Slaves of a Different Color Some inconvenient truths about North African slavery. By Bruce Bawer

https://amgreatness.com/2020/08/01/slaves-of-a-different-color/

Welcome to 2020. The New York Times wins a Pulitzer Prize for its “1619 Project,” which depicts slavery as a distinctly American phenomenon and as the very foundation of American civilization. For several weeks, a half-dozen all but unreadable books seeking redefine the concept of racism hover at or near the top of the bestseller lists. Meanwhile, the cities of America become battlegrounds in a race war waged by young people, many of whom think that America invented the institution of slavery.

This is but one of many historical facts about which they’re wrong. The truth is that fewer than 4 percent of the slaves who were transported across the Atlantic Ocean from Africa ended up in the territory of what is now the United States. More slaves were shipped to the small island of Barbados than to the vast areas that started out as British North America and then became the United States. 

The same applies to Trinidad and the Windward Islands (Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Grenada, Dominica, and Martinique). Ditto the Guianas (now Guyana, Suriname, and French Guiana). Ditto the Spanish-speaking mainland of Latin American. Over 8 percent of transatlantic African slaves—twice the number sold between Maine and Georgia—were sold in St. Domingue, a French colony in what is now Haiti. Over 8 percent of slaves also ended up in the Spanish-speaking Caribbean. The largest numbers of all are for Jamaica (over 11 percent) and Brazil (over 30 percent). 

In recent years, as schools and universities increasingly focus on racial issues, young Americans’ heads are filled with heaps of information—much of it from books like A People’s History of the United States—about the American legacy of racism and, in particular, the history of slavery and Jim Crow. But virtually none of them know that the slaves who were shipped to the present-day United States were a small fraction of the victims of the African slave trade.

The Choice Before Us This time, we’ve traveled to the very edge of the abyss. By Roger Kimball

https://amgreatness.com/2020/08/01/the-choice-before-us/

Somehow, news that the Antifa-Black Lives Matter nexus burned a stack of Bibles in front of the Mark O. Hatfield United States Courthouse in Portland the other night put me in mind of President Trump’s magisterial speech in Krasinski Square, Warsaw, just over three years ago.

A short digression: has any other modern president delivered so many brilliant speeches? The Warsaw speech was tip-top, but then so was his 2020 State of the Union speech and, just last month, his magnificent speech at Mount Rushmore. And let’s not forget his speech before both Houses of Congress in 2017 or his speech at the General Assembly of the United Nations that same year. Barn-burners all. 

I said at the time that the president’s Warsaw speech was worthy of comparison with Pericles’ Funeral Oration as described by Thucydides. Naturally, that comment occasioned much obloquy, but mostly, I’d wager, from people who have never read Thucydides. 

Mounting a wide-ranging and spirited defense of core Western values and achievements, Trump noted that what made the West so important was not just its wealth and power. Equally important was its commitment to such enabling civilizational values as individual liberty, the rule of law, religious freedom, and a generous and innovative spirit of curiosity and exploration. “The world has never known anything like our community of nations,” Trump said. 

Black Lives Matter: “We Will Burn Down This System” – Part II by Soeren Kern

https://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/16301/black-lives-matter-part-ii

A recent survey by the Pew Research Center found that more than two-thirds of Americans support the Black Lives Matter movement. While Gatestone Institute and doubtless many others wish that blacks and all minorities benefit from the equal opportunities and protections offered by the U.S. Constitution, the high level of backing raises the question: How much does the public really know about BLM?

BLM’s leaders openly admit that they want to abolish the nuclear family, police, prisons and capitalism.

Black Lives Matter uses Thousand Currents, which is an IRS-approved 501(c)(3) organization, as its fiscal sponsor. Donations made on the Black Lives Matter website are processed by the left-wing ActBlue Charities, a donation platform affiliated with the Democratic Party, and then transferred to Thousand Currents, which then distributes them back to Black Lives Matter.

“If this country doesn’t give us what we want, then we will burn down this system and replace it. All right?… I just want black liberation and black sovereignty, by any means necessary.” — Hawk Newsome, leader of BLM’s Greater New York chapter, New York Post, June 25, 2020.

BLM is also obsessed with U.S. President Donald J. Trump, who, arguably, has done more for African Americans than any other president in recent memory.

“In reality, this has nothing to do with black lives and everything to do with liberal Marxist anarchists having hijacked, as they always do, an important social issue with which they will undermine the very communities and people they claim to represent.” — Tammy Bruce, US commentator, The Washington Times, June 14, 2020.

Multinational companies, philanthropic foundations and private citizens have been donating tens of millions of dollars to Black Lives Matter (BLM), and a recent survey by the Pew Research Center has found that more than two-thirds of Americans support the BLM movement.

