Trump FAMILY spirals over missing $50M! Ari on MAGA revolt & 'brand' crisis

Cost of Trump’s reflecting pool repairs balloon by $11.3 million, to $13.1M

 https://thehill.com/homenews/administration/5872939-reflecting-pool-renovation-cost-increase/?tbref=hp

“The Failing New York Times, which is one of the worst newspapers anywhere in the World, and is losing subscribers on an hourly basis, is now at it again,” Trump wrote in a lengthy, early-morning Truth Social post.

“Just like they covered my Landslide 2024 Presidential Election Victory inaccurately, and without shame, constantly making major mistakes and incorrect predictions at every path along the way, they are now trying to justify Obama and Biden’s expensively botched attempt at fixing the long broken, unsightly, and unsanitary Reflecting Pool that NOW sits majestically between the Washington Monument and the Lincoln Memorial,” he continued.

It was originally announced with an estimated cost of $1.8 million, but the Times cited federal records showing the actual cost has jumped by more than $11 million to an anticipated $13.1 million.

The Interior Department reportedly added $6.2 million to the previous cost of the no-bid contract on Friday, which was awarded to a Virginia firm called Atlantic Industrial Coatings

Checkmate in Iran

 https://www.theatlantic.com/international/2026/05/iran-war-trump-losing/687094/

It’s hard to think of a time when the United States suffered a total defeat in a conflict, a setback so decisive that the strategic loss could be neither repaired nor ignored. The calamitous losses suffered at Pearl Harbor, the Philippines, and throughout the Western Pacific in the first months of World War II were eventually reversed. The defeats in Vietnam and Afghanistan were costly but did not do lasting damage to America’s overall position in the world, because they were far from the main theaters of global competition. The initial failure in Iraq was mitigated by a shift in strategy that ultimately left Iraq relatively stable and unthreatening to its neighbors and kept the United States dominant in the region.

Defeat in the present confrontation with Iran will be of an entirely different character. It can neither be repaired nor ignored. There will be no return to the status quo ante, no ultimate American triumph that will undo or overcome the harm done. The Strait of Hormuz will not be “open,” as it once was. With control of the strait, Iran emerges as the key player in the region and one of the key players in the world. The roles of China and Russia, as Iran’s allies, are strengthened; the role of the United States, substantially diminished. Far from demonstrating American prowess, as supporters of the war have repeatedly claimed, the conflict has revealed an America that is unreliable and incapable of finishing what it started. That is going to set off a chain reaction around the world as friends and foes adjust to America’s failure.

Death is not always from G-d?

 Kuzari (05:20) David laid down three causes of death, viz. 'God may slay him,' i.e. divine cause; 'Or his day shall come to die,' i.e. natural cause; 'Or he shall descend into battle and perish,' i.e. accidental cause. He omits the fourth possibility, viz. suicide, because no rational being seeks death voluntarily. If Saul killed himself, it was not to seek death, but to escape torture and derision. 

Sefer HaIkkarim (4:21): This death that You have decreed upon me can only be one of three types. 1) Punishment for sin 2) Decree of the constellations 3) Natural death. These three types of limits to one’s life are mentioned by Dovid (Shmuel 1 26:10)…. As Divine punishment, natural death or premature accidental death which happens even without sin as the result of the stars or general decree. … Dovid did not mention suicide since no one freely chooses to die…. 

Kuzari (5:20): … The Prime Will is manifest when the Divine Presence is amongst the Jews. However after the destruction of the Temple it became doubtful - except in the hearts of those who have faith - whether specific events were the result of the direct command of G d or the Heavenly spheres or were accidents. There is no definitive way to resolve this issue. Nonetheless it is best to attribute everything that happens to G d, especially major things such as death, victory, war, success and bad fortune.

