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March 2023

GOOD NEWS FROM AMAZING ISRAEL FROM MICHAEL ORDMAN

https://verygoodnewsisrael.blogspot.com/

 

I missed the December 5th posting of Israel’s remarkable advances in medicine, assisting NASA on space projects, generating hydrogen, water projects in Argentina and heartening stories of Israelis doing good 24/7. But Michael Ordman never disappoints and here is another list of Israel’s dazzling contributions to science, technology, medical innovations and treatments and a host of social institutions that provide succor and hope to the rest of the world.

Remember that the acronym BDS cuts both ways. Instead of Boycott, Divest and Sanction think

Beneficial, Developments in Science. rsk

 

ISRAEL’S MEDICAL ACHIEVEMENTS

A vaccine against bacteria. For the first time worldwide, researchers from Tel Aviv University and the Israel Institute for Biological Research have developed an mRNA-based vaccine that is 100% effective against plague bacteria, lethal to humans. It also works against antibiotic resistant bacteria.

https://english.tau.ac.il/mrna_vaccine  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2Fyhk_6GmsQ

https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/sciadv.adg1036

Alzheimer’s ultrasound treatment in Florida. Delray Medical Center is the first hospital in Florida to treat an Alzheimer’s disease patient using non-invasive focused ultrasound technology from Israel’s Insightec. The FDA-approved clinical trial will test reducing excessive protein buildup to open the blood-brain barrier.

https://www.fau.edu/newsdesk/articles/alzheimers-focused-ultrasound-study

The best medicine. Israel’s Protai has built a proteomics AI-based platform that comprehensively maps the course of a disease on the protein level. It can identify which patients will respond to a given treatment, as well as identifying identify diseases that a therapy should be able to treat.

https://www.calcalistech.com/ctechnews/article/hkp39nye2   https://www.protai.bio/

US approves pain-monitoring device. The US FDA has granted marketing authorization to the PMD-200 monitor developed by Israel’s Medasense Biometrics (see here previously). The device monitors pain in non-communicating (e.g., anaesthetized) patients and already has made an impact in multiple countries.

https://www.calcalistech.com/ctechnews/article/hyfvzhsrs

Preventing migraines. The Nerivio device from Israeli startup Theranica (see here previously) already has US FDA approval to treat acute migraines. It has now been approved for preventing migraines. Recent trials of 248 participants showed a huge improvement for those using Nerivio compared to those on a placebo device.

https://nocamels.com/2023/03/vibrating-armband-approved-for-migraine-prevention/

https://headachejournal.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/head.14469

The right time to do a C-Section. A nationwide study led by Jerusalem’s Hadassah hospital discovered that pregnant women brought into the Intensive Care Unit seriously ill with Covid-19, were more likely to improve if they gave birth (by Caesarian section) before their condition deteriorated. The data will save many lives.

https://www.jpost.com/health-and-wellness/article-732866

Israeli radiation treatment – a first-hand review. Please read newsletter reader Lili Eylon’s personal account of Alpha DaRT radiation cancer therapy developed by Israel’s Alpha Tau (see here previously). Lili was one of 56 patients in DaRT’s human study at Hadassah Medical Center – its second skin cancer human study in Israel.

https://blogs.timesofisrael.com/revolutionary-new-weapon-developed-in-israel/

Dying of cancer in Russia; saved in Israel. (TY Hazel) 20-year-old Kalim was sent home from hospital to die in St Petersburg after doctors said they could not treat his acute lymphoblastic leukemia. He immigrated to Israel where five months of CAR-T treatment at Rambam Health Care Campus gave Kalim back his life.

https://www.ynetnews.com/health_science/article/b1ygx4fyn

What to do after retirement – save lives of course. 61-year-old EMT Joelle Cohen retired from the medical field and joined United Hatzalah as a volunteer EMT. When a man in his 70s suffered a sudden cardiac arrest at a diabetes clinic in Jerusalem, Joelle revived him, saying it gave her one of the most incredible feelings.

https://www.israelnationalnews.com/news/367911

DeSantis’s Doubts over Ukraine Will Strengthen Putin, China, Iran by Con Coughlin

https://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/19504/desantis-ukraine

From the start of the conflict one of [Putin’s] key assumptions has been that the Western powers were too weak and divided to sustain their support for the Ukrainian cause, and so it is proving.

