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Parshas Emor – Prisms of Light; Reflections From a Shattered Glass

By
Sholom Schreirber
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0
A husband and wife are essentially one soul divided into two opposites, and when they unite in harmony and peace the divine presence rests between them

By: Naftali Reich

The essential theme behind the counting of the sefirah is, of course, perfecting our character traits. This is alluded to in the famous words of Rabbi Akiva, the teacher of Rav Shimon Bar Yochai, who explained the verse, “Love your neighbor like yourself,” to mean that this quintessential Torah law is the source from which flows all the Torah’s teachings. ”

In order to fully appreciate the import of Rabbi Akiva’s teaching, let us read the famous narrative recorded in the Talmud Kesuvos (daf 62:2) about Rabbi Akiva and his righteous wife, Rachel.

“Rabbi Akiva worked as a shepherd for the wealthy Kalba Savua, whose daughter, Rachel, recognized Akiva’s modesty and aspiring greatness. She approached him with an offer: “if I become betrothed to you, will you go to the Yeshiva to study Torah?” After he responded in the affirmative, they became secretly betrothed, and he went off to study. Upon discovering his daughter’s marriage to the unlearned shepherd, the wealthy Kalba Savua disowned her.

Rabbi Akiva remained in the Bais Hamedrash learning Torah for 12 years. When he finally returned home, he was accompanied by 12,000 students. As he was about to cross the threshold of his home, he heard an elderly man provoking his wife about his long absence. “How long will you remain a living widow?” the man asked, to which she replied, “If my husband would only listen to me he would devote himself to another twelve years of uninterrupted study.”

With these words of permission and encouragement, Rabbi Akiva turned around and returned to the yeshiva. He studied for another twelve years after which he returned with 24,000 students. His wife, Rochel, went out to greet him. Approaching him, she fell to the ground and kissed his feet. His attendants tried to push her away but were stopped by Rabbi Akiva, who told them, “All that is mine and all that is yours belongs to her.”

With this episode, the Talmud gives us insight into the supreme and selfless dedication of Rabbi Akiva’s wife and Rabbi Akiva. Yet the narrative prompts some basic questions: Is there a significance to the number 12,000 (students) who accompanied him on his first return home? Furthermore, upon his second return after another twelve years, shouldn’t the growth of his students have been exponential, not merely double?

In another interesting twist, the sages teach us that whenever the Talmud refers to Hu Saba, “an elderly man,” it invariably refers to Elijah the prophet. Elijah had come at that specific moment to prompt Rabbi Akiva’s wife to respond with her selfless declaration that she wished he would learn Torah for another twelve years. Clearly, this was all divinely engineered. Why was it so important for Rabbi Akiva to study uninterrupted for another twelve years to the point where Hashem actually sent Eliyahu Hanavi to bring this about?

I believe the answer lies in a basic understanding of Rabbi Akiva’s teaching about the essential meaning and purpose of Torah study, and of life itself. In essence, Hashem is the unifying force that sustains and permeates all of creation. Nevertheless, Hashem created a finite, fragmented and divided world where this unifying force is not easily perceived. The different compounds and elements, components and polarities that comprise the physical world serve to mask the fact that they all emanate from a single primary source.

Our mission is to glimpse what lies beyond the external divide, to see Creator in creation by connecting the dots. We are all essentially souls that flow from one place-the Heavenly throne. We are all thus bonded as one at our source. Nevertheless our souls are implanted in independent bodies, each uniquely different from the other, each agitating for its own individual needs and operating on its own instincts of self preservation.

How can we transcend our physical differences and genuinely bond with one another, thereby uniting with our divine source?

Rabbi Akiva provides the answer. Love your neighbor as yourself; this is the noblest and most fundamental doctrine governing a Jew’s life, and it is acquired only through Torah. Through Torah we connect to Hashem’s infinite mind and will. When we study Torah, however, each of us has our own pathway and medium, our own unique way of understanding. We are so certain we have arrived at the truth though our own perceptions, it is difficult to see the bigger picture and to accord the appropriate respect to our counterpart in study.

There is no greater challenge than achieving a true internal synthesis whereby we can maintain our independent mode of thought while recognizing at the same time that everything contains elements of truth, and that all flows from one divine source.

Rabbi Akiva’s greatness as a unifying force among the Jewish people was to raise 12,000 students. The Jewish nation consists of 12 tribes, each invested with its own unique, principled pathway and mission. The number 1,000 in Hebrew is “elef,” represented by the same symbol as the letter one. With 1,000 students in each tribe, reflecting the total diversity of Torah understanding, Rabbi Akiva could nevertheless unify them as one, inspiring and bringing together all the tribes jointly to bond through Torah to their source. A lofty accomplishment indeed!

Yet there was higher level of achievement that Heaven had ordained for Rabbi Akiva and his wife. It required harnessing a form of supernatural energy and it would accomplish a supernatural goal.

A husband and wife are essentially one soul divided into two opposites, and when they unite in harmony and peace the divine presence rests between them. So too, each of these 12,000 were to become zugos, pairs. It is natural for two individuals to argue the finer nuances of their individual line of Torah reasoning and thus approach the matter from all possible angles.

If, while dissenting with one another’s arguments, they would display the appropriate respect and esteem due a Torah scholar of such stature, the opposite, yet cohesive forces produced by their Torah leaning would bring the ultimate revelation of the Divine presence to this world. The highest spiritual goal for human existence would then be achieved.

(www.Torah.org)

Parshas Emor–“Like All Other Boys”

By
Sholom Schreirber
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0
Rabbi Shlomo Amar blessing a young boy

By: Rabbi Tzvi Hersh Weinreb

The custom is fairly prevalent nowadays, but it was not a common practice thirty years ago when my friend raised his sons. He would seek out especially pious rabbis, generally quite elderly ones, to request that they bless his children.

In keeping with tradition, these rabbis would place a hand upon the head of the little boy, perhaps quote a biblical verse or two expressing blessing, and then say something like, “May he grow up to be a talmid chacham, an excellent Torah student.” Sometimes, they would say, “May he grow up to be an ehrliche yid, a righteous Jew.”

But I will never forget the day that my friend and his young son encountered Rabbi Israel Gustman, of blessed memory, and requested a blessing from him. I will remember that day because my friend came to me just moments after he received the blessing and asked me what I thought the old rabbi meant by it.

For, you see, the rabbi gave a blessing which was unprecedented and unexpected. He did place his hand upon my friend’s son’s head, and did utter an appropriate biblical verse. But then he said something quite puzzling: “May he grow up to be a boy like all other boys.”

I don’t know why my friend considered me an expert on rabbinic blessings. And I must confess to you, dear reader, as I confessed to him, that I hadn’t a clue as to what the old revered rabbi meant and why he would deliver such an unusual blessing instead of a more traditional one. I also must admit that it took me quite a while until I became convinced that I understood the meaning of the rabbi’s mysterious message.

