RUTHFULLY YOURS

http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2013/dec/12/pruden-the-last-living-witnesses/

BERLIN — The shadows deepen and lengthen, memories grow dim, and some of the survivors of the tragedies of World War II scramble to preserve the recollections before the colors fade to gray.

There’s no shortage of ghosts prowling the cities and countryside of Europe. Remembrances of monstrous evil lie all about. None have tried harder than the progeny of the Germans who started it all to learn from the past, and recall without flinching the scourge and stain on history that is still unfathomable three-quarters of a century later.

An exhibit of photographs of the Nazi era, with the faces of human evil so familiar to the fading generations is on view now in the shadow of the Brandenburg Gate. Crowds of weekend strollers come to study the photographs and to admire the 40-foot Christmas tree and — in an irony der fuehrer would not appreciate — a large menorah and a Star of David in bright lights.

The Topography of Terror, a museum of the Hitler time built at what was once the most feared address in Berlin, the headquarters of the Gestapo, is one of the most popular sites with visitors to Germany. So, too, the Jewish Museum, with its history of the Jews. But none work with more dedication and enthusiasm for keeping the dark memories alive than a dwindling group of survivors of Hitler’s death camps. Some of them are well into their 90s now, leaning on canes or advancing slowly across a room on a walker, talking to young people to whom World War II is as distant as the Hundred Years War.

http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2013/dec/13/mccain-biden-hes-able-articulate-honest/

Sen. John McCain sang the praises of Vice President Joseph R. Biden, touting his many positives at a ceremony to recognize the White House’s contribution to foreign aid.

“Vice President Biden deserves our gratitude and respect for his many years of effective leadership in ensuring that all the resources America has to influence the course of world events are funded adequately and used effectively,” Mr. McCain said Thursday during the ceremony, according to the Hill.

Mr. Biden was being recognized by the U.S. Global Leadership Coalition, particularly for his work in the Senate when he chaired the Foreign Relations Committee.

Mr. McCain said Mr. Biden deserves “a share of the credit” for the advancement of U.S. principles and policies around the world.

The Arizona Republican said he’s never “doubted for a moment that the United States of America is fortunate to be served by as able, articulate, honest, dedicated and impassioned a world leader as my friend Joe Biden,” the Hill reported.

Mr. Biden said foreign is was “one of the best bargains for American taxpayers.”

http://pjmedia.com/blog/what-will-it-take/?print=1

Let me begin with a categorical statement that, given current events and recent political history, can be easily defended: Barack Hussein Obama is a willful, indoctrinated child of the Left with strong Islamic sympathies who is not fit to govern. Indeed, he would not be fit to govern Lower Slobovia [1], let alone the United States of America. Obama is a historic disaster of the first magnitude and, if not restrained, he will see to the irrevocable decline of the country which foolishly elected him, leaving the world on the brink of a conflict — or in the midst of one — whose repercussions cannot be underestimated.

Accompanying the undeniable havoc and damage that Obama is wreaking on his country and equally on its allies — Honduras, Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Poland, Czech Republic, Israel, and possibly Taiwan — is the sense of helplessness that overcomes one when writing or speaking about a rogue president and his destructive administration. I feel this personally, having done my utmost in books, articles and lectures, from 2008 to the present, to warn whomever might read or listen that Obama represented a greater threat to the U.S. and the oddly named “free world” than any of our most dedicated and belligerent enemies. Even prior to his nomination as the Democratic candidate for the presidency, my distrust of this man was proprioceptive. And after his Missouri address, I wondered why anyone would want to “fundamentally transform” a country which, for all its flaws, perched atop the pinnacle of success in comparison to any other country.

Everything Obama has done since then has only served to confirm what was originally a deep suspicion and soon grew to become a complete certainty. Dozens of meticulously researched books have been published to the same effect. And yet very few people seemed to be paying attention. No less disconcerting, those who argue that to criticize Obama is a sign of deep-dyed racism are, of course, relying on slander and misappropriation of language to protect their chosen standard bearer and his Marxist/progressivist/utopian project.

What will it take to convince the ersatz aristocracy of frivolous intellectuals and brainless celebrities, partisan journalists, editors and academics, and an indifferent or deluded laity that they are heading for a crisis that will change our lives immeasurably for the worse? The evidence is beyond dispute.

http://pjmedia.com/lifestyle/2013/12/08/the-ten-worst-u-s-purveyors-of-antisemitism-10-gordon-duff/?print=1

Compared to Europe, where antisemitism and attacks on Jews are sharply on the rise, and 40 percent or more of populations view Israel as a country committing genocide, America shines. Polls find levels of antisemitism to be much lower, and the latest Gallup poll in February found sympathy for Israel tying a previous all-time high of 64% (with only 12% supporting the Palestinians).

