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July 2018

No Substitute for Total Victory By Michael Walsh

https://pjmedia.com/michaelwalsh/no-substitute-for-total-victory/

As the Left continues to spiral out of control — foaming, spitting, frothing in rage — it’s time to state the obvious: that in the battle for the soul of America, there can be only one winner. Either we retain as much as possible of the country-as-founded, including its national character, or we watch it “fundamentally transformed” into a “social democracy” of the kind envisioned by the adherents of Critical Theory, and brought to us courtesy of the Frankfurt School’s ideological seizure of academe. Although some might wish otherwise, there is no middle ground, no accommodation, no splitting the difference.

Our opponents on the Left understand this perfectly well. Their motto, for decades, has been “there is only the fight,” which also happens to have been the title of Hillary Rodham Clinton’s senior thesis at Wellesley. They’ve made it very clear all along that they’re in this for the long haul. Conservatives like to think that history, tradition, logic, and morality will win out in the end, and that our opponents will eventually see the error of their ways, if not the light. But as history shows, that’s simply not true. The Left won’t stop unless it is stopped. Which means that, for us, total victory in the defense of Western civilization and the American ideal is the only option.

Ascribing good motives to our friends across the aisle is a fool’s errand. Like most villains, they think of themselves as the heroes of their own twisted morality play, casting themselves as noble superheroes for truth, silver-surfing the “arc of history” as it bends toward their definition of justice. We, however, see their assault on our history, customs, and traditions as nothing of the sort; to us, they are the vandals who cannot abide something they had little or no hand in creating, and just want to see the world burn. After watching liberals hide behind the Bill of Rights for decades — because it protected them when they were weak — we can only shake our heads in wonder at the effrontery of something like this story in the house organ of Leftist Central, the New York Times:

On the final day of the Supreme Court term last week, Justice Elena Kagan sounded an alarm. The court’s five conservative members, citing the First Amendment, had just dealt public unions a devastating blow. The day before, the same majority had used the First Amendment to reject a California law requiring religiously oriented “crisis pregnancy centers” to provide women with information about abortion. Conservatives, said Justice Kagan, who is part of the court’s four-member liberal wing, were “weaponizing the First Amendment.” CONTINUE AT SITE

Will Trump’s foreign policy revolution fail? Angelo Codevilla

http://standpointmag.co.uk/node/7211/full

Three separate questions compose the topic of US foreign policy under Donald Trump: what the policy has been since he took office, what parts of that are due to Trump’s decisions, and what may be those decisions’ root. I will examine these components with regard to each aspect of US policy, rather than in any chronological order of events.First, we must understand how they interact with one another generically. This requires grasping why the American people’s dissatisfaction with foreign policy had reached a critical point by the 2016 election, and how Trump incorporated that dissatisfaction in his campaign.

Prior to running for President, Trump viewed international affairs with the not-so attentive, ordinary patriotism of ordinary Americans. That view has been at odds with official US policy for most of the past 100 years. During the past quarter-century, all of the foreign policy establishment’s constituent parts have become increasingly unpopular — each for its own reasons — so that, by 2016, US foreign policy had no constituency outside the establishment.

Ordinary Americans’ approach to foreign affairs has remained remarkably steady since the country’s founding: America and its way of life are uniquely precious. The oceans to the east and west, as well as non-threatening neighbours north and south, offer Americans the chance to live peacefully and productively in what Benjamin Franklin called “the land of labour”. The Declaration of Independence aimed to secure neither more nor less than a “separate and equal station” among the powers of the earth. To that end, American diplomats are to give no offence and to suffer none, while the US armed forces — the Navy foremost — are to keep danger far away. America has interests all over the world, which coincide with those of others occasionally. But they are never identical. Hence, America is to mind its own business, aggressively, while steering clear of others’ business. As John Quincy Adams said, America “enters the lists in no cause but its own”. Bothering no one, Americans will make short, brutal work of whomever bothers them. As General Douglas MacArthur put it: “In war there is no substitute for victory.” But like him, the few major figures who have championed this point of view in the past hundred years — Henry Cabot Lodge, Robert Taft, Jr., and Barry Goldwater — have been damned at once as isolationists and warmongers.