Understanding that message required the knowledge of a verse in this week’s Torah portion, Emor (Leviticus 21:1-24:23). It also required knowing something about Rabbi Gustman’s tragic life.

The verse to which I refer reads, “You shall not profane My holy name, that I may be sanctified in the midst of the Israelite people…” (Leviticus 22:32). This verse is the source text for two opposing concepts which lie at the core of Jewish belief. One concept, the negative one, is chillul Hashem, the profanation of God’s name, behavior which disgraces the Divine reputation. The opposite concept is kiddush Hashem, behavior which sanctifies God’s name and thus brings prestige and honor to Him.

Before providing illustrations of the types of behavior that might either profane or sanctify God, let me give you a brief sketch of Rabbi Gustman’s biography. He was a brilliant Talmud student in the yeshiva he attended. As a very young man, he was betrothed to the daughter of the rabbi of one of the small suburbs of the great prewar Jewish metropolis of Vilna. Soon after his marriage, his father-in-law died, leaving the position of rabbi of that community to his son-in-law, Rabbi Israel.

The towering rabbinic figure in Vilna in those immediate prewar years was Rabbi Chaim Ozer Grodzenski. Rabbi Chaim Ozer was so impressed by this young man that, despite his age, he included him in his rabbinic court. Soon afterwards, the war broke out. Rabbi Gustman managed to survive by hiding in an array of unimaginable circumstances—in the forest, in a cave, in a pig pen, and in the abandoned ghetto of Vilna. In the course of his flight and evasion of the Nazis, his little son was murdered in front of his eyes. He would recount the story of how he witnessed his son’s murder and of how he was forced to take his dead son’s shoes and sell them for food.

Rabbi Gustman survived the Holocaust, emigrated to the United States, and eventually settled in Israel. There, he lived and taught in a small yeshiva in Jerusalem and experienced the various wars of those years. He carefully and compassionately made it his business to comfort the bereaved parents of fallen soldiers by sharing with them his grief over his own fallen son.

He was overheard telling a particular bereaved father that in a certain sense, his soldier son was superior to the rabbi’s own son. “Both your boy and mine,” he said, “sanctified God’s name by their death. They were both killed because they were Jews. But in the synagogue in heaven, where they both reside now, my son is sitting in the pews. Your son is the shaliach tzibbur, the prayer leader. This is because my son died as a passive victim, whereas your son died as a hero, leading a group of soldiers in defense of our land and our people.”

These two boys performed the mitzvah of kiddush Hashem by virtue of their death. But that is only one way to perform that mitzvah. There is another way to perform the mitzvah of kiddush Hashem, and that is by sanctifying God’s name not in death, but in life, by living one’s daily life in a meritorious fashion.

The Talmud, for example, tells us of one great sage who felt that had he purchased meat in a butcher store on credit, without paying immediately, he would be guilty of profaning God’s name. By simply paying his bills immediately, not allowing anyone to suspect that he was taking advantage of his rabbinical position, he was performing the mitzvah of kiddush Hashem.

The Mishnah in the tractate of Megilah teaches us that when a Jew simply attends the synagogue and participates in the recitation of the devarim shebekedusha, the sacred passages of our liturgy, he is fulfilling the mitzvah referred to in our verse, sanctifying God through his prayers.

Thus, there are ways to sanctify God not by suffering a martyr’s death, but by living an ethical and spiritual life. The Talmud says that should others comment favorably on a person’s behavior, complimenting his parents for having raised him in the path of the Torah, that person has sanctified and glorified God’s name.

Rabbi Tzvi Hersh Weinreb is the Executive Vice President Emeritus of the Orthodox Union.

Report: Pandemic Gives Rise to Antisemitic ‘Zoom Bombing’

By
Sholom Schreirber
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0
On the morning of June 27, 2020, Rabbi Shai Cherry was leading a Shabbat service on Zoom for his congregation in a Philadelphia suburb when several guests with suspicious usernames began posting pornographic images and antisemitic messages like “Hitler should have finished the job.” One of them posted Cherry’s home address. (AP Photo/Matt Rourke)

By: Michael Kunzelman

Antisemites adopted a new tactic for spewing their hate when the COVID-19 pandemic closed synagogues and Jewish schools and community centers: hijacking video conferences.

The Anti-Defamation League counted 196 cases of antisemitic “Zoom bombing” attacks in the U.S. last year, including 114 against Jewish institutions, according to an annual report that the organization is releasing Tuesday.

The Jewish civil rights group found that the overall number of antisemitic incidents dropped by 4% last year after reaching a record high in 2019. The decrease in incidents — from 2,107 in 2019 to 2,024 last year — included a 49% decline in assaults, an 18% drop in vandalism cases and a 61% reduction in incidents at non-Jewish K-12 schools.

But the total remained historically high in 2020, with the third-highest tally since the ADL began tracking antisemitic incidents in 1979. Intruders disrupting video conferences on Zoom and other platforms offset a dramatic drop in antisemitic incidents in more traditional settings, according to the ADL, which provided The Associated Press with a copy of the report ahead of its release.

Jonathan Greenblatt, the ADL’s CEO and national director, said white supremacists and other far-right extremists tend to be among the earliest to embrace and employ new technologies to spread hate. Photo Credit: ADL.org

Many synagogues used video conferences to hold prayer services, classes and other virtual programming as pandemic lockdown orders ruled out large indoors gatherings.

“But these platforms quickly revealed security vulnerabilities and many individuals took it upon themselves to access these events and perpetuate hate and antisemitism by harassing participants,” the report says.

On the morning of June 27, 2020, Rabbi Shai Cherry was leading a Shabbat service on Zoom for his congregation in a Philadelphia suburb when several guests with suspicious usernames began posting pornographic images and antisemitic messages like “Hitler should have finished the job.” One of them posted Cherry’s home address near the synagogue for Congregation Adath Jeshurun in Elkins, Pennsylvania.

“It didn’t take us more than 90 seconds to just end the meeting and then be more selective about who we let in,” he recalled. “But it was unsettling. It did feel like we were violated.”

Authorities didn’t identify any suspects, and it hasn’t happened again. The congregation’s online services are now protected by a password.

Jonathan Greenblatt, the ADL’s CEO and national director, said white supremacists and other far-right extremists tend to be among the earliest to embrace and employ new technologies to spread hate.

“Antisemitism is a virus. It adapts, it mutates and it resists efforts to fight it,” he said. “The extremists who traffic in it, they are innovative and they will exploit opportunities because they often can’t penetrate the public conversation in typical ways.”

Zoom says it recently updated default settings and added features to make it easier for meeting hosts to control screen sharing, remove and report abusive participants and lock meetings. The company recommends keeping private meeting links and passwords off social media or other public forums.

“We take meeting disruptions extremely seriously and where appropriate, we work closely with law enforcement authorities,” company lawyer Lynn Haaland said in a statement Monday.

