Displaying posts published in

February 2019

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“We Will Displace You …”: Persecution of Christians, December 2018 by Raymond Ibrahim

By on February 17th, 2019

https://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/13724/christians-persecution-december

Saudi Arabia, America’s close friend and ally, failed to live up to its promise to eliminate extremist content — that promotes hostility for, and violence against, religious minorities — from its 2018-19 school year curriculum.

“Examples of this content include demeaning non-Muslims and encouraging jihad against them. The execution of apostates is prescribed and children are encouraged not to associate with non-Muslims. Saudi Arabia not only continues to use these textbooks domestically, but exports them to other parts of the Middle East.” — Report from International Christian Concern, December 1, 2018.

British authorities decided to deport a Christian man back to Pakistan, where he was previously beaten and threatened with death, “despite UK playing host to [Muslim] hijackers, extremists and rapists,” to quote from one headline. Asher Samson, 41, “first arrived in the UK in 2004 to carry out his theology training in order to become a pastor, but later applied for asylum after receiving threats from Islamic extremists during visits home…” According to Samson, “If they do send me back my life will be really in danger… I’m so scared… People know who I am, they know I am a Christian…” — The Independent, December 24, 2018.

The Slaughter of Christians

Egypt: A Muslim policeman charged with guarding a Coptic Christian church shot and killed two Christians — a father, 49, and his son, 21 — on the night of December 12 in Minya. Eyewitnesses say a quarrel had ensued before the officer pulled out his gun and opened fire on the two men. Video footage of the incident shows the killer-cop brandishing his gun as he stalks around the bloodied but still moving Christians on the ground. He loudly curses them — or all Copts in general? — as “mother-f*****s.” Thousands of angry Christians attended the funeral, chanting kyrie eleison (“Lord have mercy!”), and, “Where are the rights of the martyrs!” Coptic Solidarity said in a statement:

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Mullahs Masquerading as Patriots: Will it Work? by Amir Taheri

By on February 17th, 2019

https://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/13723/iran-islam-patriotism

As it marked its fourth decade in power, the Iranian regime implicitly admitted the bankruptcy of its narrative, according to which the 1979 revolution was prompted by a desire to “revive Islam” which, after the death of the Prophet Muhammad, with the exception of the brief caliphate of Ali ibn Abi-Taleb, had been in agony.

Dropping the regime’s usual pan-Islamist narrative, President Rouhani adopted a pan-Iranist discourse, according to which much of Central Asia, Afghanistan, Pakistani Baluchistan, the Caucasus, Oman, the Musandam Peninsula, and territories now covered by Qatar, the United Arab Emirates and Kuwait must be regarded as Iranian land stolen by foreign invaders.

The crowd in Tehran continued gossiping, laughing and eating while Rouhani was trying to play Persian nationalist. Was he not the man who signed the Caspian Sea Convention dictated by Russia?

What do scoundrels do, when caught red handed in their shenanigans? According to an old proverb they wrap themselves in a flag and seek refuge in patriotism.

Something close to that seems to be happening to the Khomeinists dominating Iran, thanks to their control of the nation’s finances and monopoly on guns. As it marked its fourth decade in power, the regime implicitly admitted the bankruptcy of its narrative, according to which the 1979 revolution was prompted by a desire to “revive Islam” which, after the death of the Prophet, with the exception of the brief caliphate of Ali ibn Abi-Taleb, had been in agony. Thus, Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini was given the title of “Ihyagar” or “Reviver” of Islam.

Last Monday, however, Hojat al-Islam wa al-Moslemeen Hassan Rouhani, President of Iran, told a different story to marchers in Tehran marking the 40th anniversary of the mullahs’ seizure of power.

He shouted: “The Islamic Revolution was firstly made to protect Iran.”

How so, you might wonder.

