Tuesday, October 27, 2026

Democrats as Hitler: Just Blame The Jews For Everything

How that brazen antisemite El-Sayed is still in the running for Michigan Senate after this contemptible ad is a mystery to me.  In past years, this would be enough to destroy a politician. But now, their Jew-hatred and their anti-Israel obsession are in the open, and somehow acceptable. And remember, it's not only Michigan -- it's everywhere. And there are plenty of Americans who believe the lies and conspiracy theories enough to make the U.S. a dangerous place for Jews.

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Abdul El-Sayed ad is vile, unapologetically Nazi drivel blaming Jews for everything bad

By Liel Leibovitz, NY Post, 10-27-25 (as seen at Elder of Ziyon)

If you’ve ever shopped at a normal American supermarket, you’ve probably heard normal Americans having the following normal American conversation:

Normal American 1: Should we buy some bananas?

Normal American 2: We can’t afford bananas, because all of our money goes to help Israel commit genocide against innocent children in Gaza.

What’s that you say? No actual American talks like that, because Americans aren’t brainwashed zombies who believe everything is or should be about Palestine?

Nor are they antisemites who think Jews control American politics with their dirty money?

Tell that to Cenk Uygur.

Having recently been denied entry to the United Kingdom — even the pro-Palestinian Brits found his Jew-hatred excessive — the media gadfly turned to what he does best: defaming a certain Semitic minority. 

Over the weekend, he released a new ad for Michigan Senate hopeful Abdul El-Sayed, in which two Americans who look like they were cast by the Tucker Carlson fan club are moping around their local grocery store and complaining they can’t afford anything — from proper healthcare to a dozen eggs for their kids — because the federal government funnels so much of their cash to Israel.

Get that, Michigan voters? The Jews are to blame for all of society’s ills.

The Jews are our misfortune.

It’s such vile, unapologetically Nazi drivel that it’s tempting to laugh it all off, especially as the bloated buffoon who produced this bit of schlock is best known for such moral nadirs as his warm interview with David Duke and his denial of the Armenian genocide.

But Uygur’s ad strikes a deeper chord.

It reminds Jewish Democrats that no matter how hard they try to fit in, their party now truly and deeply hates them.  

It’s a timely reminder, too, for Jewish Michiganders.

Earlier this fall Dana Nessel, the state’s attorney general, urged her fellow Jews to sacrifice everything — even their safety and security — to defeat MAGA.

In a speech littered with comical errors — Nessel cited Queen Esther, of all people, as an example of someone who put universal values above her own people’s survival, an exact inversion of the biblical story — she argued that Jewish Democrats should prioritize issues like global warming and the economy and vote blue, the party’s increasingly belligerent and bigoted attitude towards Israel and Jews be damned. 

The new ad is a perfect sequel to Nessel’s speech.

Elect El-Sayed, it promises, and we’ll make every single issue about the Jews.

Health care? We can’t have it because of Bibi.

Global warming? It’s the IDF’s fault.

The Wolverines losing to Indiana in overtime? Probably a Mossad plot.

This is how they think over in benighted third-world ratholes, like Uygur’s native Turkey.

Having long ago either murdered or violently expelled all their Jewish citizens, these largely Muslim countries still hold heated demonstrations and blame the Jews for their failing economies, their repressive societies and just about everything else.

And now, Cenk Uygur and Abdul El-Sayed are bringing this same antisemitic mind-virus to the American Midwest.

At least now we know.

Every Michigan voter contemplating supporting El-Sayed — or, for that matter, anyone voting Democrat come November — should take a moment and watch Uygur’s ad before casting their ballot.

It reminds us that the coming midterm elections won’t be about issues like the cost of living or even the war in Iran.

No, these elections are about what sort of country we want America to be: a nation that fosters rational debate, mutual respect and a fierce belief in American exceptionalism — or one that strives to imitate the world’s worst regimes and descend into a feverish nightmare of conspiracies and hate.

It’s not a very difficult choice to make. 

Liel Leibovitz is editor at large for Tablet and senior fellow at the Hudson Institute.

Monday, October 26, 2026

Making Bad Choices

I keep hearing claims by the Democrats that because of Trump, Americans can't afford to eat.

Well,  I don't live in a luxury homes development. I live in an apartment complex that includes Section 8 apartments, and from what I can see from the temporary dealer tags in the parking lots here, the average citizen is definitely able to buy huge SUVs like the Toyota 4-Runner, the Ford Tahoe, and the Jeep Grand Wagoneer, and also impossibly large pickup trucks. 

