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April 2023

GOOD NEWS FROM AMAZING ISRAEL FROM MICHAEL ORDMAN

Regardless of your opinions on the political developments in Israel, one can only be dazzled by the incredible contributions of Israel to the world cataloged by Michael Ordman. rsk

http://www.verygoodnewsisrael.blogspot.com

ISRAEL’S MEDICAL ACHIEVEMENTS
 
Breakthrough discovery about pancreatic cancer. (TY Nevet & I24) An international study let by Hebrew University researchers has discovered that pancreatic cancer spreads (metastasis) due to reduced levels of the RNA controlling protein RBFOX2. The finding provides a new target for pancreatic cancer treatments.
https://www.jpost.com/health-and-wellness/article-735101
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-023-05820-3
 
How the gut impacts cancer treatment. A Weizmann Institute-led international team of researchers has found how bacteria in the gut microbiome affects the body’s response to cancer immunotherapy (see also here previously). Also, patients treated with specific antibiotics had a poor response to CAR-T cancer treatment.
https://www.israelnationalnews.com/news/368694
 
Diagnosing pre-diabetes from gut microbes. Bar-Ilan University scientists have been able to early diagnose gestational diabetes – glucose intolerance that 10% of women suffer during pregnancy. Analysis of gut bacteria highlights inflammation even in the first trimester, giving vital time for treatment and lifestyle changes.
https://www.israelnationalnews.com/news/369075
 
No-pill treatment for acid reflux. (TY Hazel & Sidney) Specialists at Jerusalem’s Shaare Zedek Medical Centre have performed a simple endoscopic procedure, for the first time in Israel, that successfully treats patients suffering from heartburn acid reflux. It reconstructs a valve, avoiding more complex surgery or pills.
https://www.jpost.com/health-and-wellness/article-734163
 
Hereditary disease treatment may cure statin pain. Researchers from Ben Gurion University and Soroka Medical Center developed Methylmevalonolactone to save sufferers of a rare deadly hereditary muscle disease. They are now testing it as a treatment for tens of thousands of sufferers of chronic muscle pain due to statins.
https://in.bgu.ac.il/en/pages/news/muscle_disease.aspx  https://www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/pnas.2217831120
https://nocamels.com/2023/03/new-israeli-drug-combats-deadly-muscular-disease/
 
Biological defibrillator. (TY Hazel & Sidney) Researchers at Rambam hospital and Israel’s Technion Institute have developed a biological receptor to treat heart rhythm disorders. If arrythmia is experienced, the patient takes medication that triggers the receptor to awaken the cells that regulate electrical activity in the heart.
https://www.jpost.com/health-and-wellness/article-734381
 
The Waze of dental implants. (TY Israel21c) The Image Guided Implantology (IGI) system from Israel’s Image Navigation uses a CT scan and LED motion tracking to fix dental implants, even when a patient is moving. Red and green lights tell the dentist exactly where the drill tip is, thus reducing surgical treatment time.
https://jlm-biocity.org/image-navigation-to-launch-worlds-most-advanced-image-guided-dental-implant-technology/  https://image-navigation.com/
 
Laser treatment for jaw pain. (TY Israel21c) The cold laser therapy device from Israel’s B-Cure Laser treats many forms of pain due to inflammation. Two clinical trials in Italy proved its ability to treat pain in the jaw, known as chronic TMD and TMJ. Laser light promotes blood circulation to bring nutrients to affected muscles.
https://bcurelaser.com/temporo-mandibular-joint-disorder/
 
Remote lung analysis device approved. The US FDA has approved Tyto Insights™ for Wheeze Detection from Israel’s TytoCare (see here previously). The device uses a database of lung sounds to help clinicians accurately diagnose respiratory conditions remotely in adults and children aged 2+.
https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/tytocare-receives-fda-clearance-for-its-ai-powered-tyto-insights-for-wheeze-detection-to-ensure-diagnostic-accuracy-from-home-301772786.html
 
