‘Let it rain’: Mass prayer for rain held at Sea of Galilee as Israel faces worst drought in a century

 https://www.ynetnews.com/jewish-world/article/s1wu0fekwe#autoplay

With Israel facing its worst drought in a century and the Sea of Galilee 28 centimeters below its lower red line, dozens gathered on its shores to pray for rain, led by Safed’s Chief Rabbi Shmuel Eliyahu, recalling past prayers said to have brought storms

If the dry conditions persist into the new year, the Water Authority is expected to impose deeper cuts to agricultural and environmental water allocations. Officials are also considering measures such as drying up public gardens in some municipalities to conserve what remains of the country’s water resources.

Senate Republicans defect, reject Trump's tariffs on Canadian goods

 https://www.foxnews.com/politics/senate-republicans-defect-reject-trumps-tariffs-canadian-goods

Paul, one of the co-sponsors of Kaine’s resolution, has consistently rejected Trump’s usage of tariffs and argued that it was a tax on consumers in the U.S. rather than on foreign countries.

He noted that the message it would send to the White House, despite pressure from Vance to support Trump’s duties, was "that a rule by emergency is not what the Constitution intended, that taxes are supposed to originate in the House of Representatives."

McConnell staked his position against the tariffs in a statement, where he argued that retaliatory tariffs have negatively affected Kentucky farmers and distillers.

"Tariffs make both building and buying in America more expensive. The economic harms of trade wars are not the exception to history, but the rule. And no cross-eyed reading of Reagan will reveal otherwise," he said. "This week, I will vote in favor of resolutions to end emergency tariff authorities."

Scandals of the Reagan administration

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scandals_of_the_Reagan_administration#:~:text=The%20most%20well-known%20and,six%20U.S.%20citizens%20being%20held

 The presidency of Ronald Reagan was marked by numerous scandals, resulting in the investigation, indictment or conviction of over 138 administration officials, the largest number for any president of the United States.

The most well-known and politically damaging of the scandals since Watergate, the Iran-Contra affair came to light in 1986 when Ronald Reagan conceded that the United States had sold weapons to the Islamic Republic of Iran as part of a largely unsuccessful effort to secure the release of six U.S. citizens being held hostage in Lebanon. It was also disclosed that some of the money from the arms deal with Iran had been covertly and illegally funneled into a fund to aid the right-wing Contras counter-revolutionary groups seeking to overthrow the socialist Sandinista government of Nicaragua. The Iran–Contra affair, as it became known, did serious damage throughout the Reagan presidency. The investigations were effectively halted when Reagan's vice-president and successor, George H. W. Bush pardoned Secretary of Defense Caspar Weinberger before his trial began.[2]

Savings and loan crisis in which 747 institutions failed and had to be rescued with $160 billion in taxpayer dollars.[24] Reagan's "elimination of loopholes" in the tax code included the elimination of the "passive loss" provisions that subsidized rental housing. Because this was removed retroactively, it bankrupted many real estate developments which used this tax break as a premise, which in turn bankrupted 747 Savings and Loans, many of whom were operating more or less as banks, thus requiring the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation to cover their debts and losses with taxpayer money. This with some other "deregulation" policies, ultimately led to the largest political and financial scandal in U.S. history to that date. The ultimate cost of the crisis is estimated to have totaled around $150 billion, about $125 billion of which was directly subsidized by the U.S. government, which further increased the large budget deficits of the early 1990s. 

Giving Hamas hope, Gaza’s future rests on three somewhat contradictory documents

 https://www.timesofisrael.com/giving-hamas-hope-gazas-future-rests-on-three-somewhat-contradictory-documents

Trump boasts that the world backs his 20-point plan, but no one even signed it. Hamas committed to the first phase of the deal, but has not said it will disarm

The first phase of the ceasefire in Gaza is still in effect, but it remains so only because of a concerted diplomatic effort from the United States.

“Do not act in a way that would endanger the ceasefire. We want to do everything to reach the second phase,” top White House Middle East advisers Jared Kushner and Steve Witkoff reportedly told Netanyahu.