Maybe if people prioritize instead by buying smaller vehicles or used cars, they can afford to buy groceries and gas instead of blaming others.

Dr Ruth Report 10-25-26

 

Dr. Ruth Report, 10/25/26

SARS-CoV-2 RBD evolving to evade immune recognition, PJ.2.1 rising in BC, Verbal memory deficits in Long COVID, H5N1 raging on mink farm, US measles cases now more than double 2025, & Ebola spreading  

Ruth Ann Crystal MD

The CDC reports that national flu activity is still low, but key indicators (positive tests, outpatient and ED visits, and hospitalizations) are rising. Annual flu vaccination is recommended for everyone 6 months and older, and antiviral medications are available for those who need them. Influenza is very high in Hawaii, and is moderately high in California, Nevada, South Dakota, Texas and Florida according to the CDC.

Regarding COVID, Mike Hoerger wrote on Oct 20, “the CDC has made sizable retroactive upward corrections over and over. What once looked like a small wave or wavelet has nearly doubled in height.” Levels of SARS-CoV-2 are still high in many places across the United States according to WastewaterSCAN and the CDC, but the late summer COVID wave is starting to decrease.

I expect that Mike Hoerger’s interactive U.S. COVID map will update tomorrow.

COVID Variants

Ryan Hisner noted on 10/23/26 that PJ.2.1 appears to be growing in British Columbia, Canada and is expected to become the dominant COVID variant there soon.

Acute COVID infections, General COVID info

The SARS-CoV-2 spike receptor-binding domain has evolved decreased inherent antigenicity in humans | BioRxiv 10/16/26

  • Fred Hutch researchers found that newer SARS-CoV-2 variants are harder for unprimed human immune cells to recognize. Naive B cells bound the spike RBD of KP.2 three times less often than the original Wuhan strain. The authors call the drop modest, with ample naive B cells still able to bind, and say that neutralizing antibody effects will need further study. No similar drop appeared in mouse B cells.

How Bad Is Another Case of Covid? | NY Times 10/19/26

  • Although repeat COVID infections are often milder, no COVID infection is risk-free. “COVID can cause long-term damage to nearly every part of the body and repeated cases can compound those harms. A number of studies have shown that each time someone contracts COVID introduces an opportunity to develop long-term symptoms. Researchers often compare it to Russian roulette: Any infection could be the one that leads to Long COVID.”

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Antibiotic overuse and mortality in patients hospitalised for COVID-19: a global cohort study | The Lancet Microbe 10/24/26

  • WHO researchers analyzed 592,898 hospitalized COVID patients across 64 countries and found that 75.6% of those with prescribing records received antibiotics, even though bacterial coinfection was suspected in fewer than 8% of cases. This widespread overprescribing was associated with higher mortality among affected patients.

Circulating cholesterol fuels SARS-CoV-2 replication via ORF3a | EMBO 9/11/26

  • Gladstone Institutes and UCSF scientists found that the SARS-CoV-2 protein ORF3a pushes cells to take in more LDL cholesterol, which the virus then uses to replicate. ORF3a may be a promising target for future antiviral therapies.

A Novel Proviral Mechanism for the ISG, Shiftless, During Human Coronavirus Infection | bioRxiv 10/16/26

  • Emory University researchers found that Shiftless, an interferon-stimulated gene product long thought to fight viruses, actually helps SARS-CoV-2 enter cells and dampens interferon signaling. In lab experiments, inhibiting Shiftless was enough to reduce coronavirus infection in cultured cells.

Long COVID

‘Nobody knows what to do’: How Long COVID left Physics Girl searching for answers | KPBS 10/22/26

  • Dianna Cowern, creator of the YouTube channel Physics Girl, developed severe Long COVID after a mild infection on her 2022 honeymoon, eventually becoming bedbound. With no FDA-approved treatments, she tried unapproved options that helped, and she has since returned to making videos, though she functions at roughly 30% to 40% of her previous capacity.

Multi-omic analysis of post-acute sequelae of COVID-19 (PASC) | Nature 10/21/26

  • Researchers at Albany Medical College in Albany, New York examined blood samples from 299 individuals and identified lasting abnormalities in both immune function and metabolic activity among people with Long COVID. A machine learning model trained on this data reached an AUC of 0.97, suggesting that a blood based diagnostic test for Long COVID may be within reach.