In March 2020, the FBI said it was receiving reports of online hijackers disrupting video conferences with pornographic and hateful images and threatening messages. Greenblatt said the ADL flagged the security problem for Zoom early in the pandemic. The company responded quickly and thoroughly to protect users, he added.

“That’s a lot different than what we’ve seen from some of the long-standing social media companies,” Greenblatt said.

Congregation Etz Chaim in Marietta, Georgia, was the target of a Zoom bombing attack last April, but executive director Marty Gilbert said synagogue leaders decided against locking down its online services with a password.

“We had enough issues with people figuring out Zoom to begin with. And we also wanted people to be able to join regardless of whether they were members or not,” he said.

In February, several intruders disrupted a service with antisemitic messages. Police determined that a group of teenagers from Nevada and Europe were responsible but couldn’t identify them by name or bring any charges, according to Gilbert.

“It’s unfortunate that it has become the world we live in,” he said. “I wish we didn’t have to have somebody manage every Zoom meeting or service that we have. It’s very upsetting.”

The New York City-based ADL attributes several Zoom bombing incidents to Andrew Auernheimer, a notorious hacker known as “weev.” Auernheimer has written for The Daily Stormer, a neo-Nazi website, and he stirred up outrage for sending flyers adorned with swastikas to internet-connected fax machines on college campuses across the U.S.

“In these incidents, participants reported Auernheimer joined the Zoom calls and pulled his shirt collar down to reveal a swastika tattoo on his chest,” the ADL report says.

The release of the ADL’s report coincides with the second anniversary of a gunman’s deadly attack on a California synagogue.

A former nursing student, John T. Earnest, remains jailed on charges he killed a woman and wounded three other people at Chabad of Poway synagogue near San Diego in April 2019. Earnest told a 911 dispatcher that he shot up the synagogue on the last day of Passover to save white people from Jews, according to prosecutors.

No such mass attacks occurred in the U.S. last year.

The ADL says it saw “situations at both the regional and local levels” in which Jews were blamed for the spread of the coronavirus.

“This led to expressions of hostility and antisemitism on social media and, in some cases, real-world harassment of Jews, but we have not identified cases where we can directly link specific instances of violent antisemitism to conspiracy theories or scapegoating surrounding the COVID-19 virus,” the report says.

The ADL says it compiles its annual audit of antisemitic incidents using information provided by victims, law enforcement and community leaders.

The ADL’s report says its count also includes reports of anti-Zionist and anti-Israel harassment, vandalism or assaults characterized by anti-Jewish animus. But the group says it doesn’t conflate general criticism of Israel or anti-Israel activism with antisemitism.

(AP)

Temple U Speaker Calls for Israel to be Replaced at Philadelphia Venue

By
Sholom Schreirber
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0
The speaker, Joyce Ajlouny, deserves our thanks for being so frank about her hatred of Israel and Zionism. At least we know where she stands. Photo Credit: Twitter

By: Moshe Phillips

A speaker hosted by a Jewish academic center and a Philadelphia synagogue this week declared that she favors “a secular, democratic state”—that is, the elimination of Israel. She also endorsed BDS, claimed Israel carries out “ethnic cleansing,” and declared: “I am an anti-Zionist.”

The speaker, Joyce Ajlouny, deserves our thanks for being so frank about her hatred of Israel and Zionism. At least we know where she stands.

The question is, why did Temple University’s Feinstein Center for American Jewish History and Congregation Rodeph Sholom of Philadelphia give Ajlouny a platform, knowing that she was almost certainly going to engage in such anti-Israel libels, since she has been saying the same things for decades?

The setting was an April 20 panel discussion, “The Weaponization of Discourse: Where is the Line Between Anti-Israel and Anti-Semitism on Campus?,” featuring Ajlouny and Prof. Kenneth Stern. Ajlouny is executive director of the American Friends Service Committee (the foreign policy arm of the Quakers), which has repeatedly compared Israel to Nazi Germany.

Ajlouny began with a long, rambling tirade in which she accused Israel of pretty much every crime imaginable. Taking aim at Israel’s very existence, she said, “Israel was created on a false premise of a land without people, through ethnic cleansing, massacres, and forcing over 700,000 Palestinian to flee.” She said Israel governs through “an apartheid system.” She declared, unequivocally: “I am an anti-Zionist.”

Prof. Stern responded by calling her litany of anti-Israel smears “incredibly moving,” then emphasized, that Arabs and Israelis “need coexistence.” Ajlouny replied, “I would like to have coexistence in one secular democratic state, but that is a subject for another discussion.”

Ajlouny, who has lived most of her life in Ramallah and has been a public advocate for the Palestinian Arab cause for decades, knows full well that the term “one secular democratic state” is the longstanding PLO motto for eliminating Israel and replacing it with “Palestine.”

In her remarks, Ajlouny also staunchly defended the BDS movement (which all major Jewish organizations consider to be antisemitic). “I don’t see sanctions [against Israel] as hatred,” she insisted. “I see them as a way to get my rights. It’s effective. If you’re living under an apartheid system and military rule and you are looking for ways to liberate yourself, you have to look for strategies that are effective.”

She then heaped praise on various extremist pro-BDS groups—singling out the notorious US Campaign for Palestinian Rights—and went into a conspiratorial rant against anti-BDS efforts. She railed against the “pro-Israel lobby” and its “well-oiled machine” which she said opposes BDS as part of a plot to “silence Palestinians” and “suppress Palestinian rights.”

Remarkably, Ajlouny then proceeded—speaking from a platform provided by a prestigious Jewish and academic center—to claim that she is prevented from having platforms.

“If I talk about my personal story, I am accused of being an anti-Semite,” she said. “‘If I speak about the daily pain I experienced growing up in an apartheid system, I am called an anti-Semite. If I speak about a soldier cocking his gun in my back, ready to shoot, I am called an anti-Semite.” She repeated that line eight or nine times, never actually naming a single person who has called her an anti-Semite.

It’s Phony Martyr Syndrome. She pretends that she’s the victim of unnamed, mysterious forces. That is supposed to make us feel sorry for her, so we will be intimidated into not disagreeing with her.

“I am being silenced over and over again,” Ajlouny loudly asserted (catch the oxymoron?). “We are prevented, even by law, to share our story.”

She even paused to throw in a little Israel-Nazi analogy, wrapped in phony sympathy: Ajlouny said she understands that Israelis “carry with them the burden of the Holocaust”—making Israelis sound like psychiatric patients—but then emphasized, “My people carries the burden of dispossession every single day.”

The panel discussion was supposed to focus on defining antisemitism, but it’s not surprising that Ajlouny strayed so far from the topic, because she is completely incapable of recognizing one of the most pernicious sources of antisemitism today—the Palestinian Authority. “Constant accusations against Palestinians of anti-Semitism are like the boy who cried wolf,” Ajlouny declared.

