Tuesday, January 18, 2022

Stephanie Seneff - Fox News anti- vaxxer "expert"

 https://www.israelnationalnews.com/news/320629

MIT scientist points to possible link between COVID vaccine and Parkinson's


https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stephanie_Seneff

In 2011, Seneff began publishing articles on topics related to biology and medicine in low-impact, open access journals, such as Interdisciplinary Toxicology and eight papers in the journal Entropy between 2011 and 2015.[2][8] According to food columnist Ari LeVaux, Seneff's work in this area has made her "a controversial figure in the scientific community" and she has received "heated objections from experts in most every field she's delved into".[2] In 2013, she coauthored a paper that associated the herbicide glyphosate with a wide variety of diseases such as cancer and disorders such as autism.[9] Discover magazine writer Keith Kloor criticized the uncritical republication of the study's results by other media outlets.[10] Jerry Steiner, the executive vice president of sustainability at Monsanto, said in an interview regarding the study that "We are very confident in the long track record that glyphosate has. It has been very, very extensively studied."[11] Seneff's claim that glyphosate is a major cause of autism and that, "At today's rates, by 2025, half the kids born will be diagnosed with autism," has also been criticized. For example, Pacific Standard noted that, contrary to Seneff's claims, many scientific reviews have found that the rise in autism rates over the past 20 years is due to changes in diagnostic practices, and that a number of studies, including a 2012 review in the Journal of Toxicology and Environmental Health, have found little evidence that glyphosate is associated with adverse development outcomes.[12]

Seneff and her MIT colleagues have also published on the health impacts of fat and cholesterol consumption in America. Based on this work, Seneff claimed that Americans are suffering from a cholesterol deficiency, not an excess.[13][14] In 2014–2016 Seneff was proposed as an expert witness for litigators seeking damages from Pfizer associated with their cholesterol drug Lipitor,[15] but the court dismissed the claim largely because Seneff lacked expert status and failed to provide credible evidence linking Lipitor to any specific harm.[16]

Response from scientists and academics[edit]

Clinical neurologist and skeptic Steven Novella criticized Seneff's Entropy publication for making "correlation is causation" assumptions using broad statistical extrapolations from limited data, saying "she has published only speculations and gives many presentations, but has not created any new data".[17] Scientists and scholars such as Derek Lowe, a medicinal chemist, and Jeffrey Beall, a library scientist known for his criticism of predatory open access publishers, have separately criticized Seneff's paper for misrepresenting the results and conclusions of other researchers' work. Lowe and Beall also noted that Entropy and its publisher, MDPI, have a known history of publishing studies without merit.[18][8]

A 2017 Review Article written by Kings College of London researchers and published by Frontiers in Public Health called Seneff's glyphosate health-risk research claims "a deductive reasoning approach based on syllogism" and "at best unsubstantiated theories, speculations or simply incorrect."[19] Consumers Union senior scientist Michael Hansen characterized Seneff and her glyphosate claims as "nutty", "truly unhinged", and "dangerous".[20]

Inaccurate claims about 'rabbinical court' opposing Covid-19 vaccination spread online

 https://factcheck.afp.com/http%253A%252F%252Fdoc.afp.com%252F9RK34P-1

In theory, three people can get together and form a 'rabbinical court' to perform certain rabbinical court functions," he said.

"But when the term 'rabbinical court' is used to connote a body that has the authority to rule on a matter of communal importance, the court really derives its authority by widespread communal acceptance," Weissmann said.
"If an actual rabbinical court (which meets regularly and is organized under the auspices of a sizable community) were to issue a proclamation, that might be newsworthy and it might even possess some degree of authority under Jewish law, depending on the circumstances. But when three unknown individuals sign a document, purportedly as a 'rabbinical court,' the term 'rabbinical court' becomes somewhat meaningless," he added.

Is there a concept of appeals in the Bais Din system?

 https://www.thehalachacenter.org/journal-links/5777/bamidbar/shelach/appealing-beis-din-decision2.php

