ELECTIONS, NATIONAL NEWS & OPINION Comments turned off

The Lies of Tim Walz Is he guilty of “stolen valor”? by Scott Hogenson

Posted By on August 16th, 2024

https://www.frontpagemag.com/the-lies-of-tim-walz/

The flap over military service involving Republican J.D. Vance and Democrat Tim Walz marks the biggest controversy of its kind in 20 years. Two decades ago, there was intense scrutiny of John Kerry’s service in the Navy’s swift boat fleet during the Vietnam War, an issue that arose in his 2004 presidential bid. I remember it well after working on President George W. Bush’s reelection campaign that year.

Questions and accusations swirled around Kerry’s Purple Hearts and his Bronze and Silver Star medals. Much of the attention focused on whether Kerry actually deserved his decorations. The circumstances involving Kerry’s three Purple Hearts, awarded to those wounded in action against the enemy, did not result in him ever being taken off duty for medical treatment. His wounds were minor and superficial, but they were wounds nonetheless.

Bronze Stars were commonly awarded to officers in Vietnam; a highly decorated Army colonel once told me that any officer who came home alive got one. As for Kerry’s Silver Star, the third highest military award, some argued his actions did not meet the standard of gallantry required for receiving that medal.

The Swift Boat controversy of 20 years ago hurt Kerry politically, but there’s a big difference between his situation and that of Tim Walz. John Kerry received those medals, and the citations for them are of record; he did not lie to voters. Walz did.

Walz previously claimed to have retired from the Army National Guard as a command sergeant major, designated by the rank of E-9, which is false. He never completed the rigorous requirements to deserve that rank and retired as a master sergeant, an E-8. He simply lied about his rank many times and over many years.

ELECTIONS Comments turned off

Harris can’t rely on identity politics this election, as wokery becomes a luxury belief By Ayaan Hirsi Ali

Posted By on August 16th, 2024

https://nypost.com/2024/08/13/opinion/identity-politics-wont-save-kamala-harris-in-this-election/

When did you last test yourself for COVID-19?

There was a time when plans were cancelled at the first sign of a sniffle.

Four years later, the strange spell of COVID has lost its potency: The fever has broken.

Life continues as it did pre-pandemonium, but now with the lingering memory of how the pursuit of blind emotion — fear, in this case — clouds our judgment and compels obedience.

Identity politics is a different type of virus, one that was seeded by the far left to win the 2020 election.

Tailored to satiate fears during a period of social unrest, “progressives” convinced us that all society’s problems could be solved by bowing to the demands of social justice warriors.

Their carefully curated media image — as a balm to heal Trump fatigue with the Democratic Party’s compassion — facilitated their victory.

But with victory came contempt for at least half the electorate.

President Biden has repeatedly used the phrase “MAGA Republicans” to stereotype Trump supporters as dangerous authoritarians.

Democrats’ political consultants seem to have settled on this strategy to conceal their divisive and destructive policies of the last four years.

Millions of dollars feed this machinery — ads, focus groups, curated polls and an army of people knocking on doors — to create the illusion that with Kamala Harris, the party has great momentum.

WORLD NEWS Comments turned off

Olympic Fool’s Gold Follies Algerian boxer Imane Khelif files “criminal complaint” against J.K. Rowling and Elon Musk. by Lloyd Billingsley

Posted By on August 16th, 2024

https://www.frontpagemag.com/olympic-fools-gold-follies/

J.K. Rowling and Elon Musk have been named in a criminal complaint to French authorities over “acts of aggravated cyber harassment” against Algerian boxer Imane Khelif, NBC reports. The complaint centers on “bullying” over Khelif’s gender, which allegedly “greatly affected” the boxer, who won a Gold Medal in the women’s 66 kg class. The bullying refers to online comments from Rowling, that men beating up women had become an Olympic sport; Riley Gaines stating that men don’t belong in women’s sports, and Donald Trump saying that he would keep men out of women’s sports.