The Democrats’ 2020 platform resurrects Obama’s hostility to Israel and appeasement of Iran By Carol S. Greenwald

https://www.americanthinker.com/blog/2020/08/the_democrats_2020_platform_resurrects_obamas_hostility_to_israel_and_appeasement_of_iran_.html

Democrats’ crowing that their 2020 platform on Israel  is a victory for the moderates is disingenuous. The Democrat party’s 2020 platform is not pro-Israel. It is pro-Iran.

The Democrat party’s platform promises to return to the Iran nuclear deal and rejects regime change “as the goal of U.S. policy toward Iran.” The opening statement of the platform stresses:

“Democrats will call off the Trump Administration’s race to war with Iran and prioritize nuclear diplomacy, de-escalation and regional dialogue. Democrats believe the United States should not impose regime change on other countries and reject that as the goal of U.S policy towards Iran.”

Translation: Obama’s appeasement of Iran’s nuclear and regional ambitions is back.

 A nuclear Iran is an existential threat to Israel. The Obama/Biden administration handed $150 billion to the Iranian mullahs, which financed both Iran’s nuclear program and its financing of global terrorism. This money propped up a regime that had been facing strong internal opposition. Biden’s campaign promise to return to the Iran nuclear deal on Day One is memorialized in the Democrats’ platform. They will undo President Trump’s stringent sanctions which are destroying the economic base of the Iranian regime. This one action alone undermines all the Democrats’ assurances about support for a “strong, secure, democratic Israel.”

 

GOOD NEWS FROM AMAZING ISRAEL FROM MICHAEL ORDMAN

http://verygoodnewsisrael.blogspot.com/

ISRAEL’S MEDICAL ACHIEVEMENTS

Pre-clinical success for Covid-19 ARDS treatment. Israel’s BrainStorm (reported here previously) reported promising results of pre-clinical trials for its Nurown treatment for Acute Respiratory Distress Syndrome (ARDS) brought about by Covid-19. The NurOwn cells reduced the cytokine storm and lung damage.

https://ir.brainstorm-cell.com/2020-07-23-BrainStorm-Announces-Groundbreaking-Pre-Clinical-Study-of-NurOwn-R-derived-Exosome-Based-Treatment-for-COVID-19-ARDS

Vitamin D impacts Covid-19 infection and severity. (TY UWI) Scientists at Israel’s Bar-Ilan University have identified low plasma vitamin D level to be an independent risk factor for COVID-19 infection and hospitalization. They studied 782 Israeli COVID-19 positive patients and 7,807 COVID-19 negative patients.

https://www.i24news.tv/en/news/international/1595758992-lack-of-vitamin-d-could-make-you-more-vulnerable-to-coronavirus-researchers

You’ve got Covid – is that bad news? (TY Janglo) Two recent Jewish immigrants to Israel from France have developed an algorithm named PhysioZoo. Using data from a pulse oximeter (that measures oxygen in blood) the algorithm can determine if a Covid-19 patient is going to develop pneumonia long before symptoms appear.

https://www.jpost.com/jpost-tech/young-professor-combines-aliyah-covid-19-into-ai-breakthrough-636277

VeryGoodNewsIsrael on TV. Barry Shaw of the Israel Institute for Strategic Studies and The View from Israel interviewed me last week about the projects that Israel is working on to help combat the coronavirus infection. We hope to produce a monthly video featuring positive Israeli news.  Please pass it on.

http://www.cooltv.se/video/the-view-from-israel-israels-s-search-for-a-covid-cure (Please ensure the sound is on.)

US approval for AI mammography. Israel’s Zebra Medical Vision (reported here previously) that uses artificial intelligence technology to help read medical scans, has received US FDA clearance for use of its algorithm to read mammograms. It already received European (CE) approval for its “HealthMammo” solution.

https://www.timesofisrael.com/israels-zebra-gets-fda-nod-for-ai-based-software-that-helps-spot-breast-cancer/

Two-hour analysis of a biopsy. (TY Honest Reporting) Technion Professor Daphne Weihs has developed a fast test to analyze cancer cells. Biopsies are placed into a special gel and measured. Two hours later the extent that the cells have embedded denotes whether they are benign, non-metastatic or metastatic (potential or actual).

https://www.jpost.com/health-science/new-cancer-test-can-diagnose-aggressive-tumors-in-just-two-hours-636650

So how is your health? Another exciting webinar (see previous) from Technion UK featuring Technion Professor Shai Shen-Orr, one of the leading Israeli researchers into the mysteries of the immune system. Also featured is Professor Ester Sager who is developing biosensors to diagnose diseases within minutes. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eOli7AezlrU

