly progressive legislation. She has done more to ensure left-wing government at the national level than any prior vice president.

Indeed, Harris, as both a California state official and its senator, and as vice president, has for some thirty years championed almost every issue dear to the left—Medicare for all, an end to private health care plans, banning fracking, mandatory EV requirements, unrestricted abortion, wealth taxes, income and inheritance tax hikes, defense cuts, price controls, open borders, ending the border patrol, stopping all deportations, opposition to a border wall, mass amnesties, free transition surgeries for illegal aliens, and mandatory buyback of semi-automatic firearms.

In most of these cases, Harris not only voiced support but did so proudly and emphatically in front of hard-left constituencies. She has declared that she is a radical and woke.

During the 2020 Antifa and BLM riot after the death of George Floyd, Harris unabashedly helped to raise bail for arrested violent demonstrators in Minnesota. Indeed, she went on national television to warn the nation that the protests were a “movement” that would not and should not stop.

Given such a long record, Harris should have been proud of her politics, which had done so much, especially over the last four years, to change the very nature of the nation. Why, then, is she not campaigning on the allegedly superior record of the Biden administration, the innate advantages to voters of the progressive project, and the need to implement a further left-wing agenda? Rather than promising “change,” should she not be advocating “four more years of the same?”

Answer—Joe Biden has proven to be one of the most unpopular presidents in history. His approval ratings hover around 40 percent, and less on the very left-wing policies he and Harris implemented.

So, Harris is not proudly boasting of her past efforts to open wide the southern border, to support defunding the police, or to call for reparations. Instead, she has renounced most of her prior radical agendas and embraced their antitheses. In eerie examples of projection, whatever particular unpopular policy is most associated with Biden-Harris, she claims Trump, out of office since January 2021, was responsible for the fiasco.

NATIONAL NEWS & OPINION Comments turned off

Sheriff: Possible Third Trump Assassination Attempt Thwarted

Posted By on October 14th, 2024

https://www.newsmax.com/politics/sheriff-coachella-checkpoint/2024/10/13/id/1183910/

Sheriff Chad Bianco of Riverside County, California, said he may have prevented a third assassination attempt on former President Donald Trump after stopping a man at a road checkpoint who was allegedly in possession of an illegal firearm, or firearms, and fake rally passes.

On Saturday, just before 5 p.m, deputies assigned to Trump’s security detail for his Coachella Valley rally stopped the driver of a black SUV, Vem Miller, 49, half a mile from the rally entrance, according to a press release from the Riverside County Sheriff’s Office. Miller “was found to be illegally in possession of a shotgun, a loaded handgun, and a high-capacity magazine,” as well as fake press and VIP passes.

“We probably stopped another assassination attempt,” Bianco said, according to the New York Post.

The sheriff’s office said that Miller was taken into custody “without incident” and booked at the John J. Benoit Detention Center for “possession of a loaded firearm and possession of a high-capacity magazine.”

He was released Saturday on $5,000 bail and is scheduled to appear at the Indio Larson Justice Center on Jan. 2, 2025.

ELECTIONS, NATIONAL NEWS & OPINION Comments turned off

The KISS Of Death: The Case Against Kamala In Six Simple Numbers Bob Maistros

Posted By on October 14th, 2024

https://issuesinsights.com/2024/10/14/the-kiss-of-death-the-case-against-kamala-in-six-simple-numbers/

KISS. The age-old, sage advice to Keep It Simple, Stupid.

With voting already underway, the Trump-Vance campaign has at its disposal a historically simple case to drop the KISS of death on Kamala Harris’ candidacy.

Six numbers utterly disqualify the most inadequate, incompetent, ineffectual, insubstantial candidate ever put forward by a major party for the office of president of the United States of America.

These numbers must be repeated, daily, by the two members of the Republican ticket and every imaginable surrogate between now and the final closing of the final polling place November 5.

Here we go:

$17,080

Kacklin’ Kamala laments “so many Americans trying to make it all work every day … sitting around their own kitchen tables and facing their own financial pressures.”

You bet. And she knows exactly why. According to the House Budget Committee, that $17,080 was, as of this summer, the annual Harris-Biden “inflation tax” on the average American household. A number that has only grown since, despite a supposed “cooling” that did not preclude continued leaps in food, shelter, medical, and apparel costs in the latest Consumer Price Index report.