Menoras HaMeor (#298): When a person has a calamity happen to him he should not think that it was just by chance. Because whoever mistakenly believes that is punished measure for measure and is deserted to chance without any protection… This is a very great punishment because there are many opportunities for accidents to happen and if one is deserted by Heaven he has no protection at all… This verse that says that evil doesn’t descend from Heaven is because a sinner doesn’t need to be harmed from Heaven it is sufficient that his protection is removed and then he vulnerable to accidents and suffering since there is no suffering without sin… Therefore a person must believe with solid faith that G d knows the secret matters and He is the true judge and judges the entire world …

Shomer Emunim (2:81) Nothing occurs by accident, without intention and Divine Providence. This is learned out from the verse; ‘And I will walk with you in chance (be’keri).’ From this we see that even the state of apparent ‘chance’ is actually Providence. “But that does not apply to the non-human species...whether this ant will be trodden upon or saved. There is no special Providence for animals and certainly not for plants and minerals, as they are governed by species and not individuals. Whatever occurs to individual animals, plants and objects is purely by chance, and not by Divine Decree – unless it is ultimately connected to humankind

Trump remains silent as Gulf fears grow: 'They’ve thrown us under the bus'

 https://www.ynetnews.com/article/skmusddawe?utm_source=taboola&utm_medium=referral&utm_content=internal

Iran has resumed missile launches without facing retaliation, raising concerns across Gulf states about further escalation from Tehran, while US President Donald Trump signals interest in ending the war; some in Dubai describe the situation as a 'unilateral ceasefire,' and Gulf officials warn that the lack of an American response could weaken deterrence

Diplomats and analysts told the Wall Street Journal that after this week’s Iranian strikes, a sentiment has re-emerged in the region echoing former Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak’s remark: “Those who wrap themselves in the U.S. are naked.” Iranian officials have repeated similar claims since the start of the war, and now, following the lack of an American response to renewed fire, the idea is gaining renewed attention.

Mahdi Ghuloom, a research fellow at a Dubai-based think tank, said: “Iran seems ready for the cease-fire to be broken down, and the U.S. is not, so it is a unilateral cease-fire at this point.” Dania Thafer, director of the Gulf International Forum, added that from the Gulf states’ perspective, “it looks like the U.S. is not prioritizing their security and basically threw the Gulf states under the bus,” said Thafer. “If the U.S. doesn’t respond, then the Iranians will conclude that the U.S. doesn’t want to go back to war—and this affects deterrence.”

Antisemitism in Britain: Man whips haredi women with belt in London

 https://www.israelnationalnews.com/news/426898

A man attacked Haredi women at a bus stop in Stamford Hill and cursed at them. A Jewish child was assaulted in another attack.

According to the organization’s statement, the incident occurred during the afternoon hours at a bus stop in the Hackney area. After attacking the women, the suspect later spat at one of the organization’s volunteers who arrived at the scene. It was further reported that the suspect shouted curses, racist insults, and threats at the women and the volunteers.

Shomrim volunteers detained the suspect until police forces arrived and arrested him on suspicion of assault offenses and public order violations under racist circumstances. According to the report, he remains in custody and is expected to be brought before a judge.

Hours later, a Jewish child was assaulted in a separate antisemitic incident outside a school in Amhurst Park. A woman screamed antisemitic abuse and punched the child.

Last week, London fire crews were called to a blaze that broke out at an abandoned synagogue on Nelson Street in the eastern part of the city. Minor damage was caused to the gates and lock at the entrance to the building. The incident is being investigated alongside a series of other incidents in the capital, including attempted arson attacks and stabbings targeting members of the Jewish community.

Israel passes law to allow death penalty and public trials for those linked to 7 October

 https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c202ngg45x8o

Israel has passed a new law to impose the death penalty and conduct public trials for those involved in the unprecedented Hamas-led attacks and mass hostage-taking in Israel in October 2023.

The legislation was passed by 93 votes to 0 in Israel's parliament - the Knesset - and was unusually jointly sponsored by government and opposition politicians.