Even J Street said that the infamous April 2018 speech by Palestinian Authority leader Mahmoud Abbas “featured absurd anti-Semitic tropes.” Yes, even a pro-Palestinian group like J Street has called the top Palestinian leader anti-Semitic. But not Joyce Ajlouny. To her, any talk of Palestinian anti-Semitism is just “crying wolf.”

This is what the Feinstein Center for American Jewish History and Congregation Rodeph Sholom gave the Jewish community this week—ninety minutes of Israel-bashing disguised as an academic discussion.

Moshe Phillips is national director of Herut North America’s U.S. division. Herut is an international movement for Zionist pride and education and its U.S. website is https://herutna.org/

You Can Pass COVID to Your Cat, Study Finds

By
Sholom Schreirber
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0
“We identified two cats that tested positive,” said study lead author Margaret Hosie. “Both of them were from suspected COVID-19 households.”

By: Alan Mozes

Not even your beloved feline is safe from COVID-19.

Using in-depth genetic analyses, a new investigation in the United Kingdom suggests that people can pass COVID-19 on to their cats.

“We identified two cats that tested positive,” said study lead author Margaret Hosie. “Both of them were from suspected COVID-19 households.”

One case involved a 6-year-old female Siamese. Last May, the cat had notable nasal and eye discharge. Swab samples were taken from the affected areas and tested for signs of respiratory infection.

Genetic sequencing of the virus found in those samples revealed “that it was very similar to the sequences of isolates from (COVID-19-)infected people in the same region of the U.K.,” said Hosie, a professor of comparative virology with the MRC-University of Glasgow Centre for Virus Research, in Scotland.

The other case involved a 4-month-old Ragdoll kitten who succumbed to severe respiratory illness in April 2020. A post-mortem exam revealed the kitten had contracted COVID-19 after exposure to human SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes the illness.

So how common is human-to-cat transmission?

It’s pretty common, said Dorothee Bienzle, a professor of veterinary pathology at the University of Guelph in Ontario, Canada. But the variability of cases may depend on the proximity of the COVID-19 patient and the pet.

If your cat does get infected following exposure to human COVID-19, is serious illness a given? No, said Keith Poulsen, director of the University of Wisconsin Veterinary Diagnostic Laboratory, in Madison.

“Clinical disease with COVID for domesticated pets is very uncommon,” Poulsen said. “We don’t test all of our animals, but we have collaborated in studies with the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and know that pets in households with COVID have a good chance of testing positive for COVID. But they rarely show any clinical signs and do not require veterinary intervention, in our data. The only outlier here are ferrets and mink. They get sick with COVID.”

As for whether the transmission dynamic might go the other way, Hosie said that, for the moment, “we cannot rule out the possibility that the virus could be transmitted from cats to humans.”

And it’s going to be a difficult question to answer, she added, “as we could never expose an uninfected person to an infected cat to determine whether cat-to-human transmission would occur.”

Still, Poulsen suggested that while the possibility cannot be ruled out, it is not overly concerning.

“We have no evidence that any companion animals play a significant role in transmission back to people,” he said, “with the exception of ferrets and mink. The chances of this happening to a significant, or intervention-requiring rate, are low, but not zero.”

His bottom line: “We still do not believe that cats, or dogs, are significant players in the disease ecology of COVID-19 in people, animals or the environment,” Poulsen stressed.

Maybe so, but the study authors concluded that “it will be important to monitor for human-to-cat, cat-to-cat and cat-to-human transmission.”

As for canines, both Hosie and Poulsen agreed dogs appear to have the upper hand over their feline friends when it comes to human coronavirus vulnerability.

“Dogs are infectable, but less frequently than cats,” Hosie said.

Poulsen agreed, noting that “the science points to the fact that cats likely replicate more virus than dogs.”

The study was published April 22 in the Veterinary Record.

  (www.HealthDayNews.com)

FDA Moves to Resume Use of J&J COVID Vaccine

By
Sholom Schreirber
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0

By: Dennis Thompson

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration last Friday lifted the temporary pause it had placed on the Johnson & Johnson COVID-19 vaccine and said it will add a note to the shot’s labeling warning of the potential for rare blood clots.

The move came just hours after recommendations from a special panel of experts at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, which supported resuming use of the vaccine.

The CDC’s Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) determined that the benefits of the vaccine in preventing deaths and hospitalizations far outweigh the risks of rare blood clots, risks that are mainly borne by young women.

The J&J vaccine has certain advantages over the Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna shots also approved for use in the United States, because unlike those vaccines it requires only one dose and does not require super-cold storage.

The panel vote was 10 in favor, 4 opposed and one abstention. The opposing votes favored a stronger warning for women younger than 50 that would give them the option of choosing another vaccine.

The panel’s recommendation comes more than a week after the CDC pressed “pause” on the rollout of the J&J vaccine. It now goes to CDC Director Rochelle Walensky for final approval.

Just how much do the benefits of the J&J shot outweigh its risks?

In coming to its decision, ACIP considered a risk/benefit analysis that estimates that, for every one million doses of the Johnson & Johnson vaccine administered:

  • 13 cases of blood clots will occur in women 18 to 49, but at the same time 12 COVID-related deaths, 127 ICU admissions for COVID and 657 related hospitalizations will be prevented.
  • 2 cases of blood clots will occur in women 50 and older, but 593 deaths, 1,292 ICU admissions and 4,794 hospitalizations will be prevented.
  • 2 cases of blood clots will occur in men 18 to 49, but 11 COVID deaths, 114 ICU admissions and 601 hospitalizations will be prevented.
  • No cases of blood clots will occur in men 50 and older, but 708 deaths, 1,485 ICU admissions and 5,513 hospitalizations will be prevented.

The pause in use of the one-dose vaccine came after six U.S. reports, one fatal, of a rare but severe form of blood clot tied to use of the J&J shot, all occurring in women.

At Friday’s meeting, a CDC scientist presented nine new confirmed cases of the disorder, bringing the total to 15, The New York Times reported. All the cases have been in women, and 13 have been in women between 18 and 49 years old.

Three women have died from the rare clots and seven remain hospitalized, four of whom are in the intensive care unit, the CDC scientist said.

At the time of the pause, more than 7 million doses of the J&J vaccine had been administered so far in the United States.

  (HealthDayNews)

Growth in Home Health Care Failing to Keep Up With Surging Demand, Study Finds

By
Sholom Schreirber
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0
Recent growth in the number of healthcare workers providing home care for Medicare patients is “small and inadequate” compared with the increasing demand in an aging America, a new study suggests.

‘Modest but Steady’ Growth in Field Mostly Provided by Nurse Practitioners

 Edited by: TJVNews.com

Recent growth in the number of healthcare workers providing home care for Medicare patients is “small and inadequate” compared with the increasing demand in an aging America, a new study suggests.

