BBC describes Alfred Dreyfus as 'notorious Jewish spy'

 https://www.jpost.com/diaspora/bbc-describes-alfred-dreyfus-as-notorious-jewish-spy-681601

 "For the BBC to produce a series featuring Alfred Dreyfus, who was baselessly accused of treason, and then describe him as a 'notorious Jewish spy' is an insult to his memory and to the Jewish community in general," Emanuel Miller, a media analyst at the media watchdog organization HonestReporting, told The Jerusalem Post. "The Dreyfus case represented a key moment in Zionism's history and in the eyes of many is a byword for the miscarriages of justice suffered by Jews throughout the ages. How many times must a Jew's name be smeared?"

 "While the website text was quietly changed, the BBC evidently feels it doesn't owe Jews an apology, much less take serious steps to familiarize its staff with the basics of antisemitism in order to prevent such easily avoidable mishaps," Miller said to the Post. "Unfortunately, judging by past experience, the BBC is unlikely to apologize for the insulting mischaracterization."

Conspiracy theories

 https://www.newscientist.com/definition/conspiracy-theories/

 Conspiracy theories can also paradoxically be emotionally reassuring. They provide truthful-sounding explanations for events that otherwise seem inexplicable, random or capricious, and often make your political opponents look bad. They can also give believers a pleasing sense of superiority because they – and sometimes they alone – have seen through the lies and cover-ups to reveal the “truth”.

Column: A Nobel laureate backs off from claiming a ‘smoking gun’ for the COVID-19 lab-leak theory

 https://www.latimes.com/business/story/2021-06-08/nobel-laureate-baltimore-smoking-gun-for-the-covid-lab-leak-theory

 Experienced virologists heavily favor the natural-spillover theory. That’s because the phenomenon has been common throughout history, accounting for the spread of most viruses and indeed for most pandemics. The direct animal source hasn’t been identified; it’s not unusual for investigations of that nature to take years. SARS2 has been known to scientists for only about 18 months.

 “We cannot prove that SARS-CoV-2 has a natural origin and we cannot prove that its emergence was not the result of a lab leak,” Kristian Andersen of the Scripps Research Institute in La Jolla, lead author of a seminal paper on the origin of the virus, told me by email.

“However, while both scenarios are possible, they are not equally likely,” Andersen wrote. “Precedence, data and other evidence strongly favor natural emergence as a highly likely scientific theory for the emergence of SARS-CoV-2, while the lab leak remains a speculative incomplete hypothesis with no credible evidence.”

 Other virologists challenge the assumption by Wade and the assertion by Baltimore that there’s anything unique or especially unusual about the furin cleavage site on SARS2. Such sites have been found in similar viruses, and natural mechanisms for their appearance have been identified.

It’s Not Misinformation. It’s Amplified Propaganda.

 https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2021/10/disinformation-propaganda-amplification-ampliganda/620334/

 Today there is simply a rhetorical war of all against all: a maelstrom of viral hashtags competing for attention, hopping from community to community, amplified by crowds of true believers for whom sharing and retweeting is akin to a religious calling—even if the narrative they’re propagating is a ludicrous conspiracy theory about stolen ballots or Wayfair-trafficked children. Ampliganda engenders a constellation of mutually reinforcing arguments targeted at, and internalized by, niche communities, rather than a single, monolithic narrative fed to the full citizenry. It has facilitated a fragmentation of reality with profound implications. Each individual act of clicking or resharing may not feel like a propagandistic act, but in the aggregate, those acts shape conversations, beliefs, realities.

Why it's so tricky to trace the origin of COVID-19

 https://www.nationalgeographic.com/science/article/why-its-so-tricky-to-trace-the-origin-of-covid-19

 A 90-day investigation into the source of SARS-CoV-2 has shown consensus that the virus was not engineered. But many other elements remain a mystery.