On Tuesday, Hamas struck again in Rafah, with a sniper killing an IDF reservist. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu ordered the IDF to carry out “powerful strikes” on targets in Gaza in response to Hamas’s violation of the ceasefire. Gaza’s Hamas-affiliated health authorities reported more than 100 dead.

But by Wednesday morning, the ceasefire was back on. Netanyahu had ordered the strikes before notifying the Trump administration, but only carried them out after giving that notice; US officials had reportedly pushed Israel to limit its response to the sniper attack and to Hamas playing games with the return of bodies of slain hostages.

Much of the ceasefire’s turbulence has come from Hamas violations and Israel’s desire to respond forcefully. Hamas’s behavior has put the entire deal at risk, but the truce and hostage-release phase had tensions baked in.

Its exact terms were not fully clear. The involved parties did not agree which ceasefire documents were binding. And no matter what Hamas believes its obligations are, the fact that the terms remain vague in important respects seems to give the group reason to believe it can find a way to evade the stated Trump vision of a Gaza in which Hamas plays no part whatsoever.

The ambiguity around what Israel and Hamas committed to, and to what exactly the countries overseeing the ceasefire’s implementation are bound, leaves plenty of room for Hamas to wriggle its way out of terms it does not like and to drag the process out.

It also leaves Israel clinging to Trump’s promises about Hamas disarmament, rather than a signed obligation by Hamas.

The Trump plan's moment of truth

 https://www.israelhayom.com/2025/10/30/hamas-qatar-pressure-trump-plan-hostage-bodies

Jerusalem and Washington have defined the coming days as especially important for the continuation of the ceasefire and the transition to the next stage of the Trump plan. An Israeli diplomatic source said attention should be paid to the Qatari Prime Minister's remarks in New York, where he repeated his country's commitment to bringing Hamas to surrender its weapons.

Jerusalem shuts train station, roads ahead massive ultra-Orthodox draft protest

 https://www.ynetnews.com/article/hj0oddx1wl

The protest, expected to bring together various factions within the ultra-Orthodox community, is being held in response to the arrest of several yeshiva students, including one from the prominent Ateret Shlomo yeshiva. A controversial campaign advocating for his release has compared him to hostages held in Gaza.

The Jerusalem Municipality and Transportation Ministry said that from noon until about 7 p.m., additional closures will affect key roads including the city entrance corridor, Jaffa Street near the central bus station, and the Chords Bridge area.

Light rail service will be reduced starting at noon, operating only between the Neve Yaakov and Davidka stations, and between Hadassah Ein Kerem and Denmark Square. Other central stations, including Mahane Yehuda, the central bus station, and Kiryat Moshe, will be closed.

Trump blocks Israeli plan to expand control in Gaza following ceasefire violation

 https://www.israelnationalnews.com/news/417032

US President Donald Trump vetoed an Israeli proposal to shift the yellow line in the Gaza Strip and expand IDF control in response to a serious ceasefire violation by Hamas that resulted in the death of Master Sergeant (Res.) Yona Efraim Feldbaum.

In the aftermath of the incident, Israel had planned for the IDF to assume control of the targeted area, contingent on American approval. However, Trump ultimately blocked the initiative.

The decision raised eyebrows in Israel, particularly as it followed Trump’s own remarks in which he appeared to support a strong Israeli response.

Social Pressure

 Hi – I'm reading "SuperFreakonomics: Global Cooling, Patriotic Prostitutes, and Why Suicide Bombers Should Buy Life Insurance" by Steven D. Levitt, Stephen J. Dubner and wanted to share this quote with you.

For example, the abort rate among American bombers leaving England for daytime sorties over Germany was found to be unnaturally high,""about 20 percent. The pilots gave a variety of explanations for failing to reach the target: a malfunctioning electrical system, a spotty radio, or illness. But a closer analysis of the data led McNamara to conclude that these reasons were “baloney.” The real explanation, he said, was fear. “A helluva lot of them were going to be killed, they knew that, and they found reasons to not go over the target.”""McNamara reported this to the commanding officer, the notoriously headstrong Curtis LeMay, who responded by flying the lead plane on bombing missions and vowing to court-martial any pilot who turned back. The abort rate, McNamara says, “dropped overnight.”"