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GOOD NEWS FROM AMAZING ISRAEL FROM MICHAEL ORDMAN

By on February 17th, 2019

www.verygoodnewsisrael.blogspot.com

ISRAEL’S MEDICAL ACHIEVEMENTS

Human trials for X-ray surgical glasses. I reported previously (Oct 2017) on Xvision (previously VIZOR), the Augmented Reality surgical navigation system from Israel’s Augmedics. Following testing on cadavers, Xvision is now undergoing human trials and has been successfully tested in six spinal operations.
https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20180808005218/en/Augmedics-Begins-First-in-Human-Clinical-Trial-xvision-spine-XVShttps://worldisraelnews.com/israeli-made-goggles-give-surgeons-x-ray-vision/
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6xDCiCT2nH4

The first wireless VAD. Doctors in Kazakhstan have implanted a wireless ventricular assist device (VAD) into a human for the first time. The VAD is made by Jarvik Heart Inc but the technology for charging the battery was developed by Israel-based Leviticus Cardio. Wireless VADs have less risk of infection than wired VADs.
https://unitedwithisrael.org/israeli-wireless-heart-pump-implanted-in-first-patient/
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A0JI_2cgccA
https://www.jhltonline.org/article/S1053-2498(19)31346-4/fulltext

Better connections for dialysis patients. 50% of dialysis patients experience failure of their AV fistula – the tubes that connect their arteries and veins to the dialysis machine. Israel’s Laminate Medical has developed the VasQ – a vascular support device that protects the connection. It takes only one extra minute to implant it.
https://www.calcalistech.com/ctech/articles/0,7340,L-3755441,00.html
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2W3HoTH2x58

Nano wound protection. Israel’s Nanomedic has developed the SpinCare device – a portable electrospinning wound care system that remotely generates a nano-fibrous protective layer on the skin for tissue healing. The wound is never touched, preventing infection and bandages can be changed without sticking to the wound.
http://nocamels.com/2019/02/groundbreaking-israeli-medical-device-treats-burns/
http://israelbetweenthelines.com/2019/02/14/easier-cure-for-burn-victims/
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rqKqTIgXZT8

Treatment for pulmonary hypertension. Israel’s Teva has launched ALYQ – a generic form of Adcirca, to reduce the symptoms of pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH).
https://en.globes.co.il/en/article-teva-launches-generic-pulmonary-hypertension-drug-1001272239

Israeli cancer death rates drop. Between 1995 and 2016, cancer deaths for Israeli Jewish men dropped by an average of 1.7% every year and for Israeli Jewish women by 1.6%. Cancer deaths for Israeli Arabs also dropped significantly. Although Israel has the 50th highest cancer rate in the world, it is 92nd for cancer deaths.
https://www.timesofisrael.com/cancer-cases-drop-among-men-almost-double-among-arab-women/

Finding donors for complex kidney patients. Israel’s Beilinson Hospital has implemented a new program that locates matching donors for kidney transplant patients who suffer from high levels of antibodies due to previous transplants or blood donations. It has already helped the hospital perform successful transplants for 39 patients.
https://jewishnews.timesofisrael.com/programme-at-israeli-hospital-to-locate-kidney-transplant-donors/

Link between Celiac disease and Eating disorders. (TY Kay) Kay’s son-in-law Dr. Itay Tokatly-Latzer and his Tel Aviv University research team have linked adolescents and young adults with celiac disease (CD) to higher incidences of disordered eating behavior. Many CD patients exhibit excessive control over their food.
https://www.jpost.com/HEALTH-SCIENCE/Could-celiac-disorder-cause-disordered-eating-Israeli-researchers-find-a-link-579759

Health company’s $150 million fund. The Assuta chain of medical clinics and private hospitals, controlled by Israel’s Maccabi Health Services, has founded a venture capital fund for investing in medical devices in the later stages of development. It has already raised $35 million and plans to reach $150 million by mid-2019.
https://en.globes.co.il/en/article-assuta-to-raise-150m-vc-health-fund-1001269776

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Shall We Defend Our Common History? Roger Kimball *****

By on February 17th, 2019

https://imprimis.hillsdale.edu/shall

The following is adapted from a talk delivered on board the Crystal Symphony on July 19, 2018, during a Hillsdale College educational cruise to Hawaii.

