MEDIA Comments turned off

Remembering the Worst Media Misses of 2023 By Brittany Bernstein

Posted By on January 2nd, 2024

https://www.nationalreview.com/news/remembering-the-worst-media-misses-of-2023/

Media Drop the Ball on Israel–Hamas War –- Again and Again

The New York Times published an editor’s note acknowledging that its editors “should have taken more care with the initial presentation” of the coverage of an explosion outside a Gaza hospital; the paper had been quick to run with the Hamas-backed Gaza Health Ministry’s claims that the blast was caused by an Israeli air strike that killed hundreds.

President Biden has since made clear that Israel was not to blame for the blast, which U.S. officials say killed between 100 and 300 people. The Israel Defense Forces have said the explosion was caused by a rocket misfire launched by Islamic Jihad, a conclusion that’s since been confirmed by video analyses conducted by the Associated Press, the Wall Street Journal, and CNN.

“The Times’s initial accounts attributed the claim of Israeli responsibility to Palestinian officials, and noted that the Israeli military said it was investigating the blast. However, the early versions of the coverage — and the prominence it received in a headline, news alert and social media channels — relied too heavily on claims by Hamas, and did not make clear that those claims could not immediately be verified. The report left readers with an incorrect impression about what was known and how credible the account was,” the editor’s note said.

The editor’s note concluded: “Given the sensitive nature of the news during a widening conflict, and the prominent promotion it received, Times editors should have taken more care with the initial presentation, and been more explicit about what information could be verified. Newsroom leaders continue to examine procedures around the biggest breaking news events — including for the use of the largest headlines in the digital report — to determine what additional safeguards may be warranted.”

But when other news outlets issued a mea culpa for their overreliance on the Hamas-controlled Gaza Health Ministry in reporting on the al-Ahli Arab hospital blast, the Washington Post doubled down and defended its decision to uncritically parrot the agency’s false claims that an Israeli airstrike hit a hospital, killing 500 civilians.

The Post then led its site with the health ministry’s claim that the Gaza death toll in the Israel–Hamas war has surpassed 10,000.

“Gaza Health Ministry: Death toll in Gaza surpasses 10,000 after four weeks of war,” a headline at the top of the site read.

The headline and underlying report ignore the fact that the health ministry is run by Hamas, but the paper’s editors did include a cursory disclaimer alongside the article to explain “Where we get our data about the Israel-Gaza war.”

“When we’re reporting on issues such as the death toll in the Israel-Gaza war, we use information provided from the Gaza Health Ministry (an agency of the Hamas-controlled government), the Israeli government, the United Nations, the World Health Organization, the U.S. State Department and other international agencies,” the disclaimer read in part.

NATIONAL NEWS & OPINION Comments turned off

The Pitfalls of Benevolence: Unpacking the Toxic Mix of Universal Good Intentions and Political Correctness in the New Year: Roger Kimball

Posted By on January 2nd, 2024

https://amgreatness.com/2023/12/31/the-pitfalls-of-benevolence-unpacking-the-toxic-mix-of-universal-good-intentions-and-political-correctness-in-the-new-year/

New Year’s is traditionally a time for reassessment and meditation. Wise sayings and saws are dredged up for reconsideration even as the chorus is getting ready to reprise “Auld Lang Syne.” It is easy to dismiss such scraps of wisdom, especially as they tend to come glazed with an unpalatable frosting of sentimentality, not to mention familiarity.

But it is important to note that many clichés are clichés precisely because they articulate important truths.  Consider, for example, the admonition, which you probably first heard from your mother or father, that “the road to hell is paved with good intentions.”

Why should that be the case? Regular readers will not be surprised to hear that I believe a large part of the answer involves the metabolism of benevolence.

Benevolence is a curious creature. Its operation tends to be more beneficent the more specific it is. This was a point that James Fitzjames Stephen, the great nineteenth-century critic of John Stuart Mill, made in his book Liberty, Equality, Fraternity. “The man who works from himself outwards,” Stephen wrote,

“whose conduct is governed by ordinary motives, and who acts with a view to his own advantage and the advantage of those who are connected with himself in definite, assignable ways, produces in the ordinary course of things much more happiness to others… than a moral Don Quixote who is always liable to sacrifice himself and his neighbors. On the other hand, a man who has a disinterested love of the human race—that is to say, who has got a fixed idea about some way of providing for the management of the concerns of mankind—is an unaccountable person . . . who is capable of making his love for men in general the ground of all sorts of violence against men in particular.”