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Netanyahu orders ‘forceful’ strikes in Gaza, testing ceasefire

 https://www.politico.com/news/2025/10/28/benjamin-netanyahu-israel-gaza-strikes-ceasefire-00625432

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Tuesday ordered his military to conduct “forceful” airstrikes in Gaza, his office wrote on social media, putting new pressure on a weeks-old ceasefire agreement with Hamas.

Netanyahu’s office said hours earlier that remains that were recently returned by Hamas were actually just additional remains of a hostage who was already previously recovered “in a military operation about 2 years ago.”

“This constitutes a clear violation of the agreement by the Hamas terrorist organization,” the prime minister’s office said earlier Tuesday. “Prime Minister Netanyahu will hold a security discussion with the heads of the security establishment to discuss Israel’s steps in response to the violations.”

Trump: ‘Nothing’ will jeopardize Gaza ceasefire, Israel ‘should hit back’ if troops killed

 https://www.timesofisrael.com/vance-downplays-israel-hamas-flareup-argues-gaza-ceasefire-is-holding

US President Donald Trump declared Wednesday that “nothing is going to jeopardize” the ceasefire in Gaza, but added that Israel “should hit back” if its soldiers were killed. His remarks came a day after an exchange of fire between Israel and Hamas, and as Jerusalem and the terror group accused each other of violating the ceasefire deal.

“They killed an Israeli soldier. So the Israelis hit back. And they should hit back,” Trump told reporters on Air Force One.

A senior Trump aide told reporters earlier this month that US special envoy Steve Witkoff and fellow Trump adviser Jared Kushner provided a verbal assurance to Hamas that Washington would hold Israel to the terms of the deal and not allow it to resume the war so long as Hamas kept its end of the agreement.

Trump has claimed that Hamas officials told his aides Witkoff and Kushner that they would disarm, but the terror organization has repeatedly said otherwise.

The new pirates of the Caribbean

 https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2025/10/28/boat-strikes-piracy-illegal-hegseth/

Attacks against alleged drug boats are lawless.

There’s a name for attacks on civilian ships on the high seas: Piracy. That’s also an unfortunately plausible description of the Trump administration’s bombings of vessels around South America that it says are carrying drugs.

Trump hasn’t bothered seeking Congress’s approval for these attacks, probably because a majority wouldn’t approve of the intentional killing of noncombatants. The made-for-social-media boat explosions will likely continue, but they should be called what they are.

Red Cross slams Hamas for staging fake hostage recovery

 https://www.israelnationalnews.com/news/416981

The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) issued a rare and sharply worded statement on Tuesday, criticizing the Hamas terrorist organization for staging the recovery of a hostage’s remains in Gaza.

Footage released by the IDF on Tuesday showed Hamas terrorists burying the body in the ground before summoning Red Cross personnel and then retrieving it in their presence, creating the false impression of a genuine discovery.

It was later announced that the remains that were handed over to Israel were those of hostage Ofir Sarfati, whose body was retrieved by the IDF in a special operation two years ago.

Netanyahu orders "powerful" strikes in Gaza as ceasefire breaks down

 https://www.axios.com/2025/10/28/israel-break-ceasefire-hamas-bodies-rafah

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced on Tuesday that he had ordered "powerful strikes in the Gaza Strip immediately" in retaliation for what Israeli officials say was a Hamas attack on Israeli forces in the city of Rafah.

The big picture: The deal to end the war in Gaza was easily President Trump's biggest diplomatic achievement this term. It's now looking incredibly fragile.

The hostage crisis takes new turn – What are Israel's options?

 https://www.israelhayom.com/

Israel examining punishment measures after terror group returned additional remains of Ofir Tzarfati, who was not among 13 deceased hostages remaining in Gaza. Events have triggered renewed pressure from Right to escalate military action.

Israel strikes Gaza after it accuses Hamas of violating ceasefire and staging hostage discovery

 https://edition.cnn.com/2025/10/28/middleeast/israel-military-strikes-gaza-latam-intl

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu instructed the military to carry out “immediate, powerful strikes in the Gaza Strip,” his office said in a short statement. The US was notified of the decision to carry out strikes in Gaza, a US official told CNN.