NATIONAL SECURITY AND DEFENSE Comments turned off

US national security mandates regime-change in Iran Ambassador (Ret.) Yoram Ettinger,

Posted By on October 13th, 2024

http://bit.ly/3zYf5Nw

The US State Department has rejected the regime-change option (which would gratify most Iranians) since 1978/79, when Iran’s Ayatollahs seized power, assisted by the State Department, which had stabbed the back of the Shah, who had been America’s Policeman in the Gulf.

Instead, the State Department has embraced the diplomatic option, which has generated hundreds of billions of dollars to the Ayatollahs – notwithstanding their systematically anti-US policies – facilitating their surge from a non-leadership regional stature in 1979 to global prominence, militarily and diplomatically in 2024. Furthermore, the diplomatic option has substantially upgraded the Ayatollahs’ support of terror entities such as Hezbollah, Hamas and the Houthis.

*In 2024, independent of potential nuclear capabilities, the conventional military capabilities of Iran’s Ayatollahs constitute the most critical epicenter of anti-US global terrorism, drug trafficking, money laundering and the proliferation of advanced missiles and predator unmanned aerial vehicles. 

The Ayatollahs’ conventional capabilities are a clear and present danger to the US homeland (e.g. proliferation of sleeper cells on US soil and the tight collaboration with Mexico’s drug cartels) and national security. Since the early 1980s, the Ayatollahs have severely eroded the US’ strategic posture in Latin America. In addition, the Ayatollahs pose an imminent lethal threat to every pro-US Arab regime, especially the oil-producing regimes (e.g., Saudi Arabia, the UAE and Bahrain), aiming to seize control of 48% of the global oil reserves.

*In 1978/79, the State Department deluded itself that Ayatollah Khomeini would be controlled by moderate advisors, distancing himself from Moscow, focusing on introducing liberty to the Iranian people, refraining from the exportation of the Islamic Revolution, evolving into an Iranian edition of Ghandi.

In 1978/79, the State Department policy doomed the pro-US Iran, transforming it into a venomous anti-US octopus with its tentacles stretched from the Persian Gulf, through the Middle East and Africa to Latin America and the US homeland.

ELECTIONS, MEDIA Comments turned off

The Hill Liz Peek: Desperate Democrats cry “misinformation” to silence criticism of Kamala Harris

Posted By on October 13th, 2024

https://thehill.com/opinion/campaign/4928306-desperate-democrats-cry-misinformation-to-squash-criticism-of-kamala-harris

For days now, the liberal media and its Democratic allies have seemed much more concerned about Republicans spreading “misinformation” than about the real-life suffering of North Carolinians.   

For proof, look no further than this blizzard of headlines — all from Politico:  

“The worst I have ever seen’: Disinformation chaos hammers FEMA”
“After the deluge, the lies: Misinformation and hoaxes about Helene cloud the recovery” 
“Elon Musk is piling onto all the hurricane disinformation, hampering relief efforts” 
“FEMA director on misinformation: ‘Truly dangerous narrative’” 

Politico is certainly not alone, ABC ran with this story on Tuesday: “Ahead of election, experts warn Hurricane Helene misinformation is ‘just the beginning.’” 

CBS contributed this one on Monday: “Misinformation has surged following Hurricane Helene.” 

 That’s the same CBS that reportedly doctored video of Kamala Harris’s “60 Minutes” interview to make the Democratic candidate appear more intelligent. So their concern about misinformation is apparently episodic.

It’s almost as though a memo went out to Democrat-friendly media allies, prompting a concerted pushback against criticism of the Biden-Harris White House’s response to Hurricane Helene. It’s not surprising. 

The pile-up of delayed, tone-deaf and embarrassing responses to the devastating storm from the administration and Kamala Harris has been damaging; her team is desperate to contain the damage. 

P.C.-CULTURE, WORLD NEWS Comments turned off

Canada’s woke Stasi An elderly school trustee who questioned trans ideology has been subjected to a legal witch-hunt.

Posted By on October 13th, 2024

https://www.spiked-online.com/2024/10/13/canadas-woke-stasi/

Under other circumstances, former school trustee Barry Neufeld may have retired as one of your curmudgeonly, albeit amusing, elderly neighbours, equipped with a brash sense of humour, a glass of wine and a cigarette. Had he not introduced himself at a recent panel event I spoke on in Victoria, British Columbia (BC) about the harms of gender-identity ideology, I would never have pegged him as a supposed hate-monger. He seemed rather jovial, in fact. Yet the Canadian media and some of Canada’s most powerful unions see things differently. They have made Neufeld their nemesis.