To have hope of keeping up, Medicare likely will need to reconsider how it compensates providers for home care, the researchers say.

“Only 0.7 percent of physicians in Medicare provided home care regularly,” said Nengliang “Aaron” Yao, PhD, a researcher with the University of Virginia School of Medicine’s Section of Geriatric Medicine. “Targeted policies are needed to support home-based medical care.”

 

Trends in Home Care

Growth in the field of home care was “modest but steady” between 2012 and 2016, with most of the growth coming from increasing numbers of nurse practitioners providing home visits, the study found.

The total number of providers offering in-home care for Medicare patients grew from about 14,100 to approximately 16,600 between 2012 and 2016, the researchers report. But there was also strong churn in the field – approximately 4,000 providers began offering home visits each year, while roughly 3,000 stopped.

Demand for home care already exceeds supply in much of the country. Only about 15% of frail older adults receive medical care at home. America’s aging population, growing numbers of patients with dementia and increasing preference for aging in place all will continue to drive demand, the researchers say.

“More and more older adults are homebound and have a hard time getting to their medical providers,” said researcher Justin B. Mutter, MD, the section head of Geriatric Medicine at UVA Health, who provides home visits through UVA’s Virginia at Home (VaH) program. “House calls bring the best of person-centered medical care to where many need it most: their home environment.” Photo Credit: uvahealth.com

“More and more older adults are homebound and have a hard time getting to their medical providers,” said researcher Justin B. Mutter, MD, the section head of Geriatric Medicine at UVA Health, who provides home visits through UVA’s Virginia at Home (VaH) program. “House calls bring the best of person-centered medical care to where many need it most: their home environment.”

UVA Health launched the VaH program last summer, in collaboration with the Department of Neurology’s Memory and Aging Care Clinic and the UVA Center for Health Humanities and Ethics. VaH’s interprofessional team consists of Mutter, nurse practitioner Karen Duffy, clinical pharmacist Bethany Delk and care coordinator Tuula Ranta. The team helps patients age in place, provides caregiver support and offers house calls as well as telemedicine visits, in partnership with UVA’s Center for Telehealth. VaH aims to bridge the gap between high demand for, and low supply of, home-based medical care for older adults in Central Virginia.

 

Obstacles to Home Care

The researchers note that there are many obstacles that hinder the delivery of home care across the country, including Medicare reimbursement rates, travel time and the complexity of many homebound patients’ needs. A family doctor may see 20 patients a day in an office-based setting, while many home-care providers are unable to see half as many patients in that same time, the researchers say.

To overcome those challenges, Medicare likely would need to revisit how it compensates providers for home visits. “Home-based medical care … has been described as a low-volume, high-value service that is not easily rewarded by fee-for-service payment,” the researchers write in a new paper outlining their findings. For this reason, they say, integrating value-based payment options within traditional Medicare for homebound older adults will be essential.

The Virginia at Home program has benefited from the generous support of philanthropic gifts for its launch, but philanthropy must be complemented by sustained payment reform for all home-care providers, Mutter and Yao say.

Without such steps, America will continue to struggle to keep pace with the growing demand for home-based medical care in the years to come, the researchers say.

“Home-based medical care is care built around the patients and caregivers with goals tailored to their needs in their environment,” Mutter said. “Now more than ever, we need health-care professionals trained and ready to provide this holistic service to our aging population.”

 

Findings Published

The researchers have published their findings in the scientific journal Health Affairs. The research team consisted of Yao, Mutter, James D. Berry, Takashi Yamanaka, Denise T. Mohess and Thomas Cornwell. Yao disclosed he has holdings in Heal Inc.; a full list of the authors’ disclosures is included in the paper.

Mutter was supported by grant K01HP33445 from the Health Resources and Services Administration, a division of the Department of Health and Human Services.

To keep up with the latest medical research news from UVA, subscribe to the Making of Medicine blog at http://makingofmedicine.virginia.edu.

NYC Health + Hospitals Earns More Than $1.4M from Con Ed for Green Projects

By
Sholom Schreirber
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0
“We are excited about sustainability efforts at NYC Health + Hospitals, and we look forward to working to make our campuses more eco-conscious and greener,” said NYC Health + Hospitals Senior Vice President of the Office of Facilities Development Christine Flaherty.

Edited by: TJVNews.com

NYC Health + Hospitals last week announced that it has earned more than $1.4 million from Con Edison for the system’s green projects, which helped reduce electricity demand during extreme temperature days last summer. Con Edison’s Summer 2020 Demand Response rewards organizations for reducing electricity demand on extreme temperature days. This new funding, which is the largest amount NYC Health + Hospitals has ever received, will be re-invested in additional projects to address “decarbonization and sustainability” by the health system’s Office of Facilities Development.

NYC Health + Hospitals has a strong track record of making structural and energy improvements to support the climate change fight, such as installing fuel cells, exterior lighting that runs on wind and solar, and using battery storage to help mitigate energy demands during peak loads like high-temperature summer days. Since 2007, NYC Health + Hospitals has reduced its carbon greenhouse gas emissions by 32 percent

“We are excited about sustainability efforts at NYC Health + Hospitals, and we look forward to working to make our campuses more eco-conscious and greener,” said NYC Health + Hospitals Senior Vice President of the Office of Facilities Development Christine Flaherty. “The work to make our system greener and more energy efficient takes a tremendous amount of creativity because of the aging infrastructure of our buildings. It requires retrofitting old equipment and making substantial structural improvements across our facilities. Our teams of experts and external partners make it a reality to give our staff and patients greener, safer, more sustainable healthcare spaces. We are excited to double down on our efforts in the coming years and there remains additional opportunities on the horizon.”

The Con Edison compensation will support NYC Health + Hospitals’ major energy projects system-wide by funding energy audits that will help identify future opportunities to further tackle and reduce the health system’s carbon footprint. There will be a continued focus on reaching many of the goals related to decreasing greenhouse gas emissions and becoming more energy efficient by continuing to deploy on-site co-generation, battery storage, solar photovoltaic, and fuel cells.

Energy conservation goals set by NYC Health + Hospitals, in collaboration with the City and State, include reducing greenhouse gas emissions by 80 percent by 2050, decreasing electric grid consumption by 50 percent over the next 10 years, and designing and installing on-site power generation to produce electricity cleaner and more efficiently to sustain conservation.

In the last six months, NYC Health + Hospitals has secured over $100 million in energy infrastructure funding from various funding sources for NYC Health + Hospitals/Bellevue, Harlem, and North Central Bronx.

Drunk NY Woman Livestreamed Anti-Police, George Floyd Rant, Before Killing Cop In 2AM Drunken Hit-And-Run

By
Sholom Schreirber
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0

(TJVNEWS.COM)A New York woman was arrested early Tuesday morning after striking and killing a veteran police officer in a New York City hit-and-run, according to the Daily Mail.