“A moral Don Quixote”: that is a line worth remembering. Political correctness tends to breed the sort of unaccountability that Stephen warns against. At its center is a union of abstract benevolence, which takes mankind as a whole as its object, with rigid moralism. It is a toxic, misery-producing brew.

The Australian philosopher David Stove got to the heart of the problem when he pointed out that it is precisely this combination of universal benevolence fired by uncompromising moralism that underwrites the cult of political correctness.

HOMELAND SECURITY Comments turned off

Army numbers smallest since WWII — what units face cuts in 2024? By Davis Winkie

Posted By on January 2nd, 2024

https://www.armytimes.com/news/your-army/2023/12/28/army-numbers-smallest-since-wwii-what-units-face-cuts-in-2024/

The new year will likely prove to be one of significant force structure changes for the Army, according to its senior leaders.

Although the service has maintained for years that embracing multidomain operations will require it to “transform” its force structure into one leaders believe is suited to tomorrow’s battlefield, back-to-back recruiting shortfalls led top officials to admit by mid-to-late 2023 that some pending cuts are influenced by a deepening numbers shortfall. The Army finished fiscal year 2023 with only 452,000 active duty soldiers, its smallest force since 1940.

Army Secretary Christine Wormuth told Army Times in June that the service will see reductions to “close-combat forces” that were purpose-built for the War on Terror, in addition to other organizations based on their purpose or other factors like deployment rates.

NATIONAL NEWS & OPINION Comments turned off

Americans Overwhelmingly ‘Frustrated,’ ‘Angry’ With Federal Government: I&I/TIPP Poll

Posted By on January 2nd, 2024

https://issuesinsights.com/2024/01/02/americans-overwhelmingly-frustrated-angry-with-federal-government-ii-tipp-poll/

As nearly all parts of the political spectrum agree, average Americans are extremely unhappy these days. The latest I&I/TIPP Poll shows that a hefty majority sees the federal government’s recent performance as the cause of their disgruntlement.

With news stories regularly highlighting widespread anger among voters, we asked the following question for our December national online poll, taken from Nov. 29-Dec. 1 by 1,464 adult registered voters: “Which of the following best describes how you feel about the federal government?”

Respondents were then given four possible responses: “satisfied,” “frustrated,” “angry,” and “not sure.”

“Satisfied” never had a chance. Overall, just 14% said they were satisfied with Washington. A shocking 55% called themselves frustrated, and another 23% said they were angry, for a total of 78% of all responses. 

Another 9% responded that they were not sure. The poll has a +/-2.6 percentage-point margin of error.

MEDIA, NATIONAL NEWS & OPINION Comments turned off

The Military’s Phantom ‘Extremists’ An independent study puts to rest another false media narrative.

Posted By on January 2nd, 2024

https://www.wsj.com/articles/military-extremists-report-institute-for-defense-analyses-pentagon-lloyd-austin-97619f4d?mod=opinion_lead_pos2

Good news: The U.S. military isn’t packed with violent extremists. That’s the gist of a new report commissioned by the Pentagon in 2021 and released quietly with little notice in December. The result won’t surprise Americans who have spent time in uniform, but it should calm the media frenzy about right-wing radicals in the armed forces.

After reports that some service members participated in the Jan. 6 riot, Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin ordered an independent study to get “greater fidelity” on extremism in the ranks. The think tank tasked with the report, the Institute for Defense Analyses (IDA), “found no evidence that the number of violent extremists in the military is disproportionate” to U.S. society. A review of Pentagon data suggested “fewer than 100 substantiated cases per year of extremist activity by members of the military in recent years,” the report says.

That figure could include a range of conduct and ideological bent, not simply the white supremacy floated in the press. Take court martials. Researchers found that “the prevalence of extremist and gang-related activity that are reflected in court-martial opinions is limited to fewer than 20 cases” since 2012. Gang activity isn’t typically political and, excluding those cases, the number falls to one a year.