Pioneering brain cooling saves Philippine woman. (TY UWI) Doctors at Jerusalem’s Shaare Zedek hospital saved Philippine caregiver Nurila, who suffered a cerebral hemorrhage. Medication, catheter, and surgery didn’t stop blood flow, so her brain was cooled to 33 deg C for 8 days. The bleeding stopped and Nurila is now well.
https://tps.co.il/articles/israeli-doctors-save-philippine-womans-life-with-new-brain-cooling-procedure/
https://www.jpost.com/health-and-wellness/article-734996
 

Saluting the unsung heroes of the Israeli Air Force By Ruthie Blum

https://www.jns.org/opinion/saluting-the-unsung-heroes-of-the-israeli-air-force/

Following Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s announcement on Tuesday evening that he was halting judicial-reform legislation to allow for dialogue between the coalition and opposition, the Israeli Air Force pilots who’ve been engaging in political extortion against the government said they’d return to duty. Their willingness to resume training exercises came with a caveat, however.

As one senior IAF officer warned, if the upshot of the negotiations taking place at the President’s Residence isn’t to their liking, his compatriots will resume their refusal to serve.

Though these cherished members of one of the Israel Defense Forces’ most crucial and elite branches not only crossed a red line—going so far as to threaten not to participate in a potential strike on Iran if their demands aren’t met—they’ve been let off the hook by their superiors.

The only one penalized was IAF Col. Gilad Peled. A key instigator of the pilots’ anti-government protest movement, he was discharged on March 9 for acting “contrary to the orders of the commander of the force and in a manner inappropriate to his rank and status.”

But the following day, IAF commander Maj. Gen. Tomer Bar reversed the decision to sack Peled, after the latter explained that he hadn’t encouraged any fellow Air Force personnel to refuse to serve. And IDF Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Herzi Halevi didn’t call either to task. On the contrary, he, too, has been listening to the “concerns” of the men and women in uniform ridiculously asserting that judicial reform will result in the destruction of Israeli democracy and the rise of a dictatorship.

Indict One—And All? Were the opposition to match tit-for-tat these Democratic means, then the republic would not survive. By Victor Davis Hanson

https://amgreatness.com/2023/04/02/indict-one-and-all/

As we await the publication of all the impending indictments of former President Donald Trump by Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg, Americans are trying to figure out what constitutes an indictable offense for current and retired public officials.

Most legal experts, Left and Right, have noted:

1) Bragg promised in advance that he would try to find a way to indict Trump. His prior boasts are reminiscent of Stalin’s secret police enforcer Lavrentiy Beria’s quip, “Show me the man and I’ll show you the crime.” Nancy Pelosi gave the game away, when in her dotage, she muttered that Trump had a right to prove his innocence as if he is presumed guilty.

2) No former president has ever been indicted—and for good reason. Such prosecutions would be viewed as persecutions and render all former presidents veritable targets of every publicity-hungry and politically hostile local, state, or federal prosecutor. They would reduce the presidency to Third World norms. Gratuitously prosecuting former presidents would become a political tool to harm the opposing political party or to tarnish the legacy of a former president.

3) Trump is currently ahead in the polls for the Republican nomination to face Democratic incumbent Biden. And in head-to-head matchups, he outpolls Biden. For a prosecutor of the same party as the current president facing reelection to seek to destroy the viability of a likely opponent is a first in U.S. history. But again, it is now in accordance with Third World norms.

4) At least two left-leaning federal and state prosecutors previously have passed on the same evidence Bragg is now using for his indictments. They have explained that such a prosecution is infeasible because of statutes of limitations, because of a state attorney improperly appropriating the role of a federal prosecutor, and because non-disclosures agreements are a fact of life and not strictly illegal.

5) Bragg’s chief witness Michael Cohen is a felon and confessed liar, with a deep personal hatred of Donald Trump—a fact well known to all potential prosecutors.

