BOOKS Comments turned off

A REVIEW OF DAVID GOLDMAN’S BOOK “YOU WILL BE ASSIMILATED: CHINA’S PLAN TO SINO-FORM THE WORLD BY by SCOTT A. SHAY

Posted By on July 12th, 2020

https://www.algemeiner.com/2020/07/10/you-might-not-be-interested-in-china-but-china-is-interested-in-you/

OU MIGHT NOT BE INTERESTED IN CHINA, BUT CHINA IS INTERESTED IN YOU

n September of 2019, I was invited to a gathering of Jewish Joe Biden supporters. Rather than ask about Israel, the Iran deal, or frankly anything else Jewish, I asked Biden about China. In a nutshell, my question was: China is currently leading the US in quantum communications, quantum computing, 5G, artificial intelligence, and chip manufacturing. China was just the first country to land a spacecraft on the dark side of the moon. We are no longer a feared military adversary in the South China Sea. The Belt and Road Initiative has the potential to totally redraw the trade patterns that have been so advantageous to the US. And China has yet to be taken to task about its human rights violations. As president, what would be your China policy?

Biden began by saying that President Donald Trump correctly diagnosed that China presents novel issues for the US, but that Trump’s China policies had failed. Then he simply noted his many years of foreign policy experience and his private dinners with China’s leader Xi Jinping. He also spoke extensively about the greatness of US research universities. His answer was underwhelming to say the least.

Unfortunately, as David Goldman argues in his new book You Will Be Assimilated: China’s Plan to Sino-form the World, Biden, like previous administration leaders of both parties and Congresses, including Trump, has no cogent China strategy.

Goldman attributes this shocking omission to American overconfidence, a bipartisan failure to understand China’s goals, and a lack of political will to establish a long-term plan to counter them. Further, as Goldman explains, if the US does not act soon, China will dominate the world; even in Israel, the Chinese are primary investors in key sectors like rail and ports. The US will not only be unable to stand up to China, but it too will be under its thumb.

NATIONAL NEWS & OPINION Comments turned off

It’s All About November 3 by By Roger Kimball

Posted By on July 12th, 2020

https://amgreatness.com/2020/07/11/its-all-about-november-3/

The Democrats thought they could ride the tiger to victory.  Instead, they will be consumed by the monster they created but could not control.

Everything is what it is, and not another thing.” That lapidary observation from the Sermons (1726) of Joseph, Bishop Butler, is one of the most profound philosophical observations I have ever encountered. One of the simplest, too. In nine short words, it introduces a principle of mental hygiene that Marxists, Freudians, Hegelians, astrologers, sociobiologists, and other lovers of mystification ignore at their—or, more to the point, at our—peril.

Butler’s chief target was what we now call the selfish theory of human nature—the “strange affection in many people of explaining away all particular affections, and representing the whole of life as nothing but one continued exercise in self-love.” Butler zeros in on the fundamental confusion that nurtures this unflattering view of humanity. It is this: a (deliberate?) confusion between the proposition that we cannot knowingly act except from a desire or interest which is our own, and the proposition that all of our actions are self-interested. 

The first is not only true, it is a necessary truth: it could not be otherwise. The second proposition— that all of our actions are self-interested—far from being self-evidently true, is a scandalous falsehood.  

It is a tautology that any interest we have is an interest of our own: whose else could it be? But the objects of our interest are as varied as the world is wide. 

No doubt much of what we do we do from motives of self-interest. But we might also do things for the sake of flag and country; for the love of a good woman; for the love of God; to discover a new country; to benefit a friend; to harm an enemy; to make a fortune; to spend a fortune. 

“It is not,” Butler notes, “because we love ourselves that we find delight in such and such objects, but because we have particular affections towards them.” How much wandering in mental thickets might have been avoided had Sigmund Freud acquainted himself with Butler’s Sermons?

WORLD NEWS Comments turned off

Turkey’s Hagia Sophia: “It’s Like If Saint Peter’s Had Been Turned Into a Mosque” by Giulio Meotti

Posted By on July 12th, 2020

https://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/16221/turkey-hagia-sophia-mosque

“Would you have enjoyed it so much if a mosque at the center of Europe were converted into a church?” — Ertugrul Özkök, Hurriyet, March 8, 2014.