Although Israel's parliament passed the Death Penalty for Terrorists Law in March, aimed at Palestinians convicted of terrorism offences, it does not apply retroactively. This meant that separate legislation was required to deal with those alleged to have carried out the assault.

While Israel has for years been a de facto abolitionist state, recent polls have indicated growing support for the death penalty among Jewish Israelis - particularly when it comes to Nukhba fighters convicted of terrorism.

The Long-Term Measles Complication Most People Don't Know About

 https://time.com/article/2026/05/11/measles-complication-immune-system/

Measles, largely gone for decades in the developed world, has come roaring back. In January, the U.K. lost its status as a nation that had eliminated measles when the number of people vaccinated against the disease dropped below 95%, the threshold required to keep the highly contagious virus in check. The U.S., where outbreaks this year continue, may be on the same track. 

Vaccine hesitancy is behind the resurgence of disease—but measles is not, as anti-vaccine activists claim, a short-lived respiratory virus whose effects are over in days. Scientists now understand that measles’ primary target is in fact the immune system. In addition to causing rare but slow-burn, fatal neurological disorders that can kill a child years after a measles infection, the virus can also wipe the immune system’s memory, destroying cells that fight off other infections. 

Most people recover from measles. But even then, “their immunity to very common infections that they encounter, maybe on a daily basis, is weakened,” says Rik de Swart, a virologist at Erasmus University Medical Center in Rotterdam in the Netherlands who has studied the phenomenon, which is sometimes known as immune amnesia. In some cases, it can take years to get back to normal.

Trump is stuck in an Iran trap of his making — with only two options

 https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2026/05/11/iran-war-is-trap-trump-built-himself/

President Donald Trump is caught in an Iran war trap of his own making. He has for weeks been all-too-visibly eager for a deal allowing him to declare “victory” for … something. Conversely, he seems to deeply fear making a Barack Obama-like nuclear deal, and the inevitable (and justifiable) criticism. Good answers seem scarce, reinforcing his frustration. That was evident on Sunday when, posting online, he denounced as “TOTALLY UNACCEPTABLE!” Iran’s response to a U.S. framework to end the war. He must feel like George H.W. Bush, who once described himself as “one lonely little guy down here” at the White House.

Much of the trap’s construction depended on what Trump didn’t do. Before launching U.S.-Israeli strikes against Iran, he never explained to Americans why military force was justified to help achieve regime change, eliminate Tehran’s nuclear weapons and terrorist threats, or eviscerate its military capabilities. He apparently did not brief members of Congress. He seemingly did not consult U.S. allies, neither in NATO nor the Persian Gulf, nor America’s Indo-Pacific friends, who depend heavily on Middle Eastern oil. George H.W. Bush did all these things before launching Operation Desert Storm in 1991.

But Trump did stop, and he now seems lost, in effect hoping Iran’s Revolutionary Guard gives him a diplomatic exit, which it has so far declined to do. Instead, the regime’s remnants seek time to emerge from Iran’s rubble, reconsolidate their rule and rebuild their military capabilities, including their nuclear-weapons and ballistic-missile programs and their terrorist networks and proxies. They see correctly that Trump’s domestic political troubles vex him far more than the distant threat of a reconstituted Iranian militarized theocracy. Thus, even if Tehran appears to accept Trump’s proposed ceasefire as a basis for future negotiations, the regime will take its time doing anything substantial, including opening the Strait of Hormuz.

Most important, military action is necessary to restore deterrence. Tehran must learn with certainty it would suffer severe consequences for later trying to close the strait. Allowing merely a diplomatic end to this crisis, particularly under the “gradual” process apparently contemplated by Trump’s latest offer, would set a ruinous precedent. Emboldened as it now is, Iran’s regime would probably conclude it would face only diplomatic, not military, consequences for again closing the strait. Entirely predictably, Tehran could then open and close it like flipping a switch, raising or lowering the pressure as it saw fit.