  • The Gemara comments that one beis din does not investigate the conclusions of another. It is unclear whether this is a descriptive statement, or a halakhically binding one that must be followed. Many commentaries feel that it is indeed instructive. If so, two reasons are offered for it:
  • The right of the victorious one not to have to reargue his case
  • Respect for the first dayan
  • The Gemara writes elsewhere that the losing litigant may ask the beis din in writing for an explanation of why they judged him in the manner that they did. The acharonim explain that this may be due to the right he has to appeal the decision. Some commentaries held that this is only allowed where he was forced to appear before that local beis din that issued the decision, while the first passage in the Gemara is where both willingly appear.
  • The consensus opinion is that in principle, the rule of lo dayki, not reviewing a case in another beis din, does apply, even if the dayanim are not great Talmidei chachamim, though some, such as the Radbaz, disagreed.
  • Some poskim held that if the halacha in question was complex and not well-known, we may suspect a decision in error, and review the case. Rav Ovadia felt today that everyone would agree with this assessment, as we are on a very low level of Torah knowledge.
  • Many modern poskim argued that even if we accept that the rule of lo dayki applies in all cases, this is only true where no universally accepted system of appeals exists, and only ad hoc review takes place. However, if the community and its leaders establish a system, takana, enactment, or minhag, custom, to introduce this system, and everyone participates and enter with full understanding of how the system works, then many (though not all) argue that this is completely permitted. No degradation to the beis din exists, and it does not violate the rights of the litigant. Finally, as noted by the Tzitz Eliezer and Yabia Omer, this system has already been in place in Israel for a while, many gedolim even sat on it, and it is the common custom today.

Lara Logan dropped by talent agency after comparing Fauci to Nazi doctor

 https://nypost.com/2022/01/18/lara-logan-dropped-by-agency-after-comparing-fauci-to-nazi-doctor/

Former “60 Minutes” correspondent Lara Logan has been dropped by her talent agency over a recent TV interview in which she compared Dr. Anthony Fauci to Nazi doctor Josef Mengele.

But she acknowledged that it’s “absolutely true” that she has not appeared on Fox News since November.

Matt Gaetz Confident He'll Be Vindicated for Backing Far-Right Allegation of FBI 1/6 'Role'

 https://www.newsweek.com/matt-gaetz-confident-hell-vindicated-backing-far-right-allegation-fbi-1-6-role-1668912

Republican Florida Representative Matt Gaetz has expressed confidence that he'll be vindicated for supporting the far-right allegation that the FBI helped plot the Jan. 6, 2021, insurrection at the Capitol after infiltrating far-right groups.

In a Gettr message published on Wednesday evening, Gaetz posted a screenshot of a CNN broadcast. The broadcast showed him alongside other legislators who have pushed the same far-right claim, which included Texas Senator Ted Cruz, Florida Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene and Kentucky Representative Thomas Massie.

Pig Heart Surgeon Responds to Patient's Prison Sentence

 https://www.newsweek.com/exclusive-pig-heart-surgeon-responds-patients-prison-sentence-1669593

David Bennett Sr., who received the pig heart, was convicted in 1988 of stabbing a man seven times and the victim's family said they wished the heart went to a more "deserving recipient." Criminal history isn't a factor in deciding who receives what medical attention and Bennett's incarceration didn't enter into the discussion when considering him for the transplant, according to Griffith.

"I knew nothing about his arrest so I didn't ask him about it," Griffith said in an essay for Newsweek. "We don't look at incarceration history and things like that, I think that's unethical."

Republicans Overtook Democrats In 2021 As Share Of Americans Identifying With GOP Shot Up, Poll Finds

 https://www.forbes.com/sites/alisondurkee/2022/01/17/republicans-overtook-democrats-in-2021-as-share-of-americans-identifying-with-gop-shot-up-poll-finds/?sh=29f153d81b5f

The biggest shift was among Independents: the share of Democratic-leaning Independents went from 19% to 14% over the course of 2021, while those identifying as Republican-leaning Independents went up from 15% to 19%.

More Americans still identified as Democrats or said they lean Democratic than as Republicans on average in 2021—with 46% versus 43%—though that’s slightly closer than in 2020, when 48% were Democrats and 43% were Republicans.

Most Americans identified as Independents when that was included as an option, however: 42% considered themselves an Independent on average in 2021, versus 29% Democrat and 27% Republican.

Americans have traditionally leaned more Democratic than Republican since Gallup started surveying party leaning in 1991, the pollster notes, with the exception of 1991, when Republicans held a significant advantage. The two parties also registered “roughly equal levels of support” in 2001, 2002, 2003, 2010 and 2011, Gallup reports. Americans’ dramatic shift in their party affiliation over 2021 may have been linked to presidential approval rating, the pollster speculated. GOP President Donald Trump left office in January with a record low approval rating of 34%, according to Gallup, while incoming President Joe Biden had a 57% approval rating as of January 2021. Biden’s approval rating has plunged over the course of the year, however, as issues like the president’s handling of the situation in Afghanistan and the administration’s Covid-19 response resulted in an approximately 43% approval rating as 2021 came to an end, per Gallup. The increasing share of Republicans was also reflected in the 2021 elections, which saw Republicans winning major races like Virginia’s gubernatorial race and a closer-than-expected Democratic win for governor in New Jersey.