This depressing picture will undoubtedly be interpreted by Putin as justifying his view that the West would eventually lose interest in the Ukraine conflict and that, for all the public pledges of support, the Western alliance does not want Ukraine to win after all.

There are also wider global security implications: if Putin is able to get his way. In Ukraine, he will be encouraged in the belief that he can expand his territorial ambitions into other parts of Europe. Other adversaries of the West will not fail to see a second US retreat as yet another vacuum — a green light for their territorial expansion, as well.

For example, an investigation undertaken by the Dossier Centre, a group funded by Mikhail Khodorkovsky, a long-standing critic of Putin, has warmed that the Kremlin plans to take over Moldova by the end of the decade, a threat also delivered in early February by Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, as well as a year ago by Belarussian President Alexander Lukashenko “standing in front of a battle map that appears to show a planned invasion of Moldova, along with Ukraine.”

Moscow has also threatened to attack airfields in Poland, a NATO member state, which would require a military response from the entire NATO alliance, thereby provoking all-out war between Russia and the West. At that point, the conflict would very much become a “vital interest” for Washington.

Fortunately there are still countries such as Poland that have no intention of abandoning the Ukrainian cause. On the contrary, the plucky Poles have just reaffirmed their commitment to Kyiv by becoming the first NATO member state to send warplanes to Ukraine: Warsaw is planning to send four MIG-29 fighters.

It is a move that the Biden Administration and other allies should be encouraged to replicate. That is leadership — and what many Americans seem starved for: a Churchill, not a Chamberlain. A reminder: it would have been so much less costly in life and treasure to have stopped Hitler before he crossed the Rhine.

In an attempt to persuade DeSantis to change his mind, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has invited the Florida Governor to visit him in Kyiv.

It is an invitation DeSantis would be well-advised to accept.

No one will be more delighted at the deepening scepticism expressed about America’s continued involvement in the Ukraine conflict than Russian President Vladimir Putin.

‘Use a Nail Gun to Nail the Heads and Crucify Them’: The Persecution of Christians, February 2023 by Raymond Ibrahim

https://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/19503/persecution-of-christians-february

“[T]he soldiers of the Caliphate… captured five Christians and slaughtered them, praise be to God.” — barnabasaid.org, February 15, 2023, Mozambique.

“I went to the police station to report my daughter’s kidnapping, but they refused to accept my complaint and forced me out of the building.” He made repeated attempts to file a criminal complaint… the police ignored his pleas.” — Morning Star News, February 13, 2023, Pakistan.

” [I]n all cases involving forced marriages of underage minority girls…. The accused first rapes the victim and then uses the cover of an Islamic Nikah [marriage certificate] to escape punishment…” — Morning Star News, February 13, 2023, Pakistan.

“Sunita is just 19, but now her whole life has been physically and mentally scarred [by acid thrown in her face]…. Even if he is convicted for his crime…. We all know how our society treats acid attack survivors….” — Morning Star News, February 13, 2023, Pakistan.

“Kill them wherever you find them [a verbatim quote of Koran 9:5]. If you are a tradesman, use a nail gun to nail the heads and crucify them on woodwork. If you are a truck driver, run them over….” — Islamic State operative, terrorism-info.org.il, February 6, 2023, Sweden.

The following are among the murders and abuses inflicted on Christians by Muslims throughout the month of February 2023:

Do Babies Still Win Wars? by Amir Taheri

https://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/19502/do-babies-still-win-wars

China, Russia and Iran spend almost twice as much on the military as they do on the health and well-being of their citizens. Their military expenditure as a percentage of GDP is more than twice the average of OECD countries, while their healthcare spending as a percentage of GDP is less than half of the OECD average.

Since the Chinese sage Sun Tzu authored The Art of War around 2,500 years ago, almost all writers on military affairs have asserted that a rapid rate of population growth is the sine qua non for a nation’s decision to go to war.

