Monday, March 18, 2024

Pennsylvania man sentenced for setting Midwood rabbi’s house on fire

 https://www.brooklynpaper.com/pa-man-sentenced-midwood-rabbi-fire/

According to the Brooklyn District Attorney’s office, Karelefsky was caught on video lighting a fire under the front porch of Rabbi Jonathan Max’s East 17th Street home in the middle of the night on June 13, 2019. The fire quickly spread to two adjacent homes, forcing 13 people to evacuate, including Max and his family.

MAGA Reps Suddenly Face an Existential Threat: Themselves

 https://www.thedailybeast.com/maga-reps-suddenly-face-an-existential-threat-themselves?ref=home?ref=home

What nearly all of these incumbents have in common is that their opponents hail from the far-right fringes of the party. Where the incumbents are on Fox and Newsmax, the challengers are regulars on Bannon’s show, hoping to land endorsements from figures like Mike Lindell, Roger Stone, and Michael Flynn.

Did Donald Trump Threaten 'Bloodbath' If He Loses? Here's What Happened

 https://www.newsweek.com/donald-trump-threaten-bloodbath-speech-context-auto-industry-true-biden-1880300

George Conway, an attorney and Trump critic, argued on social media that whether or not Trump was referring to the auto industry, what matters was his consistent use of "apocalyptic and violent language in an indiscriminate fashion as a result of his psychopathy and correlative authoritarian tendencies."

"It's a classic trait and technique of authoritarian demagogues," he said. "He catastrophizes *everything* to rile up his cultish supporters, and to bind them to him, and to make them willing to do his bidding."

Zika in Halachah

 https://jewishaction.com/religion/jewish-law/zika-in-halacha/

To give us a sense of the magnitude of the epidemic, according to an account from the rabbinic court of Rav Shmuel Vozner (1913-2015), over 1,000 cases were presented to the court requesting abortion. The court prohibited abortion in every single case (consistent with the general approach of Rabbi Feinstein). As a postscript, it is further reported that in all the cases, save one, no harm befell the subsequent children. As this is an anecdotal account, absent any details of the cases, we cannot know whether the women had confirmed cases of rubella, and if so, during which trimester. In any case it is a remarkable number.

Not everyone can be successful

 Chullin (24a) If a student does not see progress in his studies after five years, he never will. R. Jose says, After three years

Wisdom and Sickness

 Tosefta (Berachos 3:5) Anyone whose body was stricken with some desease, because of his wisdom it is a good sign for him. And anyone whose wisdom was stricken with some desease, because of his body it is a bad sign for him.” He used to say, “Anyone who lost his mind, because of his wisdom it is a good sign for him. And anyone who lost his wisdom because of his mind it is a bad sign for him.”

Prestigious Jewish school principal in New York convicted of embezzlement

 https://www.ynetnews.com/article/syn3nmmrt

Suffolk County District Attorney says David Ostrove diverted approximately $8.4 million of Schechter School of Long Island funds into accounts controlled by him

Trump Agonistes, ‘Bloodbath’ and ‘Hostages’ Edition

 https://www.wsj.com/articles/trump-agonistes-blood-bath-and-hostages-chapter-auto-industry-ohio-401bb780?mod=hp_opin_pos_2#cxrecs_s

The real news is that Mr. Trump promised to impose tariffs on foreign-made cars, apparently no matter where they’re from. This would hurt U.S. working-class consumers by raising car prices, much as his steel tariffs enhanced the profits of U.S. steel companies while hurting other companies that use steel.

In Vandalia, Ohio, Mr. Trump also repeated his frequent line that those convicted of crimes for the Jan. 6 riot at the Capitol are “hostages” and “unbelievable patriots.” He vowed to help them if he wins in November, which implies mass pardons.

While some rioters have arguably been treated too harshly, they broke one or more laws by breaching police barriers and besieging the Capitol. Police were injured. The rioters also disrupted Congress’s session ratifying the votes of the Electoral College.