Figure 4C: (C) Biomolecule and age coefficients from the logistic regression model.

Long-term episodic memory alterations and the role of perceived stress in post-COVID condition | Acta Psychologica October 2026

  • Researchers at the University of Oviedo in Spain examined 41 individuals and found that those meeting criteria for post-COVID condition recalled significantly less verbal information over 9 months compared to controls, even though both groups performed similarly at initial encoding. The post-COVID group also demonstrated measurably slower memory retrieval speeds, pointing to a deficit in how stored information is accessed rather than how it is first learned. The study suggests that memory issues in Long COVID may not show until months later.

Mechanisms of sex differences in acute and long COVID sequelae in mice | BioRxiv 10/22/26

  • Johns Hopkins researchers found that after SARS-CoV-2 infection, female mice, despite milder acute illness, developed lasting memory deficits and neuroinflammation. The effect tracked with two X chromosomes and prolonged Xist and TLR7 activity, rather than sex hormones. Blocking TLR7 prevented the deficits, pointing to a possible Long COVID treatment target.

ATLAS (Autonomic Titration Load Adaptation System) Manual

  • David Putrino announced the release of the ATLAS Manual, a guide that “walks rehabilitation professionals through safe autonomic rehabilitation” for dysautonomia and POTS. Its aim is to improve dysautonomia symptoms without triggering post-exertional malaise (PEM). The Mount Sinai IACCI Provider Manual is available at the same page.

Effects of prolonged SARS-CoV2 spike protein exposure in long COVID and a mouse model of the disease | Am J of Pathology 10/19/26

  • Weill Cornell researchers in New York examined 8 Long COVID patients and detected SARS-CoV-2 spike protein lingering in the small blood vessels of multiple tissues, including the central nervous system, well after the initial infection had resolved. The persistent spike protein was accompanied by measurable inflammation and collagen accumulation in the microvasculature, structural changes that could impair blood flow and may help explain the prolonged symptoms seen in Long COVID patients years after infection.

No evidence of hypercoagulability, altered fibrinolysis, or increased fibrin(ogen) microaggregates in never‐hospitalized long COVID | Hemasphere 10/19/26

  • UK researchers from the EXPLAIN trial examined 151 participants (80 Breathless Long COVID patients, 37 non-breathless Long COVID individuals, and 34 controls) and found that the Long COVID patients showed no increased blood clotting activity, no disrupted clot dissolution, and no excess fibrin microaggregates relative to individuals who had fully recovered from COVID infection.

Inflammatory and immunologic analysis of bronchoalveolar lavage from patients with post-COVID-19 lung disease | Frontiers 10/18/26

  • Researchers from Indiana University examined bronchoalveolar lavage samples from 32 patients with post-COVID pulmonary disease and found SARS-CoV-2 spike protein still present in lung tissue up to 627 days after the original infection. The persistence of viral proteins may drive ongoing pulmonary inflammation.

H5N1

Bird Flu Is Raging on a Mink Farm. It Could Spark a Human Pandemic, Experts Say, but Officials Won’t Act. | Propublica 10/23/26

  • A ProPublica investigation finds that the Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza H5N1 has been spreading unchecked on a Utah mink farm for over two months. Experts warn mink could help the virus adapt to humans, yet state officials and the CDC declined to cull the animals or test workers, prioritizing the fur industry over pandemic risk. Minks have lung cells that are very similar to humans.

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Measles

CDC Measles Update

  • As of October 22, 2026, 4,588 confirmed measles cases were reported in the United States in 2026. The CDC is only reporting 3 of the 6 measles deaths.

US measles cases hit 4,588, more than twice last year’s total | CIDRAP 10/23/26

  • The CDC has confirmed 4,588 US measles cases this year, which is more than double last year’s total. Pennsylvania accounts for nearly 30% of cases. “Andrew Pavia, MD, a pediatric infectious disease epidemiologist at the University of Utah, said that because of underreporting, he believes the number of US cases since the beginning of last year is “probably greater than 20,000.”

Pennsylvania raises alarm on congenital measles | CIDRAP 10/20/26

  • The Pennsylvania Health Department is warning doctors about congenital measles, now that 66 pregnant women in the state have contracted the virus this year and at least six babies have been born with measles infections. An AAP expert says there is no national database, so the true risk to infants is unknown, and underreporting is likely.