Get a Gun

 https://www.tabletmag.com/sections/news/articles/get-gun-liel-leibovitz-jews

We are, as the writer Louise Perry pointed out this week, increasingly in a world of anarcho-tyranny, wherein governments fail “to enforce or adjudicate protection to its citizens while simultaneously persecuting innocent conduct.”

“Even in a society that functions well, there are microbursts of that society failing,” Kareen Shaya, cofounder of Open Source Defense, said in an interview a few years ago. “If someone breaks into your house in the middle of the night, that’s society failing for a few minutes. If someone stops and mugs you in the street, that’s society failing for a few minutes. If your spouse beats you, that’s society failing for a few minutes. Society, if it’s functioning well, is going to have your back most of the time. In those moments where it fails, I would ask: Do you have society’s back? Are you ready to fill that gap for those few minutes until society can recover and come to help you? That’s how I view gun ownership.”

The Jewish way of gun ownership is more about responsibility than power. It doesn’t flex its muscles or measure its worth in calibers. It’s precisely what the license says it ought to be: concealed, there when you need it and unobtrusive when you don’t. You can see it on display—or, rather, you can’t—when you visit Crown Heights: Every store, more or less, has a little notice in the window informing you that if you’ve got a piece and a permit, you’re very welcome to walk right in. Which tells you that the men and women you see going about their day, while far from your stereotypical image of gun-toting berserkers, are staying subtle and staying safe.

Lox & Loaded: Antisemitism spurs Jewish gun club, despite strict NY laws

 https://san.com/cc/lox-loaded-antisemitism-spurs-jewish-gun-club-despite-strict-ny-laws/

But a rise in antisemitism, along with the Oct. 7, 2023, terrorist attacks in Israel, has spurred the growth of organizations like Lox & Loaded, which describes itself as a “Jewish Owned and Operated Shooting Club.” It has opened three chapters in New York and plans another later this year, responding to a growing demand in the Jewish community for using guns for self-defense. One poll found that 56% of Jewish people said they have altered their behavior out of fear of antisemitism and hate crimes.

Werner, one of the Westchester chapter’s first members, recalled an antisemitic experience that shaped him as a 12-year-old boy waiting for a school bus in Queens, New York. 

“There is a quiet shift,” she continued. “A lot of people from all ages, mostly the older generations, are saying now is the time. People are scared. People are scared to go to synagogues. People are scared to be in Jewish communities. … A lot of people right now need to think of themselves and their families, and they’re looking for a safe way to protect themselves.”

When they’re armed, she said, “they feel safe and they feel empowered.”

Hegseth’s latest attack on Kelly underlines alarm over US weapons stockpiles

 https://thehill.com/policy/defense/5873093-kelly-hegseth-feud-weapons-stockpiles-iran/

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth’s latest attack against Sen. Mark Kelly (D-Ariz.) is underscoring the alarm over the state of the U.S. military’s weapons stockpiles more than two months into the war with Iran. 

Hegseth accused Kelly, a Navy veteran and a member of the Senate Armed Services Committee (SASC), of divulging classified information regarding key U.S. munitions during his appearance on a Sunday news show, putting a spotlight not only on his ongoing feud with the Arizona Republican but also on the high-usage rate of premier munitions against Tehran and the time it will take to replenish them. 

Rachel E. VanLandingham, a national security law expert and former Air Force active duty judge advocate who has been critical of Hegseth’s leadership of the Pentagon, said Hegseth’s threat is part of an “ongoing campaign” against Kelly and the Pentagon’s potential case against the senator has “no legal leg to stand on.” 

Experts, former defense officials and lawmakers have warned that the war with Iran has depleted the U.S.’s global supply of munitions, with the Pentagon having to pull weapons from other regions to ensure there’s an ample stash in the Middle East. 

