Displaying posts published in

July 2020

NATIONAL NEWS & OPINION Comments turned off

The Politics of Hydroxychloroquine Trump touted it, so Biden denounces it. The FDA has suspended a permit for its use. Let doctors decide. By Allysia Finley

By on July 16th, 2020

https://www.wsj.com/articles/the-politics-of-hydroxychloroquine-11594831408?mod=opinion_lead_pos5

Hubert Humphrey began his career as a pharmacist before going into politics. Today’s politicians sometimes seem to have the opposite aspiration. President Trump “pushes dangerous, disproven drugs,” Joe Biden declares in his “Plan to Beat Covid-19.” “Our country is now stuck with a massive stockpile of hydroxychloroquine, a drug Trump repeatedly hailed.”

Neither man has any expertise in pharmacology, and Mr. Trump did get out over his skis in promoting the malaria treatment, also known as HCQ, for the novel coronavirus. But since every Trump action prompts a reaction, his political and media opponents launched a campaign to discredit the drug. This politicized environment has produced dubious science and erratic policy.

The Food and Drug Administration issued an emergency use authorization on March 28, allowing hospitals to treat Covid-19 patients outside clinical trials using HCQ donated by manufacturers to the national stockpile. But on June 15 the agency rescinded the authorization. “In light of ongoing serious cardiac adverse events and other potential serious side effects,” the FDA announced, “the known and potential benefits of . . . hydroxychloroquine no longer outweigh the known and potential risks for the authorized use.”

But the scientific basis for the revocation now appears faulty. Most studies didn’t adjust results for confounding variables such as disease severity, drug dosage or when patients started treatment. Two new peer-reviewed studies find that HCQ can significantly reduce mortality in hospitalized patients. With hospital beds filling up across the American South and West and a limited supply of Gilead Sciences ’ antiviral remdesivir, the FDA should reinstate its emergency-use authorization for HCQ.

Continue reading →
ANTI-SEMITISM Comments turned off

How Is the Left of the ’60s Different From the Left of Today? Rachel del Guidice

By on July 16th, 2020

https://www.dailysignal.com/2020/07/15/how-is-the-left-of-the-60s-different-from-

How do the radical movements of today—Black Lives Matter, Antifa, and others—compare with their counterparts of the 1960s, such as the Black Panthers and the Weather Underground?

What would the leftists of the ’60s say about the rioting that followed the death of George Floyd, the toppling of disfavored statues, and efforts today to “defund the police”?

Lee Edwards, the distinguished fellow in conservative thought at The Heritage Foundation’s B. Kenneth Simon Center for American Studies, joins the podcast to discuss the similarities and differences of the left of then and now.

Rachel del Guidice: I’m joined today on the Daily Signal podcast by Dr. Lee Edwards. He’s a distinguished fellow in conservative thought at the Heritage Foundations B. Kenneth Simon Center for American Studies. Dr. Edwards, it’s great to have you on with us at The Daily Signal Podcast.

Lee Edwards: Love to be with you, Rachel. Thanks for asking me.

Del Guidice: Well, thank you so much for being with us and for taking the time. To start off our conversation, in what ways would you say the left has changed their strategy and the tenants of belief from the ’60s to today?

Edwards: Well, back in the 1960s, which I happen to know sort of fairly well, I lived through it, they were semi-organized through something called the SDS, Students for a Democratic Society. They were the youth group of the socialists. And they wanted to bring about a new world, a new America, in which there would be no more capitalism and which there would be socialism. They were not pro-communist or pro-Soviet, but they definitely were socialists.

Continue reading →
ISRAEL Comments turned off

Amil Imani: Judea and Samaria Should Return to Their Rightful Owner December 28, 2018

By on July 16th, 2020

https://www.americanthinker.com/articles/2018/12/judea_and_samaria_should_return_to_their_rightful_owner.html

When we dig into history books, we can hardly find people or countries that have gone out of existence for as long as 2,000 years and then reappeared and been reborn.  Thus, it is indeed accurate to say that the rebirth of Israel, this beautiful ancient culture, people, and land, is truly a miracle from God.

I believe that the time has come to unite all Israel.  Historically and biblically, both Judea and Samaria undeniably have been part of the heritage of the Jewish people.  They belonged to Israel 2,000 years ago, and they belong to Israel now.  Arabs have absolutely no historic ties to Judea and Samaria.  Historic ties are the basis of assertions to a geographic area.