Pennsylvania Department of Health Measles Dashboard:

  • As of October 23, there have been 1,338 known measles cases in Pennsylvania with 78 cases in the last 7 days. The PDH website reports 5 measles-associated deaths, but a 6th death was reported last week.

Johns Hopkins US Measles Tracker

Measles cases Oct. 9 to Oct. 23, 2026:

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Ebola- now in 4 countries (DR Congo, Uganda, Kenya, Nigeria)

Ebola disease caused by Bundibugyo virus, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Kenya and Nigeria | WHO News 10/23/26

  • WHO reports the Bundibugyo Ebola outbreak is expanding, with 9,704 confirmed cases and 4,687 deaths in DR Congo as of Oct. 20. Kenya has nine cases in one cluster with two reported deaths, and Nigeria confirmed its first imported case. The WHO advises against travel or trade restrictions. A Phase 2/3 vaccine trial launched on Oct. 23.

Nigeria announces its first Ebola case in 12 years | CIDRAP 10/21/26

Kenya reports more Ebola cases, all linked to initial patient | CIDRAP 10/19/26

Woman, 65, becomes second patient to die of Ebola in Kenya | BBC 10/23/26

Dr Jean Kaseya, Director General of Africa CDC Oct 20, 2026

  • “EBOLA IN NIGERIA: AN URGENT CALL FOR GLOBAL SOLIDARITY”

Other news

El Niño in California (Listos California)

  • The state of California discusses what causes El Niño and how to protect yourself this year. El Niño is expected to increase the odds of heavy rain, snow, flooding, debris flows and power outages. The state’s Listos California guide urges you to check your address risk, review flood insurance (which can take 30 days to start), clean gutters, sign up for alerts, and pack supplies.

The anatomy of a personal health agent | Nature (Google Research) 10/21/26

  • Google Research describes a personal health agent built from three cooperating AI agents that outperformed a standalone large language model chatbot. The design offers a foundation for integrating wearable sensor data, medical knowledge and coaching, moving AI health advice beyond generic chatbot answers toward personalized, data informed guidance.

Using AI to offer personalized health advice | Nature 10/21/26

  • This Nature piece explores the growing use of AI tools in medicine, asking what technologies may be coming and how personalized health advice tools can be tested.

Sequential diagnosis with language models | Science 10/23/26

  • Microsoft researchers tested a frontier AI diagnostic system on 629 clinical cases. It correctly identified 83% of complex cases and 80% of emergency cases, compared with 36% and 47% for physicians. The system asked more questions and relied on fewer diagnostic tests to reach its conclusions.

Foundation artificial intelligence models for health recognition by use of face photographs (FAHR-Face): a model development and validation study | Lancet Digital Health 10/19/26

Dynamic force sensing by bone delays aging and extends lifespan | Cell Metabolism 10/23/26

  • Last week, I reported on a study in mice and in pigs that showed that there is a bone-brain axis in which pressure placed on the tibia causes the release of neuroprotective factors from osteocyte bone cells through PIEZO1 receptors. These factors can travel to the brain and to improve survival and motor and cognitive recovery after traumatic brain injury (TBI).

  • This week, a new article from the same group in China shows that dynamic force placed on the tibia is sensed by the PIEZO1 pressure receptor in an experimental model. Pressing on the tibia delayed aging and extended healthspan and lifespan while reducing inflammation and bone marrow immune aging. Deleting Piezo1 had the opposite effect, showing that bone may be a modulator of aging.

Persistent Borrelia burgdorferi protein antigen in CD16+ monocytes is associated with monocyte-skewed immune dysregulation in post-treatment Lyme disease syndrome (PTLDS) | MedRxiv 10/1/26

  • HealthBio researchers examined 10 individuals with post-treatment Lyme disease syndrome (PTLDS) and found bacterial proteins lingering inside CD16+ monocytes long after antibiotic treatment finished, with no signs of ongoing active infection. These residual Borrelia burgdorferi antigens were associated with dysregulation of monocyte immune function, pointing toward a mechanism by which leftover microbial debris may sustain chronic inflammatory symptoms in affected patients.