U.S. Political Party Preferences Shifted Greatly During 2021

 https://news.gallup.com/poll/388781/political-party-preferences-shifted-greatly-during-2021.aspx

Bottom Line

The year 2021 was an eventful one in politics, after a similarly eventful 2020 that also saw major shifts in party preferences. In early 2021, Democratic strength reached levels not seen in nearly a decade. By the third quarter, those Democratic gains evaporated as Biden's job approval declined. The political winds continued to become more favorable to Republicans in the fourth quarter, giving the GOP an advantage over Democrats larger than any they had achieved in more than 25 years.

The final monthly survey of 2021 showed the parties at roughly even strength, although that still represents a departure from the historical norm of the Democratic Party's having at least a slight advantage in party affiliation.

January 6 texts from Fox hosts reveal the lie at the heart of the conservative movement

 https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2021/12/14/22834009/fox-texts-trump-meadows-ingraham-hannity-capitol-riot

The basic idea is that the super-rich and their allies are in the driver’s seat of the GOP’s policy agenda — and what those elites want, more than anything else, are tax cuts and attacks on the social safety net. Recognizing that making the rich richer is an unpopular policy agenda, they have married their political fortunes to the forces of cultural reaction. The GOP wins elections by engaging in thinly veiled appeals to racism, xenophobia, and sexism; the super-rich win when those GOP majorities pass deeper and deeper tax cuts.

Fox News, which Hacker and Pierson call in their book “the epicenter of resentment politics,” plays a crucial role in cementing this relationship.

Democrats and Republicans hate each other more than ever

https://edition.cnn.com/2021/11/20/politics/democrat-republican-hate-tribalism/index.html 

But to be clear, it's not just that more Democrats strongly dislike Republicans or vice versa. Each party sees the other party as dangerous.
According to a 2020 poll from the right-leaning American Enterprise Institute, 64% of Democrats see Republican policies as so misguided that they pose a serious threat to the country. Among Republicans, 75% believe Democratic Party policies are so misguided that they pose a serious threat to the country.
When you see stats like that, it's no wonder that each party is at the other's throat. But in this climate, House Democrats are on record (with just two Republicans joining them) in saying that portraying the murder of a colleague is beyond the pale.

Fox hole vaccine conversions

 https://www.newsweek.com/unvaccinated-man-covid-vaccine-hospitalized-andrew-pugh-covid-shot-relief-1670183

And U.K. woman Saja Ali, 31, said in January that having COVID "totally changed my mind" about vaccines after the virus left her bed bound for weeks. She said she had previously been a "complete anti-vaxxer" due to material she'd read online.

הגאון רבי יוסף אפרתי חיזק את מקלב ותקף: "שיבוש דברי החזו"א"

 https://www.kikar.co.il/410333.html

ראש בית מדרש להלכה בהתיישבות חקלאית ואחד מרבני 'דגל התורה', הגאון רבי יוסף אפרתי, יוצא הבוקר (שלישי) להגנתו של חבר הכנסת מקלב, בנוגע ל'נטיעות ההצלה' של הליכוד בנגב.

כזכור, מקלב תקף בחריפות את מפלגת הליכוד שערכו נטיעות בנגב - בעיצומה של שנת השמיטה. מנגד, היו שטענו, כי מרן החזו"א, היה מתיר את הנטיעות.

במכתב שפרסם הרב אפרתי נכתב, "הנני לחזק את ידך על דבר מחאתך אודות "נטיעות ההצלה" שבקשו לבצע בנגב בשנת השמיטה. והדברים פשוטים שגם נטיעות לצורך חשוב, אפילו לצורך מניעת השתלטות נכרים על קרקעות – אין להתיר' כותב הרב אפרתי לח"כ מקלב ותוקף את חוסר המשילות בדרום - 'במקום שהשלטון יעשה את המינימום הנדרש ממנו, לסייר בשטחים, לוודא ולדאוג שלא משתלטים עליהם, השלטון עצמו מבקש להשתמש בהיתר עבודה בשביעית משום היתר ארנונא".

A Chassidish Community Blossoms in Baltimore

 https://baltimorejewishlife.com/news/news-detail.php?SECTION_ID=1&ARTICLE_ID=151398

Ashrei ayin ra’asah eileh. Fortunate are the eyes who saw this.”

With these poignant words, Harav Moshe Heinemann, shlita, Rav of Agudath Israel in Baltimore, penned his feelings after his recent visit to K’hal Chasidim of Baltimore Cheder and School.

Yale Sociologist Nick Christakis: COVID-19 Will Reshape Humanity | Amanpour and Company