Annexation of these two historical Jewish lands will stipulate a strong and well defined standing for West Bank Arabs.  Israeli equal justice under the law will apply to all people.  All terrorists’ infrastructures will be eradicated.  The residents of those regions will be subjected to Israeli rules and regulation and will be dealt with in the same fashion that all countries deal with domestic insurgent, treachery, and lawless organizations.

“The Jewish people didn’t wake up one day saying ‘Jews are connected to the Land of Israel.’  The whole story, the history and the destiny of the Jewish people, is geared toward the idea that we were there and we are coming back.”

Let us clarify this now and forever: historically and otherwise, there has never been a Palestinian state, nor a political body that is owned by Palestinians.  According to the advancement of international agreements from 1917 until 1947, the land of Israel was renamed Palestine by the Romans in the 2nd century.  It was later divided into three states: Jordan, a Jewish state, and an Arab state.  While the Jews swallowed this excruciating deal, shrinking the size of their ancestral land by over 75%, the Arabs snubbed and rejected it altogether.  As a result, the Arabs launched an invasion against the newly established State of Israel in 1948.  Jordan managed to occupy the area of Judea and Samaria and illegitimately annexed it.

Continue reading →
EDUCATION Comments turned off

Despicable Behavior of Today’s Academicians Walter E. Williams

By on July 15th, 2020

https://www.dailysignal.com/2020/07/15/despicable-behavior-of-todays-academic-intellectuals/

The Michigan State University administration pressured professor Stephen Hsu to resign from his position as vice president of research and innovation because he touted research that found police are not more likely to shoot black Americans.

The study found: “The race of a police officer did not predict the race of the citizen shot. In other words, black officers were just as likely to shoot black citizens as white officers were.”

For political reasons, the authors of the study sought its retraction.

The U.S. Department of Education warned UCLA that it may impose fines for improperly and abusively targeting white professor Lt. Col. W. Ajax Peris for disciplinary action over his use of the n-word while reading to his class the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.’s “Letter from Birmingham Jail” that contained the expressions “when your first name becomes ‘n—-r,’ your middle name becomes ‘boy’ (however old you are).”

Two regimes are fighting an ideological war in America today. But what side are you on? And how can you sharpen up on how to defend your position? Learn more now >>

Referring to white civil rights activists, King wrote, “They have languished in filthy, roach-infested jails, suffering the abuse and brutality of policemen who view them as ‘dirty n—-r-lovers.’”

Boston University is considering changing the name of its mascot Rhett because of his link to “Gone with the Wind.”

Continue reading →
CHARLOTTE'S NEWS WEB, NATIONAL NEWS & OPINION Comments turned off

Literally Thousands of Doctors and Scientists Have Come Out Against Fauci’s Lockdowns Including a Nobel Prize-Winning Biophysicist. The Media Just Doesn’t Want You to Know Michael Thau

By on July 15th, 2020

https://www.redstate.com/michael_thau/2020/07/13/many-medical-experts-were-again

As RedState’s very own Sister Toldjah reported earlier today, the doubts President Trump recently expressed about the wisdom of Dr. Fauci’s advice on COVID-19 have elicited a chorus of smug accusation from the usual suspects that he’s “ignoring the experts.”

Sister Toldjah pointed out that it’s hard to know what their complaint even means given how often Fauci and other media-anointed authorities have done total 180s.

But, even putting aside how their advice seems to change with the political winds, the idea that there’s some scientific consensus in favor of the extreme measures inflicted on us in response to COVID-19 couldn’t be further from the truth.

Though you don’t hear their perspectives on CNN, countless scientists and doctors have tried to warn us not only that COVID-19 isn’t nearly as deadly as we’ve been led to believe; they’re also certain that the real threat to public health we’re facing is from the lockdowns.

For example, though the establishment media has somehow failed to make it widely known, in May over 600 physicians from “all specialties and from all states” signed a public letter to President Trump  describing, not COVID-19, but the lockdowns as a “mass casualty incident.” Since the letter first appeared, the number of doctors signing on has grown into the thousands. Their letter warns:

Continue reading →
NATIONAL NEWS & OPINION Comments turned off

Dr. Scott Atlas Slams “Hysteria” Over Reopening Schools: “I Feel Like I’m Living In A Kafka Novel” Posted By Ian Schwartz

By on July 15th, 2020

https://www.realclearpolitics.com/video/2020/07/14/dr_scott_atlas_slams_hysteria_over_reopening_schools_i_feel_like_im_living_in_a_kafka_novel.html

Dr. Scott Atlas, senior fellow at Stanford University’s Hoover Institution and former chief of neurology at Stanford University Medical Center appeared on Martha MacCallum’s FOX News show to discuss the “hysteria” of opening schools in the fall despite the coronavirus pandemic.