Antiviral and inflammatory immune signatures in anti-CD20-treated multiple sclerosis: a cross-sectional study | Journal of Neurology 10/15/26

  • A cross-sectional study of 107 people living with multiple sclerosis (MS) found that B-cell depleting therapy using anti-CD20 monoclonal antibodies (ocrelizumab) specifically diminished T-cell immune responses to Epstein-Barr virus while leaving responses to both SARS-CoV-2 and cytomegalovirus largely intact. This selective suppression of Epstein-Barr virus immunity may offer a mechanistic explanation for why this class of treatment is so effective at reducing neurological inflammation in relapsing MS.

A single-cell atlas of human neutrophils reveals neutrophil heterogeneity across health and disease | Nature Immunology 10/21/26

  • A Stanford-led team catalogued 1 million neutrophils from 781 samples and 43 datasets into a single-cell atlas, mapping distinct subsets across tissues, infection, cancer, and sex. Neutrophil-specific gene signatures predicted mortality in critically ill patients and tracked with metabolic dysfunction and long-term all-cause mortality. Even normal-range neutrophil counts on the higher end were associated with higher risk of later chronic disease and death.

Meet the Texas man known as the “fairy godfather” of Halloween | CBS mornings 10/18/25

  • Christophe Waggoner is a Texas man known as the “fairy godfather” of Halloween. For 8 years, Waggoner has spent his free time thrifting, washing, and sewing Halloween costumes that he donates to children who cannot afford them.

Have a great week,

Ruth Ann Crystal MD

Saturday, October 24, 2026

Quel Dommage!

 

(Above image from Power Line) 

As a helmeted correspondent was reporting in the midst of the Paris riots today, two men broke off from the throngs and ran up to the camera holding up t-shirts that read "F*CK ISRAEL" and "FREE GAZA". A group of black-clad Muslims was carrying a huge "Palestinian" flag.  So you should have no doubt about the reason for these riots, and it's not about students and schools.

Darkness is falling there, so I expect a repeat of the other night. These are not mere "calm" "protests", as the headlines keep insisting, otherwise the Louvre wouldn't have been shut down today.

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A sanitized description from France24, 10-24-26 

Live: Interior ministry says 410,000 protesters across France as organisers claim 'nearly 800,000'

"The Ministry of the Interior estimates at least 410,000 people rallied across France for Saturday’s protests against the high cost of living, including 110,000 in Paris. Meanwhile, reported nearly 800,000 demonstrators and 250,000 in the capital. The situation in Paris remained largely "calm" during the day, while clashes broke out in other cities following attempts to enter unauthorised areas. Follow our liveblog for the latest updates."

Friday, October 23, 2026

Football and Thuggery in Paris

This headline is from The Babylon Bee, but what with all these anti-Israel terrorists wreaking havoc in France, it's not as farfetched as it seems. Hopefully, they won't get any ideas!

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NFL To Paint 'Allahu Akbar' In Endzone For Game In Paris 

Oct 23, 2026 · BabylonBee.com
Article Header Image

"PARIS — To accommodate modern French sensibilities, the NFL has announced that their first ever game to take place in Paris will include special endzone messaging by having "Allahu Akbar" painted onto the field.

"While not unusual for the NFL to paint social justice-oriented political messages into the endzone, such as "Inspire Change," "End Racism," and "Vote," this will be their first overtly religious message. The upcoming game between the Pittsburgh Steelers and the New Orleans Saints will be the first time the NFL has played a game Paris, so they wanted the message to be more suitable for the occasion.

"We really want to make a good impression on our hosts," said NFL spokesperson Roger Manning. "They go nuts for anything about Allah over there, so we think this will be met with a very positive reception. Also, we don't want to get bombed by terrorists."

"Security questions have been raised about holding an NFL game in Paris while the city is on fire, but officials have assured the NFL that the protests are just about student affordability concerns and nothing else.

"A survey of Parisians indicated that 83% of respondents believe the NFL's "Allahu Akbar" message will be a unifying, uplifting statement that will remind France what being French is all about.

"At publishing time, the NFL was installing minarets atop the stadium to accommodate the Adhan, or the Muslim call to prayer, during the very French halftime show."

Another Hamas Attack

On 10-21, I read this headline: "Hamas threatens another Oct. 7-style attack on Israel in unprecedented warning. Hamas warned Israel through a UN envoy that it is prepared to launch another Oct. 7-style attack, targeting Israel, Judea and Samaria and abroad; The unprecedented threat comes amid mounting military pressure and a deepening financial crisis."

Today I saw another headline:  "Netanyahu orders Hebron sealed off, full West Bank closure after Hamas terror attack. The military had announced earlier that morning that two Hamas-linked terrorists, Hamouda and Firas Jua'ba, involved in the attack had been killed. There are no other terrorists involved."

"Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu ordered the city of Hebron to be cordoned off and for the entire West Bank to be blocked from entry and exit starting on Friday morning, after five people were wounded in a terror attack in the area carried out by Hamas terrorists.

"I have instructed the IDF and security forces to immediately impose a closure on the city of Hebron and prepare for a full lockdown of all of Judea and Samaria, beginning today," Netanyahu said, adding that the IDF would be carrying out extensive waves of arrests.

"We will pursue Hamas terrorists and those who send them, wherever they are and at any time," Netanyahu said. "You have nowhere to hide."

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Is what just happened in the West Bank what Hamas had threatened, or is this a trial run before the real thing?  Whatever it is, I'm glad Netanyahu has acted so quickly in response.

Too bad Brad Lander and his group of propagandists weren't still there "picking olives" in some kind of publicity stunt, when this happened, so he could see for himself Hamas in action. I'm sure the usual mobs of anti-Israel morons will be blaming Israel rather than blaming Hamas for this latest attack.

This is More Than Antisemitism. This is Domestic Terrorism

It turns out the victim was a Hasidic Rabbi. As usual, authorities are "looking for a motive" in this "possible hate crime" in which a woman hunts Jews. They had better find this vile attacker quickly, because she is looking for other Jews to target. Let's pray this isn't the start of a sick new trend of injecting Jews with who-knows-what dangerous substances.

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NY Post 10-22-26 

Woman stalked, stabbed Jewish man with 'syringe' in terrifying NYC attack: sources 

A Jewish man was stalked and then stabbed by a woman who stalked him on a busy Midtown street during the Wednesday evening rush, police sources said.

The victim, 26 – wearing traditional Jewish garb – was walking on Fifth Avenue near West 47th Street in the Diamond District just before 6 p.m. when a woman speaking Russian started following him, according to the sources.

Alarming video posted on X by the Manhattan Shomrim shows the suspected attacker closely following the victim around a parked car as he attempts to avoid her – while several pedestrians pass on the sidewalk.

Surveillance footage of Yousef Krish being poked with a syringe in a bias attack.

Alarming video shows the suspected attacker closely following the victim around a parked car as he attempts to avoid her. Shomrim Manhattan

The victim felt a sharp needle-like prick to his lower right back as he approached a nearby grocery store, according to the sources.

He told police he believed he was stabbed with a syringe, but it was not immediately clear whether anything was inside, the sources said.

He was taken to Bellevue Hospital, where he was listed as stable.

The NYPD’s Hate Crime Task Force is looking into the disturbing attack.

Moshe Spern, president of the United Jewish Teachers, lashed out at Mayor Zohran Mamdani.

Surveillance footage shows a woman walking between cars on a street.

The woman stabbed him on a busy Diamond District street during the evening rush. Shomrim Manhattan

A wanted poster featuring surveillance images of a suspect wanted for a stabbing in Midtown, issued by the Manhattan Shomrim.

Cops are seeking this woman in connection with the attack. Shomrim Manhattan

“Mayor Mamdani this is on you,” he raged on X Thursday morning. “Another Jew stabbed in broad daylight in Midtown.”

The attack came weeks after the NYPD revealed that hate crimes jumped by nearly 13% over the first nine months of the year compared to the same period last year, with anti-Jewish incidents accounting for more than half of them.

In July, a hateful lunatic ranting “Allahu Akbar” stabbed a Jewish and Asian man on the Upper West Side, authorities said then.

Prosecutors said a search warrant on his phone “revealed text messages containing antisemitic statements.”

Dealing With Long COVID

It's must be overwhelmingly discouraging and depressing when doctors tell you that "it's not a real disease". See her videos at the link.

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KPBS San Diego, 10-21-26

By Anthony Wallace / Producer, The Finest
Contributors: Julia Dixon Evans / Arts & Culture Reporter and Host, The Finest,  Carolyne Corelis / Video Journalist 

In 2022, Dianna Cowern's YouTube channel, Physics Girl, had more than 2 million subscribers, making her one of the internet's most popular science communicators. She was living her dream: sharing her passion for science and shooting videos all over the world.

"We went to the Arctic," she said. "We went to Death Valley and filmed a really, really cool and then really successful video there."

She called that time "the best days of Physics Girl. And we were having the best time as well."