Nabil Boudi, Khelif’s attorney, told reporters that the lawsuit “could target personalities overseas,” and that prosecutors dealing with “online hate speech has the possibility to make requests for mutual legal assistance with other countries.” As Boudi helpfully clarifies, this is all about punishing free speech.

Female impersonator bullies like Khelif seek to force compliance with their reality dysphoria by creating offenses such as “misgendering” for simple recognition of biological truth. If someone criticizes gender fakery, the parties in question are not the target of “hate speech” and not “oppressed” in any fashion. The gender benders are the bullies and oppressors, and another dynamic is in play.

Men who beat up women are gutless cowards, what previous generations called “chickenshit” without the slightest embarrassment, and they also qualify as underachievers. For example, the former William Thomas was mediocre at best on the men’s swim team at Penn. Against women, with his rudder still intact, he does much better, and the NCAA sanctions the fraud. When swimmer Riley Gaines attempts to make her case, she becomes the target of outright assault.

It would be interesting to see how Imane Khelif would perform against men’s Olympic lightweight champ Erislandy Alvarez of Cuba, or the USA’s Omari Jones, who won the bronze, the only boxing medal for the USA in the Paris games. If anyone thought the American would smack the fertilizer out of the Algerian it would be hard to blame them. So put it to the test, or take it to another level.  Khelif failed a chromosome test with the International Boxing Association, so he might want to take on the professionals.

ENVIRONMENT AND JUNK SCIENCE Comments turned off

The Climate Of Lies Keeps Getting Hotter

Posted By on August 16th, 2024

https://issuesinsights.com/2024/08/16/the-climate-of-lies-keeps-getting-hotter/

The New York Times recently published a long story warning that the planet’s climate tipping points are frighteningly near. The “great systems in the natural world,” the reporters say, “might be pushing toward collapse” due to man’s use of fossil fuel. Maybe so. Or the changes we’re seeing in the climate might be entirely natural.

But that won’t sell papers to a readership that suffers from a chronic and intellectually stunting case of confirmation bias.

The Times wants us to worry about the mass death of coral reefs, the abrupt thawing of permafrost, the collapse of Greenland ice, the breakup of West Antarctic ice, a sudden shift in the West African monsoon, loss of the Amazon rainforest and the shutdown of Atlantic currents.

And ​​when might disaster be visited on all these hot spots? Well, says the Times, it depends on a number of variables and in some cases the timeline is just “hard to predict.”

Or maybe impossible. But again, a story with that angle won’t stir up the true believers who beg to be stirred up. Only alarmist articles will do that.

We pick on the mighty New York Times here, but it’s the legacy media’s great pleasure to spread misleading information and conjecture about the climate. 

About the only truth we can know about the claims surrounding anthropogenic global warming is that it’s “political, not physical, science.”

ISRAEL Comments turned off

POSITIVE NEWS FROM ISRAEL FROM MICHAEL ORDMAN

Posted By on August 15th, 2024

 www.verygoodnewsisrael.blogspot.com 

 

This newsletter was misplaced by me and much has happened since it was posted by Michael Ordman. Israel’s citizens continue to receive blood curdling threats from Hamas, Hezbollah, and Iran, and biased, ignorant an outright anti-Semitic threats in the academies and media. Nonetheless, on a visit to the great scientific, technical and medical institutions reveals 24/7 research and development that brings hope and security to all citizens in every country. rsk

 

POSITIVE NEWS IN A WAR
 
Lifting our spirit. (TY Sam Kramer) Ziv Shilon lost an arm in Gaza in 2012, but he didn’t lose his spirit. Here, he performs hagbah (lifting the Torah scroll) in the Chabad of Savyon, Nothing stops these heroes – they are now a defining and meaningful part of the fabric of Israeli society. See also Ari Spitz, wounded in Feb 2024.
https://sparksofanation.com/sparks/ziv-shilon-lost-an-arm-but-he-didnt-lose-his-spirit-here-he-performs-hagbah-in-savyon-fortitude-and-faith-fueling-him-forward/  https://zivshilon.com/en/about/
https://www.instagram.com/reel/C9NaGEct2GG/  https://www.israelnationalnews.com/news/388392
 