MACCALLUM: The latest political divide appears to be going back to school with Democrats mostly urging caution and Republicans mostly, starting with the president, saying that kids need to get back into the classroom or risk a learning loss that maybe irreparable.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. NANCY PELOSI, D-CALIF., SPEAKER OF THE HOUSE: Going back to school presents the biggest risk for the spread of the coronavirus. They ignore science and they ignore governance in order to make this happen. If there are CDC guidelines, they should be requirements.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MACCALLUM: Dr. Scott Atlas, senior fellow at Stanford University Hoover Institution and former chief of neuroradiology at Stanford University Medical Center. Doctor, welcome back to the program. Good to have you.

SCOTT ATLAS, PROFESSOR AND CHIEF OF NEURORADIOLOGY, STANFORD UNIVERSITY MEDICAL CENTER: Thanks, Martha.

MACCALLUM: She says, Nancy Pelosi says that this is the biggest risk to the spread of the virus if the kids go back in September.

ATLAS: I think we have a different scale because that’s just completely wrong and contrary to all the science. And when I say, when I say all the science, I’m talking about signs all over the world not just in the United States but Switzerland, Sweden, Canada, France, the Netherlands, Australia, Asia.

Continue reading →
POLITICS Comments turned off

Wow! GOP ‘Never Trumpers’ Are Paid by a ‘Radical’ Leftist Billionaire By Victoria Taft

By on July 15th, 2020

https://pjmedia.com/columns/victoria-taft/2020/07/14/wow-gop-never-trumpers-are-paid-by-a-radical-leftist-billionaire-n640740

They sound like Leftists. They act like Leftists. And now we learn that the Never-Trumper group called “The Lincoln Project” is funded by a Leftist billionaire, according to a new book on the subject.

And a collective “Oh, it all makes sense to me now!” just spread over the land.

The project features, among others, GOP political strategists Rick Wilson, Steve Schmidt, the Washington Post’s “conservative” columnist Jennifer Rubin, former “Weekly Standard” editor Bill Kristol, and disgruntled attorney, George “Mr. Kellyanne” Conway, who spends nearly all of his time trying to ruin his wife’s White House career.

Judging by their antics, the anti-Trump collective is like a latter-day mix of political saboteur Donald Segretti, lawless Yippie Abbie Hoffman, yellow gossip columnist Walter Winchell and political monkey-wrencher Saul Alinsky. Their goal is to do everything they can to cost Donald Trump the White House in 2020 in order to burn the GOP brand. So that’s why they’re supporting Joe Biden.

Continue reading →
WORLD NEWS Comments turned off

Hizballah Turns the Capital of Lebanon into a Human Shield By P. David Hornik

By on July 15th, 2020

https://pjmedia.com/columns/p-david-hornik/2020/07/15/hizballah-turns-the-capital-of-lebanon-into-a-human-shield-n641995

In 2018 the then spokesman of the Israel Defense Forces, Ronen Manelis, published an op-ed on Lebanese opposition websites and in various Arab media about the Iranian takeover — via its terror proxy Hizballah — of the Land of the Cedars.

“Lebanon,” Manelis wrote,

has turned…into one large missile factory…. One in every three or four houses in southern Lebanon is a headquarters, a post, a weapons depot or a Hezbollah hideout. We know of these assets and we know how to attack them accurately if required.

The future of the Lebanese citizens is that of a pawn in the hands of the dictator from Tehran, and the heads of villages, towns and government institutions who see and choose to remain silent are also to blame.

Manelis was saying that: Iran, via Hizballah, has turned southern Lebanon into a big human shield. Israel knows where all the facilities are and in case of war can hit them. Lebanese authorities should at least speak out about it before it’s too late.

Now an Israeli watchdog called the ALMA Center has revealed for the first time that Hizballah also has “at least 28 missile launching sites” in Beirut itself, the capital.

“The world must understand and know,” said Tal Beeri, head of the ALMA Center’s research department, “that these launch sites are located at the heart of residential and urban civil infrastructure.”

As the center’s report details:

Almost all of the sites are in southern Beirut, an area controlled by Hezbollah, and are located in civilian neighborhoods, inside private houses, medical centers, churches, industrial sites, public offices, fast food chains, as well as in open spaces nearby, hence activating the “human shield” tactic….