That is not to say, though, the problem does not exist. The FBI’s recently released Hate Crime Statistics report for 2012 found Jews by far the number 1 target of hate crimes in the country; 62.4 percent of reported anti-religious hate crimes were against Jews (compared to 11.6 percent against Muslims).

This was, of course, before the rise of the “knockout game” that victimizes Jews and others. The Anti-Defamation League also criticized the FBI’s report as “seriously flawed” because one-fourth of the country’s law-enforcement agencies did not turn in their numbers.

The ADL’s own recently released poll finds that 12 percent of Americans “harbor deeply entrenched anti-Semitic attitudes,” down from 15 percent in 2011 and 29 percent in 1964. The ADL found antisemitism to be most prevalent among African Americans and Hispanics, and noted:

http://www.spiegel.de/international/world/extremist-rebels-in-syria-target-foreign-journalists-for-abduction-a-938715-druck.html

Radical Islamists embedded among the rebels in Syria are reportedly targeting foreign journalists for abduction. Instead of holding them for ransom, however, they use them as trump cards in their power struggles with more moderate rebel groups.

It was Sept. 16. The two Spaniards had almost made it to safety. Journalists Javiar Espinosa and Ricardo García, as well as their escorts, fighters with the Free Syrian Army, were hardly 15 minutes by car from the Turkish border when they were stopped at the last checkpoint within Syrian territory and abducted.

Some of their escorts were subsequently freed. From them, it is known that the men at the checkpoint were members of the extremist rebel group “Islamic State of Iraq and Syria” (ISIS).

The two Spaniards were a big catch for the radical Islamists. Since early last summer, ISIS and other extremist groups have apparently shifted their strategy and begun targeting foreign reporters for abduction. On Tuesday, Ayman Mhanna, executive director of the Beirut-based SKeyes Center for Media and Cultural Freedom, said that 20 foreign journalists are being held captive in Syria. Some of the missing journalists are in the hands of the regime, he added, but the majority are captives of extremist groups.

And these are not the only missing reporters. In addition to foreign journalists, Mhanna says, about 10 Syrian journalists have been kidnapped and are being held. Since fighting broke out in the spring of 2011, roughly 55 journalists have lost their lives in Syria.

http://www.nationalreview.com/node/366327/print

Readers of a certain age will know that Monday Night Football was not the first regularly scheduled prime-time television production of a live sporting event. Long before large numbers of Americans watched NFL football played under the lights while simultaneously being annoyed by Howard Cosell, there were the Friday Night Fights.

Officially part of the Gillette Cavalcade of Sports, the Friday Night Fights were must-see TV for sports fans in the ’40s and ’50s, or at least for sports fans with access to a television set.

The bouts were held in Madison Square Garden 3.0 (the current MSG is the fourth), and in the early years they tended to feature fighters from three demographic groups: Irish, Italian, and Jewish. As the zeitgeist began to change, more black fighters such as Sugar Ray Robinson, Rubin “Hurricane” Carter, and Ezzard Charles began to appear on the show.

Clearing an hour of network airtime was a fairly big deal in those days, and an early-round knockout would leave considerable time to be filled. When live Saturday-night boxing shows began to be broadcast a few years later, producers had a backup sporting event lined up and ready to fill out the hour — one that combined the sheer excitement of a Bill Belichick post-game press conference with the raw athleticism of a Bill Belichick post-game press conference. Make That Spare! came to you live from the Paramus Bowling Center in Paramus, N.J., and featured two professional bowlers . . . making spares. It was not as riveting as it sounds.

The way today’s televised sports events are produced and hyped bears little resemblance to the way it was done in those grittier times. The same can be said for the way boxing matches were pulled together and promoted.

http://www.thecommentator.com/article/4447/mandela_legacy_and_pink_floyd_fallacy

“The rock idol ‘believes.’ And what a belief it turns out to be. A wholesale program of murder – of six million Jews burnt, executed, gassed, buried alive, worked to death, drowned at birth, and processed into usable products; and Roger Waters equates that with a Palestinian population under Israeli watch growing to 4.4 million in 2012 – up from 1.9 million in 1990.How many member countries of the United Nations can claim a growth rate of 132% in a short twelve years! And so we illuminate the rockhard quality of an old rock idol’s faith.”