A modern day prophet & hero. Another article describing the actions of Rami Davidian (see here previously) who saved hundreds from the Hamas terrorists. The author writes, “Our people are Maccabees and prophets, warriors and angels. There have been many heroes, but Rami Davidian…must be remembered for generations.”
https://www.jns.org/a-modern-day-prophet-and-hero/
 
Defense innovations from startups. Once you skip the negative section of this article, there are several key initiatives and innovations that will help the IDF in future conflicts. The MAFAT program, Tel Aviv University problem-solving, Unit 81, MAMRAM’s tech commando unit, 
https://www.timesofisrael.com/in-war-with-low-tech-foe-startups-could-prevent-costly-failings-so-why-dont-they/
 
Be’eri dairy makes cheese again. The dairy at Kibbutz Be’eri is producing its famous cheeses again, nine months after the devastating Oct 7 attack. Despite losing his business partner, Dagan Peleg bowed to pressure from Israelis craving for Be’eri cheese – especially those from the kibbutz evacuated to Dead Sea hotels.
https://www.timesofisrael.com/beeris-boutique-cheesemakers-carry-on-without-dror-ors-golden-hands/
https://beeridairy.co.il/
 
 
ISRAEL’S MEDICAL ACHIEVEMENTS
 
Patient “speaks” using the power of thought alone. A historical first. A 37-year-old male neurosurgical epilepsy patient at Tel Aviv’s Ichilov (Sourasky) Medical Center was implanted with depth electrodes. He silently controlled a computer-based vocalizer in a natural way to voluntarily produce 2 vowel sounds.
https://www.jns.org/tau-researchers-allow-patient-to-speak-with-thought-alone/
https://journals.lww.com/neurosurgery/abstract/9900/a_speech_neuroprosthesis_in_the_frontal_lobe_and.1250.aspx
 
Non-invasive glucose monitoring. (TY Atid-EDI) Israel’s HAGAR’s GWave is the world’s first non-invasive continuous glucose monitoring technology that uses radiofrequency (RF) waves to measure glucose levels in the blood. Its latest trial had 97% accuracy compared to blood tests (see here). See other Israeli monitors here.
https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20211123005227/en/HAGAR-GWave-Awarded-FDA-Breakthrough-Device-Designation  https://www.hagartech.com/
 
How good are your arteries? Israel’s AccuLine is developing CORA – an accurate, non-invasive, swift, and low-cost test for early detection of coronary artery disease and prevent heart attacks. It detects 2 novel bio-signals in combination with AI-powered signal processing and proprietary augmented waveform display.
https://www.calcalistech.com/ctechnews/article/sjp00jnzdc   https://acculine-medical.com/
 
Replacing open-heart surgery. (TY Ron M) US giant Edwards Lifesciences’ acquisition of Israel’s Innovalve Bio Medical will enable its innovative catheterization system to replace the diseased mitral valves of millions of patients, avoiding open-heart surgery. The system was originally developed at Israel’s Sheba Medical Center.
https://www.ynetnews.com/health_science/article/b1fsw8sua   https://www.innovalvemed.com/
 
The hub of the brain. (TY UWI) Researchers from The Hebrew University of Jerusalem have identified the brain’s claustrum as vital for controlling behaviour e.g., responsiveness and impulsivity. It also regulates sleep and the new knowledge can open up new pathways for treating ADHD, schizophrenia, OCD, and addictions.
https://tps.co.il/articles/israeli-findings-on-a-hidden-brain-hub-open-path-for-new-adhd-treatment/
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-024-48829-6
 
One-day retreat to prevent PTSD. (TY Yanky) Israeli NGO The Protective Partnership has started a free one-day retreat in Herzliya, called the Villa. Led by Dr Ronny Simons, it uses Eye movement desensitization and reprocessing (EMDR) therapy to strengthen the brains of IDF soldiers to protect against suffering PTSD.
https://www.timesofisrael.com/intensive-one-day-retreat-program-aims-to-prevent-ptsd-among-idf-reservists/
https://the-villa.co.il/en/main/  https://the-villa.co.il/en/who-we-are/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eye_movement_desensitization_and_reprocessing
 