A military official said Hamas had attacked Israeli troops east of the so-called yellow line, which separates Israeli-occupied Gaza from the remainder of the territory. The troops, in the Rafah area of southern Gaza, had come under RPG and sniper fire, the official said.

Trump, 79, Gets Confused Explaining Water to the Navy

https://www.thedailybeast.com/trump-79-gets-confused-explaining-water-to-the-navy

The president went on a baffling rant about the scientific properties of water on board the USS George Washington.

Donald Trump went on a deranged rant about the power of water to destroy magnets during a rambling address to the U.S. Navy just off the coast of Japan.

Speaking aboard the USS George Washington aircraft carrier during his tour of East Asia, the president appeared to suggest—in a largely incoherent speech—that he is pushing for aircraft carriers to use “steam for the catapults” and hydraulics for elevators, while wrongly claiming that water can disable magnets.

Wall Street Journal editorial board: Trump ‘wrong’ on Reagan, tariffs

 https://thehill.com/homenews/state-watch/5575025-wall-street-journal-slams-trump

“Mr. Trump is wrong about the Reagan speech, and he was wrong when he said on social media that ‘Ronald Reagan LOVED tariffs for purposes of National Security and the Economy,'” the Journal wrote in an editorial published on Sunday.

“The Gipper was a free trader. In the 1987 speech, Reagan was trying to explain why he was making an exception to his free-trade policies on semiconductor imports from Japan,” the newspaper argued. “Mr. Trump has been fortunate that his tariffs haven’t triggered much retaliation, which has spared us from a global trade war. But the tariffs are doing economic damage by raising costs for consumers and businesses and by dampening animal spirits that should be soaring with his tax bill and deregulation.”

Trump reacted in anger to the ad, which featured remarks from Reagan that criticized tariffs, calling the spot “fake” and terminating all trade negotiations with Canada over the ad.

“He can boast about tariffs all he wants,” the Journal added. “But he shouldn’t get away with taking Reagan’s trade beliefs in vain.”

Trump 'taking Reagan's trade beliefs in vain': WSJ editorial board slams tariffs on Canada

Ford doubles down on Reagan ad that got Trump fuming

 https://www.politico.com/news/2025/10/27/ford-doubles-down-reagan-ad-trump-tariffs-00624042

 Ontario Premier Doug Ford has no regrets about being a pain to the Trump administration.

Trump abruptly terminated trade talks with Canada on Thursday night over an ad paid for by Ford’s government that used excerpts from a 1987 radio address by Reagan in an effort to sway public opinion on tariffs in Republican-held districts. The ad, Trump claimed, was intended to interfere in the Supreme Court’s upcoming ruling on whether the president can unilaterally impose tariffs.

Republicans Want Zohran Mamdani to Win: ‘Leftist Agenda in Action’

https://www.newsweek.com/republicans-want-zohran-mamdani-to-win-leftist-agenda-in-action-10946752

 Zohran Mamdani is poised to become New York City's next mayor — and some high-profile critics are already licking their chops, including Florida Governor Ron DeSantis.

“Assuming he gets elected, Mamdani will be the most prominent Democrat in America the day he takes office,” DeSantis posted on X. “Voters across the country will be able to watch his leftist agenda in action and know that his path is the Democrat path nationally.”

A victory on November 4 by Mamdani, who leads former Governor Andrew Cuomo and Republican challenger Curtis Sliwa in polls with early voting already underway, will “be good for Republicans, bad for New York City,” DeSantis said.

Former DOJ officials say Comey case is vindictive, call for dismissal

 https://www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/2025/10/27/comey-vindictive-prosecution-amicus

More than 100 former Justice Department officials urged a federal judge in Virginia on Monday to dismiss charges against former FBI director James B. Comey, arguing that the prosecution was fueled by political animus and not guided by legal standards.