6) The current indictment follows a long line of historic harassment of Trump, including the first incidence of two impeachments of a sitting president, the first impeachment trial of a president as a private citizen, and the first FBI armed raid of a retired president’s home, the first instance of an FBI director leaking confidential presidential conversations to the media for the purpose of appointing a special counsel to remove a president.

Why Is Europe Repressing Ritual Slaughter? Countries across Europe are cracking down on ritual slaughter, making the position of observant Jews and Muslims there more tenuous. Is concern for animals really the motivating factor?

https://mosaicmagazine.com/essay/jewish-world/2023/04/why-is-europe-repressing-ritual-slaughter/?utm_source=Klaviyo&utm_medium=campaign&_kx=IxNycqF4MaUb7Z76cxkSoZoWZXWuvsEbectSn87eh

Over the last decade, there has been a growing debate in Europe, initiated primarily by animal-rights groups and environmentalists, about the desirability of banning religious ritual slaughter in the name of animal welfare. This debate has caused concern among Jews not only in Europe but also in Israel and North America, as the ban means for them—and many Muslims—the end of the production of the only meat they can eat.

It is difficult for Jews not to see, lurking behind the argument against animal suffering, the sly face of an anti-Semitism that has always been able to drape itself in the ideals of the moment. This fear is legitimate, but we must also keep in mind that it should not obscure the legal, political, and economic dimensions of the problem. For, when looked at from the right angle, the seemingly narrow controversy over ritual slaughter widens into a prism for better perceiving how a continent and culture are being torn between contradictory values.

I. The Carnivorous Challenge

To understand the sensitivity of Jewish communities toward the issue of ritual slaughter, it is helpful to discuss some basic notions about their relationship with animals in general and meat in particular. That relationship is strikingly close. According to Genesis, man was originally made by God to be a vegetarian, as in the Garden of Eden, where “every green plant shall be food.” (Later, however, the consumption of meat became an integral part of Jewish worship.)

Secondly, the Torah strictly prohibits the mistreatment of animals. It is forbidden for any human being to cut off a limb of a living animal and to eat it. Jews are also obliged to feed their animals before themselves, to relieve their suffering, and in general to cause them the least pain. They must make them rest on Shabbat and it is prohibited to muzzle animals to prevent them from feeding themselves during their work. One may not harness together an ox and a donkey.

Teachers’ Unions Are Destroying American Education By Robert Weissberg

https://www.americanthinker.com/articles/2023/04/teachers_unions_are_destroying_american_education.html

American public schools are witnessing a mass exodus of teachers.

The term “stampede” may be more appropriate. According to one poll conducted in 2022, some 55% of educators were ready to leave the profession, and this unease is often translated into action. In one Chicago school nearly every teacher bailed out. Many teachers are not even waiting for the end of the school year and are leaving in mid-term.

These departures overwhelming result from school violence, disorderly classrooms, insufficient administrative support, and trying to teach kids who just don’t care. According to one study during the 2020-21 school year, one-third of teachers reported at least one incident of harassment or threats of violence while 14% were actually physically attacked. The American Psychological Association (APA) Task Force on Violence against Educators and School Personnel reports that threats can even come from parents convinced that junior is “a good kid” despite carrying a knife to the classroom.

Cold statistics understate the fear of violence, especially in schools where poor, single-parent minority students predominate. Reports of physical confrontations quickly spread to others as does the unwillingness of school administrators to punish culprits.  Further add daily in-your-face hostility to learning such as talking during lectures, constant iPhone use, and obvious boredom that can kill a teacher’s commitment.

Under such circumstances, the usual workplace incentives are of little value to unhappy teachers. A 3% salary raise, or better medical plan, cannot compensate for daily living in fear for one’s safety. This is not the Great Depression where a secure teaching job was prized no matter what. Nor are today’s female teachers limited in their vocational options.   

