Meet Ben & Jerry’s Board Chair: Anti-Israel Activist Has Published Defenses of Hezbollah, Hamas

 

Meet Ben & Jerry’s Board Chair: Anti-Israel Activist Has Published Defenses of Hezbollah, Hamas

Anuradha Mittal founded nonprofit that accused Israel of human rights abuses and defended Hezbollah

Ben & Jerry’s board chairwoman isn’t your average corporate suit. A social justice warrior who’s now under increased scrutiny in the wake of the company’s announcement that it will boycott Israel’s West Bank and East Jerusalem, she has a lengthy history of left-wing activism that includes publishing columns defending Hezbollah and supporting U.S. funding to Hamas.

Anuradha Mittal, the leading force behind the ice cream company’s decision to stop selling its products in parts of Israel, founded the Oakland Institute, which describes itself as an “independent policy think tank,” in 2004 and serves as its executive director. The group has published articles defending Hezbollah and Hamas, terrorist groups that seek the destruction of the Jewish state.

Ben & Jerry’s is under increased scrutiny for its decision to join the anti-Israel boycott movement, which follows criticism over the ice cream maker’s partnership with anti-Semitic figures during the Women’s March in 2018. At the time, the company defended its work with Linda Sarsour, one of the march leaders who was ousted for anti-Semitism. Multiple state and local governments, including Texas and Florida, are considering sanctioning Ben & Jerry’s and its parent company, Unilever, over the boycott decision.

Mittal published an article written by Green Party Senate candidate Todd Chretien during the Israel-Lebanon war in 2006 arguing that progressives should support Hezbollah.

Coming soon to Israel: Judea and Samaria’s Ben & Jerry’s, a copycat brand

 

A nonprofit group says its plans to knock off Ben & Jerry’s in Israel — and it’s itching to go to court if the ice cream maker tries to stop it. 

The Shurat HaDin Law Center in Tel Aviv has applied to distribute Ben & Jerry’s frozen desserts in the West Bank under the name “Judea and Samaria’s Ben & Jerry’s” — arguing that the Vermont-based company forfeited its trademark rights when it said it would be freezing sales in “the Occupied Palestinian Territory.” 

If approved, it would sell iconic Ben & Jerry’s flavors like Chunky Monkey and Cherry Garcia in the region — as well as new flavors like “Frozen Chosen People,” according to a mockup of the rival brand, which looks just like original except that it includes a pic of Theodor Herzl, the bushy-bearded father of the modern Zionist movement. 

In a July 23 letter to the CEO of Ben & Jerry’s parent company, Unilever, the Law Center said that it registered a trademark for Judea and Samaria’s Ben & Jerry’s with Israel’s Justice Ministry.

“We will now become the lawful owners of the Ben & Jerry’s name in Judea and Samaria,” said the letter, referring to the historical Hebrew names for areas of the West Bank where Ben & Jerry’s plans to doing business.

Families Outraged as Biden's Feds Drop Cuomo Probe

 The Department of Justice has decided not to investigate whether the civil rights of residents in New York’s government-run nursing homes were violated by Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s controversial admission policy related to the COVID-19 pandemic.

In a letter Friday, the DOJ’s Office of Legislative Affairs told US Rep. Steve Scalise (R-La.), ranking member of that House Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Crisis, that New York was off the hook in connection with potential violations of the Civil Rights of Institutionalized Persons Act.

In August, the DOJ’s Civil Rights Division requested information from New York in connection with a March 25, 2020, order from the state Department of Health that required nursing homes to admit “medically stable” COVID-19 patients discharged from hospitals.

It also sought records from Pennsylvania, Michigan and New Jersey, which adopted similar rules that the DOJ said “may have resulted in the deaths of thousands of elderly nursing home residents.”

“We have reviewed the information provided by these states along with additional information available to the Department,” Deputy Assistant Attorney General Joe Gaeta wrote Friday.

“Based on that review, we have decided not to open a CRIPA investigation of any public nursing facility within New York, Pennsylvania, or Michigan at this time.”

In a prepared statement, Scalise called it “outrageous that the Department of Justice refuses to investigate the deadly ‘must admit’ orders issued by governors in New York, Pennsylvania, and Michigan that resulted in the deaths of thousands of senior citizens.”