One useful conclusion is that the military doesn’t need a new section of the Uniform Code of Military Justice to punish what few “extremist” criminal cases exist. Researchers note that commanders can rely on Article 116 (riot or breach of peace); Article 88 (contempt toward officials); Article 109 (destruction or damage to property); Article 115 (communication of threats), among others such as assault.

WORLD NEWS Comments turned off

Hamas in London by Robert Williams

Posted By on January 2nd, 2024

https://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/20264/hamas-in-london

At least four groups with links to Hamas are reportedly behind several of the marches: The Muslim Association of Britain (MAB), the Palestinian Forum for Britain, the Palestine Solidarity Campaign, and the Friends of al-Aqsa.

“[M]embership of the Muslim Brotherhood remained (and still remains) a secret.” — UK government report, “Muslim Brotherhood Review: Main Findings,” December 17, 2015

Too often, unfortunately, those many propaganda goals evidently correspond to what the organizations behind the never-ending pro-Hamas protests in London — and around the world — seek to obtain: Creating sympathy for Hamas and the Gazans, demonizing Israel, which is fighting terrorism for all of us so that we will not have to, and increasing pressure for a permanent ceasefire that will enable Hamas to survive.

“Unfortunately, Hamas’s bloodlust is not limited to Israel and Jews but also extends to Europe and Christians. I want to remind you that in the past, Hamas members expressed the Islamic intention to conquer Europe.” — Israel’s Diaspora Affairs Minister Amichai Chikli, in a letter sent to about 20 European leaders warning of “a massive network of Hams operatives and the growing activism of Hamas across Europe,” December 2023.

Uprooting Hamas in the UK anytime in the near future, given the lack of enthusiasm that the Met Police have shown in the wake of the pro-Hamas demonstrations, sadly seems unlikely.

The pro-Hamas protests in London are not, apparently, as organic and spontaneous as their organizers would like them to seem.

At least four groups with links to Hamas are reportedly behind several of the marches: The Muslim Association of Britain (MAB), the Palestinian Forum for Britain, the Palestine Solidarity Campaign, and the Friends of al-Aqsa. The same groups were behind the largest protest so far, on November 11 in London, where it is estimated that around 300,000 people participated.

EDUCATION, NATIONAL NEWS & OPINION Comments turned off

‘Dark Money Nightmare’: How Qatar Bought the Ivy League by Robert Williams

Posted By on December 31st, 2023

https://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/20265/qatar-bought-ivy-league

“At least 100 American colleges and universities illegally withheld information on approximately $13 billion in undocumented contributions from foreign governments, many of which are authoritarian…. Speech intolerance—manifesting as campaigns to investigate, censor, demote, suspend, or terminate speakers and scholars—was higher at institutions that received undocumented money from foreign regimes.” — ISGAP report, “The Corruption of the American Mind,” November 2023.

Qatar makes it possible for Ivy League universities to claim that they receive no funds from the Qatari state, because the donations are funneled through the Qatar Foundation for Education, Science and Community Development, a not-for-profit organization established in 1995 by the Emir of Qatar. This ensures that the foundation can identify itself as a private organization, which enables Qatar to conceal its state funding as private donations.

“At the time of writing, the State of Qatar contributes more funds to universities in the United States than any other country in the world, and raw donation totals omit critical, concerning details about the nature of Qatar’s academic funding.” — ISGAP report, “Networks of Hate,” December 2023.

“We would pay them [journalists]… Some of them have become MPs now. Others have become patriots…. We would pay [journalists] in many countries. We would pay them every year. Some of them received salaries. All the Arab countries were doing this. If not all, then most of them.” — Former Qatari Prime Minister Hamad bin Jassim, February 2022.

The hapless testimony by three Ivy League university presidents from Harvard, MIT and the University of Pennsylvania before the U.S. House Committee on Education and the Workforce can be traced to Qatar and its insidious campaign to buy itself influence in US academia.