Elizabeth Beare The Line from Troy to Your TV

http://quadrant.org.au/opinion/television/2018/07/line-troy-tv/

One might quibble about some of the historical details or the scriptwriters’ habit of weaving new storylines into the novels that inspired it, but ‘The Last Kingdom’ on Netflix is well worth a binge session. Homer would have thought so too.

Bob Car and Greg Sheridan, together on the same page in today’s Australian (30/6/18), both make the case for the structured reading of the great books of the Western Canon. Homer’s Iliad and its sequel, The Odyssey, are widely accepted as being the very first of these. We should look at them in a new light when it comes to Netflix’s The Last Kingdom during these winter nights of immersion in streamed entertainments.

What an eye-opener these two ancient poetic books are. The gods pitch into the battles of Agamemnon and Achilles in the great ten-year Trojan wars, taking sides in human affairs, even fighting amongst themselves in Olympus over the rights and wrongs of the protagonists they support and the women over whom both heroes and gods battle. Betwixt and between times, and after it all, Odysseus/Ulysses meanders his slow way to Ithaca’s home shores, back to the women and slaves he left on his warlord estate to keep the home fires burning. Ever it was thus, as religion intrudes into the battle sphere and warrior lords gather their fighters, even from the farms, for mighty conflicts where women and treasure are the prizes, deals are sealed and the gods retire happy until the next time.

Among the inheritors of all of this drama are TV’s hugely popular Vikings series and, more recently, BBC America’s The Last Kingdom (with a third season to be released later this year), both of which titles draw those who’ve never heard of Homer right onto the battlefields and emotional concerns of Europe’s ancient Indo-European warrior culture. For this was still the way of things in outer north-western Europe, ever beyond Roman reach, after that period when Rome, beset with its own concerns, had bequeathed only a very shaky Christian civilization to Britain.

GOOD NEWS FROM ABSOLUTELY AMAZING ISRAEL FROM MICHAEL ORDMAN

www.verygoodnewsisrael.blogspot.com

ISRAEL’S MEDICAL ACHIEVEMENTS

Stem cell treatment effective against radiation sickness. I reported previously (see here) on the stem cell treatment of Israel’s Pluristem for radiation sickness. Pluristem’s four-year studies show that its placenta-based PLX-R18 cells are effective as a treatment for radiation damage to the gastrointestinal tract and bone marrow.
https://www.timesofisrael.com/study-shows-placenta-treatment-effective-against-radiation-sickness/

Making tumors glow to guide surgeons. Tel Aviv University researchers have developed smart nanoprobes that turn on a florescent light in presence of cancerous cells. They will help surgeons remove more cancer cells, with the least possible damage to surrounding healthy tissue. The probes identify enzymes common in tumors.
https://www.timesofisrael.com/researchers-at-tel-aviv-u-develop-turn-on-probes-to-pinpoint-cancer-cells/

New cancer care center in the Negev. Soroka Medical Center in Beersheba is opening a brand-new comprehensive cancer center this summer. The Legacy Heritage Oncology Center and Dr. Larry Norton Institute will fill a profound need in Israel’s south.
https://www.youtube.com/embed/3kUgh4ueEko?rel=0

Award-winning cancer monitor. TY Nocamels) Newsletter subscriber Yehudit Abrams has founded startup MonitHer which is developing an innovative home-use handheld ultrasound system to check for breast cancer. MonitHer has just won the $360,000 Grand prize at the WeWork Creator awards in Jerusalem.
https://www.wework.com/creator/creator-awards/a-high-tech-breast-exam-small-enough-to-hold-in-your-hand/

Increasing recovery rates for stroke victims. (TY Yehoshua) Sheba Medical Center at Tel HaShomer has radically improved the treatment of stroke patients, just by persevering for longer. Whilst the text book states that the first 8 hours after a stroke is crucial, Sheba extends this to 24 hours. Even a 93-year-old recovered.
http://www.jerusalemonline.com/news/in-israel/health-and-environment/israeli-hospital-offers-new-hope-for-stroke-victims-34025