In a nearly two-hour Facebook Live stream following the trial of ex-cop Derek Chauvin, 32-year-old Jessica Beauvais could be seen taking shots of vodka and saying “fuck the police” just hours before plowing into 43-year-old NYPD Highway Officer Anastasios Tsakos, 43, on the Long Island Expressway around 2am Tuesday morning while driving her Volkswagen on a suspended license.

“This week we are going to talk about the ignorance that was the Derek Chauvin trial – or the ignorance that is essentially just is this f**ing justice system,” Beauvais said at the beginning of her 1 hour 51 minute Facebook Live video as part of her Face the Reality radio show. “Police say an oath and in that oath they say an oath that they are not supposed to be afraid of that position and that is literally in the rules.”

She then proceeded to say that police officers are “signing up for potential death like in the army,” and that it’s “part of the job” that people “might try to fucking kill you.”

“‘Like (hip hop group) NWA say about the police – if you’re going to kill me, at least I get to take someone with me,” she told her audience, adding “I’m one of those people. If I’m going to go, someone is coming.

In perhaps the most ironic tragedy in recent memory, Officer  Taskos was redirecting traffic from a fatal car Queens accident at the time when Beauvais allegedly aimed for Taskos and struck him head-on – killing the married father of a three-year-old son and six-year-old daughter. The 14-year veteran of the NYPD was pronounced dead at a nearby hospital.

Following the accident, Beauvais reportedly sped off with a ‘completely shattered’ windshield before she was arrested by police.

Beauvais, who says she has a 13-year-old son in the video, offered a tearful apology for Tsakos’ death as she was led out of the NYPD’s 107th Precinct in handcuffs on Tuesday afternoon. ‘I’m sorry that I hit him and that he’s dead,’ she sobbed.

Israel Examining Potential Link Of Pfizer’s COVID-19 Vaccine With Heart Inflammation Cases

By
Sholom Schreirber
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0
Lance Cpl. Juan Magadan/U.S. Marine Corps)

(TJVNEWS.COM) Israel is examining several dozens of cases of recipients of Pfizer-BioNTech’s COVID-19 vaccine developing heart inflammation after getting the jab. Israel’s corona commissioner Nachman Ash said on Sunday in an interview with Radio 103FM, Israeli health officials are trying to determine if the cases are linked with the Pfizer shot that has now administered to over 5 million people. Ash’s remarks came after the government identified at least 62 instances where the recipients developed inflammation of the heart muscle or heart-muscle membrane, as reported by Channel 12 last week citing an Israeli health ministry study.

The heart condition after receiving the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine is developed in one out of 100,000 people who received the shot. As per reports, the incidence rate for males between the age of 18 and 30 was one in 20,000. As of now, at least two people have died due to inflammation in the heart and others have recovered. Israeli health ministry told Bloomberg in an emailed response to questions that the study does not show with certainty that there is a greater rate of mortality or even an increase in heart inflammation cases.

Meanwhile in the US military times reported

The Defense Department is tracking 14 cases of heart inflammation, or myocarditis, in military health patients who developed the condition after receiving either the Pfizer or Moderna COVID-19 vaccine.

The rare disorder, usually caused by a virus, has been linked to COVID-19. But following a number of reports from Israel of patients developing the inflammation in conjunction with receiving vaccines, the Israeli Health Ministry is exploring a possible link, Israel’s Channel 12 reported Friday, according to the Jerusalem Post.

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Myocarditis is an inflammation of the heart muscle, the myocardium, that can reduce the heart’s ability to function or cause abnormal heart rhythms. The first report of myocarditis in a patient who received a COVID-19 vaccine was published in Israel on Feb. 1.

 

Biden SBA Pick Serves on the Board of Anti-Israel Group

By
Sholom Schreirber
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0
Dilawar Syed/Twitter

(Free Beacon) President Joe Biden’s nominee for a top Small Business Administration job sits on the board of a group that lobbies in favor of the anti-Israel boycott movement and describes Israel as an “apartheid” state.

Dilawar Syed, Biden’s pick for deputy administrator of the SBA, has served on the board of the Muslim-American advocacy group Emgage Action since 2017, according to his public financial disclosure form submitted as part of his nomination process. Emgage Action is a staunch defender of the global Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions movement (BDS) that seeks to hurt Israel with economic pressure.

The stance could be an obstacle for Syed ahead of his confirmation vote by the Senate Small Business Committee, which is chaired by Sen. Ben Cardin (D., Md.), one of the Democratic Party’s most vocal opponents of BDS. Emgage Action denounced Cardin’s 2017 anti-BDS legislation as “unconstitutional.”

Emgage Action has described the BDS movement as a “constitutionally protected nonviolent response that seeks to end the occupation” and says it “support[s] the right to boycott, divest, and sanction, as well as the Right of Return of Palestinians.” The organization also describes Israel as an “apartheid” state, stating on its website that Palestinians “continue to suffer under racist, undemocratic Israeli apartheid rule that steals their land and destroys their homes to make way for illegal Jewish settlements.”

Syed is CEO at the health care company Lumiata. He served on the White House Commission on Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders under President Obama and as a liaison with the SBA and the Department of Commerce, according to the White House.

Christians United for Israel Action Fund, a pro-Israel advocacy group, denounced Syed’s nomination, calling Emgage’s positions “fringe” and “contrary to President Biden’s own policies.”

“Dilawar Syed is the wrong choice for Deputy Administrator of the Small Business Administration (SBA). His association with Emgage Action, which lobbies against anti-BDS legislation and has taken a range of other positions that are both outside the American mainstream and contrary to President Biden’s own policies, indicates poor judgment on Syed’s part,” said CUFI Action Fund chairwoman Sandra Parker.

“The SBA is vital to the health of our nation and seeking to have a misguided, fringe ideologue serve in such an important role is a bad decision.”

The BDS movement has been criticized as an effort to delegitimize and isolate Israel. Some groups, such as the American Jewish Committee, have described it as anti-Semitic. Many of the BDS movement’s leaders have called for the elimination of Israel.

In 2017, Cardin introduced the Israel Anti-Boycott Act, which sought to prohibit organizational boycotts of Israel and other U.S. allies. On his website, Cardin said the BDS movement was “designed to delegitimize Israel” and “circumvent direct negotiations.”

Emgage Action slammed Cardin’s legislation, saying that it “failed in the 115th Congress due to its unconstitutional nature and unpopularity by both Congress and the American people.” “It clearly infringed on Americans’ First Amendment right to free speech; any similar legislation proceeding will continue to have the same problems,” the group wrote on its website.

During the 2020 presidential campaign, Emgage came to the defense of prominent BDS activist Linda Sarsour after the Biden campaign criticized her views on Israel. Sarsour has described herself as “an unapologetic pro-BDS, one-state solution supporting resistance supporter.” She once publicly embraced and shared a stage with Rasmea Odeh, a Palestinian terrorist convicted of killing two Israeli students in a grocery store bombing.