The problems of unsafe and dangerous working conditions are the classic tribulations that precipitated America’s labor movement. After all, what could be more central to a union?  So, how are the two teacher unions responding? Answer: By making it worse.

44 Retired Generals and Admirals Issue a Public Rebuke to the Bidenites Asking the Biden administration to provide Israel with the weapons it needs. by Hugh Fitzgerald

https://www.frontpagemag.com/asking-the-biden-administration-to-provide-israel-with-the-weapons-it-needs/

Joe Biden has assured the world that Iran will not acquire nuclear weapons “on my watch.” How much credence ought the people of Israel, who will be the ones most affected should Iran acquire a nuclear weapon, give to this assurance? None at all. Israelis cannot entrust their national survival to assurances from Joe Biden and the Bidenites, who have yet to say how they would prevent that acquisition by Iran of nuclear weapons, by stating clearly that “we will use our military power to destroy all of Iran’s nuclear facilities” if Tehran enriches uranium beyond a certain point.

Israel is now preparing for an attack on Iran it hopes it will not ever have to launch. It hopes instead that the Supreme Leader and the rest of his regime will call a halt to their nuclear program before it reaches a stage which will require Israel to act.

Now 44 retired American generals and admirals have made public a letter to the President and to Congress, asking that Israel be supplied with advanced weapons for use in a possible attack on Iran. More on this letter’s contents can be found here: “To Prevent Nuclear Iran, US Should Arm Israel, Write 44 Retired Generals and Admirals,” JNS, March 21, 2023:

In a March 20 open letter issued by the Jewish Institute for National Security of America (JINSA), 44 retired U.S. generals and admirals asked the White House and Congress to “immediately provide Israel with the advanced weapons it needs to deter and prevent a nuclear Iran.”

“Iran is coming ever closer to crossing the nuclear threshold and, thereby, sparking a crisis in the Middle East,” according to the letter released by the Washington, D.C. nonprofit. It first appeared in The Hill on March 21.

The signatories added that Washington should apply lessons from the one-year-old conflict in Ukraine: “It’s vital to arm capable and willing partners facing regional threats, and best to do so before conflict erupts.”

“As retired American military leaders who devoted our lives to the defense of our nation, we prefer a diplomatic solution that would genuinely end the threat posed by Iran’s escalating nuclear program,” they wrote. “But no such deal is imminent, nor realistic.”

Left-Wing Violence Chic Predicable leftist themes surface after the Nashville horror. by Victor Davis Hanson

https://www.frontpagemag.com/left-wing-violence-chic/

A transgender Tennessee mass shooter last week executed three adults and three nine-year-old children at a Nashville private Christian school.
Supposedly she left behind her a manifesto justifying her mass murdering. As of this writing, law enforcement officials have declined to make the document public.

Yet in about a nano-second after the news was disclosed, the left-wing activist machine kicked in, led by politicians, entertainers, and the media.

Three predictable themes surfaced.

The first was led by none other than President Joe Biden. He lectured that guns were the cause of the mass deaths, not the free will of a psychopathic killer.

Few noted that the shooter illegally purchased firearms by hiding her documented record of emotional disorders.

Second, America was told that it would serve no purpose to publish the shooter’s manifesto. Apparently, this exception to the usual practice was due to fears her manifesto would hurt the transgender cause.

Third, some in the activist media claimed that, while such murdering was regrettable, it was also understandable – given supposed Christian, conservative America’s intolerance of transgender people. In our sick society, the targeted victims became the political victimizers.

Here’s All the Crimes Alvin Bragg Shrugged Off to Go After Trump Mia Cathell

https://townhall.com/tipsheet/miacathell/2023/04/02/alvin-bragg-double-standard-on-crime-n2621354

While police are catching criminals on New York City’s unsavory streets, Soros-tied Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg has caught a chronic case of Trump Derangement Syndrome (TDS). The politically ambitious Bragg, whose self-styled crowning achievement is indicting a former U.S. president for the first time ever in American history, is using what he alleges to be a federal campaign-finance violation as a means to upgrade an otherwise-misdemeanor charge to a felony via an untested legal theory.

