MEDIA-OCRITIES OF THE WEEK
Capitol Riot Anniversary: Biden Targets Trump’s ‘Web of Lies’: Adrian Morrow, The Globe and Mail, Jan. 7, 2022“Michael Byrd, the capitol police lieutenant who killed [Ashley] Babbitt, was cleared of wrongdoing by the Department of Justice. . . Lieutenant Byrd told NBC News that he shouted repeated warnings at Ms. Babbitt before firing. Had he not shot her, he said, she and other rioters would have killed the House members who were fleeing down the hallway behind him.” [Other accounts indicate Ms. Babbitt threatened no one and was not warned, and that Lieut. Byrd had a prior record of erratic behavior. Transcripts of the Justice Department inquiry have not been made available—Ed.]
Biden’s Speech Both Rallying Cry and Cry of Despair Over Divisions: Globe staff, Globe and Mail, Jan. 7, 2022“U.S. Attorney-General Merrick Garland bows his head on Wednesday during a moment of silence for those who died in the events of Jan. 6” – {from a picture-caption in the Globe and Mail. Only one person, however, died, protester Ashley Babbitt, an Army veteran. She was shot by a Capitol policeman who was later found innocent by Merrick Garland’s Justice Department—Ed.]
Weekly Quotes:
“There’s a lot of anxiety in Russia now, that if this [rebellion against the government] could happen in Kazakhstan, it could happen in Russia.” — Carleton University professor Jeff Sahadeo. (National Post, Jan. 8, 2022)“Europe, in particular, is in the front line of a spike in global gas prices, and governments across the continent are scrambling to manage a looming cost of living crisis. A failure to deal with the energy price crunch effectively has wider risks diving anti-government protests and political populism across the region in 2022…[the] global food price index…hit a 10-year high…and nominal food prices have risen more than 40 per cent since the start of the pandemic…” — Hugo Brennan, head of EMEA Research, at global risk intelligence company Verisk Maplecroft. (Financial Post, Jan. 6, 2022)
“I did not seek this fight, brought to this Capitol one year ago today. . . I will allow no one to place a dagger at the throat of democracy. . .they came here in rage, not in service of America, but rather in service of one man . . .The former president of the United States has created and spread a web of lies about the 2020 election. . .” — U.S. President Joe Biden marking the anniversary of the Capitol Hill riot. (The Guardian, Jan. 7, 2022)
“They spread a ‘web of lies’ about me and Russia for four years to try to overturn the 2016 election, and now they lie about how they interfered in the 2020 election, too. Never forget the crime of the 2020 Presidential Election. Never give up!” – former U.S. President Donald Trump hitting back at Pres. Joe Biden on the first anniversary of the Capitol riot. He repeated his claims that the 2020 election was “rigged’ after the U.S. president assailed his predecessor as a dangerous threat to American democracy. (Barron’s, Jan. 6, 2022)
“The FBI [investigation of Jan. 6] found ‘no evidence that the groups had serious plans about what to do if they made it inside’. That was a blow for Trump demonizers [with their] ‘our democracy’. . .trope, a ‘kitschy’ usage used “almost exclusively by righteous left-wingers [to denote] a Trump tyranny unequalled in evil since Hitler walked the earth. . . “– columnist Barbara Kay. (National Post, Jan. 6, 2022)
“The Justice Department remains committed to holding all Jan. 6th perpetrators, at any level, accountable under the law, whether they were present that day, or were otherwise criminally responsible for the assault on our democracy. [Our italics – Ed.] –U.S. Attorney-General Merrick Garland, speaking on the eve of the Jan. 6 anniversary and pledging that the over-700 prosecutions already undertaken “will not be the last,” noting that Jan. 6 “was not a one-off [it] was a rehearsal.’ (NBC News, Jan. 6, 2021)
BENNETT GOVT. DEMOLISHES JEWISH HOMES SURROUNDED BY VAST ILLEGAL ARAB CONSTRUCTION (Jerusalem) — The Civil Administration in Judea and Samaria and dozens of police officers arrived at Givat Oz Zion in Binyamin to evacuate its two families, a group of young men, a yeshiva, and to demolish the structures. Oz Zion is surrounded by illegal Arab villages that never received permission to build in Area C, which is under Israeli control, according to the Oslo Agreement. (Jewish Press, Jan. 19, 2022)
ISRAEL TOPS 200 CRITICAL CORONA PATIENTS IN FIFTH WAVE(Jerusalem) –– The number of Israelis seriously ill with COVID-19 topped 200 this weekend, as the country continues to fight the fifth wave of the virus, complicated by the highly contagious Omicron variant. (Jewish Press, Jan. 9, 2021)