The brief to U.S. District Judge Michael S. Nachmanoff, who is presiding over the Comey case, was signed by former senior Justice Department officials across multiple Republican and Democratic administrations, including former Obama administration attorney general Eric Holder, former Bush administration acting attorney general Peter Keisler and dozens of former U.S. attorneys across the country.

Victims of Palestinian Attacks Say Prisoner Releases Will Lead to More Violence

 https://www.wsj.com/world/middle-east/victims-of-palestinian-attacks-say-prisoner-releases-will-lead-to-more-violence-1086498f?mod=hp_lead_pos8

Some of those freed as part of Gaza cease-fire were serving long sentences for crimes like murder

Tal Hartuv was at home in northern Israel on the afternoon of Oct. 11 when she saw the list of Palestinian prisoners slated for release as part of the Gaza cease-fire deal between Israel and Hamas. She recognized a name: Iyad Fatafteh. He was one of two men convicted of stabbing her multiple times with a machete and murdering her American friend 15 years ago.

“There is no justice, and I feel helpless,” said Hartuv, 59 years old, who was born in the U.K. and has been living in Israel for over 40 years. She said Fatafteh’s release has undone the past 15 years of healing. “It brings it all back up again,” she said.

Senator Graham: Trump’s Gaza ceasefire lets Hamas grow stronger

 https://www.israelnationalnews.com/news/416908

Senator Lindsey Graham criticizes President Trump’s Gaza ceasefire plan, citing King Abdullah’s doubts about a peace enforcement mission and Hamas’s growing power.

US Senator Lindsey Graham expressed deep concern over President Donald Trump's Gaza ceasefire plan, warning that it may unintentionally empower Hamas rather than neutralize the terror group.

In a social media post published Sunday, Graham said he fully agrees with King Abdullah of Jordan's analysis of the current security proposal for Gaza, calling the idea of an international force tasked with disarming Hamas "unrealistic."

"To expect an international force to go to war with Hamas to require their disarmament is unrealistic. To expect Hamas to disarm without the threat of confrontation is unrealistic," Graham wrote.

London’s sad decline is a warning to New Yorkers

 https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2025/10/27/london-decline-mamdani-sadiq-khan-new-york/

London’s economy has gone into a sad decline. And as New York prepares to elect a left-wing mayor, perhaps voters there should reflect on London’s lessons — because their city could easily be going the same way.

The depreciation of the British capital’s once powerhouse economy is becoming more obvious every day. The City of London used to be the key financial hub for all of Europe; this year it dropped out of the list of top 20 initial public offering markets in the world, overtaken by Mexico and Oman. Major British companies have shifted their listings to New York, while some newer ones don’t even bother considering London. Many of the country’s most successful entrepreneurs have decamped for Milan or Dubai, with Nikolay Storonsky, the founder of the wildly popular fintech app Revolut, the latest to join the exodus. House prices, which admittedly had reached eye-watering levels, have started to go into decline, with sales of properties of at least 5 million pounds ($6.67 million) down by about 15 percent over the last year and multimillion-pound price cuts in the ultra-luxury market.

But the main problem is surely this: London has shifted a long way to the left. The Labour Party’s Sadiq Khan is now in his third term as mayor, and has partnered with the Labour government in power nationally to crush the economic life and energy out of the city. Under Khan and Prime Minister Keir Starmer, new ideas get blocked and wealth creation is demonized. Wealthy “non-doms” (residents whose primary homes are outside Britain), who used to be taxed only on their British rather than their worldwide income, now find all of it subject to some of the highest levies in the world. Unsurprisingly, they are fleeing elsewhere. Tourists, who in most of Europe are spared the 20 percent VAT, or sales tax, now must pay it in Britain — deterring the big spenders from Asia and the Gulf who used to flock to London’s high-end stores.

Canada is poised to lose its measles elimination status — and the US could, too

 https://edition.cnn.com/2025/10/27/health/measles-elimination-canada-us-who

Monday marks a full year of continuous measles transmission in Canada, a milestone that’s poised to set the country back decades on a global health commitment. Ongoing transmission in the United States puts it among a group of countries that also face scrutiny from international leaders and are at risk of a similar fate.