Emgage defended Sarsour, saying she “has dedicated her career to fighting for justice. We are deeply concerned about the divisive statement made against Sarsour…. The Democratic Party is a big tent. We expect a speedy and genuine retraction.”

CDC: Fully Vaccinated People Should Wear Masks in Certain Settings, Avoid Large Gatherings

By
Sholom Schreirber
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0
screenshot from ABC7

HANNAH BLEAU

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) issued updated guidance for fully vaccinated persons on Tuesday, recommending that they continue to take precautions, such as wearing a “well-fitted mask” while in indoor public settings.

While the agency said fully vaccinated people would generally no longer need masks outside, the recommendation came with a significant caveat: “Except in certain crowded settings and venues,” recommending them to continue to avoid large public gatherings altogether.

The April 27 guidance listed a range of activities it believes fully vaccinated people can now do, which includes visiting with other fully-vaccinated people indoors without masks or social distancing, visiting with unvaccinated people from a single household who are “at low risk for severe COVID-19 disease” indoors without masks or social distancing, and participating in outdoor activities without a mask, unless it is in a crowded setting or venue.

Overall, the guidance outlines more recommended freedoms for fully vaccinated individuals but does not liberate them from masks completely.

“In indoor public spaces, the vaccination status of other people or whether they are at increased risk for severe COVID-19 is likely unknown,” the CDC guidance states.

“Therefore, fully vaccinated people should continue to wear a well-fitted mask, cover coughs and sneezes, wash hands often, and following any applicable workplace or school guidance,” it adds.

While the guidance states that a fully vaccinated person can visit with members of an unvaccinated household without wearing a mask, it recommends masks to be used for visits involving unvaccinated people from more than one household.

Per the guidance:

If the unvaccinated people come from multiple households, there is a higher risk of SARS-CoV-2 transmission among them, and the safest place to visit is outdoors. If the visit takes place indoors, all people involved should take precautions including wearing a masks that fit snuggly, staying at least 6 feet away from others, and visiting in a well-ventilated space.
Continuing the example from above, if fully vaccinated grandparents are visiting indoors with their unvaccinated daughter and her children and the daughter’s unvaccinated neighbors also come over, they should all wear masks that fit snuggly and maintain physical distance (at least 6 feet), or, to be safer, move the visit outdoors. This is due to the risk the two unvaccinated households pose to one another.

Additionally, the guidance recommends fully vaccinated people to “avoid indoor large-sized in-person gatherings and follow any applicable local guidance restricting the size of gatherings.”

“If they choose to participate, fully vaccinated people should wear a well-fitted mask,” it adds.

CDC Director Rochelle Walensky has yet to say when she believes health officials will stop recommending the use of masks in most social settings:

An NBC News poll released Sunday found 24 percent of Republicans indicating they will not get vaccinated for the virus, and another 10 percent said they will only get the vaccine “if required.” Among all respondents, 12 percent said they will not get vaccinated.

Breitbart

WATCH: NYPD Detective Assaulted in Broad Daylight, Suspect Arrested

By
Sholom Schreirber
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0

BOB PRICE

A video posted by the New York Post shows a black man wearing a head covering striking a New York City Police Department detective across the face with a rod. The man runs away as the detective recoils and is eventually taken into custody by pursuing officers.

In broad daylight on Monday, a man, later identified as 25-year-old Akeele Morgan, approaches an NYPD detective from behind. As the detective is focused on his report writing, Morgan is seen in the video below to strike the detective in the face with a long white plastic rod, the Post reported.


The incident occurred in Flushing, New York, around noon on Monday as the NYPD detective gathered information about a robbery. The detective is seen writing notes when the man sneaks up behind him and delivers the blow.

The detective crouches down in pain as the man turns and backs away. Other officers come out of the store and pursue the suspect on foot.

Police arrested Morgan, a Bronx resident, on 39th Avenue near Prince Street in Flushing, the newspaper reported. Morgan now faces charges of assault, criminal possession of a weapon, resisting arrest, and disorderly conduct.

Detectives’ Endowment Association (DEA) officials say the detective suffered a gash to his head and a whip mark.

“Once again, New Yorkers witness just how emboldened violent criminals are,” DEA president Paul DiGiacomo said in a statement. “If there’s anyone wondering why this happened, they can ask their elected officials who have created a city of no consequence for criminality.”

“The city is circling the drain and NYPD cops are the only ones trying to help the public swim to safety,” DiGiacomo continued. “This individual needs to be prosecuted as the DEA explores civil action.”

Republicans Demand Investigation, Resignation of John Kerry for Allegedly Leaking Secrets to Iran

By
Sholom Schreirber
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0
AP

HANNAH BLEAU

Key members of the GOP are calling for either an investigation or resignation following reports of former U.S. Secretary of State and current Climate Czar John Kerry leaking information about covert Israeli military operations to Iran.

According to tapes obtained by the London-based Iran International and subsequently leaked to the New York Times, Kerry, who served as secretary of state for former President Barack Obama, reportedly told Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif about Israeli military operations in Syria. The revelation reportedly came to the “astonishment” of Zarif, who worked closely with Kerry on the infamous Iran Nuclear Deal.

Ned Price, a spokesperson at the State Department, told reporters that he couldn’t speak to the “authenticity,” “accuracy,” or “any motives” behind the dissemination of the tape, as it is “purportedly leaked material.”

“I would just make the broad point that if you go back and look at press reporting from the time, this certainly was not secret, and governments that were involved were speaking to this publicly on the record,” he added.

Key members of the GOP, however, are calling for action.

“If this tape is verified, it would signal catastrophic and disqualifying recklessness by Envoy Kerry to Foreign Minister Zarif that endangered the safety of Americans and our allies,” Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) told the Daily Wire.

“And it would be consistent with his long pattern of empowering Iran’s regime,” he continued, noting Kerry:

poured hundreds of billions of dollars into the Ayatollah’s terrorist bank accounts, was a close confidant with Zarif during the Obama administration, and was caught repeatedly meeting with him during the Trump administration (notwithstanding the Logan Act) — and has never publicly accounted for what they discussed.

Sen. Dan Sullivan (R-AK) took it a step further, calling for Kerry’s resignation.

“Enough is enough,” Sullivan said on the Senate floor:

The red line that was crossed, if this was true, revealing secret information to one of America’s most sworn enemies with the blood of thousands of American military members on its hands, undermining the interests of one of our most important allies, the state of Israel — if this is true, John Kerry needs to go. He should resign or he should get fired by the president of the United States.
Former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said the revelation confirmed “what I’ve said for years: That [Zarif] continued to engage with former secretary of state Kerry on policy matters after Kerry’s public service and, according to Zarif, Kerry informed the Iranians of Israeli operations.”

“Before we cut a deal with Iran that reduces Americans’ security, it would be good to know what the arrangement, if any, may have been between these two leaders,” he added.