Neufeld is now in his seventies. His troubles began in 2017. This was when he discovered a new gender-identity curriculum for kids coming down the pike in his school district of Chilliwack, BC. This was the year that the SOGI (Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity) 123 programme was implemented in public schools across the province, with the aim of making classrooms more ‘inclusive’ for LGBT-identified kids. That same year, Bill C-16 was passed by the national parliament, adding ‘gender identity’ to the list of protected characteristics under the Canadian Human Rights Act. Both pieces of legislation were introduced with little public debate and most Canadians were completely unaware of what was even happening.

But Neufeld noticed and spoke out on Facebook, criticising SOGI 123 for instructing ‘children that gender is not biologically determined, but is a social construct’. ‘At the risk of being labelled a bigoted homophobe’, he wrote, ‘I have to say that I support traditional family values and I agree with the [American College of Pediatricians] that allowing little children to choose to change gender is nothing short of child abuse’.

After facing backlash, he apologised a couple of days later ‘to those who felt hurt’ by his opinion. He explained that ‘I am critical of an educational resource, not individuals. Those who have worked with me for over 24 years know that I do believe in inclusion and a safe learning environment for all of our students.’ Yet he didn’t relent, adding: ‘SOGI 123 resources need to be reviewed by engaging parents and teachers in conversation… before full implementation.’

This didn’t happen, of course. This is never how the trans issue has been handled by the Canadian government and its state-funded institutions. Rather, gender-identity policy and legislation have been slipped in under the radar. By the time most of the Canadian public noticed, it was far too late.

ELECTIONS, ISRAEL Comments turned off

Biden and Harris, own up: your foolish Iran overtures ignited its war against Israel By  Victor Davis Hanson

Posted By on October 13th, 2024

https://nypost.com/2024/10/13/opinion/biden-and-harris-own-up-iran-policies-ignited-israels-war/

Both the Harris-Walz presidential ticket and now lame-duck President Joe Biden keep insisting that they are Israel’s best friend.

A snarly Biden recently bragged at a contentious press conference, “No administration has helped Israel more than I have. None, none, none. And I think [Netanyahu] should remember that.”

Yet the thin-skinned and triggered Biden’s prickliness poorly hid — or perhaps revealed — the truth: This current administration knows that it is responsible for the current explosion of the Middle East and the particular dilemmas of Israel.

Biden further revealed his blame-gaming of the Israeli government when asked another loaded question about purported Netanyahu election interference, saying, “Whether he’s trying to influence the election, I don’t know.”

Who’s to blame for Israel’s war?

Election interference?

Explore More

Biden apparently forgot who just flew Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky into swing-state Pennsylvania, just as early and mail-in voting there began, to lobby for more aid even as he trashed Donald Trump’s running mate J.D. Vance to a left-wing magazine.

Recently, Democratic candidate Vice President Kamala Harris refused to say whether the Netanyahu administration is even an ally of the United States.

ISRAEL Comments turned off

POSITIVE NEWS FROM ISRAEL FROM MICHAEL ORDMAN

Posted By on October 13th, 2024

www.verygoodnewsisrael.blogspot.com

Here are a few highlights from Israel brought to us from Michael Ordman. Neither war, nor pandemic stops Israel in research and development of science, medicine, defense, and environmental technology in agriculture and water preservation that benefits the world. And, best of all, a people determined to survive, with a citizen army of patriots and heroes, fill cafes, restaurants, theaters and concerts in spite of daily warning sirens. rsk

 

While fighting Hamas, the IDF rescued a Yazidi girl from slavery in Gaza.

Israelis can diagnose Alzheimer’s 20 years in advance of the first symptoms.
Israel spends more on education per capita than almost every other nation.

An Israeli laser beam can knock hostile drones out of the sky.

One day soon, Israeli technology will be inside every car.

An Israeli 17-year-old girl is Europe’s Youth chess champion.

A Torah scroll memorializing Oct 7 victims was dedicated at the Western Wall.

 

 

POSITIVE NEWS IN A WAR
 
IDF rescues enslaved Yazidi girl from Gaza. (TY UWI) Fawzia Amin Sido, a Yazidi girl abducted by ISIS in Iraq at age 11 and later sold to a Gazan and held captive by Hamas, has been freed by Israeli forces. And after a complex, months-long operation involving the US and others, she was reunited with her family in Iraq.
https://www.timesofisrael.com/israel-rescues-yazidi-woman-from-gaza-after-kidnapping-by-isis-at-age-11/
 