COVID-19: US intelligence rules out biological weapon origin

 https://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/covid-19-us-intelligence-rules-out-biological-weapon-origin

• SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19, was not developed as a biological weapon, a report by the United States Intelligence Community concludes.
• An unclassified summary of the report reveals that most of the intelligence agencies also believe the virus was not genetically engineered.
• However, one agency believes it is likely that SARS-CoV-2 leaked from a laboratory that handled coronaviruses.
• But, according to four elements of the Intelligence Community and the National Intelligence Council, natural exposure to an animal with the virus was the most likely cause of the outbreak.
• President Joe Biden accuses China of withholding crucial information that could help reveal the pandemic’s origins and prevent future pandemics.

COVID vaccine letters target GPs and pharmacists demanding they 'cease and desist' or face 'punishment'

 https://www.abc.net.au/news/2021-10-10/gps-pharmacists-in-firing-line-of-anti-vaxxers/100497554

GPs and pharmacists say they are facing a rise in harassment from anti-vaxxers including fake legal letters threatening to strip them of their indemnity unless they stop administering COVID vaccines to the public. 

Debunking the anti-vaccination myths

https://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/325371

 Health organizations, doctors, and scientists agree that vaccines are safe and effective. Despite this, there is a growing movement of parents and caregivers choosing not to vaccinate their children. Anti-vaccination myths are almost certainly contributing to this trend.

Anti-vaccine chiropractors rising force of misinformation

https://apnews.com/article/coronavirus-pandemic-business-wisconsin-misinformation-public-health-d42cffebfa3f530020276a444a4df096 

 The convention was organized by members of a profession that has become a major purveyor of vaccine misinformation during the pandemic: chiropractors.

At a time when the surgeon general says misinformation has become an urgent threat to public health, a vocal and influential group of chiropractors has been capitalizing on the pandemic by sowing fear and mistrust of vaccines.

They have touted their supplements as vaccine alternatives, written doctor’s notes to get out of mandates, donated large sums of money to anti-vaccine organizations and sold anti-vaccine ads on Facebook and Instagram. They have been the leading force behind anti-vaccine events like the one in Wisconsin, where hundreds of chiropractors shelled out $299 or more to attend and earn continuing education credits to maintain their licenses in at least 10 states.

Saying prayers slowly and with full understanding is problematic -Maharal

 ובפרק אין עומדין (ברכות ל"ב ע"ב) אמר ר' חייא בר אבא אמר רבי יוחנן כל המאריך בתפלתו אין תפלתו חוזרת ריקם מנא לן ממשה שנאמר ואתפלל אל ה' וגו' וכתיב וישמע ה' אלי גם בפעם ההיא וגו' והאמר ר' חייא בר אבא אמר ר' יוחנן כל המאריך בתפלתו ומעיין בה סוף בא לידי כאב לב שנאמר תוחלת ממושכה מחלת לב מה תקנתיה יעסוק בתורה שנאמר עץ חיים היא למחזיקים בה לא קשיא הא דמאריך ומעיין בה והא דמאריך ולא מעיין עד כאן. ובפרק הרואה (ברכות נ"ד ע"ב) שלשה דברים מאריכים ימיו של אדם וכו' ופריך למימרא דמעליותא היא והאמר ר' חייא בר אבא אמר ר' יוחנן כל המאריך בתפלה ומעיין בה סוף בא לידי כאב לב ואמר רבי יצחק שלשה דברים מזכירין עונותיו של אדם קיר נטוי ועיון תפלה והמוסר דין על חבירו לא קשיא הא דמאריך ומעיין בה והא דמאריך ולא מעיין בה וה"ד דמפיש ברחמיה עד כאן. פי' רש"י ז"ל ומעיין בה אומר בלבו שיעשה בקשתו לפי שהתפלל בכוונה עכ"ל. וקשיא לפירוש זה כי האיך סלקא דעתך דמקשה שהרי בפירוש אמר שם דלכך לאו מעליותא משום דמעיין בה אבל מאריך בלא מעיין בודאי מעליותא ויצא. ועוד דקאמר דה"ד דמפיש ברחמים ולמה הוצרך לפרש הרי גם כן למקשה אין פירוש דמאריך בתפלה בענין אחר. ולפיכך נראה פשוט כי המאריך בתפלה היינו שאומר המלה בהמשכה ובעיכוב יתירה ומתוך כך הוא מעיין בתפלה, והיה סבור המקשה הא דאמר שלשה דברים מאריכין ימיו של אדם המאריך בתפלה, היינו גם כן שהוא שוהה ומושך במלות ואי אפשר שלא יהיה מעיין בתפלה, ולפיכך מקשה למימרא דמעליותא היא וכו'. ומתרץ הא דמאריך בה ולא עיין הא דמאריך ומעיין בה, והשתא מפרש ה"ד כו', דהא כל שהוא מאריך בה אי אפשר בלא עיון וקאמר דמפיש ברחמי אבל אינו מושך המלות. ובפרק אין עומדין לא קאמר ה"ד דמפיש ברחמים, משום דהתם קאמר אין תפלתו חוזרת ריקם דמסתמא כך הוא דמשום דמפיש ברחמים אין תפלתו חוזרת ריקם ולא הוצרך לפרש. ועיון תפלה דקאמר שמזכיר עונותיו של אדם היינו נמי בהאי גוונא שמעיין בתפלתו על המלות שהוא מוציא, כי מי שמכוין אל המלות שהוא מוציא יראה שאין דבר זה הגון כלל, כי אי אפשר לפרש הסוגיא רק כך. והטעם כי התפלה הוא תוחלת שהוא מקוה ומייחל אל מה שמבקש, והתוחלת שהוא ממושך מחלת לב כי הלב שם החיים שמשים את האדם בפעל והתוחלת היא התקוה שאינו בפעל. ועל זה אמר כי תוחלת ממושכה היא מחלת לב, והתפלה היא החיות של אדם ותוחלת ממושכה היא הפך זה שהוא מחלת לב, ואין ראוי והגון להאריך על ידי עיון להמשיך הלשון או להפסיק בין מלה למלה משום כונה, שדבר זה לא רצו חכמים כלל רק היכא דמפיש ברחמים שדבר זה בודאי הגון וטוב:

Did Facebook Betray Democracy? or how to ignore the elephant in the room

 https://mishpacha.com/did-facebook-betray-democracy/

 While Trump will always bear the lion’s share of the blame for January 6, an exposé aired Sunday night on the CBS News show 60 Minutes shows that the day’s events did not occur in a vacuum. If Trump’s involvement was complicit, the social media’s participation was implicit.

 

Bizarrely Mishpacha ran no article criticizing Trump  but only Facebook for facilitating Trump's actions

 

Woman arrested after fire breaks out in Jerusalem mountains

 https://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/314659

 Israel Police arriving at the scene began to search, and located a 30-year-old mentally ill woman who is a resident of Hashmona'im. The woman had earlier been reported as missing.
Following her interrogation, the woman was arrested on suspicion that she set the fires.

Earlier, firefighters worked to extinguish a brush fire which broke out near Modi'in. A different blaze in the Ben Shemen Forest area brought the Jerusalem-Tel Aviv train line to a temporary halt.

'Arabs have destroyed 80% of archeological sites in Judea and Samaria'

 https://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/314699

 Jewish heritage sites in Judea and Samaria are being systematically vandalized and destroyed by local Arabs, according to a watchdog group which monitors archeological sites in the area.

Adi Shragai, operations organizer for the Shomrim Al HaNetzach organization, said in an interview with Arutz Sheva that the phenomenon of Arab vandals targeting archeological sites in Judea and Samaria has grown worse in recent years.

“Unfortunately, in the last few years we’ve received more and more reports from hikers and people in the field regarding the destruction of antiquities in Judea and Samaria, with no law enforcement. We understood immediately that something significant – and terrible – is happening here.”

הבד"צ הכריע: מכשיר ה"מקווה ריין" מותר לשימוש במקווה

 https://www.kikar.co.il/402686.html

לאחר פולמוס שנמשך בחודשים האחרונים בעניין כשרותו של מכשיר ה'מקווה ריין' המטהר את מי המקוואות, פולמוס שכלל בית היתר התנגדות חריפה של רבני הסיקריקים - הבד"צ הכשיר