Qatar, oil-rich and with an estimated population of only 2.5 million, is the largest foreign donor — that we know about — to American universities, with at least $4.7 billion donated between 2001 and 2021. Many of those billions went unreported to the Department of Education, according to research done by the Institute for the Study of Global Antisemitism and Policy (ISGAP). Under federal law, colleges and universities that receive donations from foreign sources that total at least $250,000 must disclose such transactions to the Department of Education.

MY SAY: Comments turned off

MY SAY: DISPROPORTIONATE? INDEED!

Posted By on December 31st, 2023

The criticism tossed at Israel in the mainstream media and among the pro-Hamas protesters  that Israel’s response to the barbarism of October 7, 2023 is “disproportionate” is actually risible.

However, something in Israel is truly disproportionate. It is the outsize 24/7 research and development of technology, medicine, agriculture and water systems, that alleviate illness, famine, epidemics, and prolonged drought for billions of citizens throughout the world.

Got that? A nation about the size of New Jersey with a population of 9.73 million brings relief and hope to billions as Michael Ordman catalogs every week.

That is really disproportionate. rsk

ISRAEL Comments turned off

POSITIVE NEWS FROM ISRAEL FROM MICHAEL ORDMAN

Posted By on December 31st, 2023

 www.verygoodnewsisrael.blogspot.com 

As 2023 comes to an end, I unashamedly write this introduction with much emotion. There are now definite signs that Israel is winning the war against Hamas in Gaza. It cannot fail, thanks to a winning team of supporters in Israel and across the globe who, like the many thousands of readers of this newsletter, have been donating time, money, skills, accommodation, essential supplies, and more, to help the IDF fight against those wishing to destroy the Jewish State and civilization as a whole. Michael Ordman

POSITIVE NEWS DURING A WAR
 
2.6 million items of warm clothing. Friends of the IDF in the United States completed “Winter Clothing Operation,” a 5-week initiative to send 150 tons (over 2.5 million items) of essential winter clothing and gear to Israeli soldiers fighting on the front line in Gaza.
https://www.jns.org/friends-of-the-idf-ships-150-tons-of-winter-clothing-gear-to-troops/  
 
Nvidia donates $15 million. Thousands of employees of IT giant Nvidia donated $5 million to support Israelis affected by the war. This was tripled by Nvidia itself, with an additional $10 million donation.
https://www.calcalistech.com/ctechnews/article/bjjbd8hwp
https://www.timesofisrael.com/nvidia-raises-15-million-to-help-israeli-civilians-affected-by-hamas-war/
 
You’re never too old. Ezra Yachin at 95 years young is the oldest active IDF reservist. Despite losing an eye in 1948, he was called up to active duty in the current war. The New York Post, Al Jazeera, etc., wrote about the elderly IDF soldier who put on a uniform again to defend Israel. And he says the enemy hasn’t changed tactics.
https://www.israelnationalnews.com/news/382468
https://nypost.com/2023/10/10/95-year-old-reservist-joins-israels-fight-against-hamas-terrorists/ (skip video)
 
Citizen’s Kitchen. (TY UWI) US immigrant to Israel, Aliya Fastman, launched Citizen’s Kitchen on Oct 9, converting her Citrus & Salt studio for cooking lessons into a community kitchen for meal distribution. It has since provided 20,000+ meals to soldiers, bereaved or displaced families, and synagogues hosting meals.
https://www.algemeiner.com/2023/12/20/how-olim-are-helping-israels-war-effort-part-3-providing-meals-displaced-families-soldiers/  https://www.jpost.com/israel-news/article-769799
https://www.citrusandsaltcooking.com/
 
JNF-USA volunteers in action. (TY UWI) Volunteers from JNF-USA have heeded the cry of Israel in its time of need and offered whatever services they could help with.  From cooking meals for soldiers on bases, crop picking and storing, to watching children; these volunteers are taking a huge burden off the shoulders of Israel.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k2x5QojlPhI   https://www.jnf.org/ways-to-help/support-israel
https://www.jnf.org/travel/tours/index/volunteer-in-israel-missions
 
Volunteers from UK & Germany. Lovely to hear the accents of British volunteers and their reasons for coming to help on farms on farms in southern Israel.  Meanwhile (TY Hazel) staff from the German Embassy volunteered for a day in the orange harvest to help short-staffed Israeli farmers.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6axF7JOJ7eQ
https://www.instagram.com/germanyinisrael/reel/C1Epm9hsHIV/
 