All of the World Health Organization’s regions have committed to eliminate measles by 2030, defined by the absence of local virus transmission for any period longer than 12 months. Canada achieved this goal in 1998, but falling vaccination rates set the stage for cases to grow into a massive — and ongoing — outbreak, putting the country and region at risk of losing elimination status.

The potential to lose elimination status “highlights the severity of the measles outbreak,” Bowdish said. “If you look at the other countries that also have circulating measles, you see that they are countries without strong public health like Canada and they are countries that have been torn apart by war or civil unrest. It is an eye-opener about how you need to have constant vigilance and consistent support for public health in order to fight infectious disease.”

And Canada isn’t the only country posing a risk to the region. Six others — including the US and Mexico — have active measles transmission situations that will be discussed at the PAHO commission meeting. President Donald Trump issued an executive order in January to withdraw the US from WHO, but PAHO says that it expects US officials – both from the CDC and the National Sustainability Commission – to attend the commission meeting on measles elimination next month.

But measles counts continue to grow in the US, and ongoing outbreaks in multiple states — including one on the border of Arizona and Utah and one in South Carolina — are being investigated for possible connections to the Texas outbreak. If links are confirmed and cases continue to spread into January, the US will have also lost its claim to the measles elimination status that it earned in 2000.

America Can Give Refuge to British Jews

 https://www.wsj.com/opinion/america-can-give-refuge-to-british-jews-d846104b?mod=hp_opin_pos_5

The U.K. has made clear they’re no longer welcome there.

The latest news out of the U.K. is beyond belief. No fans of Maccabi Tel Aviv soccer club will be allowed to attend its Europa League game against Aston Villa in Birmingham—because of “safety concerns.” British authorities are admitting they can’t protect Jews from antisemites. Instead of confronting the haters, they’re punishing the victims. The local member of Parliament, Pakistan-born Ayoub Khan, gloated: “I welcome the news that Maccabi Tel Aviv fans will not be permitted to watch the match at Aston Villa! Well done to all those that signed our petition!”

I left Britain 14 years ago. Once a haven for Jews fleeing persecution, the country of my birth has become unrecognizable. Antisemitism isn’t creeping anymore. It’s marching down the high street, waving flags, shouting slogans, while authorities stand on the sidelines pretending it’s a “protest.”

Kelly: Senate evidence ‘does not back up’ Trump’s claims on Caribbean boat strikes

 https://thehill.com/homenews/senate/5573828-kelly-trump-caribbean-boat-strikes-evidence

Democratic Sen. Mark Kelly (Ariz.) said he and his fellow senators were presented with evidence “that does not back up” the Trump administration’s claims that targeted boats in the Caribbean Sea are smuggling fentanyl into the U.S. 

Kelly said Sunday that while the evidence the administration presented showed there were drugs on the boats, it was not fentanyl.

Trump defies ‘America First’ agenda with Argentina beef plan

 https://thehill.com/business/5572249-argentina-beef-trump-controversy

President Trump is breaking from his “America First” trade agenda and feuding with some of his most loyal supporters in a fight over U.S. beef prices. 

Trump has centered his economic agenda around reducing the U.S.’s reliance on cheaper foreign products and boosting domestic production of goods and food. 

“I have no idea who is telling our great president — our ‘America First’ president —  that this is a good idea,” said Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.), a staunch Trump ally, in an appearance on The Tucker Carlson show this week. “Because, honestly, it’s a punch in the gut to all of our American cattle ranchers, and they are furious and rightfully so.” 

Terrorists need improvement in their material status - Western Belief

 Hi – I'm reading "SuperFreakonomics: Global Cooling, Patriotic Prostitutes, and Why Suicide Bombers Should Buy Life Insurance" by Steven D. Levitt, Stephen J. Dubner and wanted to share this quote with you.