“Where is the justice for nursing home victims and their grieving families? These deadly orders contradicted the [Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s] guidance, and needlessly endangered the most vulnerable among us to the deadly COVID-19 virus,” Scalise said.

Zera Shimshon Parshas Ve'eschanan

 

Could a drug given to dogs to treat cancer fight Covid? Scientists discover $3 medicine can stop virus replicating and causing disease

 

A drug given to dogs to treat their cancer could be used to thwart Covid, scientists say. 

Masitinib has been used on canines for over a decade — but is not yet approved for humans.  

Academics already believe it may have potential in treating skin cancer, Alzheimer's, asthma and multiple sclerosis. 

But now University of Chicago researchers hope it could also offer hope in the fight against the coronavirus pandemic. 

Laboratory trials of masitinib — which costs just £2 a pill — found it stopped the virus replicating, which is how it ends up causing disease.

Studies showed it worked just as well against variants, and other similar viruses that can make humans ill.

But the trials were not carried out on humans, with the claims based solely on tests of the drug on mice and cell cultures. 

The team are now planning human trials, in the hope it will be proven to work — and they are confident it will. 

Israeli company is set to become first in the world to launch clinical trials of an ORAL COVID-19 vaccine

 

An Israeli company is set to become the first in the world to begin clinical trials of an oral COVID-19 vaccine.

Oravax Medical, a subsidiary of Jerusalem-based Oramed Pharmaceuticals, has received a green light to begin the study from the Institutional Review Board at Sourasky Medical Center in Tel Aviv.

The team is now waiting for approval from the Health Ministry, which is expected within a few weeks.

Oramed CEO Nadav Kidron told The Jerusalem Post that an oral vaccine would be faster, cheaper and easier to manufacture than vaccines that are injected.

What's more, it could be easily distributed to low-and middle-income countries.

'An oral COVID-19 vaccine would eliminate several barriers to rapid, wide-scale distribution, potentially enabling people to take the vaccine themselves at home,' he said. 

'While ease of administration is critical today to accelerate inoculation rates, an oral vaccine could become even more valuable in the case that a COVID-19 vaccine may be recommended annually like the standard flu shot.' 

The technology is the same that the company is using to develop insulin capsules for type 1 and type 2 diabetes patients Nadav Kidron told The Jerusalem Post.   

Kidron explained the trials are initially being conducted as a 'proof of concept' rather than testing efficacy. 

Researchers are recruiting 24 unvaccinated volunteers  with half receiving one pill and the other half two pills.

The team will analyze safety and then take participants' blood samples to measure antibody levels.

If results prove successful, the trial will move into Phase III when the capsules will be tested against a placebo.  

'The idea here is that we want to show proof of concept: that it works for people,' Kidron told The Jerusalem Post.

'I pray and hope that we will. Imagine that we could give someone an oral vaccine and they are vaccinated. This would be a revolution for the entire world.' 

The Oravax vaccine targets three proteins on the virus rather then the single spike protein that the Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna vaccines target. 

Kidron says this should help the pill be much more effective against variant, which often have mutations on the spike protein.

'This vaccine should be much more resistant to COVID-19 variants,' he told The Jerusalem Post. 

'Even if the virus gets through one line, there is a second line, and if through the second line, there is a third.' 

The pill can be shipped in refrigeration cooler and even be stored at room temperature, unlike other COVID-19. 

What's more, it would not need to be administered by a health professional, making it easy to distribute in schools, offices  and other businesses.

Michigan Catholic school lawsuit argues mask-wearing covers 'God's image and likeness'

 

A Catholic school in Michigan is suing the state arguing that the previous mask mandate violated religious liberty by covering 'God's image and likeness'.

The Resurrection School in Lansing filed their anti-mask lawsuit in October when Michigan required students and teachers wear masks. The mandate has since been dropped but the school's pastor, Rev. Steve Mattison, said they are taking it to appeals court to prevent the state re-instating the rule. 

On Wednesday, a federal appeals judge heard the Resurrection School's argument to outlaw mask mandates.

'Every human has dignity and is made in God's image and likeness,' the schools argued. 'Unfortunately, a mask shields our humanity.'  