Free dentures for needy elderly. For the last two years, Dental Volunteers for Israel (DVI) has been providing free dentures to needy elderly and Holocaust Survivors aged 70 and up (see video). Since 1980, DVI has provided free dental care to Jerusalem’s at-risk children and youth, regardless of race or religion.
https://www.youtube.com/embed/nzKJMqPqeaw?rel=0

US approval for diabetes monitor. I reported previously (10th Mar) that Israel’s DreaMed received European approval for its Advisor Pro diabetes monitor. Now the US FDA has given its approval. Advisor Pro provides insulin delivery recommendations by analyzing information from diabetes pumps and glucose monitoring.
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-health-dreamed-fda/israels-dreamed-gets-fda-ok-for-diabetes-management-software-idUSKBN1JE16J

Tunnel vision adapted to colonoscopies. Israeli startup IBEX Technologies developed a thin inflatable “sleeve” that transmits live video from places that are too dangerous to enter (e.g. terrorist tunnels or collapsed buildings). Now IBEX spinoff Consis Medical uses the same technology to check inside the human body.
https://www.israel21c.org/tunnel-detection-tech-offers-safer-cheaper-colonoscopies/
http://www.ibex-tech.com/ https://consis-medical.com/ https://www.youtube.com/embed/dJsVd23ZJiI?rel=0

Trauma support to Chicago. The city of Chicago has one of the worst crime rates in the USA. Faith leader Christopher Harris called in trauma experts from Israel’s NATAL to help relieve the deep emotional wounds to many thousands of Chicago’s victims and their families.
https://www.israel21c.org/chicago-clergy-use-israeli-model-to-counsel-trauma-victims/

Professor’s ‘penis size’ research project seeks 3,600+ explicit photos

https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation-now/2018/06/26/professors-penis-size

SPRINGFIELD, Mo. — Alicia Walker is used to the snickers, the juvenile puns and raunchy jokes. But she is not fooling around with her latest research project.

The assistant professor of sociology at Missouri State University launched a study this month that explores how the size of a man’s penis affects the rest of his life. And she’s documenting the work with pictures.

“The kind of work I do is not for everybody,” she said.

Walker said the project looks at how penis size — and, as importantly, a man’s perception of his penis size — affects overall health, sexual activity, condom usage, self image, social interaction and mental health.

“So far I’m hearing a lot of anxiety and a lot of low self-esteem related to size,” she said.

As part of the study, Walker hopes at least 3,600 men will fill out an online survey and upload photos of their genitalia. The participants must be age 22 or older.

“These are not sexy pictures,” she said. “These are clinical pictures.”

She said photos are necessary to ensure men carefully follow the instructions when measuring their flaccid and erect penis.

Trump’s Lean White House 2018 Payroll On-Track To Save Taxpayer’s $22 Million Adam Andrzejewski

https://www.forbes.com/sites/adamandrzejewski/2018/06/29/trumps-lean-white-house-2018-payroll-on-track-to-save-taxpayers-22-million/#2c55e8384e4f

President Trump’s White House payroll has 374 employees, that’s 95 fewer staffers than Barack Obama at the same point in their presidencies. The Trump White House workforce runs 20 percent leaner.

White House staff experienced 39-percent turnover during the last 12-months. Of the 377 employees last year, only 229 remain. Most that left were quickly replaced.

Today, the Trump administration released its annual report to Congress on the White House Office Personnel. The payroll data includes employee name, status, salary, and position title for all 374 White House employees as of June 30, 2018. Search the recent Trump administration (2017 and 2018) and Obama administration (2012 through 2016) payroll data posted at OpenTheBooks.com.

Over the past 12 months, Trump was able to further shrink head count by three employees. Last year, the president employed 377 staffers and we applauded the president’s frugality in our editorial at Forbes.