It’s almost impossible to find a way through to the mind of an Israel hater like Pink Floyd frontman Roger Waters. But here’s trying with a little context about life and death for Jews, Palestinians and South Africans

A one time rock idol is a man true to a faith newer than monotheism, yet stronger. Roger Waters, of Pink Floyd fame believes that Israel is guilty of the worst crimes men can inflict: genocide and ethnic cleansing.Faith, that unshakeable belief in something without proof, acts like that upon devotees. The inner heart and soul talks to men like Waters.And what they hear they hold fast to and never let go. Jews today treat Palestinians no differently to how Nazis treated Jews back in the days of Hitler. Jews carry out genocide and ethnic cleansing. Right up to the moment of death the retired rock idol will hold fast to such beliefs:“There were many people that pretended that the oppression of the Jews was not going on from 1933 until 1946. So this is not a new scenario; except that this time it’s the Palestinian people being murdered.”

Now, before we put the rock idol’s faith to the test, I’d like to pick out two words in his statement: ‘oppression’ and ‘murdered.’ The Jews were oppressed (not too fatal), while Palestinians are murdered. Why is that important?

Because Waters, being a faithful Israel boycotter, would die before he acknowledged that Jews can be victims. They can only be a ‘demonic abstraction,’ to coin the phrase of Professor Robert Wistrich. The people of Israel, for the rock idol as it was for Hitler, are a force of unequalled malice. So how can they ever be murdered?

The most economically free state in North America isn’t a state. It’s a Canadian province. The United States is losing ground in free enterprise to what was once dismissed as a Europe style social democracy. Stunningly beautiful, stunningly free

http://www.thecommentator.com/article/4450/the_most_pro_capitalism_place_in_n_america_surprise

Back in February, I said Australia probably was the country most likely to survive and prosper as much of the world suffered fiscal collapse and social chaos.

In hindsight, I probably should have mentioned Canada as an option, in part because of pro-growth reforms in the past two decades that have significantly reduced the burden of government spending.

And I’ve already acknowledged that Canada has passed the United States in the Economic Freedom of the World rankings.

So I guess I shouldn’t be too surprised to learn that the most economically free state in North America isn’t a state. It’s a Canadian province. Here’s a map from a new report showing how sub-national jurisdictions rate for economic freedom.

www.verygoodnewsisrael.blogspot.com
http://blogs.jpost.com/users/just-look-us-now
ISRAEL’S MEDICAL ACHIEVEMENTS

Accurate test for cancer gene. Thanks to scientists at Hadassah Medical Center, a simple blood test will now detect the presence of harmful BRCA1 and BRCA2 mutations in otherwise healthy women. Gene expression profiling is far quicker, cheaper and more accurate than the previous method of full gene sequencing.
http://www.timesofisrael.com/spotlight/hadassah-develops-new-test-for-breast-cancer-gene/

Slowing down to speed up DNA sequencing. Technion scientists have made a breakthrough that will improve the accuracy and speed of calculating an individual’s genome. A focused low-power green laser slows down the flow of DNA nanopores to enable sensors to get a higher-resolution analysis of the proteins in the DNA.
http://pard.technion.ac.il/slowing-down-dna-with-light/

Seeing is believing. I featured the “talking glasses” from Israel’s OrCam in a previous newsletter, but here is a new video showing the power of the unique Israeli device for the visually impaired.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EMLHtywaqSY

Israeli experts at G8 Dementia Summit. Israel has participated in an international summit on dementia in London, England, bringing its know-how to bear on a disease that is set to treble globally by 2050.
http://jewishnews.co.uk/israel-at-the-table-for-global-dementia-discussion-in-uk/

Digital dentistry has wide-open benefits. Thanks to the Israeli-developed Objet30 OrthoDesk 3D printer, small dental labs can now produce stone models, orthodontic appliances, delivery and positioning trays, retainers and surgical guides, which were previously only accessible by large labs.
http://www.globes.co.il/serveen/globes/docview.asp?did=1000900900&fid=1725

http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/175128#.Uq0vV7RCrYh Mark Langfan uncovers secret 1967 USJCoS memorandum, says it proves Kerry’s proposals are ‘fraud on Israel and the Jews.’A secret US Joint Chiefs of Staff (USJCoS) Memorandum from 1967 has been uncovered by Arutz Sheva analyst Mark Langfan. Langfan says the report proves that US Secretary of State John Kerry’s current proposed security arrangements are a “military […]