More recently, this theory was elaborated by the Swiss mercenary, General Antoine-Henri Jomini, in a series of books that have been “must reads” in most military academies since the 19th century. Echoes of the same theory are present in On War, the military “bible” written by Carl von Clausewitz, the Prussian general and military historian, in the 19th century.

Thus, the Indo-European tribes left their ancestral homeland in Central Asia because they could no longer feed a rapidly growing population. Seeking more fertile land and pastures for their herds, they embarked on invasions to their west and south to find the resources they coveted.

The ancient Romans and Persians were also pushed towards conquest because of high birth rates that made the seizure of new lands a life-and-death necessity.

The Arab invasion of the Persian and Byzantine Empires in the Middle East and Asia Minor also came when the Arabian Peninsula could no longer feed its rising population. The same analysis has been applied to the Mongol invasion that brought hungry tribes from far away Mongolia to the heart of Europe and the Middle East.

Rapid population growth was also a key factor in pushing the British on a path of empire-building from the 16th century onwards. In fact, the ability to export large numbers of peoples to new lands is often cited as one of the key factors in empire-building since time immemorial.

Finally, the Nazis claimed that post-Weimar Germany needed to invade Europe in search of “Lebensraum” (living space) to secure agricultural and energy resources needed to be a big power.

Colleges Preparing for Massive Resistance George Leef

https://www.nationalreview.com/corner/colleges-preparing-for-massive-resistance/

What will happen if the Supreme Court rules that racial preferences in higher education violate the law? At many schools, administrators will just keep on doing what they’ve been doing, believing that it would be nobler to fight on for the wonders of diversity (and never mind the litigation expenses) than to stop a policy that makes them feel so good.

We read here that officials at Rice University have proclaimed their dedication to racial preferences. Rice’s release declares, “We will strive to do all we can, within the bounds of the law, to continue to recruit and retain a widely diverse student body.” What that means, I submit, is that they’ll find ways to continue discriminating that they can claim aren’t illegal.

The school also claims that “diversity” is a national security imperative as well as a boon to the nation “socially, economically, and culturally.”

We have been hearing that blather for a long time. The fact of the matter is that if colleges stop using racial preferences, the only result is that some of the students from preferred groups will go to less prestigious institutions (where they will learn just as much if not more) and some of the students kept out of schools like Rice because they aren’t “diverse” will go there. The impact on the U.S. “socially, economically, and culturally” would be negligible — except for the benefit of once again focusing education on learning rather than on the follies of “identity.”

Garbage in the Streets of Paris and Riots Over Pension Reform Pose a Challenge to Macron’s Authority By Rick Moran

https://pjmedia.com/news-and-politics/rick-moran/2023/03/18/garbage-in-the-streets-of-paris-and-riots-over-pension-reform-pose-a-challenge-to-macrons-authority-n1679547

France is in an uproar because French workers will now have to toil an extra two years before they’re eligible for their overly-generous pension. And the change was made thanks to a rarely used article in the French Constitution — Article 49.3 — which provides that the government can pass a bill without a vote at the National Assembly, after deliberation at a Cabinet meeting.

The catch is that French President Emanuel Macron must now navigate a “no confidence” vote that will be held sometime this weekend. He is expected to weather the storm easily, but not without some damage to his standing. Macron is in the middle of his second term, and since he can’t run again, he will try to push through as much of his agenda as possible.

Meanwhile, French workers are livid over the changes. The retirement age has been raised from 62 to 64 because of overly generous governments in the past almost bankrupting the pension system. Macron’s “fix” only kicks the can down the road until the real crunch comes in a few years.

Reuters:

Riot police clashed with protesters on Friday evening in Paris as a demonstration took place at the capital’s Place de la Concorde, near the Assemblee Nationale parliament building, resulting in 61 arrests.

This led the Paris Prefecture on Saturday to ban rallies on Place de la Concorde and the nearby Champs-Elysees.

A further rally was however slated for later on Saturday on Place d’Italie in southern Paris.