Rambam accused in Denying Resurrection

Rambam (Tshuva 08:02)In the world to come, there is no body or physical form, only the souls of the righteous alone, without a body, like the ministering angels. Since there is no physical form, there is neither eating, drinking, nor any of the other bodily functions of this world like sitting, standing, sleeping, death, sadness, laughter, and the like.

Raavad (Hilchos Teshuva 8:2) In Olam Habah there will be no physical body The Rambam’s view appears to me as not much different than those who deny physical resurrection of the body but only to the souls. I swear this is not the view of our Sages. It clearly states in Kesubos (111b) In the future the tzadikim will be resurrected in their clothing and this is deduced from wheat. In Shabbos (114a) Rav Yannai commanded his children not to bury him in white or black clothing. . In Sanhedrin (91b) it states that resurrection will occur with physical blemishes from which they will be cured. All these sources clearly show that resurrection of the physical body will occur. However it is possible that G-d will provide strong and healthy bodies like those of angels or Eliyahu. Furthermore they it is possible that they will literally have crowns and that is not a metaphor.

Kesubos (111b The just in the time to come will rise apparelled in their own clothes. This is deduced a minori ad majus from a grain of wheat. If a grain of wheat that is buried naked sprouts up with many coverings how much more so the just who are buried in their shrouds.

 Shabbos (114a) But R. Jannai said to his sons, My sons, bury me neither in white shrouds nor in black shrouds, White, lest I do not merit, and am like a bridegroom among mourners: black, in case I have merit, and am like a mourner among bridegrooms. But bury me in court garments that come from overseas. This proves that they are coloured. 

Sanhedrin (091b) It is written, I kill, and I make alive; whilst it is also written, I wound, and I heal! — G-d said, What I slay, I resurrect i.e.,in the same state, and then, what I wound, I heal after their revival.

Sanhedrin (091b) I kill, and I make alive. I might interpret, I kill one person and give life to another, as the world goes on: therefore the Writ states, I wound, and I heal. Just as the wounding and healing obviously refer to the same person, so putting to death and bringing to life refer to the same person. This refutes those who maintain that resurrection i not intimated in the Torah.

Resurrection of the Dead

 https://www.etzion.org.il/en/philosophy/issues-jewish-thought/issues-mussar-and-faith/resurrection-dead

The Rambam’s position on this issue, however, is very unclear. He believes that the greatest pleasures can be achieved only by disembodied souls. Having a body is a disability that prevents the soul from achieving full closeness to God. Why, then, would a righteous person ever want to be resurrected? If his soul goes directly to olam ha-ba when he dies, then it would have to leave the ultimate bliss of olam ha-ba in order to be resurrected. How could leaving ultimate bliss and regaining the disability of physical existence be considered a desirable reward? This conundrum has puzzled the interpreters of the Rambam from his lifetime until this very day.

There are two general approaches to understanding the position of the Rambam. The Raavad (glosses to Hilkhot Teshuva 8:2) accuses the Rambam of maintaining that there is no such thing as physical resurrection of the dead.[2] Other contemporary thinkers also interpreted the Rambam this way, but unlike the Raavad, they agreed with this position and preached publicly that there would be no physical resurrection, invoking the authority of the Rambam.[3] According to this interpretation, the Rambam never explained the details of techiyat ha-meitim because he did not actually believe in physical resurrection. Rather, whenever techiyat ha-meitim is mentioned in Tanakh or Chazal, it is a metaphor for the continued existence of the soul after one’s physical death. Resurrection means not that the dead will come back to life, but rather that their souls will continue to live eternally in olam ha-ba.

 In Iggeret Techiyat Ha-Meitim, the Rambam's essay about the resurrection of the dead, he expresses surprise at the accusation that he does not believe in physical resurrection. How could he not believe in resurrection if he counted it as one of the thirteen principles of faith?! Why, then, does he not explain it thoroughly or give it prominence in his works?