Cancer care for Anglo Israelis. (TY Yanky) Sharsheret Israel helps English-speaking women in Israel with breast cancer to navigate treatment and support. Based on the US model, Sharsheret Israel is piloting its services including psychosocial support, cancer treatment navigation, education, support groups and more.
https://www.jpost.com/health-and-wellness/article-808079  https://sharsheret.org/israel/
 
Boosting health tech in the North. Israeli NGO Startup Nation Central is helping Tzafon Medical Center (Poriya hospital) near Tiberias become a regional leader in health tech innovation and entrepreneurship. It will also support the new Helmsley Rehabilitation Center at the hospital.
https://www.jns.org/startup-nation-central-partners-with-israeli-hospital-to-boost-health-tech-in-north/ 
 
Has your medicine expired? The expiry date printed on many medicine bottles is not relevant once you open it – you must record the date it was opened. Israel’s Innocap has a special cap with a simple dial that records the day and month of opening. It also connects to a smartphone which displays information about the medicine.
https://nocamels.com/2024/07/smart-cap-keeps-on-top-of-your-medications-crucial-expiration-date/
https://innocap.info/smart-cap-en/ 
 
Almost life-like. (TY Atid-EDI) The new J5 Digital Anatomy™ 3D Printer from Israel’s Stratasys enables the creation of biomechanically accurate, highly realistic anatomical models for medical purposes. These mimic bone structures, tissues, ligaments, & complex vascular structures, respond like organs, and much more.
https://www.stratasys.com/en/3d-printers/printer-catalog/polyjet/j5-digital-anatomy-printer/
https://www.stratasys.com/en/landing-pages/j5-digitalanatomy-3d-printer/
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kx48txM5P6A
 
Sisters! Take care if you ask to see the “Sister” at the Galilee Medical Center in Nahariya. Nurses Yamit and Inbal are identical twins. Their older sister Sima (another nurse) looks just like them. They grew up in a house with 10 children – nine girls and one boy. Their parents must have needed a lot of patience, or is it patients?
https://www.ynetnews.com/magazine/article/sjdljievr
 
 

WORLD NEWS Comments turned off

France: Political Chaos by Guy Millière

Posted By on August 15th, 2024

https://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/20854/france-political-chaos

Rebellious France is not only a far-left party, it is also a party tinged with anti-Semitism and counts supporters of Islamism and terrorist groups such as Hamas in its ranks.

The left-wing coalition has clearly been gaining ground. Jean-Luc Mélenchon, the leader of Rebellious France, to emphasize that he accepts anti-Semitism and supports Hamas and Islamism, gave a speech about his party’s results while standing on stage next to an Islamist pro-Hamas activist, newly-elected Member of European Parliament Rima Hassan. Hassan wore a keffiyeh and displayed on her clothes a small Palestinian flag.

An unprecedented situation in France took shape: all the candidates from other parties were asked to withdraw from the election and support the candidate of another party better placed to defeat the National Rally candidate, even if the better-placed candidate belonged to a party that they totally rejected.

The French mainstream media contributed to the operation and fueled fear of “fascism”. They accepted the propaganda. Rappers, who are widely listened to in Islamic no-go zones, released a song that calls for the murder of Jordan Bardella, the president of the National Rally, the rape of party leader Marine Le Pen, and the elimination of “Zionist Jews”. The song was described by some journalists as a courageous “song of resistance” and was broadcast over the radio. One of the lines from the song goes: “From the Jordan to the Seine, Palestine will be free” – a call not just for the destruction of Israel, but for the submission of France to Sharia law and Islam.

The “left”, with 184 seats, became the largest group in the National Assembly; Rebellious France, its most powerful component. The party’s leaders present themselves as the spearhead of the “anti-fascist struggle”; claim that they must govern the country, and that to remove them would be to make “concessions to fascism”. They do not bother to hide their anti-Semitism and their support for Hamas and Islam.

France has become almost ungovernable. No political party has a majority. No party can form a government coalition without having to renounce the most essential part of its program.