Based on our insight into Hezbollah’s action patterns these sites are available for immediate operational use.

Israel has long been trying to make clear that, in case of another Israel-Hizballah war (the first was in 2006), it will have no choice but to inflict civilian casualties — or let Hizballah fire missiles into Israel at will from launch sites embedded in schools, hospitals, private homes, and the like.

Continue reading →
HISTORY, WORLD NEWS Comments turned off

The Second Islamic Conquest of Hagia Sophia By Cameron Hilditch

By on July 15th, 2020

https://www.nationalreview.com/2020/07/the-second-islamic-conquest-of-hagia-sophia/

President Erdogan’s power play should not go unanswered by the liberal-democratic West.

The Church of Hagia Sophia in Constantinople is a purpose-built structure, and its purpose is the worship of the Christian God. This particular function is not incidental to the way the church was designed and built by its two visionary architects at the high meridian of the Byzantine Empire. Anthemius of Tralles and Isidore of Miletus were what their contemporaries called mechanopoioi, a term that is best translated, according to Richard Krautheimer, as “architect–scientists.” Their elite proficiency in mathematics and physics suited them to the task they’d been given by the emperor: building an originally Christian place of worship. In the sixth century, Christians were still drawing on the aesthetics of pagan antiquity, and the basilicas and colonnades of classical Rome had been accepted as the supreme expression of architectural grandeur. Hagia Sophia changed all that.

When Emperor Justinian entered the church for the first time after its completion, he is said to have boasted, “Solomon, I have vanquished thee!” He, or rather his two architects, certainly had. With an interior space of almost 43,000 square feet, it was at the time the single-greatest building ever constructed. Its crowning jewel was its gravity-defying central dome, which in a single stroke supplanted the basilica as the defining feature of church architecture in Eastern Christendom. The dome serves as a mirror to heaven, believed in late antiquity to be the most distant in a series of concentric spheres, and its 40 windows allow light from above to shine upon the glittering religious mosaics inside the church. But its most important religious function is musical. The interior of Hagia Sophia was designed for the antiphonal singing of the Christian liturgy, with two choir sections alternating chants across from one another. The dome captures and enhances the sound of this exchange. Musical notes usually reverberate for two to three seconds in a modern concert hall. In Hagia Sophia, they resound for up to twelve seconds, enveloping worshippers in the sounds of the liturgy — or at least they did, until the Ottoman conquest of Constantinople in 1453.

Continue reading →
ANTI-SEMITISM Comments turned off

“National Identity” by Sydney Williams

By on July 15th, 2020

www.swtotd.blogspot.com

As individuals, we are a combination of genetics and experience. Similarly, the United States is a product of its genetic makeup – its people, natives and immigrants – and its experiences, which includes everything that has happened over the past four centuries – the carving of towns and villages from the wilderness, the curse of slavery and its abolition, and especially the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution. Our experiences include the building of roads, railroads and the telegraph, the Civil War, the taming of the west, the industrialization of the economy and the rise of cities, schools and colleges, two world wars, the Cold War and its aftermath, and the internet. Our Country’s genetic makeup continues to expand as immigrants become citizens and new births add to our population. And, so do our experiences. Everything we do – the good and the bad – add to who we are.

We are a polyglot nation, not easily categorized. We are not, as The New York Times with its 1619 Project would have us be, a nation imbued with systemic racism, a country of victims and oppressors. On the other hand, we, as a nation, should be aware of the warts in our past. God, it has been said, cares little of what we have done. He cares about we do and will do.

Robert E. Lee has become symbolic of white oppression. As a defender of slavery and Commander of the Army of Virginia, he deserves reproach. But hatred for what he represented in that aspect of his life blinds us to the whole man. Like all of us, he was complex. His father “Light-Horse Harry” Lee was a Revolutionary War General and Governor of Virginia who landed in debtors’ prison around 1812. He abandoned his family and moved permanently to the West Indies. Lee was raised by his mother who died a month after he graduated second in his class from West Point, where he later served as Superintendent. When the Civil War broke out, he was torn between allegiance to the United States and loyalty to Virginia, his place of birth. (It was a time when people traveled less; so, one’s home state meant more than it does today.) In 1865, at Appomattox, General Lee surrendered his sword without animus to a younger General Grant, who had graduated in the bottom half of his class at West Point. In the aftermath of the War and at a time of bitter recriminations on the part of many Southerners toward the victorious North, Lee supported reconciliation with a reborn United States, later led by his former foe.

Continue reading →