That same year, Cowern married her longtime partner, Kyle Kitzmiller. Everything seemed to be going her way. She remembers telling her friend and video editor, "I'm sorry but this is my year."

But on her honeymoon in Scotland, her big year got hit with what seemed like a minor snag. She got COVID-19.

"The typical symptoms," she said, "like a sore throat and a cough and a stuffy nose. But it wasn't anything alarming."

Those symptoms passed, and a few weeks later, the couple set off on a multiday hike they'd been planning for months. The first couple of days went fine.

"On the third day I started hiking, and I would rest and I didn't feel recuperated," she said. "And I got in a cab and went to the next location while Kyle hiked it by himself."

But more rest didn't help, and Cowern began experiencing unfamiliar symptoms.

"Brain fog like I'd never experienced before. I couldn't walk. I couldn't think. I had nausea and headaches," she said. "And I never recovered from that crash."

The newlyweds cut their honeymoon short. Back home in San Diego, Cowern's condition continued to worsen.

"I just deteriorated," she said. "First I couldn't run, I couldn't hike. And then I couldn't work, and then I couldn't walk anymore, and I became bedbound. And then I couldn't speak, and then I couldn't read or use my phone."

Eventually, she was confined to her bed in a dark room, wearing dark glasses and noise-cancelling headphones to "take away every environmental stimulus."

Kitzmiller became her full-time caregiver.

"She had a really weird thing where her heart rate would get really, really low. Like in the 30s," he remembered. "I put a pulse thing on her that would have an alarm if it went too low. I would sleep waiting for this alarm to go off.

"Every day I didn't know if she was just gonna die," he said.

In a matter of months, the couple went from traveling the world and interviewing scientists to being confined to their apartment and searching for answers.

"Nobody knows what to do," Kitzmiller said. "The best scientist in the world doesn't know how to treat or cure long COVID."

Doctors ran numerous tests on Cowern, but told her they couldn't find anything wrong.

The message Kitzmiller remembers getting from the doctors: "There's not a real disease here."

The couple soon discovered that while science has helped explain everything from gravity to DNA, post-infectious chronic illness remains a mystery.

For reasons scientists don't yet fully understand, some people who get COVID or other viral or bacterial infections don't fully recover. Their symptoms can persist for months or years, ranging from debilitating illness, as in Cowern's case, to symptoms that are more manageable.

These conditions are sometimes grouped under the term post-acute infection syndromes (PAIS). Long COVID, the condition Cowern developed after COVID, is the best-known example. Another is post-treatment Lyme disease syndrome, in which some people continue to experience symptoms such as fatigue, body aches and difficulty thinking after treatment for Lyme disease.

These conditions affect millions of Americans, though estimates vary depending on the condition and how it is measured. One large study found that about 1 in 6 people infected with COVID-19 developed Long COVID.

For many, like Cowern, it is life-changing. An estimated 1 million Americans are out of the workforce due to Long COVID.

And for them, there are very few options for treatments.

"A lot of people who have this disease are so desperate for treatments," Cowern said.

As there are currently no FDA-approved treatments for Long COVID, Cowern turned to unapproved ones suggested by researchers. A couple of them made a significant difference.

" I was able to start looking at my phone again and reading and listening to music, which was amazing," she said. "And then everything improved."

Cowern eventually got out of bed and made her first science video in three years. Physics Girl was back.

Cowern's come a long way, but her health is still a struggle. She estimates she's functioning at about 30% to 40% of her previous capacity.

And while she continues to work toward feeling better, Cowern and Kitzmiller are raising awareness about chronic illness with their large platform. Kitzmiller is even serving on the advisory committee for clinical trials into the treatment that helped them the most.

"There's still a lot to learn," Cowern said. "There's so little that's understood about this disease, but I will say that everyone that has it is desperate to live again."

Listen to Cowern's episode of The Finest podcast to hear more about her story, including how she rose to prominence as a YouTuber, how her experience with Long COVID changed her perspective on medicine and science, and which treatments helped her feel better.

Wednesday, October 21, 2026

Rheumatic Diseases and Long COVID

This is the main reason that I have been so vigilant and have masked and vaccinated all these years. Arthritis is bad enough; I don't need COVID & Long COVID on top of it.

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Medical Xpress, 10-20-26 

Increased risk for long COVID associated with autoimmune rheumatic diseases

by Elana Gotkine, edited by Robert Egan 

The GIST 

"Patients with autoimmune rheumatic diseases (AIRD) have an increased risk for long COVID, according to a study published online Oct. 14 in Arthritis & Rheumatology.