Ways that Israelis are volunteering. Israelis are finding unusual ways to pitch in to aid those affected by the events of October 7 and the ongoing battle in Gaza. They include tailoring, matchmaking, folding laundry, giving haircuts, cleaning hospital rooms, rescuing vehicles, and a mobile restroom.
https://www.israel21c.org/the-most-unusual-ways-israelis-are-volunteering-during-the-war/
 
Thanks for the donation. IDF forces have uncovered millions of shekels in Gaza and PA cities that were intended to fund terrorism.  Israel will make better use of the money.
https://www.ynetnews.com/article/hy5gf99pa  https://www.ynetnews.com/article/rkmz00spia
https://www.jpost.com/breaking-news/article-775178
 
 
ISRAEL’S MEDICAL ACHIEVEMENTS
 
Hospital launches innovation hub. Jerusalem’s Shaare Zedek Medical Center has partnered with international investment firm Arieli Capital to create SHAAR – a joint healthcare innovation hub, designed to be a center for medical research. Healthcare companies will be invited to the first global scale-up cohort by the end of 2023.
https://nocamels.com/2023/12/top-jerusalem-hospital-unveils-healthcare-innovation-hub/
 
Thousands of overseas volunteer doctors. Israel’s Health Ministry has received 7,500 requests from foreign physicians to volunteer in Israel. Nearly 5,000 are from North America and 1,000 from Europe. Many are not Jewish – they just want to help. 450 have Israeli licenses and the rest are being fast-tracked.
https://www.jns.org/the-medical-specialists-who-left-all-behind-to-volunteer-in-israel/
 
Physical therapy on the front lines. Many of Israel’s IDF reservists are in the thirties and forties and not as fit and subtle as they used to be. So UK-born Tasha Cohen launched Chayal’s Angels of volunteer yoga therapists, massage therapists, acupuncturists, physiotherapists and chiropractors who treat 50 to 200 soldiers every day.
https://www.timesofisrael.com/an-army-of-volunteer-physical-therapists-treats-aching-idf-soldiers-on-the-front-lines/  
 
Miracle survival from deadly wounds. Despite many tragic losses, two IDF soldiers survived gunshot wounds that are usually fatal. Major Itai was hit by a bullet that is still lodged in his brain and cannot be removed. Another bullet passed through Sgt Oren Dovid’s heart.  Following surgery, both want to return to their units.
https://unitedwithisrael.org/idf-heroes-remarkably-survive-gunshots-to-the-heart-and-brain/
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZwvsHSseXTE  (Hebrew video of Major Itai, but easy to appreciate.)
 
Hyperbaric oxygen to treat PTSD.  Traumatized survivors of the Hamas Oct 7 terror attacks and IDF soldiers with PTSD are receiving HBOT therapy (see here) breathing pure oxygen in high pressure cabins. It is one of the treatments available to patients of the national clinic for PTSD, created by Tel Aviv University.
https://bnnbreaking.com/breaking-news/health/israeli-ptsd-victims-find-hope-in-hyperbaric-oxygen-therapy-post-hamas-attacks/ .  https://english.tau.ac.il/news/national-ptsd-clinic
 
HBOT for Mikey. (TY Avi Abelow) Mikey, a key member of the IDF Oketz search and rescue special forces unit, was severely wounded by a grenade thrown by a Hamas terrorist. She recovered most of her faculties in just a few weeks thanks to Hyperbaric oxygen treatment (HBOT) at Israel’s Shamir hospital. Mikey is a dog!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=30kPEOwv5hc
 
From death’s door to discharge. Menashe Eisner, 63, suffered a heart attack and was placed on life support. A complex bypass operation failed. Then surgeons at Haifa’s Rambam Health Care Campus implanted a left ventricular assist device (LVAD). Miraculously, 40 days later, Eisner was able to go home.
https://www.rambam.org.il/en/rambam_news/LVAD_medical_miracle.aspx
 