Turkey, however, also apparently wanted to inflict humiliation on the West. By turning Hagia Sophia into a mosque, Erdogan has been able to embarrass Washington, mock Brussels and defy Moscow.

For Erdogan and the Islamists, Hagia Sophia is the prime symbol of Christianity’s subjugation to Islam.

“Hagia Sophia is the symbol of conquest. It belongs to us”. — Yunus Genç, head of the Istanbul branch of the Anatolian Youth Association, Le Figaro, October 7, 2020.

When cartoons of Mohammed appeared in Danish and French newspapers in 2005, the Muslim world erupted in violence…. Now that Turkey is turning its formerly most important Christian monument into a mosque, there is no protest, only silence and mumbling, which are nothing but the soundtrack of the West’s submission to Islam.

“The city that Constantine had protected for more than a thousand years… has now undergone, in this unfortunate year, the destruction by the Turks. I suffer at the thought that the temple of Saint Sophia, famous all over the world, has been destroyed or desecrated. This is a second death for Homer, a second passing for Plato”. These words by the great humanist, Enea Silvio Piccolomini, who became Pope Pius II, were written five centuries ago, after the great Christian city of Constantinople fell to the Ottomans.

Last week, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan issued an unprecedented decree converting Hagia Sophia once again into a mosque. Erdogan’s decree is a gesture of immense symbolism and historic meaning. “A threat against Hagia Sophia,” said the Russian Orthodox Patriarch Kirill, “is a threat for the whole of Christian civilization”.

US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo stated:

“We urge the Government of Turkey to continue to maintain the Hagia Sophia as a museum, as an exemplar of its commitment to respect the faith traditions and diverse history that contributed to the Republic of Turkey, and to ensure it remains accessible to all”.

HISTORY, NATIONAL NEWS & OPINION Comments turned off

Rage Produces Much Heat but Little Light by Amir Taheri

Posted By on July 12th, 2020

https://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/16220/rage-riots

When he attended theology classes in Medina, Malcolm X was known as “the American brother” because he did not wish to discard his American-ness. His message was one of hard work and self-betterment rather than moaning and commerce with victimhood.

In recent weeks, anti-American cabals have unleashed much sound and fury but little of substance; much heat, but little light. Their aim is to terrorize the majority by pretending that hatred of America is more widespread than it really is.

In Texas, during the Mexican-American war, Ulysses S. Grant, then a lieutenant, accompanied by another officer, goes to investigate the howling of what sounds like a huge pack of wolves. When they arrived, they saw that: “There were just two of them; they had made all the noise we had heard. I have often thought of this incident since when I have heard the noises of a few disappointed politicians… There are always more of them before they are counted.”

It is too early to tell whether the recent riots in the United States were inspired by genuine concern about chronic racism in parts of American society or fostered by political calculations linked to the next presidential election.

However, one thing is certain: traditional America-bashing circles in Europe and elsewhere have seized the opportunity to portray the United States as a nation unwilling to even acknowledge the grievance felt by the “African-American” component. Skimming through magazines gives the impression that the European elites have been observing events in the US with a more than usual degree of smugness. They ignore a few facts.

WORLD NEWS Comments turned off

Iran Accuses West of ‘Disinformation’ As Another Huge Explosion Rocks Tehran By Rick Moran

Posted By on July 12th, 2020

https://pjmedia.com/news-and-politics/rick-moran/2020/07/11/iran-accuses-west-of-disinformation-as-another-huge-explosion-rocks-tehran-n631399

For the third time in three weeks, an explosion has rocked the Iranian capital of Tehran, leading many to conclude that these were coordinated attacks probably planned by Israel and the United States. Iran is denying that the explosion even occurred, although social media postings and “unofficial” news agencies say it did. They are accusing the west of mounting a disinformation campaign to undermine the regime.

That’s a good idea. Why didn’t we think of that?