Sleep and Dream. Professor Peretz Lavie (ex-President of Israel’s Technion Institute) founded the Technion Sleep Medicine Center and authored several books on sleep disorders. Thanks to Technion UK, he is giving a free (donations welcome) webinar on Weds 5th Aug at 6pm UK time – 1pm EST.  Register below to view live.

https://technionuk.org/rsvp-sleep-and-dream-insomnia-dreams-and-stress

Sharing stuff that works. An Israeli startup has launched an online platform where people suffering from chronic diseases can share information to learn which treatments work best for their specific condition, based on the experience of their peers. The crowdsourcing site is appropriately called StuffThatWorks.

https://www.calcalistech.com/ctech/articles/0,7340,L-3841285,00.html  https://www.stuffthatworks.health/

https://stuff.health/s/1SaJPrvA  (personal survey for specific conditions)

Understanding the gravity of the Russia Hoax By Andrea Widburg

https://www.americanthinker.com/blog/2020/08/understanding_the_gravity_of_the_russia_hoax.html

One of the claims Democrats love to tout about the Obama administration is that it was “scandal free.” For those who paid attention to the IRS targeting, Benghazi, Fast & Furious, and the cash smuggled to Iran, to name just a few illegal and/or immoral activities, that was always a peculiar boast. The Obama administration was up to its eyeballs in scandals. It was Obama who finally said what had really happened, which was that “We didn’t have a scandal that embarrassed us.”

In other words, the issue wasn’t that the administration was scandal-free. The issue was that the media protected the administration from voters’ wrath should they learn about those scandals.

The Russia Hoax has benefitted from the media’s continued unwillingness to report on Obama-era scandals. When it looked as if the Russia Hoax could achieve a coup against the Trump presidency, members of the press developed a form of Tourette syndrome that saw them obsessively mouth “Russia, Russia, Russia” all day, every day.

However, when Robert Mueller’s handpicked Democrat-friendly team, despite two years and 35 million dollars, was unable to find a smidgen of proof that Trump or his administration had colluded with the Russians, leftists inside and outside of the media fell silent. Sure, they’ll still raise the fact that Trump, at a press conference, said, “Russia, if you’re listening, I hope you’re able to find the 30,000 [Hillary Clinton] emails that are missing,” but their hearts aren’t in it.

They know that normal people understand that Trump was making a pointed joke about the fact that the Russians, the Chinese, and every other hacker on earth had read through Hillary’s emails for years. Aside from leftists being utterly humorless, the media learned that raising this statement periodically was chum to the true believers but not very interesting to anyone else.

The Captive Mind and America’s Resegregation   Idol smashing and cancel culture are part of a broad ideological project to dominate society. By Andrew A. Michta

https://www.wsj.com/articles/the-captive-mind-and-americas-resegregation-11596222112?mod=searchresults&page=1&pos=1

Czesław Miłosz, a future Nobel Prize-winning poet who had just defected from Poland, began work in 1951 on a book called “The Captive Mind.” Even as Stalinist totalitarianism tightened its grip on Eastern Europe, many Western European intellectuals lauded the brave new world of Soviet communism as a model for overcoming “bourgeois forces,” which in their view had caused World War II. Living in Paris, Miłosz wrote his book, which was published in 1953, to warn the West of what happens to the human mind and soul in a totalitarian system. 

Miłosz knew from experience, having lived through the Communist takeover, how totalitarianism strips men and women of their liberty, transforming them into “affirmative cogs” in service of the state and obliterating what had taken centuries of Western political development to achieve. Totalitarianism not only enslaved people physically but crippled their spirit. It did so by replacing ordinary human language, in which words signify things in the outside world, with ideologically sanctioned language, in which words signify the dominant party’s ever-changing ideas of what is and is not true.

Since the death of George Floyd in Minneapolis, nationwide protests, which quickly turned to riots, have been hijacked by the neo-Marxist left, morphing into an all-out assault on American cities and institutions. This assault is underpinned by an audacious attempt to rewrite history that turns specific past events into weapons not only to overpower political opponents but also to recast all of American history as a litany of racial transgressions.

Why Seth Rogen’s Anti-Israel Rant Matters By David Harsanyi

https://www.nationalreview.com/2020/07/why-seth-rogens-anti-israel-rant-matters/?utm_source=recirc-desktop&utm_medium=article&utm_campaign=river&utm_content=top-bar-latest&utm_term=fifth

He overlooks the reasons Israel was founded in the first place, and what makes it unique today.