Preventing severe lung diseases in diabetics. 35% of patients that died of Covid-19 were diabetics. This led scientists at Israel’s Weizmann Institute to discover that high blood sugar levels disrupted the immune system response to infection. They then developed experimental medication to reverse the sugar-induced dysfunction.
https://wis-wander.weizmann.ac.il/life-sciences/why-people-diabetes-are-more-prone-respiratory-risk
 
No big shakes. Lynette Hoffman-Elharar remembers a time when Essential tremor meant she could not hold a glass of water or draw a straight line. Now, after undergoing noninvasive MRI-guided focused ultrasound (MRIgFUS) at Haifa’s Rambam Health Care Campus, she is knitting woolen hats for IDF soldiers.
https://www.rambam.org.il/en/rambam_news/Knitting_again_after_bilateral_MRIgFUS.aspx
 
Helping the helpers. Jerusalem’s Herzog Medical Center is supported by organizations in the USA, Canada, and the UK. The British Friends of the hospital have just launched a national campaign “Helping the Helpers”’ providing support for mental health professionals treating an increasing number of trauma patients.
http://www.herzoghospital.org/   https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UVmFbpfHMLk
https://www.afherzoghospital.org/  https://www.herzoghospital.ca/
 
96% of nurses at Rambam are graduates. Thanks to two international scholarship programs, 23 nurses at Israel’s Rambam Health Care Campus recently advanced their studies to specialize in various medical disciplines. 96% of Rambam nurses currently hold academic degrees. The target is 100%.
https://www.rambam.org.il/en/rambam_news/2023_nursing_scholarships.aspx
 
Record year for liver transplants. In 2023 at Schneider Children’s Medical Center in Petah Tikva, a record 24 life-saving liver transplants were conducted in infants, children, and adolescents. Liver transplants in children are among the most medically complex. Two donations were from soldiers killed in the war in Gaza.
https://www.israelnationalnews.com/news/382698
 
Israeli doctor saves passenger on El Al flight. Dr. Nathan Ungar, a long-time United Hatzalah volunteer, saved a 70-year-old diabetic passenger who lost consciousness twice on an El Al flight from Bulgaria to Israel. Dr Ungar closely monitored the patient’s condition until the plane made an emergency landing at Rhodes.
https://www.israelnationalnews.com/news/382703

ENVIRONMENT AND JUNK SCIENCE Comments turned off

Biden Dept of Energy Continues War on Consumers – New Fridge/Freezer and Fans Regulations Enacted

Posted By on December 31st, 2023

https://theconservativetreehouse.com/blog/2023/12/29/biden-dept-of-energy-continues-war-on-consumers-new-fridge-freezer-and-fans-regulations-enacted/

We all know the routine. Water-saving toilets that don’t flush (flush twice), water/energy-saving dishwashers and clothes washers that don’t clean (run two cycles), lightbulbs that don’t light, dryers that don’t dry (run twice), and all the ancillary nonsense that comes from the intervention of the regulatory state.

What Biden and the progressive movement call the “green new deal” effort toward “sustainability,” including the ban on gas stoves and internal combustion engines, simply results in a diminished quality of life, a loss in lifestyle productivity, and the exact opposite outcome from their expressed/intended purpose.  It’s an abject mess of stupidity, pushed under the guise of environmentalism.

Today the Biden Dept of Energy (DOE) takes it one step further with rules and regulations on fridges, freezers and fans. {DOE LINK}

Residential Refrigerators and Freezers – The efficiency standards being adopted today for residential refrigerators, refrigerator-freezers, and freezers, which have not been updated in over a decade, align with recommendations from a diverse set of stakeholders, including manufacturers, the manufacturing trade association, energy, environmental, and consumer advocacy groups, states, and utilities. Compliance will be required either January 31, 2029, or January 31, 2030, depending on the configuration of the refrigerator or freezer. The energy savings over 30 years of shipments is 5.6 quadrillion British thermal units, which represents a savings of 11% relative to the energy use of products currently on the market. DOE estimates that the standards would save consumers $36.4 billion over 30 years of shipments and result in cumulative emission reductions of nearly 101 million metric tons of carbon dioxide—an amount roughly equivalent to the combined annual emissions of 12.7 million homes.