The blast yesterday was so powerful, it knocked out power to thousands of residents. The Jerusalem Post reports that the blast may have targeted a Revolutionary Guard missile site.

Explosions were reported west of Tehran on Thursday night, with some initial reports claiming that the explosions occurred at a missile depot belonging to the Iranian Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC).

According to the Iranian Mehr News Agency, the explosions were reported by social media users west of Tehran and in the cities of Garmdareh and Quds.

The Iranian government quoted the mayor of Garmdereh as saying that they heard no explosions. But there was one small problem.

Along with the denial of the explosion, Iranian media reported that the mayor of Garmdareh had stated that the explosion was caused by gas tanks, but it was later discovered that the quoted mayor had died over a year ago and that the quoted news was from years ago, according to the Independent Persian.

WORLD NEWS Comments turned off

Tensions Rising Again in South China Sea as Beijing, U.S. Conduct Exercises By Rick Moran

Posted By on July 12th, 2020

https://pjmedia.com/news-and-politics/rick-moran/2020/07/11/tensions-rising-again-in-south-china-sea-as-beijing-u-s-conduct-exercises-n631452

There are a lot of warships steaming around the Paracel Islands in the South China Sea and the chances for some kind of encounter are rising.

The United States sent two aircraft carrier battle groups to the region while China augmented its own forces. Both sides are conducting exercises while the war of words escalates.

SCMP:

The US Department of Defence said in a July 2 statement that the Chinese military exercises around the Paracel Islands had violated China’s international commitments to avoid actions that would “complicate or escalate disputes” in the region.

“The military exercises are the latest in a long string of [Chinese] actions to assert unlawful maritime claims and disadvantage its Southeast Asian neighbours in the South China Sea,” the statement read. “[These] actions stand in contrast to its pledge to not militarise the South China Sea and the United States’ vision of a free and open Indo-Pacific region.”

China tried to play dumb but given their long-standing ambitions in the South China Sea, their words ring a little hollow.

China’s defence ministry rebuffed the US statement on Thursday, describing its early July exercises in the area as “not targeted at any specific country or objective”.

“The intent was to effectively elevate the Chinese navy’s maritime defensive capabilities, resolutely defend the safety of our country’s sovereignty, and to safeguard regional peace and stability,” the spokesperson said. “The US Department of Defence is disregarding facts, reversing black and white, inciting regional tensions, and seeking its own gain in all this.”

Donald Trump has been backing up his tough rhetoric toward Beijing by giving China a sample of U.S. airpower. Rear Adm. Jim Kirkof the Nimitz strike group says that the Navy made sure the Chinese got an eyeful.

Fox News:

Chinese naval officials are closely watching the carrier, and in the past People’s Liberation Army naval fleets have tried unsuccessfully to force U.S. Navy warships out of the area.

“We saw plenty of the Chinese navy operating around us as we did our exercises,” Adm. Kirk said.

The Chinese presence near the exercises “helped us raise our level of readiness as we go against each other through training,” he said. “So that was a marvelous opportunity for us.”

The Chinese navy has been gradually improving its capabilities over the years, especially in amphibious warfare, as they contemplate invading Taiwan. But the entire Red Chinese Navy is no match for a couple of ultra-modern, lethal instruments of war like a nuclear-powered aircraft carrier.

Bloomberg is reporting that the administration will lay out its case against Chinese aggression next week.

The Trump administration plans to make an announcement next week related to escalating tensions in the South China Sea, where Washington and Beijing are vying for military supremacy, according to two people familiar with the matte

The U.S. has raised concerns over China’s decision to conduct military exercises in the contested waters around the Paracel Islands. The Defense Department last week called the actions “unlawful,” and the U.S. plans to lay out its official position next week, said one of the people who spoke on condition of anonymity.

Neither side wants to get in a shooting war, but with so many ships and planes buzzing each other in a small area, accidents have a way of happening. For the nations of Southeast Asia under threat from the Chinese, a strong statement by the White House would be welcome.