The recent news that the University of Notre Dame, responding to complaints by some students, would “shroud” its twelve 134-year-old murals depicting Christopher Columbus was disappointing. It was not surprising, however, to anyone who has been paying attention to the widespread attack on America’s past wherever social justice warriors congregate.

Notre Dame may not be particularly friendly to its Catholic heritage, but its president, the Rev. John Jenkins, demonstrated that it remains true to its jesuitical (if not, quite, its Jesuit) inheritance. Queried about the censorship, he said, apparently without irony, that his decision to cover the murals was not intended to conceal anything, but rather to tell “the full story” of Columbus’s activities.

Welcome to the new Orwellian world where censorship is free speech and we respect the past by attempting to elide it.

Over the past several years, we have seen a rising tide of assaults on statues and other works of art representing our nation’s history by those who are eager to squeeze that complex story into a box defined by the evolving rules of political correctness. We might call this the “monument controversy,” and what happened at Notre Dame is a case in point: a vocal minority, claiming victim status, demands the destruction, removal, or concealment of some object of which they disapprove. Usually, the official response is instant capitulation.

As the French writer Charles Péguy once observed, “It will never be known what acts of cowardice have been motivated by the fear of not looking sufficiently progressive.” Consider the frequent demands to remove statues of Confederate war heroes from public spaces because their presence is said to be racist. New York Governor Andrew Cuomo, for example, has recently had statues of Robert E. Lee and Stonewall Jackson removed from a public gallery. In New York City, Mayor Bill de Blasio has set up a committee to review “all symbols of hate on city property.”

But it is worth noting that the monument controversy signifies something much larger than the attacks on the Old South or Italian explorers.

In the first place, the monument controversy involves not just art works or commemorative objects. Rather, it encompasses the resources of the past writ large. It is an attack on the past for failing to live up to our contemporary notions of virtue.

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The Left’s Collusion Delusion: Life Imitates Snark By Thaddeus G. McCotter

By on February 17th, 2019

https://amgreatness.com/2019/02/16/the-lefts-c

As we bemusedly observe U.S. Representative Adam “Pathfinder” Schiff (D-Calif.), chairman of the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence, continue to twist in his idiot wind—he now claims Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s general-warrant counterintelligence investigation into whether the Trump campaign colluded with the Russians in the 2016 campaign may not prove adequate—we should recall that in the earlier, heady days of the Russiagate weaponized lie, there was this suitably dismissive bit of snark charitably comparing Schiff’s quest for proof of this conspiracy theory with cryptozoologists hunting for the chimeric chupacabra.

In a perspicacious passage, reference was made to Werner Herzog’s “Incident at Loch Ness” where, desperately hoping the creature proves real, a character denounces the skeptics: “Show me one piece of evidence that proves this thing does not exist. They’re saying, ‘show us the evidence.’ I’m saying, ‘Show us the non-evidence.’”

Stumbling ahead to 2019, enter stage Left, Mr. Ken Dilanian, NBC’s national security reporter, for proof life imitates snark. Promoting his February 12 article, he repeatedly tweeted out the story’s headline: “Exclusive: Senate has found no direct proof of conspiracy between Trump campaign, Russia . . . .”

Note the cute use of “direct proof,” which preserves collusion conspiracy theorists’ hope (if not sanity and dignity). There must have been other types of proof uncovered; and, yes, that could lead—no, will lead!—to direct evidence being unearthed by Mueller and others, like the Pathfinder and his pals, to impeach and imprison the treasonous Trump.