The power acquired by Rebellious France means that a government which does not have its approval cannot claim to govern. In addition, no new parliamentary elections can be organized for a year.

Polls have shown for months that a majority of French people would like a firm fight against crime, a stop to illegal immigration, and an end to the Islamization of the country. All these points were on the program of the National Rally.

Every year, on average, 500,000 new immigrants, mainly from the Muslim world, settle in France. Hundreds of thousands of illegal immigrants reside in the country. Few are expelled. Islamic no-go zones are growing.

On the evening of July 7, Rebellious France organized a large rally in Paris’s Place de la République. Palestinian flags were everywhere; French flags almost nowhere. Speakers presented hateful slogans against the National Rally, Israel, Jewish journalists, and the police. Demonstrators burned cars and trash cans, and destroyed stores.

NATIONAL NEWS & OPINION Comments turned off

America is turning into the EU Democrats are steering the US towards European-style censorship, technocratic rule and economic decline.

Posted By on August 15th, 2024

https://www.spiked-online.com/2024/08/14/kotkin-america-becoming-like-the-eu/

Europe may be fading from global relevance, but its influence is expanding within the US Democratic Party. Today, the party’s core beliefs echo those espoused by the European Union and much of the British establishment – an embrace of censorship, a draconian approach to climate change, support for trans ideology, the championing of race-based politics and, increasingly, hostility towards Israel and Jews.

With the seamless elevation of Kamala Harris and her ‘white dude’ vice-president pick, Minnesota governor Tim Walz, the Democratic Party has also embraced the undemocratic methods of the European Commission. The party has turned into a tightly controlled, elite-driven cabal. All this, of course, is justified by Democrats as a way to ‘defend democracy’ against the Trumpian hordes.

Once a truly national presence, the Democratic Party is now almost totally dominated by older, wealthier regions, like the north-east and the West Coast. This parallels establishment politics in Europe, which takes its cues from London, Paris, Brussels and Berlin – places where, as French author Christophe Guilluy notes, there is a ‘hyper-concentration of elites’.

In the not-so-recent past, the Democrats were also a national and sociologically diverse party. It included Catholics, southerners, labour unions, black and Hispanic politicians and oddball entrepreneurs not aligned with the country-club GOP. It was, as humourist Will Rogers pointed out, famously inwardly conflicted. ‘I do not belong to any organised political party’, the Oklahoma native joked, ‘I’m a Democrat’.

Today, Rogers’s chaotic party has achieved a discipline of almost Stalinist proportions. Rather than allow a battle for the presidency, the party rallied around Harris, who has never won a presidential primary. With a speed that would have astounded George Orwell, the Democrats’ media minions took a candidate widely seen as lacklustre and elevated her to mythic status.

ELECTIONS Comments turned off

The Weird, Creepy, Surreal—and Dangerous—2024 Campaign This warped election violates every prior precedent and is not just creepy but dangerous—even before the campaign was supposed to formally begin. Victor Davis Hanson

Posted By on August 15th, 2024

https://amgreatness.com/2024/08/15/the-weird-creepy-surreal-and-dangerous-2024-campaign/

The already-long 2024 presidential campaign has become the strangest in modern history.

Here are ten unanswered questions that illustrate how and why we’ve entered this bizarro world:

1. How can Kamala Harris merely promise us fixes to come in 2025 for inflation and an open border when she is still vice president for another six months? Why can’t she enact her proposed solutions to these problems (which she helped create) right now?

2. Would the media prefer to help her win but lose further credibility themselves by failing to ask why she has disowned her last three decades of leftist agendas, or to reclaim some of their reputations and thereby risk her losing?

3. Does the left appreciate the new campaign and election protocols it has now established?

That is to say:

Cancel by fiat their virtual nominee four months before the election when he sinks in the polls?

Nullify the outcome of a year of primaries and the will of 14 million voters?

Threaten a sitting president with removal by the 25th Amendment process unless he steps aside as his party nominee?

Anoint a replacement nominee before the convention and without a single primary—and then prevent any rival candidates from challenging her?