“I think it’s unfortunate at a time that there are American hostages being held in Gaza, that the President or any other leaders would refer to people that are moving through our justice system as hostages,” former Vice President Mike Pence said Sunday on CBS’s Face the Nation. “It’s just unacceptable.”

Sunday, March 17, 2024

First-time Parent at 88: Has Israel's Fertility Craze Gone Too Far?

 https://www.haaretz.com/science-and-health/2024-03-13/ty-article/57-year-old-mom-88-year-old-dad-welcome-newborn-has-israels-ivf-craze-gone-too-far/0000018e-3746-df5e-a5fe-f7feb5f70000

Outside of Haredi society the report was received with far more criticism, and with quite a few ethical questions about the future of the infant born to such elderly parents, and the significant medical risks involved in pregnancy and birth at such an age.

Trump’s Bizarre Clinton Conspiracy Is a Total Acid Trip

 https://www.thedailybeast.com/donald-trumps-latest-clinton-conspiracy-about-bleachbit-and-hillarys-emails-is-a-total-trip?ref=home

Donald Trump’s unfounded new claim that Hillary Clinton used acid to delete her emails shows the former president doesn’t quite grasp how the BleachBit software program works.

“They released Hillary Clinton. She hammered her phones, she used all sorts of acid testing and everything else. They call it BleachBit, but it’s essentially acid that will destroy everything within 10 miles,” he told Newsmax. “I mean, what she did was unbelievable. Nothing happens to her.”

Jared Kushner's New Foreign Deals Spark 'Corruption' Accusation

 https://www.newsweek.com/jared-kushners-new-foreign-deals-spark-corruption-accusation-1879998

Garcia wrote on X on Friday: "Jared Kushner is back to brokering major deals with foreign governments per new reports today. We've already exposed his $2 billion investment fund with the Saudis, and we are pushing hard to ensure this grift gets the attention it demands. This is real corruption."

Schumer saves Bibi

 https://www.foxnews.com/world/schumers-anti-netanyahu-speech-strengthens-bibi-israels-war-defeat-hamas

 Having seen his lowest levels of support in months, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's popularity has gotten a bounce in the polls, which some say is partly due to the Biden administration and Democrats' growing criticism against the Jewish state.  

Saturday, March 16, 2024

How Trump advanced Arab-Israeli peace but fueled Palestinian rage

 https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2024/02/10/trump-israel-gaza-war/

“I think the Abraham Accords were incredibly important, but this disaster that we’re living through is a reminder that you cannot secure Israel simply through diplomatic work with Sunni nation-states,” said Sen. Chris Murphy of Connecticut, a Democratic member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.

Trump’s turn against Israel offers stark reminder of what his diplomacy looks like

 https://edition.cnn.com/2023/10/13/politics/donald-trump-israel-netanyahu-diplomacy/index.html

Trump’s original grievance-based analysis reflects a transactional, unorthodox approach to foreign policy that often prioritizes his own personal goals over a standard understanding of the national interest. It also highlighted a contrast with his potential 2024 election opponent. Biden reacted to the attack by using all of the tools of traditional statesmanship, including rhetoric, personal behind-the-scenes contacts with key foreign leaders and by mobilizing allies. Like Trump, Biden has had a personal and political beef with Netanyahu – but shelved his differences with him weeks before the attack and has been in constant contact with the prime minister since it occurred.

Biden is seeking to strike a balance. He has shown the most ardent support for Israel of any recent US president and acknowledged its desire to retaliate and reestablish its sense of security after the most shocking penetration of its borders and national psyche in 50 years. But Biden is also sending private and public signals to Netanyahu that Israel’s response should not infringe the laws of war and that he should consider the humanitarian consequences of an invasion of Gaza, as he seeks to prevent the war escalating into a dangerous regional conflict that could draw in the US.