Simultaneously, as Bragg seeks to prosecute President Donald Trump, the GOP’s top 2024 contender, to the fullest extent of the law no matter the cost, the soft-on-crime DA has downgraded felonies to misdemeanors in a majority of his cases, handing get-out-of-jail-free cards to hordes of hardened criminals with little regard for the victims of these violent crimes in his own jurisdiction.

Dropping Cases

Bragg’s double standard on taking down whom he deems “the bad guys” has left the crime-infested Big Apple to rot.

The New York Post reported in December that because Manhattan prosecutors supposedly have too much on their plates, instead of trying a case, Bragg’s office proposed dropping four felony charges of grand larceny against gang member Charles Lindsay, requiring only that the gangbanger attend five counseling sessions sponsored by the Manhattan Justice Opportunities, an alternative sentencing program that assigns social workers to criminals convicted of both felonies and low-level offenses.

This Generation Of Kids Won’t Do Better Than Parents: I&I/TIPP Poll Terry Jones

https://issuesinsights.com/2023/04/03/this-generation-of-kids-wont-do-better-than-parents-ii-tipp-poll/

Parents in America, as elsewhere, traditionally have been concerned with one big thing when it comes to their children: That their kids’ lives should be better than the preceding generation’s. And for decades, that optimism was a given. But now, people are not so sure, a new I&I/TIPP Poll suggests.

Based on a growing body of evidence, both from the news and from a spate of recent studies and research, America’s parents, grandparents, teachers and others who make up the adult world today share a deep angst over how well their kids will do in the future.

To find out how pervasive this feeling is, the online I&I/TIPP Poll of 1,365 adults, taken from March 29-31, asked Americans a straightforward question: “How likely do you think today’s youth will have a better life than their parents?”

Of those responding, just 43% answered that it was likely that today’s kids would have better lives, with 21% saying it was “very likely” and 22% saying “somewhat likely.” And 8% said they weren’t sure.

Meanwhile, 49% took the more pessimistic view, calling it “unlikely” that today’s kids would do better than their parents. That includes 33% who said “somewhat” unlikely and 16% who said “very” unlikely.

John Fetterman Gives an Interview, and Well… By Matt Margolis

https://pjmedia.com/news-and-politics/matt-margolis/2023/04/02/john-fetterman-gives-an-interview-and-well-n1683842

Pennsylvania is a critical state: Population over 12 million and 20 electoral votes. The media’s obfuscation of Senator Fetterman’s ability to serve is outrageous…..rsk

EXCERPTS

John Fetterman, who was released from Walter Reed hospital this week, gave an interview to CBS’s Sunday Morning anchor Jane Pauley two days before his discharge. The interview is a classic example of how the liberal media is attempting to portray Fetterman as a hero, despite his misleading voters about his fitness to serve in the U.S. Senate, because he sought treatment for depression.

“Initially, I was open to giving John Fetterman the benefit of the doubt and considered the possibility that the clip shared on Twitter had been edited for brevity’s sake. However, my curiosity led me to watch the full interview, and to my surprise, I noticed similar quick cuts scattered throughout the conversation.

While it’s understandable that Fetterman may want to present himself as capable and articulate, it is also important to acknowledge and address the challenges that he is still facing, and it is disingenuous of the media to try to conceal that. Fetterman’s poll numbers took a hit after his debate with Oz because the debate was broadcast live without the benefit of being repackaged for the audience.

For sure, there were portions where Fetterman was coherent for a sentence or two, but has he really improved since October? How can we know for sure when CBS clearly removed portions where Fetterman likely struggled to communicate and perhaps gave him multiple opportunities to say what he meant to say until it sounded good? We don’t know, but after watching the interview, I am suspicious of what CBS didn’t want us to see.