ISRAEL APPROVES MERCK’S NEW COVID-19 PILL, MOLNUPIRAVIR(Jerusalem) — The Israeli Health Ministry approved the new antiviral pill, produced by Merck intended for use in the fight against COVID-19. Molnupiravir is approved for use at home by Israelis aged 18 and older and is to be taken within three to five days from the onset of symptoms for five days. (Jewish Press, Jan. 2, 2022)
ISRAEL OPENS TRAVEL TO US, U.K. (Jerusalem) — Israel ended restrictions on international travel, opening the skies to travelers from the U.S. and other countries, which had been banned due to the COVID-19 infection rate in Israel being so high. (Algemeiner, Jan. 7, 2022)
ISRAELI STARTUP’S WATER PURIFICATION DEVICE IS A GAME CHANGER (Haifa) — Alumor, an Israeli startup based in Qiryat Tivon found a cost-effective solution for millions of people in developing countries without access to filtered tap water. It’s a device called Miriam’s Well, named after a rock that the Bible describes as miraculously providing water for the Hebrews during their 40 years of wandering in the desert. Miriam’s Well is a lightweight solar-powered apparatus that uses ultraviolet LED light to kill parasites and viruses while a filter removes everything else. It produces a liter of purified water that meets the standards of the U.S. National Sanitation Foundation — for the cost of half of one cent. (United With Israel, Jan. 10, 2022)
ISRAELI DEFENSE FIRM UNVEILS ADVANCED THERMAL IMAGING DEVICE FOR SOLDIERS (Jerusalem) — Israeli defense company ASIO Technologies introduced a new version of its thermal imaging system. According to ASIO, the LYNX system is in use among special units in the field that have to locate enemies, identify them, and accurately direct other forces and firepower on the battlefield. (United With Israel, Jan. 5, 2022)
NATIONAL LIBRARY OF ISRAEL ONLINE SEES MASSIVE TRAFFIC INCREASE FROM ARAB COUNTRIES (Jerusalem) — The National Library of Israel (NLI) has announced that 2021 saw a massive, 125% increase in users of its website and online resources from around the Arab world, in Israel and abroad, compared with 2022. The NLI’s Arabic-language website has surpassed two million visits from 1.5 million users worldwide. Inside Israel, 2021 saw a 250% increase in NLI’s Arabic website visits. That figure now exceeds 900,000 visits from more than 620,000 users – 220% more than in 2020. The tri-lingual (Hebrew-Arabic-English) NLI website registered approximately 10 million total visits in 2021. (Jewish Press, Jan. 10, 2022)
ARABS AGAIN DAMAGE JOSHUA’S ALTAR ON MOUNT EIVAL (Mt. Eival) — Haifa University archaeologist Adam Zertal has identified the remains of an altar found at Mt. Eival, the site described in the Bible, (Joshua 4:9), where Joshua divided the land among the 12 tribes. Volunteers of Shomrim Al Hanetzach reported damage to the altar’s walls and the felling of stones on its eastern side. (Jewish Press, Jan. 10, 2022)
HAMAS FROGMEN CHASED OFF BY ‘KILLER ZIONIST DOLPHIN’ (Gaza) — Hamas said that a group of its frogmen commandos were chased off the Gaza coast by a “killer Zionist dolphin.” The claim first appeared in Al-Quds, a Hamas-run newspaper. The reports didn’t specify when the incident occurred or what exactly the frogmen were doing. The Gaza terror organization also posted a video saying one of its frogmen commandos was killed by an IDF dolphin during the May, 2021 Gaza conflict. (United With Israel, Jan. 11, 2022)
STATUE ERECTED TO HONOR SLAIN IRANIAN COMMANDER TORCHED HOURS FOLLOWING UNVEILING (Shahrekord) — Hours after Iran erected a statue to honor the slain Iranian commander of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps Quds Force Qassem Soleimani, unknown assailants burned it. The statue was erected on Wednesday morning in the southwestern city of Shahrekord. By the evening, it was torched. It comes days after the second anniversary of the assassination of Soleimani in Iraq by a U.S. drone on Jan. 3, 2020. (JNS, Jan. 7, 2022)
‘CULTURAL SURVIVORS OF THE HOLOCAUST’: JEWISH INSTITUTE DIGITIZES PRECIOUS BOOKS, MANUSCRIPTS RESCUED FROM NAZI AND SOVIET CLUTCHES (NYC) — Thousands of books, manuscripts, and other documents of Jewish life in Eastern Europe before the Nazi Holocaust will be made available online with the launch of a new website under the auspices of YIVO, the New York City-based Jewish historical research institute. A total of 4.1 million pages will be made available to online researchers through the Edward Blank YIVO Vilna Online Collections Project. Much of the material in the collections was rescued by Jews trying to survive under Nazi occupation, including workers from the Vilna (now Vilnius) Ghetto who became known as the “Paper Brigade.” (Algemeiner, Jan. 7, 2022)