Mia leaves hospital. (TY WIN) Former hostage Mia (Maya) Regev was discharged from hospital after a long rehabilitation process following her release from Gaza in November. Hamas terrorists shot her at the Nova festival. A “doctor” in Gaza reattached her foot sideways, and Israeli surgeons had to operate to correct it.
https://www.timesofisrael.com/liveblog_entry/former-hostage-mia-regev-released-from-hospital-after-months-of-rehabilitation/   https://www.i24news.tv/en/news/israel/society/artc-former-hostage-mia-regev-released-from-hospital-after-long-recovery 
 
Oct 7 survivor’s heroism in Jaffa. Lev Kreitman, who survived the Oct 7 Nova Music Festival massacre, eliminated one of the terrorists responsible for the deadly attack at the Jaffa light rail station. Having served five months in Gaza, he had successfully applied for a pistol, with which he saved many innocent lives.
https://unitedwithisrael.org/nova-survivor-who-eliminated-terrorists-in-jaffa-rail-attack-thanked-by-people-he-saved/
 
We can fly. More than a dozen patients from the Kaylie Rehabilitation Medical Center at ADI Negev-Nahalat Eran took to the southern Israel skies with pilots from the partner organization “Ananim: Flights for the Community”. It gave a moment of joy, respite, and motivation to continue their complex battle with disability.
https://www.jns.org/wire/war-wounded-soldiers-and-civilians-touch-the-southern-israel-skies/
 
Wedding on the front lines. Victoria and Asher were all set to marry in a beautiful ceremony, but then Asher was called up. Rather than postpone the celebration, Asher’s friends from the Carmeli (Golani) Brigade, along with a rabbi, took it upon themselves to create a memorable wedding on the eve of Rosh Hashanah.
https://unitedwithisrael.org/watch-idf-soldiers-wedding-goes-forward-on-the-front-lines/
 
IDF’s “autistic” unit is winning the war. IDF’s Unit 9900 employs Israelis whose neurodivergence makes them particularly talented in monitoring and analyzing satellite images. They are playing a key role in dismantling Hezbollah’s leadership. These “gifted” soldiers greatly help protect Israel’s population.
https://www.nysun.com/article/how-israels-unit-for-soldiers-with-autism-helped-the-idf-demolish-hezbollahs-leadership  (register for two free articles)
 
Rebuilding the Gaza envelope. Israeli NGO Kolot has launched the “Restart” program, a transformative initiative dedicated to revitalizing communities in Israel’s Gaza envelope region. Initiatives include business development, educational outreach, tourism, welfare, community building and the arts.
https://www.jns.org/wire/kolot-launches-restart-program-to-rebuild-gaza-envelope/
 
Back to school. (TY Yanky) Kibbutz Be’eri’s children may be displaced, but that didn’t prevent them starting the new school year with Be’eri’s flag ceremony held since 1952. Flag standards were rescued from a wrecked storeroom. Volunteers, including a Bedouin woman, cleaned and repaired the flags for the children to parade.
https://www.timesofisrael.com/flag-rescue-project-lets-evacuated-kibbutz-beeri-open-school-year-in-customary-style/
 
Thank you to our UK friends. Great to see and share the support for Israel from friends in the UK. Here is a video of supporters from Borehamwood, Hertfordshire, who conduct a weekly vigil to publicize the plight of hostages held by Hamas in Gaza. In this video they unfurled a giant yellow ribbon as a symbol of hope.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2X8USIUdMjo
 
Some of the many global vigils to mark the anniversary of Oct 7.
https://marchoflife.org/thousands-of-people-in-more-than-130-cities-commemorate-october-7/
https://www.jpost.com/international/article-823442 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f26a388bIqI  (UK)
https://unitedwithisrael.org/families-honor-lost-loved-ones-at-nova-massacre-site-on-oct-7-anniversary/
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=80iVsWF2xUQ  (Eylon Levy, Citizen Spokesman’s Office)
 
 
ISRAEL’S MEDICAL ACHIEVEMENTS
 
Markers for early diagnosis of Alzheimer’s. A team of researchers led by Hebrew University has mapped millions of brain cells in 437 patients, discovering molecular markers that indicate future onset of Alzheimer’s disease some 20 years in advance of symptoms. The discovery will help development of early treatments.
https://www.timesofisrael.com/in-game-changer-israeli-researchers-find-alzheimers-markers-20-years-before-onset/  https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-024-07871-6
 
No more missed diagnoses. October is Breast Cancer Awareness month. Professor Miri Sklair-Levy and Dr. Debbie Anaby, from Israel’s Sheba Medical Center explain how AI tools are revolutionizing the fight against breast cancer and early diagnosis. The digital revolution is no longer a futuristic dream – it is happening now.
https://www.calcalistech.com/ctechnews/article/bjuatjgyyg
 