Alvin Bragg’s Nakedly Political Indictment of Donald Trump Andrew C. McCarthy

https://www.nationalreview.com/corner/progressive-democrat-braggs-motivation-in-nakedly-political-indictment-of-trump/

Progressive prosecutor Alvin Bragg’s impending criminal prosecution of Donald Trump is a disgrace, as a matter of due process and good governance. Rich is right that it’s good for Trump’s political fortunes, at least in the short term. We shouldn’t lose sight, though, that it is good for Democratic political fortunes in the long term.

Obviously, Trump does not merit immunity from prosecution just because he is a former president, a current presidential candidate, and an influential political figure with a devoted base of millions. Yet no former president and substantial candidate should be the target of a criminal prosecution, especially by the opposition party, unless the matter is truly serious — unless it would be treated as felony conduct if it were committed by anyone.

Besides Bragg’s investigation, we have carefully covered the pending probes of the former president in connection with his efforts to overturn the 2020 election and his illegal possession of classified documents. Those are extraordinarily serious matters. We can agree or disagree about the legal theories that prosecutors may pursue; and we should watch carefully whether, on the classified documents, Trump is afforded equal protection of the law given that President Biden and former secretary of state Hillary Clinton, among others, have engaged in similar conduct with (so far) impunity. Nevertheless, if Trump were indicted for, say, obstructing Congress on January 6, 2021, or obstructing the grand-jury investigation of his hoarding of secret intelligence at Mar-a-Lago, no one could credibly claim that these were (pardon the pun) trumped-up cases, even if the decision to charge them is politically fraught.

Not so with the Stormy Daniels caper.

Bragg is engaged in bare-naked politics. The case is not merely unworthy as a prosecution of Trump (which is why federal prosecutors walked away from it years ago, as did Bragg before he was pressured by progressive Democrats into reviving it); it is also a case that everyone knows Bragg would never bring against anyone other than Trump. Crime is rampant in New York, in part because Bragg’s default position is leniency and often non-prosecution when it comes to hardened criminals. Here, the case of falsifying business records against Trump (which we’ve analyzed, for example, here, here, here, here, and here) is, at best, a nonviolent misdemeanor that is stale and that could be inflated into a felony only by theories that are legally and factually dubious. This is a classic, invidious selective prosecution. It is being launched strictly for political purposes.

Calamity Joe: Geopolitical Catastrophes Multiply as American Power and Influence Crash to New Postwar Lows By Thomas Lifson

https://www.americanthinker.com/articles/2023/03/calamity_joe_geopolitical_catastrophes_multiply_as_american_power_and_influence_crash_to_new_postwar_lows.html

In only two years, Joe Biden’s presidency has produced multiple catastrophes from which recovery will be difficult, if it is even possible. Domestically, we see the banking system teetering on insolvency, as the rapid escalation in interest rates has devalued long term Treasury notes that used to be considered a safe place for banks to park funds in excess of what could be safely lent. The reason for these Federal Reserve interest rate hikes is the inflation that was immediately triggered by Biden’s jihad against domestica oil, gas, and coal production, that triggered an inflationary spiral that continues today, devaluing the life savings of thrifty Americans, and pushing food and energy costs up so fast that many families have had to drastically reduce their standard of living.

Bad as these catastrophes are, the potential for serious damage to the welfare of the American people from the military and diplomatic policies of the Biden administration is much worse. Losing a war – or even just fighting a nuclear war – makes a mere Depression look like a day at the beach. And make no mistake, the Biden administration is flirting with a nuclear confrontation with Russia that China might well decide to join and eliminate for good the power of the United States to oppose its aims for dominance of the Asia/Pacific region (for starters). Meanwhile, as the potential for an ultimate confrontation increases, resources for America to counter the threat are rapidly diminishing.

Start with the monumental blunder of driving together China and Russia, not necessarily natural allies, indeed with a recent history of serious tension. But now Xi Jinping is about to visit Moscow, and the two are united in opposition to American hegemony. They are joined in the task of replacing the dollar as the world reserve currency by other rising powers of the BRICS.