JUNE 2018: THE MONTH THAT WAS SYDNEY WILLIAMS

http://swtotd.blogspot.com/

Perhaps the universe operates according to a plan? I don’t know. But life on earth is in constant and unpredictable flux. Change is ever-present, whether caused by nature or man. What is needed are pilots to help navigate treacherous shoals, not whether to move left or right, but to plot courses based on a moral compass, in accordance with the ideals laid down by the Founding Fathers and one dependent on simple, proven principles of right and wrong, like common sense, the Ten Commandments, or Jordan Peterson’s “12 Rules for Life.”

No month is without news highlights and June was no different. Certainly, Singapore vied for top billing. However, the story in the winning envelope was the release of the Inspector General’s report on its probe into the actions of the FBI and the Justice Department during the summer of 2016. It tells a story of corruption, collusion and bias within the nation’s premier law enforcement agency. Even The New York Times reported that it painted a harsh portrait of the FBI during the 2016 presidential election, describing a destructive culture in which James Comey, the former director was “insubordinate… Senior officials privately bashed Donald J. Trump, and agents came to distrust prosecutors.” Current FBI Director Christopher Wray, in a subsequent press conference, appeared in denial: He said he took the report seriously, but nothing in it “impugns the integrity” of the FBI. “Our brand is doing just fine.” The Wall Street Journal reported: “Though IG Michael Horowitz’s conclusions are measured, his facts are damning.” While the report claimed there was no documentary or testimonial evidence to suggest political bias, facts suggested otherwise. Most damning was the text exchange between Peter Strzok, the FBI agent in charge of the Trump-Russia investigation and his paramour, top FBI lawyer Lisa Page. In August 2016, Ms. Page texted Mr. Strzok, “[Trump’s] not ever going to become president, right?” Mr. Strzok responded, “No. No, he won’t. We’ll stop it.”

The Bazaaris’ Revolt in Iran: Who is Behind It? by Amir Taheri

https://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/12616/iran-bazaar-revolt

The Grand Bazaar is not just a mega shopping mall; it is the core of a whole way of life. It contains six mosques, 30 hotels, more than 20 banks, six libraries, 9 religious seminaries,13 primary and secondary schools, and is the source of direct or indirect employment for more than 600,000 people.

Since 1979, the Grand Bazaar’s enthusiasm for the Khomeinist regime has cooled somewhat without turning into open hostility. Thus, the current events must be regarded either as a fleeting aberration or as a serious sign that the Khomeinist regime may be losing one of its major bases of support.

One thing is certain: The Grand Bazaar has well-established and tested mechanisms for popular mobilization and a show of force in the streets. If it is angry, it can show its anger. And when it does, it would be foolish for anyone not to take notice.

Last week, Tehran’s Grand Bazaar was shut, with its example imitated in the capital’s other business districts such as Maqsud-Shah, Qaysarieh, Khayyam, Sayyed Vali and Pachenar, among others. At the same time, bazaars in several other cities, notably Isfahan, Mash’had, Bandar Abbas, Kerman and Tabriz also organized token strikes in sympathy with Tehrani merchants.

Is Guilt Killing the West from Within? by Giulio Meotti

https://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/12569/guilt-museums-artifacts

“The fact is that we have no idea what would have become of the world’s ‘looted’ antiquities if they hadn’t been preserved in Western collections. Would the treasures of Beijing’s Summer palace have survived Mao’s Cultural Revolution? Would the Elgin marbles have survived Turkish tour guides chopping off chunks to sell as souvenirs? Would Daesh [ISIS] have spared those Middle Eastern artefacts that survive in European museums?” — Zareer Masani, historian.

When Christians in Iraq were exiled, murdered or persecuted en masse by the so-called Islamic State, the West stood silent — as if these Christians were the agents of Western colonialism and not the legitimate and oldest inhabitants of the Middle East, long before the Arabs converted to Islam.

When a mob destroyed the French Institute in Cairo, burning books and collections, those who now want to return the “colonial artifacts” stood silent. Where are our Monuments Men now?

A “sense of guilt” for colonialism is debasing the West from within, according to Professor Bruce Gilley, and authoritarian regimes such as Iran, Russia, China and Turkey are profiting from this weakness.