JEWISH PARTISAN LITMAN (MOR) MORAVCHIK PASSES AWAY AT 104 (Tel Aviv) — One of the last Jewish partisans to fight the Nazis, Litman (Mor) Moravchik, passed away at the age of 104 in his own home, in his bed and surrounded by his family. Born Litman Moravchik, he participated in the Zionist youth movement and subsequently traveled to Vilna, Poland (Vilnius, Lithuania) in 1931 to further his education. To watch the Oral History video of Litman Mor Moravchik, click here. (Jewish Press, Jan. 2, 2022)
POLISH OFFICIAL FIRED AFTER CALLING HOLOCAUST LAW ‘STUPID’(Warsaw) — A Polish diplomat charged with improving contacts with Jews worldwide was fired after criticizing his government approach to regulating Holocaust speech. Jaroslaw Nowak described a Holocaust speech law passed by his country’s ruling party as “stupid.” Nowak also said Poland should pass a law on property restitution, a statement implying further criticism of the ruling authorities, who recently passed a law cutting off the chances for restitution or compensation for those who had properties seized by the communists. Among those affected are Holocaust survivors and their heirs. (United With Israel, Jan. 10, 2022)
CDC SAYS ‘OVER 75 PERCENT’ OF COVID DEATHS WERE IN THOSE WITH ‘AT LEAST 4 COMORBIDITIES’ (Washington) — Speaking to Good Morning America, CDC Director Rochelle Walensky confirmed that “the overwhelming number of deaths, over 75 percent, occurred in people who had at least four comorbidities, so these are people who were unwell, to begin with.” (Post Millennial, Jan. 10, 2022)
NEW YORK’S RACE-BASED PREFERENTIAL COVID TREATMENTS(NYC) – NY State is giving preference, re monoclonal antidotes and antivirals like Paxlovid, which are in short supply, to those “of non-white race or Hispanic-Latino ethnicity,” rather than allocated to those most in need. According to these guidelines, sick people who have tested positive for Covid should be eligible to receive these drugs if they have “a medical condition or other factors that increase their risk for severe illness.” These include standard criteria like age and comorbidities like cancer, diabetes and heart disease—but, startlingly, they also include simply being of “non-white race or Hispanic/Latino ethnicity,”which “should be considered a risk factor, as longstanding systemic health and social inequities have contributed to an increased risk of severe illness and death from COVID-19.” Authors note that ignoring class and stressing race and ethnicities could see Democrats “pay a lasting political price.” (WSJ, Jan. 7, 2022)
PROF CRITICAL OF BLACK LIVES MATTER FIRED (Calgary) – Frances Widdowson, a tenured professor at Mount Royal University who triggered a backlash for criticizing the Black Lives Matter movement and saying there were educational benefits to residential schools was fired. The former professor, who had been teaching at the university since 2008, came under fire in 2020 when she said that the Black Lives Matter movement “destroyed MRU” and that she “doesn’t recognize the institution anymore” in an interview with the Western Standard. The comments resulted in a petition calling for her to be fired. It currently has more than 6,000 signatures. (National Post, Jan. 6, 2022)
CONTROVERSIAL CHINESE TECH BILLIONAIRE GIVES MILLIONS TO ELITE AMERICAN UNIVERSITIES (N.J.) — Ma Huateng, the founder of Tencent, has given at least $5 million to Princeton through his charity since 2017 and $5 million since 2018 to MIT, according to previously unreported Department of Education records. Ma also serves on the advisory boards for the Yale Center Beijing and the Cornell China Center. He and other Chinese business leaders advise the schools on developing partnerships in China. According to the Department of Education records, Tencent’s charity contributed $900,000 to Columbia University in 2017. (Washington Free Beacon, Jan. 6, 2022)
FOR FURTHER REFERENCE
BREAKING: Project Veritas Releases Military Documents That Contradict Fauci’s Sworn Testimony On Gain Of Function Research: Ari Hoffman, Post Millennial, Jan. 11, 2022 — Project Veritas released documents Monday night which appear to contradict NIH Director Dr. Anthony Fauci’s sworn testimony regarding gain of function research. The documents come from a report at the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA), which were allegedly hidden in a top secret shared drive.
Fauci: Project Veritas “Distorted” The Meaning of ECOHealth Alliance, DARPA, Gain-of-Function Documents: Real Clear Politics, Jan. 11, 2022 — At Tuesday’s Senate Health Committee hearing, Sen. Roger Marshall (R-KS) questioned Dr. Anthony Fauci about “Project Veritas” reporting that EcoHealth Alliance “approached DARPA in March 2018 seeking funding to conduct gain of function research of bat-borne coronaviruses.”