Government Tyrants Play with Fire By J.B. Shurk

https://www.americanthinker.com/articles/2023/03/government_tyrants_play_with_fire.html

If Trump is really arrested on Tuesday, it will say something deeply disturbing about the state of our country.

The communist thugs controlling America’s legal system have chosen to cross the Rubicon, it seems.  President Trump says he will be arrested Tuesday now that New York City’s corrupt, Soros-funded district attorney has cooked up some cockamamie criminal indictment against him involving Stormy Daniels — the same political pawn who was already ordered to pay the president 300,000 dollars in legal fees as restitution in a prior case.

If anyone needed further evidence that we reside under a post-constitutional Uniparty regime with utter disdain for the rule of law, add this to the long list of government crimes and usurpations committed against the American people.

No doubt the politicians and their State-controlled agents in the press will actually hail President Trump’s arrest as shimmering validation that “no one is above the law.”  What poppycock!  What glittery abuse of power.  What abominable descent into tyranny!

If Bill and Hillary Clinton had ever been properly charged for their decades-long crime spree involving perjury, rape, investment swindling, real estate scams, stolen White House furniture, Chinese bribery, campaign finance violations, family foundation fraud, mishandling of classified secrets, conspiracy to defraud the United States with the Russia hoax, Epstein-linked prostitution and child-trafficking, or their uncanny proclivity for leaving a trail of dead associates in their wake, their rap sheets would stretch from here to the moon.  Had Barack Obama ever had to properly answer for illicitly using the IRS, EPA, DOJ, FBI, and Intelligence Community to target, harass, and persecute his political opponents or account for his stunning success in using his political office to transition from one of America’s poorest presidents to one of its wealthiest, he and his wife would not so absurdly yet flippantly claim that his presidency was aboveboard and “scandal-free.”  If there were not a two-tier “justice” system that exists only to protect Deep State friends and demolish Uniparty enemies, Joe Biden’s notorious reputation over the last half-century as a bought-and-paid-for stooge of foreign governments and domestic crime syndicates — with a family of drug users and reprobates who profit solely from his politically-protected name — would have at least kept him far from the White House, if not serving time in prison.

Only Donald Trump — the man who donated his salary for serving the American people and who has lost a fortune parrying endless and spurious criminal, civil, and regulatory attacks — finds himself in legal jeopardy, with his life, liberty, and property all on the line.

The Great Comeuppance will soon be upon us Whenever SVB has been mentioned in the past few days, you wonder if they have any employees Christopher Caldwell

https://thespectator.com/topic/great-comeuppance-economy-silicon-valley-bank/

You can measure the health of the American republic, or at least its governing institutions, on a weekday-morning Acela train from Washington to New York. It’s too expensive to use for pleasure ($337 if you plan late and are unlucky), too time-consuming (almost three hours for the 225-mile trip) to permit idling in the café car. So the train is always full of strivers, working their cell phones. On Tuesday morning, the phone chitchat was anxious. Even in Washington, where analysts and economists had been working all weekend to contain the collapse of Silicon Valley Bank, the reeling of the financial system when markets opened on Monday caught people by surprise.

It shouldn’t have. The last time bankers ran off with the savings of their compatriots was only fifteen years ago. A lot of people at the time asked: “How could we have been so gullible?” But really, Americans, Englishmen and other finance-dependent peoples had reason to be trusting. The young bankers in all those photos from the time may have looked ridiculous — standing with their backs to the plate-glass windows of a Lehman Brothers conference room to receive their walking papers, or lined up with cardboard boxes to cart their office possessions home. But what strikes us now is that they were so numerous. There were whole skyscrapers full of them, devising their multivariable hocus-pocus and bragging about their sailboats to young women in wine bars after work. Few liked them as a group. But they seemed the product of a real, stable, indispensable service industry. By contrast, whenever SVB has been mentioned in recent days, you see a lot of B-roll of automatic teller machines. You wonder if they have any employees. Whenever the cryptocurrency-focused Signature Bank is mentioned, you see empty shop fronts in malls. You wonder if they have any customers.