The Romans called it damnatio memoriae: the damnation of memory that resulted in destroying the portraits and even the names of the fallen emperors. The same process is now underway in the West about its colonial past. The cultural elite in the West now seem so haunted by feelings of imperialist guilt that they are no longer confident that our civilization is something to be proud of.

A sense of guilt now seems a kind of post-Christian substitute religion that seduces many Westerners. The French scholar Shmuel Trigano suggested that this ideology is turning the Westerners into “post-colonial subjects” who no longer believe in their own civilization, but instead what will destroy it: multiculturalism. In France, for example, a manifesto was launched for “a multicultural and post racial republic”. The result would be, in the words of the anthropologist Jean-Loup Amselle, a “war of identities” and a clash between communities. Last month, the UK Labour Party leader Jeremy Corbyn said that, if elected Prime Minister, he would order the British Museum to return to Greece the Elgin Marbles, the frieze that had surrounded the Parthenon of Athens and one of the major attractions of the British Museum. “This whole campaign is sheer lunacy,” wrote Richard Dorment. But it is a lunacy spreading all over Europe.

French President Emmanuel Macron announced that he wants to change the rules that make French public collections untouchable, and allow the return to Africa of dozens of historical artifacts now in the Louvre Museum. Macron has appointed two commissioners, the writer Senegalese Felwine Sarr and the art expert Bénédicte Savoy, to prepare a report.

A Profile in Courage By Spencer Abraham

https://www.nationalreview.com/2018/06/book-review-lead-yourself-first-raymond-kethledge-courage-a-judge-needs/

A review of Lead Yourself First: Inspiring Leadership Through Solitude, by Raymond M. Kethledge and Michael S. Erwin.

Judges used to be rugged, because they had to be: Back when Supreme Court justices “rode circuit,” they traveled to far-flung parts of the country to hear cases. Justice Field — wearing a coat with pockets big enough for two pistols — would sail to Panama, cross the country by burro, and then sail up the coast to San Francisco. Nowadays, the more popular image of a judge might be that of a soft-handed Ivy League establishment type: Someone who grew up with elites, went to school with elites, got his ideas from elites, and eventually rejoined his kind inside the Beltway. President Trump himself famously has “one overarching question” when evaluating judicial nominees: “He’s not weak, is he?” Are there any judges left of the old mold?

I can think of at least one. I don’t know if Judge Raymond Kethledge has ever ridden a burro (or gone to San Francisco), but I do know that he has tracked game through the Michigan wilderness, pulled salmon out of the St. Mary’s River, and battled swells in his aluminum fishing boat on Lake Huron. Although not formally part of his job description as a federal judge (his own “circuit riding” takes him south to Cincinnati rather than north to upper Michigan), these rugged pursuits nonetheless illustrate the way Kethledge approaches his job. He is well-renowned for not mincing words. His decisions (which he writes himself, from outline to published opinion) are refreshingly concise, especially compared to the doorstops routinely churned out by other chambers. He holds fast to the text of statutes and the Constitution (i.e., the law) and rebukes those litigants (often federal agencies) who do not. His rigorous thinking mirrors his rigorous living.

Judge Kethledge, along with coauthor Michael Erwin, has now given us a book, Lead Yourself First: Inspiring Leadership Through Solitude, about other leaders who have found clarity, creativity, balance, and courage through a process of rigorous thought and focused reflection. Think of General Ulysses S. Grant, holed up in the cabin of his ship until he composed a daring plan to get his troops through Vicksburg. Or General James Mattis, the “Warrior Monk” (and now the secretary of defense) who in 2011 assumed command of American military operations in the Middle East, and who took his copious library with him wherever he went.

Several others have already glowingly reviewed Lead Yourself First, but none have explained what it tells us about the man who co-wrote it. I recognize in these pages the Raymond Kethledge I’ve known since he worked for me as a young staffer more than 20 years ago, a man who has displayed the same vital leadership qualities — intelligence, creativity, balance, and, above all, courage — that he identifies in the book.