BOOKS Comments turned off

‘Airborne’ By Matt Margolis Is the Definitive Guide to the Media’s COVID-19 Malfeasance and Malpractice By Stacey Lennox

Posted By on July 12th, 2020

https://pjmedia.com/columns/stacey-lennox/2020/07/11/airborne-by-matt-margolis-is-the-definitive-guide-to-the-medias-covid-19-malfeasance-and-malpractice-n626922

The COVID-19 pandemic has given the corporate media an unparalleled opportunity to show Americans that they are little more than partisan activists. The daily Coronavirus Task Force briefings were a stunning display of the media’s childish and partisan behavior. They appeared neither serious nor smart, and American’s trust in the press continued to tumble. In Airborne, author Matt Margolis details some of their most egregious distortions, misfires, and outright lies during the pandemic.

As the election nears, it is a near certainty that the media will resurface the pandemic response to try and damage President Trump. As noted in the book’s introduction, the COVID-19 response will be weaponized this cycle in the same way Hurricane Katrina was weaponized against George W. Bush. In both cases, the response was robust and appropriate. Yet the corporate media will spin a narrative not remotely related to the reality of the situation.

In Airborne, Margolis gives the president’s supporters a complete guide to combatting COVID-19 lies. The news cycle moves so quickly that the full list of dirty deeds by the corporate talking heads is challenging to recall. Many highlighted in the book are astonishing in their boldness.

ANTI-SEMITISM Comments turned off

Jews against Themselves By Eileen F. Toplansky

Posted By on July 12th, 2020

https://www.americanthinker.com/articles/2020/07/jews_against_themselves.html

Jews are now commemorating what is known as the Three Weeks.  It is when Jews express grief for the destruction of the Holy Temple in ancient Israel.  The Temple was breached by the Romans in 69 C.E.  The mourning period concludes with a fast to remember when both Holy Temples were set aflame.  Thus, Tisha B’Av (Ninth of Av) is the saddest day of the Jewish calendar.

These calamitous events, among others, came from outside the Jewish world but have impacted it for centuries.  What is happening today in America and abroad is that Jews are deliberately working against themselves.  Why are so many Jews joining forces with a known anti-Semitic group such as the Black Lives Matter?

In his 2015 book titled Jews Against Themselves, Edward Alexander examines the various strains of thought that many Jews have adopted.  The ultimate aim of each strain is the hollowing out of Judaism and the obliteration of Israel.  These approaches pit Jewish particularism against Jewish universalism, the latter which results in undermining Jewish interests and lives.  In essence, it is “Jewish suicidalism [sic].”

For example “Judith Butler who urges progressive people to fight anti-Semitism … maintains that it is ‘wildly improbable that somebody examining the divestment petitions signed by herself and her co-conspirators might take them (as hundreds on her own campus already had) as condoning anti-Semitism.'”  In short, Butler dismisses actions such as BDS (Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions) and cannot comprehend that they are overtly anti-Semitic.  She is wearing blinders while maintaining the alleged moral high ground.

NATIONAL NEWS & OPINION Comments turned off

Descending into Chaos By David Solway

Posted By on July 12th, 2020

https://www.americanthinker.com/articles/2020/07/descending_into_chaos.html

““That breakdown is upon us…Unless new leaders come forth who understand their duty to maintain the rule of law, the country will not pull back from disaster.”

The medieval Christian conception of the great chain of being, so ably described and analyzed by Arthur Lovejoy and E. M. Tillyard, has been one of the most resonant concepts addressing mankind’s unique position in the cosmos. Situated between the divine and the earthy, the angelic and the bestial, the spiritual world and the physical creation, the human being is understood as a hybrid being consisting of a “higher” nature and a “lower” nature in perpetual conflict with one another. It is a metaphor that makes good explanatory sense.

Thus, we are tugged in two antithetical directions, toward reason, order and imagination on the one hand and envy, resentment and malice on the other, toward the tablets on the mountain above and the calf in the wilderness below. The gravity of degradation, alas, is always stronger than the upward flight of intellectual clarity and moral commitment. This will never change, but the choice and struggle between the angel and the animal within us, between logic and appetite, is what constitutes the essence of human identity, and the intermittent victory of the former over the latter is what constitutes the essence of human potentiality — that is, of the truly human.