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A Palestinian Terrorist Too Brutal for Fatah By Shoshana Bryen

By on February 17th, 2019

https://www.americanthinker.com/articles/2019/02/a_palestinian_terrorist_too_brutal_for_fatah.html

The Palestinian Authority (PA) finally found a terrorist act committed by a Palestinian against an Israeli from which it wishes to disassociate. The horrific rape and knife murder of 19-year-old Ori Ansbacher prompted Qadura Fares, head of the PA-affiliated Prisoner’s Club to say, “From our perspective, this (rape) becomes a criminal case. We’re against the idea that anyone who commits a criminal act can then try to cloak themselves in the nationalist flag.”

A senior Fatah official said, “Even if there was no rape, a murder like this is unacceptable. The victim wasn’t a soldier, and this wasn’t wartime. If you want to be a hero, you don’t go and murder an innocent woman who went into the woods to read a book.”

No go, guys. In the world of the PA, everyone is a soldier and every day is wartime. You own this and you own Arafat Irfaiya.

Irfaiya is 27 years old, just about the same age as the Oslo Accords. In 2006, when Irfaiya was just a boy, the PA, aware that it could not field an army to go to war against Israel’s army, adopted a strategy of “popular resistance” (i.e., popular terrorism) at the 6th Fatah Conference. Seemingly unplanned low-tech attacks (car ramming or stabbing) against Israelis and Jews were described after the fact by Palestinian leadership as “heroic actions” and “the natural response to Israel’s crimes.”

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Patrick Caddell, 1950-2019 By Michael Walsh

By on February 17th, 2019

https://pjmedia.com/trending/patrick-caddell-1950-2019/

Very sad news just in:

Patrick Caddell, the political pollster who helped send an obscure peanut farmer named Jimmy Carter to the White House, later became disillusioned with fellow Democrats and finally veered to advise supporters of Donald J. Trump, died on Saturday in Charleston, S.C. He was 68. His death, from complications of a stroke, was confirmed by a colleague, Prof. Kendra Stewart of the College of Charleston.

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How the Media Failed Again on the Jussie Smollett Hoax By Debra Heine

By on February 17th, 2019

https://pjmedia.com/video/how-the-media-failed-again-on-the-jussie-smollett-hoax/

Empire actor Jussie Smollett’s weeks-long reign as (liberal) America’s intersectional sweetheart came to an inglorious end this weekend when it was revealed in multiple reports that he paid his two Nigerian pals to stage a fake hate crime against him last month in Chicago.

Many (perhaps most) Americans from the beginning suspected that Smollett tried to manufacture a hate crime to make Trump supporters look bad. But not the Mainstream media. They fell for it hook, line, and sinker.

You would think that after falling for “tribal elder” Nathan Phillips’ dubious claims, last month — to the point of being legally culpable — the media would be a bit more circumspect.

But no. When presented with another enticing opportunity to demonize Trump supporters, they jumped like Pavlov’s dogs at the chance.

TMZ broke the original version of the story late last month in a report alleging that Smollett was the victim of a vicious hate crime:

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Man stabbed in Jerusalem, condition listed as serious

By on February 17th, 2019

https://worldisraelnews.com/man-stabbed-in-jerusalem-condition-listed-as-serious/?utm_source=browser&utm_medium=push_notification&utm_campaign=PushCrew_notification_1550382374&pushcrew_powered=1

A 43-year-old man was stabbed Sunday morning in Jerusalem’s Gilo neighborhood.

Paramedics provided emergency medical treatment and evacuated him to Shaare Zedek Hospital in serious condition with several knew wounds to his upper body.

The victims was conscious and said the man who attacked him was Arab in appearance.

Israeli police, however, are calling the incident a criminal attack and not a terrorist incident.

A member of Magen David Adom, Israel’s ambulance service, said: “When I got to the place, I saw a man sitting, leaning against the fence, vaguely conscious. He had a number of stab wounds in his upper body.

“I gave him life-saving medical treatment that included stopping bleeding. We took him to an intensive care unit and quickly evacuated him to the hospital when he was in moderate condition. “

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