The Resurrection School also claimed masks make people anti-social and interferes with Catholic instruction and practices, such as the act of asking for forgiveness, which it says requires face-to-face apology. 

'As the Catholic faith teaches, we are relational beings,' the suit reads. 'And our existence as relational beings points to the Holy Trinity. A mask is disruptive to this essential element of the Catholic faith, and it is disruptive to the teaching of young children for these and other reasons.' 

More than 33,000 New Yorkers packed up and moved to Florida during the pandemic - and many are making the move permanent

 The pandemic appears to have driven an exodus from New York to Florida with more than 33,000 New Yorkers heading south for more sun, looser COVID-19 restrictions and cheaper taxes, over the past year. 

According to data from the Florida's Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles 33,565 people from New York applied for Florida drivers licenses from September 2020 through March 2021. 

The number represents an increase of 32percent over the previous year, when 25,370 New Yorkers applied for Florida IDs. 

While the pandemic appears to have driven the uptick in transplants, Florida has long been a popular destination for New Yorkers, more than from any other state, with data from April 2019 to April 2021 showing 104,960 New Yorkers trading their New York drivers licenses for Florida ones. 

New Jersey came in second with 53,901, with Georgia, Illinois and California trailing with 48,143, 46,042 and 43,801 respectively, according to an analysis by the New York Post. 

The mass transplantation appears to have contributed to a population surge in the Sunshine State, with its Office of Economic and Demographic Research estimating that throughout 2020 it had added 387,479 new residents, a 1.83percent change from the previous year when it had added 368,021 to its population. 

'The experts say we know that this virus is, in fact, uh, um, uh, it's going to be, or excuse me': Biden loses his thoughts on vaccines, flubs answer on his foreign policy work and falsely tells town hall you WON'T get COVID if you have the shot

 

Joe Biden overinflated the efficiency of vaccines, especially against the Delta variant, during his gaffe-filled town hall on Wednesday where he claimed the jab will prevent Americans from contracting coronavirus. 

'We're not in the position where we think that any virus, including the Delta virus, which is much more transmissible and more deadly in terms of unvaccinated people, the – the various shots that people are getting now cover that,' Biden said during a CNN town hall in Cincinnati, Ohio on Wednesday.

'You're OK,' he assured. 'You're not going to – you're not going to get COVID if you have these vaccinations.'

This statement is false considering vaccinated Americans have still contracted or have been hospitalized with the virus and breakthrough cases are increasing with the rapid spread of the Delta variant. 

'If you're vaccinated, you're not going to be hospitalized, you're not going to be in the IC unit, and you're not going to die,' the president told host Don Lemon on stage at Mount St. Joseph University.

'So it's gigantically important that ... we all act like Americans who care about our fellow Americans,' he added. 

Biden struggled at some points during his town hall to complete statements coherently as he lost his train of thought on multiple occasions.

Republicans were quick to jump on the president's gaffes. 'Is this for real?' Republican Conference Chairwoman Elise Stefanik tweeted on Wednesday. 

'And the media will continue to fawn and look the other way,' the New York Republican added. 

Poll: Majority Want BLM Protests Inquiry more than they want Jan 6 Inquiry

 

As House leaders engage in a standoff over Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s Jan. 6 panel, a poll found that likely voters are more supportive of investigating the social injustice demonstrations that roiled the nation last summer.

A supermajority of likely voters (66%) want the Black Lives Matter and antifa protests investigated, while a majority do not support Pelosi’s inquiry into the Jan. 6 storming of the Capitol, according to the latest Rasmussen Reports poll.

Just 49% support Pelosi’s House Jan. 6 panel, and majorities of Blacks and Hispanics back an investigation into the protests that followed the murder of George Floyd by a police officer. The demonstrations sparked violence in a number of U.S. cities.

“Sixty-seven percent of whites, 64% of Black voters, 66% of Hispanics and 62% of other minorities think Congress should investigate the 2020 riots in U.S. cities,” Rasmussen Reports wrote in the analysis of the poll. “Seventy-five percent of Republicans, 60% of Democrats, and 63% of voters not affiliated with either major party say Congress should investigate last year’s violent protests.”

Also, according to the poll, majorities of likely voters back police and reject the narrative of systemic racism in law enforcement.