You probably won’t be surprised to learn that Seth Rogen has, at best, a facile understanding of basic history, faith, or politics. We shouldn’t expect anything else. His job is to act. The problem, though, is that Rogen increasingly feels the need to share his illiterate opinions about serious issues with millions of people.

This week, in an appearance on Marc Maron’s popular (and excellent) podcast, Rogen claimed he was “fed a huge amount of lies about Israel” growing up, and he now questions the legitimacy of the Jewish state’s existence.

Why does it matter? Well, Maron has more downloads than any cable news-show host has viewers. More than the top-rated Tucker Carlson. More than the entire slate of CNN hosts on any given evening. We should assume that a number of his listeners — many of them young and ordinarily uninterested in politics — might take a stoner’s quasi-coherent ideas seriously.

Opinions like this one:

To me it just seems an antiquated thought process. If it is for religious reasons, I don’t agree with it, because I think religion is silly. If it is for truly the preservation of Jewish people, it makes no sense, because again, you don’t keep something you’re trying to preserve all in one place — especially when that place is proven to be pretty volatile, you know? “I’m trying to keep all these things safe, I’m gonna put them in my blender and hope that that’s the best place . . . that’ll do it.” It doesn’t make sense to me. And I also think that as a Jewish person I was fed a huge amount of lies about Israel my entire life! They never tell you that — oh by the way, there were people there. They make it seem like it was just like sitting there, like the f***ing door’s open. They forget to include the fact to every young Jewish person.

There Is No Substitute for Proactive Policing History and experience demonstrate that focusing exclusively on violent felonies will fail in fighting crime. William H. Sousa

https://www.city-journal.org/community-based-proactive-policing-works

Many advocates of “defunding the police” contend that too many police encounters with civilians concern trivial matters. Defunding proponents worry that poor decisions by officers can escalate tensions and lead to unnecessary uses of force. They argue that the police mandate should be more narrowly focused on responding to “serious” crimes, especially violent felonies. All other matters should not be considered police business. This premise has gained a receptive hearing in our political climate. Most people instinctively support the idea of leaving management of serious felonies to the police, who are certainly less likely to get into trouble if their job is simply to arrest violent felons.

But American policing has tried this idea before, and the results were disastrous for communities and police agencies alike. If history is any guide, confining police focus to serious crimes will do little to manage those offenses—and the strategy may further damage the relationship between police and citizens.

In the early 1900s, American policing was in turmoil. Political patronage largely determined which officers were hired, fired, and promoted. Officers themselves were often underqualified, poorly trained, and inadequately supervised. The mid-twentieth century saw a wave of policing reforms across the United States. Reformers sought to remove corrupting influences and to professionalize police with a more specific mandate. Thus was born the image of the “professional crime fighter”—the impartial law enforcement officer, objectively remote from citizens, who could bring to justice those accused of serious crimes. Radio cars, the 911 system, and “rapid response” emerged as the primary means to carry out this narrowly defined mission, which contained within it the seeds of future problems. “Police business” meant serious crime, and “real police work” meant patrolling in cars, waiting for calls about felonies in progress. Officers were discouraged from paying attention to minor disorder and other community problems. Citizen requests for assistance with such issues were thus easily ignored, dismissed as “social work,” or hastily (and ineffectually) handled.

Get ready for Trump’s second term Leonard Toboroff

https://spectator.us/get-ready-trump-second-term/

President Trump’s adversaries are running Joe Biden, a fallback Beltway lifer who is credibly accused of selling his office, leaking false intel about Gen. Flynn to the Washington Post and handsiness with female political allies. Oh, and it appears that a prosecutor in Ukraine is digging into the potential criminal liability of the one or more persons who gorged on Burisma’s trove of US taxpayer funds. Joe’s son Hunter is named, and so Joe, in a context not yet fully disclosed.

If there’s a criminal investigation in Ukraine, no problem: Joe’s plea of cognitive impairment will let him walk. And the hosannas reaped by doughty old Jim Clyburn for picking Joe up off the floor in South Carolina now seem no more than a feel-good story. It seems that they reached some sort of entente cordiale, whereby Bernie Sanders’s Marxist platform would be advanced behind Joe, his minders and his winning smile and gleaming veneers.

In reality, the fake news about the fake polls seems illogical. How is it possible for Trump to have 54 percent approval on the economy and 70 percent disapproval on the virus — and in the same poll? Nor would 300,000 people have donated a total of $20 million in a single virtual fundraiser by Trump if they believed the near-unanimous propaganda that he’s certain to lose in November. Nor would the ‘peaceful’ (Joe’s word) burning down of a courthouse in Portland, Oregon, cheered on by its mayor, edge Trump into a two- or three-point snap lead over Joe in a solid blue bastion.