Sen. Rick Scott (R-FL) called on Biden to remove Kerry from “all access to and briefings on national security intelligence” until the truth is revealed. If, in fact, it proves to be true, Kerry must resign, Scott said:

“This is a criminal act and John Kerry must be immediately investigated and PROSECUTED,” Rep. Elise Stefanik (R-NY) said, also calling on Biden to “immediately remove John Kerry from any government or advisory position”:

“Imagine for a second a Trump official sitting on the NSC, like Kerry does, told Iran details about Israeli strikes?” Donald Trump Jr. said, predicting the media would react in an entirely different manner.

“I believe the media would be screaming TREASON and they wouldn’t be too far off, but of course they’ll say and do nothing because they’re useless propagandists,” he remarked:

Sen. Marsha Blackburn (R-TN) did not mince words, calling for Kerry to “seriously consider resignation” if the reports prove to be true:

“This is disgusting on many levels,” former U.S. ambassador to the U.N. Nikki Haley said.

“Biden and Kerry have to answer for why Kerry would be tipping off Iran, the number one sponsor of terror, while stabbing one of our greatest partners, Israel, in the back,” she added:

“If this is true, John Kerry must immediately resign,” former White House press secretary Ari Fleischer added.

“Who would do this to an American ally? If it’s not true, Iran lies to stir the pot. Why would the US do a deal with Iran when we know they’re liars?” he asked:

The White House has since refused to weigh in. Press secretary Jen Psaki told reporters on Monday, “We’re not going to comment on leaked tapes.”

 

Breitbart

Police Applications ‘Historically Low’ in New Jersey, Philadelphia

By
Sholom Schreirber
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0
NYPD have been very busy with shootings all over the city (AP)

Applications to the Philadelphia Police Department and to New Jersey’s state police force have dropped to historic lows, due to what one police union spokesperson says is “the perfect storm” of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, widespread protests against cops, and calls to defund police altogether.

“We are anticipating that the department is going to be understaffed by several hundred members, because hundreds of guys are either retiring or taking other jobs and leaving the department,” Mike Neilon, spokesperson for the Philadelphia Fraternal Order of Police, Lodge #5, told The Philadelphia Inquirer.

The Inquirer notes that, although the Philadelphia Police Department is budgeted for 6,380 officers, it currently employs only 6,112, leaving well over 200 vacancies.

And Pennsylvania’s police problems aren’t uncommon.

Baltimore City Lodge #3 Fraternal Order of Police tweeted last week: “Word is Police Commissioner [Michael] Harrison will need to close 2 police districts. As of today, Patrol has fallen below 700 sworn officers! #500copsshort #cityincrisis.”

The Union President later wrote: “The topic of closing police district(s) is nothing new in these times of mismanagement resulting in police shortages. It will continue to be one of many suggestions on the table until recruitment and retention issues are resolved. Our Patrol numbers are now below 700 officers which is about 300-400 below what is needed. This creates huge safety issues for our officers and for the citizens of Baltimore.”

However, a spokesperson for Baltimore police denied that there have been any discussions of closing any districts.

“There’s no doubt in my mind that what’s transpiring in our nation today is contributing to the lack of retention and the difficulty in hiring new officers,” said Jack Rinchich, president of the National Association of Chiefs of Police. “A lot of cops right now in view of the environment are saying, ‘Hey, I’ve gone 20, 30 years without being sued, shot, or divorced. I’m going to get out while I have an opportunity.'”

Pat Colligan, the president of the New Jersey State Policemen’s Benevolent Association, the largest police union in the state, said that “Every action has a reaction.

“When you vilify every police officer for every bad police officer’s decision, [people] don’t want to take this job anymore,” Colligan said.

He added: “It’s been a very trying and difficult time to put on the badge every day. There’s a recruiting crisis.”

New Jersey State Police acting superintendent Col. Patrick Callahan said at a press conference earlier this month that the department had a “historically low” number of qualified applicants so far this year, with 2,023, and noted that in some years the State Police would receive anywhere from 15,000 to 20,000 applications.

“I think the young men and women, when they look around the country and they see things that are going on and question it, I think it’s time for those to step up and be a part of igniting change,” Callahan said.

“The atmosphere with police work right now is people just don’t want to apply,” Robert Fox, the president of the New Jersey State Fraternal Order of Police, told NJ.com, adding that there are many people who think, “maybe I’ll try later when things improve.”

Said Colligan: “There will always be applicants, but what’s the quality of the applicant? The quality has really diminished in the last few years.”

James Carville: ‘Wokeness Is a Problem for Democrats ‘And We All Know It’

By
Sholom Schreirber
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0
AP

By Theodore Bunker(NEWSMAX)

Longtime Democrat strategist James Carville told Vox on Tuesday that “wokeness is a problem” for the party “and we all know it.”

Carville added that despite success in the 2020 elections, Democrats have a “messaging problem.”

“If we’re just talking about [President Joe Biden] Biden, it’s very difficult to find something to complain about,” Carville said. “And to me his biggest attribute is that he’s not into ‘faculty lounge’ politics.”

Carville explained.

“You ever get the sense that people in faculty lounges in fancy colleges use a different language than ordinary people?,” he said. “They come up with a word like ‘Latinx’ that no one else uses. Or they use a phrase like ‘communities of color.’ I don’t know anyone who speaks like that. I don’t know anyone who lives in a ‘community of color.’ I know lots of white and Black and brown people and they all live in … neighborhoods.

“There’s nothing inherently wrong with these phrases. But this is not how people talk. This is not how voters talk. And doing it anyway is a signal that you’re talking one language and the people you want to vote for you are speaking another language. This stuff is harmless in one sense, but in another sense it’s not.”

Carville added, “We have to talk about race. We should talk about racial injustice,” but “we need to do it without using jargon-y language that’s unrecognizable to most people — including most Black people, by the way — because it signals that you’re trying to talk around them.”

Later on, Carville added that the reason for this is “because large parts of the country view us as an urban, coastal, arrogant party, and a lot gets passed through that filter. That’s a real thing. I don’t give a damn what anyone thinks about it — it’s a real phenomenon and it’s damaging to the party brand.”

Carville said “wokeness” is a problem for Democrats.

“Everyone knows it. It’s hard to talk to anybody today — and I talk to lots of people in the Democratic Party — who doesn’t say this,” he said. “But they don’t want to say it out loud because they’ll get clobbered or canceled.

“And look, part of the problem is that lots of Democrats will say that we have to listen to everybody and we have to include every perspective, or that we don’t have to run a ruthless messaging campaign. Well, you kinda do. It really matters.”

According to Carville, “I always tell people that we’ve got to stop speaking Hebrew and start speaking Yiddish. We have to speak the way regular people speak, the way voters speak. It ain’t complicated. That’s how you connect and persuade. And we have to stop allowing ourselves to be defined from the outside.”

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