ISRAEL Comments turned off

GOOD NEWS FROM AMAZING ISRAEL FROM MICHAEL ORDMAN

Posted By on July 12th, 2020

www.verygoodnewsisrael.blogspot.com 

http://www.jpost.com/Blogger/Michael-Ordman

ISRAEL’S MEDICAL ACHIEVEMENTS
 
The best test for Covid-19 antibodies. Researchers at Tel Aviv University have developed a serological test that from one blood sample can, for the first time, identify all three of the key antibodies that counter Covid-19. The test is extremely sensitive and accurate to around 98-99 percent, better than current tests.
https://www.timesofisrael.com/israeli-researchers-develop-more-efficient-accurate-antibody-test-report/
 
Another fast Covid-19 test. Israel’s AID Genomics has developed a coronavirus test kit that gives results in just 30 minutes. It uses different enzymes from current tests with much higher sensitivity. AID Genomics has partnered with the Chinese-owned BGI Group, which will be distributing the test in Israel and globally.
https://www.timesofisrael.com/30-minute-covid-19-test-developed-in-israel-inventor-predicts-it-will-go-global/
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AElVxSQqpHc
 
Fix the heart before treating cancer. Researchers at Israel’s Technion Institute have made a breakthrough discovery that cancer progresses much faster in patients with heart problems. To improve their survival chances, these patients should have their heart treated first before beginning cancer therapy.
https://unitedwithisrael.org/major-israeli-cancer-discovery-treating-heart-problems-early-a-key-to-survival/
 
How deep we sleep. Neuroscientists at Tel Aviv University working with others at Israel’s Weizmann Institute, UK’s Bristol and France’s Montpellier universities, have discovered the brain’s mechanism for deep sleep. The locus coeruleus in the brainstem secretes the chemical noradrenaline and too high levels prevent deep sleep.
https://www.jpost.com/israel-news/how-did-you-sleep-through-your-alarm-tau-study-reveals-how-deep-we-sleep-634118   https://advances.sciencemag.org/content/6/15/eaaz4232
 
Innovative gastro stent technology. (TY Hazel) Gastro stents are essential for clearing clots in the bile ducts and pancreas. Israel’s Endo GI Medical has received US FDA approval for its Stenting Placement Delivery Systems that reduce risk of infection from repetitive insertions of singular stents.
https://www.jpost.com/health-science/israeli-medical-company-receives-fda-approval-for-life-saving-tech-633756   https://www.endo-gi.com/
 
Breakthrough device for dialysis patients. (TY Atid-EDI) The US FDA has awarded breakthrough designation to the VasQ from Israel’s Laminate Medical (reported here previously). The device provides safe connections to dialysis machines.  https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/vasq-external-support-awarded-breakthrough-device-designation-by-the-fda-301071728.html
 
Monitoring cancer post-surgery. (TY Atid-EDI) At its Israeli R&D center, C2i Genomics has developed a personalized, real-time solution for monitoring recurrence and treatment response for various types of solid cancers. It employs a breakthrough tumor DNA pattern recognition approach for liquid biopsy.
https://en.globes.co.il/en/article-cancer-recurrence-monitoring-co-c2i-genomics-raises-12m-1001331769
https://c2i-genomics.com/
 
Mobile X-rays for five more countries. (TY Atid-EDI) Israel’s Nanox (reported here previously) has signed multiple new deals to deploy over 1000 of its mobile X-ray devices to Russia, Belarus, Taiwan, Singapore and Italy.  Previous deployments include to Japan, Australia, New Zealand, Norway, South Korea and Vietnam.
https://www.nanox.vision/news-en
 
Autism Research and Treatment. The latest Ben-Gurion Briefing, “Autism Research and Treatment” featured 4 leading Israeli experts from Ben-Gurion University and Soroka University Medical Center. They discussed whether early autism diagnosis can lead to the eradication of symptoms of autism later in life.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7KqM0RN6Ubo
 
Saving lives is vital. An exciting article about a United Hatzalah paramedic who, on the eve of her final chemistry exam, rushed to save the life of a heart-attack victim.
http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/283030