"Conventional wisdom holds that the typical terrorist comes from a poor family and is himself poorly educated. This seems sensible. Children who are born into low-income, low-education families are far more likely than average to become criminals, so wouldn’t the same be true for terrorists? To find out, the economist Alan Krueger combed through a Hezbollah newsletter called Al-Ahd (The Oath)""and compiled biographical details on 129 dead shahids (martyrs). He then compared them with men from the same age bracket in the general populace of Lebanon. The terrorists, he found, were less likely to come from a poor family (28 percent versus 33 percent) and more likely to have at least a high-school education (47 percent versus 38 percent). A similar analysis of Palestinian suicide bombers by Claude Berrebi found that only 16 percent came from impoverished families, versus more than 30 percent of""rorist groups to the al Qaeda members who carried out the September 11 attacks in the United States."

"Furthermore, as Krueger points out, crime is primarily driven by personal gain, whereas terrorism is fun""fundamentally a political act. In his analysis, the kind of person most likely to become a terrorist is similar to the kind of person most likely to…vote. Think of terrorism as civic passion on steroids."

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Trump Pardons His Family’s Crypto Pal

 https://www.wsj.com/opinion/donald-trump-pardons-changpeng-zhao-binance-9981ead2?mod=hp_opin_pos_2

America’s Founders made the presidential pardon power absolute, and they did so as a protection against injustice. But Hamilton and Madison might be having second thoughts as they watch President Trump dole out pardons as a form of political legal tender.

In the latest example, Mr. Trump on Wednesday pardoned crypto kingpin Changpeng Zhao, who happens to be a Trump family business partner. “I gave him a pardon at the request of a lot of very good people,” Mr. Trump said. “A lot of people say that he wasn’t guilty of anything.”

Toddler dies of measles in Jerusalem

 https://www.israelnationalnews.com/news/416818

A two-year-old girl has died at Hadassah Ein Kerem Hospital in Jerusalem from complications caused by measles, raising the death toll of the ongoing outbreak of the disease to eight, all under the age of two and a half years.

"We know that the illness is being underdiagnosed, and there are a few thousand additional patients with the disease," Sharon Alroy-Preis, Israel's chief epidemiologist, said. So far, 562 patients have been hospitalized, of whom 90% are children, the majority of whom are unvaccinated. "It is clear to us that the morbidity continues and will continue. We hope that we won't see an additional increase in scope, but we need to remember that there are still thousands of unvaccinated children in Jerusalem and other localities."

‘America First’ is becoming ‘Trump First’ as the president eyes global power

 https://edition.cnn.com/2025/10/15/politics/trump-argentina-milei-israel-gaza-ukraine-putin-analysis

Donald Trump has his finger in an awful lot of global pies for a president who was supposed to put America first.

Trump on Tuesday threatened to disarm Hamas if it didn’t give up its weapons in Gaza, raising speculation about a US military role, and crowed about obliterating another speedboat off Venezuela in his legally dubious war against drug cartels.

iddle of a US government shutdown that he claims forced him to fire hundreds of federal workers for lack of funds, he dangled a $20 billion economic bailout for Argentina — but only if voters there shore up his scandal-hit populist pal President Javier Milei.

Trump also publicly tossed around Ukraine’s desire for him to send Tomahawk cruise missiles that could strike deep inside Russia. This might risk the direct US clash with Moscow that he spent months warning against on the 2024 campaign trail. But the threat might repair his crumbled prestige after President Vladimir Putin has mocked his peace efforts.

Trump’s new zeal for global entanglements might surprise MAGA voters who thought the president meant to exclusively take care of business at home.

In his second term, as he smashes constitutional and legal restraints at home, he’s added a new dimension to his foreign policy — seeking to secure personal prestige, his legacy, a Nobel Peace Prize and a place among the world’s most powerful strongmen.

Sometimes, it feels like “America First” has become Trump first.

Ben Shapiro says Trump’s $230M DOJ payout push is ‘rife with conflicts of interest’

 https://thehill.com/homenews/administration/5573489-shapiro-slams-trump-doj-payment-effort/?tbref=hp

Conservative commentator Ben Shapiro on Saturday slammed President Trump’s effort to receive a $230 million payment from the Department of Justice (DOJ) as compensation for the various federal probes into his conduct.

“I think that it’s rife with conflicts of interest,” Shapiro told NewsNation’s Batya Ungar-Sargon. 