4. After the precedents of 2020 and 2024, is the future orthodox protocol for any Democratic nominee now to avoid all interviews and ex tempore speaking, and stick to teleprompted speeches and scripted responses only?

ANTI-SEMITISM, EDUCATION Comments turned off

‘So Unimaginable and So Abhorrent’: Federal Judge Orders UCLA to Stop Aiding Activists Enforcing Jew-Free Zones on Campus By Zach Kessel

Posted By on August 15th, 2024

https://www.nationalreview.com/news/so-unimaginable-and-so-abhorrent-federal-judge-orders-ucla-to-stop-aiding-activists-enforcing-jew-free-zones-on-campus/

““Shame on UCLA for letting antisemitic thugs terrorize Jews on campus,” Rienzi said. “Today’s ruling says that UCLA’s policy of helping antisemitic activists target Jews is not just morally wrong but a gross constitutional violation. UCLA should stop fighting the Constitution and start protecting Jews on campus.”

A Los Angeles federal district court ordered the University of California, Los Angeles, to stop allowing and assisting in self-described pro-Palestinian activists’ creation of what amount to Jew-free zones on campus, holding that the university may not offer classes if Jewish students are prohibited from participating in the programming.

Those who occupied encampments on the university’s property disallowed Jews from passing through the quad unless they would disavow Israel and, by extension, their Jewish faith. UCLA’s position had been that the encampments preventing Jewish students from accessing certain areas of campus were not its responsibility.

Despite that contention, the university erected metal barriers around the encampment and directed Jewish students to leave, according to a lawsuit.

“In the year 2024, in the United States of America, in the State of California, Jewish students were excluded from portions of the UCLA campus because they refused to denounce their faith,” Judge Mark C. Scarsi wrote on Tuesday. “This fact is so unimaginable and so abhorrent to our constitutional guarantee of freedom that it bears repeating, Jewish students were excluded from portions of the UCLA campus because they refused to denounce their faith. UCLA does not dispute this. Instead, UCLA claims that it has no responsibility to protect the religious freedom of its Jewish students because the exclusion was engineered by third-party protesters. But under constitutional principles, UCLA may not allow services to some students when UCLA knows that other students are excluded on religious grounds, regardless of who engineered the exclusion.”

MEDIA Comments turned off

DOJ and the Media Are the Real Story in Belated Biden Corruption Revelations Andrew McCarthy

Posted By on August 15th, 2024

https://www.nationalreview.com/2024/08/doj-and-the-media-are-the-real-story-in-belated-biden-corruption-revelations/

Here is what the New York Times doesn’t tell you.

I can’t decide which is my favorite part of the story dribbled out by the media-Democrat complex’s mothership last night.

It’s probably the part, 16 paragraphs down, in which the New York Times explains how it knew the Biden-Harris State Department was stonewalling on the production of documents showing that, while Joe Biden was vice president, his ne’er-do-well son Hunter beseeched the Obama-Biden State Department to lobby the Italian government on behalf of Burisma — the corrupt Ukrainian energy company that was lavishly paying Hunter so it could have access to Vice President Biden and his political influence.

Pray tell, how did the Times know? Well, as reporter Kenneth Vogel relates, because the State Department “had failed to produce responsive records contained in a cache of files connected to a laptop that Mr. Biden had abandoned at a Delaware repair shop” (emphasis added).

Right, the laptop from hell.

That’s the Hunter Biden laptop that the Times, the rest of the media-Democrat complex, and the politicized “community” of current and former national-security officials colluded with the 2020 Biden campaign to convince the public was a Russian disinformation operation. The same laptop over which Hunter and his allies smeared the repair-shop owner, John Paul Mac Isaac, as a thief . . . even as they implied that the incriminating data might be fake.

Like the FBI, the IRS, and rest of the Biden Justice Department investigators, who had acquired the laptop data months earlier, the Times understood that the laptop was authentic, that the data was not manufactured by a foreign intelligence service. Ergo, as Vogel relates, the Times sued the Biden-Harris State Department when it failed to produce relevant government correspondence, the existence of which the laptop established.