"Namrata Singh, M.D., from the University of Washington in Seattle, and colleagues conducted a retrospective cohort study using data from the National Clinical Cohort Collaborative to examine the prevalence of and factors associated with long COVID in patients with AIRD. Patients with AIRD were compared to matched non-AIRD controls using 1:1 nearest-neighbor propensity score matching.

"The researchers found that long COVID occurred in 2.8% and 1.5% of patients with AIRD and without AIRD in the matched cohort of 187,106 patients. AIRD was associated with an increased risk for long COVID compared with non-AIRD in a multivariable analysis (adjusted hazard ratio, 1.56). Higher acute COVID-19 severity, pulmonary disease, obesity, and exposure to rituximab or glucocorticoids were associated with an increased risk for long COVID among patients with AIRD. There was an association seen for Sjögren syndrome with a higher risk for long COVID.

"These findings highlight the need for targeted monitoring and further investigation into mechanisms and prevention strategies for long COVID in patients with autoimmune diseases," the authors write."

More information

Namrata Singh et al., Higher risk of Long COVID among patients with autoimmune rheumatic diseases and immunomodulatory therapy: a retrospective cohort analysis of national US data., Arthritis & Rheumatology (2026). DOI: 10.1002/art.70361 

Tuesday, October 20, 2026

What AREN'T The Jews Blamed For?!

What took them so short?! I guess I shouldn't really be surprised, but obviously we Jews are more powerful than I realized!

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The Algemeiner, 10-20-26

Over 1,300 Social Media Antisemitic Conspiracy Theories Discovered Blaming Israel, Jews for France Riots 

"The nationwide anti-government riots in France over the weekend led to a wave of antisemitic conspiracy theories online that blamed Jews, Israel, Zionists, or the Mossad for the unrest, according to a report published on Sunday by the Combat Antisemitism Movement (CAM), an international coalition.

"CAM’s Antisemitism Research Center identified 1,384 social media posts with antisemitic narratives, from 816 unique accounts, that linked Israel or Jews to the violence that took place during Saturday and Sunday. Researchers found the posts by using 25 search words in seven languages and any post attributing the upheaval to Jews, Israel, Zionists, or the Mossad was counted as antisemitic. Some of the posts called for violence against, expulsion, or the extermination of Jews, according to CAM.

"Rioters in France vandalized a synagogue, looted businesses, started fires in the streets, torched cars, attacked police officers, and stormed public buildings, among other violent acts. The Antisemitism Research Center (ARC) discovered that when looking for someone to blame for the violence, social media users most commonly targeted Jews and Israelis by using terminology related to Jewish elite orchestration, Israel/Mossad orchestration, Zionist manipulation, and “Rothschild/ZOG/money.” They also made claims that “pro-Israel accounts are behind it,” and suggested Jews or Israel benefitted from the riots. One such post said, “Jews benefit from every revolution.”

“Mossad is burning France right now,” read one post cited in the ARC report, referring to the Israeli intelligence service. Another stated: “Whatever’s happening in France, the root cause is actually Jewish capture of the West.” A separate post claimed “the agent of Zionism” is “leading the brown masses to destroy Paris,” while another post accused Israel of “feeding the chaos and punishing Europe.”

"Islamic accounts published 30 percent of the antisemitic posts and English accounts were responsible for 69 percent of the posts and 86 percent of views, according to the report. It also noted that accounts under the paid subscription X Premium, which are identified by blue checkmarks, were posting some of the most antisemitic messages.

“Across languages and ideologies, profiles on social media advance a single narrative. France’s unrest is presented not as a domestic crisis but as a deliberate operation orchestrated by Jews, Zionists or Israel,” the report stated.

“Once again, with the unfolding situation in France, we are seeing the rapid and systematic exploitation of a news event by antisemites to spread conspiracy theories against Jews and Israel,” said CAM editor-in-chief Barney Breen-Portnoy. “The ARC’s research offers further evidence of a well-worn script used to repackage age-old antisemitic hatred for a vast modern-day digital audience.”

"CAM said its research center discovered a similar pattern of antisemitic conspiracy theories earlier this year following the Ceuta border migrant crisis, the 25th anniversary of the Sept. 11 attacks, and the attempted hijacking of an Israel-bound FlyDubai flight."