Beyond the Blood Brain Barrier. Charles River Laboratories International has partnered with Israel’s Insightec (see here previously) to develop brain disease remedies. Insightec’s novel low-frequency ultrasound platform non-invasively disrupts the blood brain barrier, enabling drugs to be delivered to targeted brain areas.
https://www.ourcrowd.com/startup-news/charles-river-and-insightec-announce-strategic-collaboration-to-advance-therapeutic-development-utilizing-focused-ultrasound-in-neuroscience
 
Seeing deep inside the body.  Researchers at Israel’s Technion Institute have devised a radical new way to obtain clear direct images of cells deep inside the body using non-invasive wavefront shaping. They obtained images of neurons (nerve cells) using the fluorescent protein EGFP and correction software to remove “noise”.
https://www.technion.ac.il/en/2024/08/an-in-depth-view/ 
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-024-49697-w
 
Closed eye imaging. (TY WIN) Researchers from Tel Aviv University can monitor changes in pupil size and gaze direction behind closed eyes using touchless infrared imaging. It can help track the depth of sedation, and recognize pain or responsiveness in unconscious patients that may occur after trauma and in intensive care,
https://english.tau.ac.il/research/see-through-closed-eyes
https://www.aftau.org/news_item/closed-eye-imaging-can-track-pain-in-unresponsive-patients/
 
DNA sequencing in Romania. (TY OurCrowd) Israel’s Sequentify (see here previously) has partnered with Romanian distributor Dexter bring Sequentify’s InfiniSeq™ library preparation solutions to Romania. InfiniSeq reduces time from DNA extraction to sequencing to 3.5 hours to enable fast diagnosis of genetic diseases.
https://www.ourcrowd.com/startup-news/sequentify-and-dexter-collaborate-to-introduce-genomic-sequencing-solutions-to-the-romanian-market
 
Automatic medical coding. Medical coding is at the heart of the American medical record system. It usually requires a trained coder to analyze and convert patient records into US-recognized codes. Israel’s Nym Health does this automatically, saving time and costs, while improving accuracy, and achieving compliance.
https://www.calcalistech.com/ctechnews/article/bk36lbtrc  https://vimeo.com/779623519  https://nym.health/
https://www.coursera.org/articles/medical-coder
 
London’s first MedEx. 100 doctors attended London’s first MedEx event to support UK medical professionals considering or intending to make Aliyah. They met representatives of the Health Ministry, hospitals, and the Health Management Organizations, to discuss licensing requirements, employment options and benefits.
https://www.jns.org/wire/doctors-attend-inaugural-london-medex-to-strengthen-israels-healthcare-system/

ENVIRONMENT AND JUNK SCIENCE Comments turned off

The Government is Coming for Your Thermostat Daniel Greenfield

Posted By on October 13th, 2024

It’s the middle of a summer heat wave and temperatures are rising. Suddenly your air conditioning turns off. It’s not a blackout or a brownout: it’s the new government plan.

Mass government subsidies for inefficient and expensive ‘green energy’ wind turbines and solar panels combined with bans on efficient and cheap oil, coal and gas, have made energy grids unreliable and costly. States that have aimed for widespread use of green energy like California and Texas are suffering blackouts and brownouts at growing rates.

Instead of building reliable energy resources, federal and state governments, along with monopolistic energy companies, are making up for green energy with energy rationing.

Or ‘smart rationing’.

Virtual power plants were a green energy buzzword that promised to harness local battery capacity to distribute energy to the grid, but the diminishing promise of solar panels and the power hunger of electric cars has poured cold water on the idea that the ‘green’ battery devices and useless solar panels will ever reliably give more to the grid than they take from it.

Virtual power plants, like all things virtual, have come to mean power that isn’t really there. Instead virtual power plants have become another euphemism for rationing power.

Unable to get meaningful savings from so-called battery ‘distributed energy resources’, virtual power plants now mean using smart thermostats to seize control over homeowner power usage with bureaucrats or AI software deciding how much power people should be using and turning off their heat or air conditioning. Government agencies and monopolistic utilities insist on calling this ‘efficiency’ rather than what it actually is which is rationing customer power usage.

State utilities have taken to bribing consumers with discounts on skyrocket energy rates and ‘free’ smart thermostats like Google Nest in order to induce them to turn over control of their thermostats. Once they give up control, they may be allowed only limited manual overrides a month to be able to turn on the heat or air in even the most miserable weather.