Who Is Winning New Jersey Election? What Polls Show 10 Days Out

 https://www.newsweek.com/who-is-winning-new-jersey-election-what-polls-show-10-days-out-10926460

Mark Shanahan, who teaches American politics at the University of Surrey in the U.K., previously told Newsweek Sherrill would still likely win. "It's hardly a surprise to see the Ciattarelli PAC publish a poll result in the run-up to early in-person voting showing their candidate gaining in the race," he said.

"But the reality is that New Jersey is a longtime Democrat state and it would be a major shock if Mikie Sherrill didn't prevail.

"Disquiet with the president, the ongoing legislative shutdown and the continuing economic struggle for average New Jerseyites mean they're likely to stick with the Dems at the head of state government."

Destroying White House and Corruption

Aide to Republican candidate for NJ governor says he isn’t ‘taking money from Jews’

 https://www.timesofisrael.com/aide-to-republican-candidate-for-nj-governor-says-he-isnt-taking-money-from-jews

Following Nadeem’s remarks, Ciattarelli took to the stage and praised Nadeem, telling the crowd that the adviser “hasn’t let me down one day” since the pair met eight months ago.

He also boasted that he was the “first gubernatorial candidate in history that has a Muslim as part of his inner circle of advisers.”

“Unmitigated Disaster for Jack:” What They’re Saying as Ciattarelli’s Campaign Defends Homophobic, Antisemitic Senior Advisor

 https://www.insidernj.com/press-release/unmitigated-disaster-for-jack-what-theyre-saying-as-ciattarellis-campaign-defends-homophobic-antisemitic-senior-advisor

As a Ciattarelli campaign Executive Director’s comments that they aren’t “taking money from Jews” and want a “ban on same-sex marriage” draw more and more scrutiny, instead of doing what any normal campaign would do – immediately denouncing and firing this individual for his disgusting comments – the Ciattarelli campaign is doubling down, telling reporters it “stands by” him.

Rider University Rebovich Institute Director Micah Rasmussen summed it up simply: This is “an unmitigated disaster for Jack.”

And as Jack refuses mounting pressure to fire this senior advisor, it’s only getting worse.

Zohran Mamdani’s mayoral candidacy stirs Jews in New York – and beyond

 https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2025/10/25/mamdani-israel-newyork-jews

But it is his stance on Israel — including its right to any kind of Jewish identity — and his positions on Palestinian rights that have proved the most emotional issues of the race. And in the closing days of the New York mayor’s race, sharp debates over antisemitism and Islamophobia, present from the moment of Mamdani’s upset primary win, have reached a crescendo.

“When public figures like New York mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani refuse to condemn violent slogans, deny Israel’s legitimacy, and accuse the Jewish state of genocide, they, in the words of New York Board of Rabbis president Rabbi Ammiel Hirsch, ‘Delegitimize the Jewish community and encourage and exacerbate hostility toward Judaism and Jews,’” the petition said.

“This is something starting to make Jewish people very, very nervous,” he said. “Throughout the country, Jews have a wide range of opinions on any action the state does. Many, many Zionist Jews are highly critical of Israel, just like there are American patriots critical of our government. That doesn’t mean our government shouldn’t exist.”

At the same time, Mamdani has been embraced by Jewish progressives dedicated to the cause of Palestinian rights. Mamdani declined to be interviewed for this piece.

How Trump’s ballroom will dwarf the White House

 https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2025/10/25/trump-white-house-ballroom-east-wing

Trump’s new 90,000-square-foot White House ballroom would be almost as large as the rest of the complex.

President Donald Trump’s project to build an expansive new White House ballroom officially broke ground Monday. Crews tore down the East Wing in only four days, despite Trump’s claim that the ballroom wouldn’t interfere with the existing building. There has been little public information released about the layout or design of the addition, which would be the largest ever, with a planned size almost double the footprint of the 55,000-square-foot main section of the White House.

Trump’s 20-point Gaza plan faces growing doubts and diplomatic tensions

 https://www.ynetnews.com/opinions-analysis/article/s1c7nw9clg#autoplay

The stream of senior U.S. officials landing in Israel does not signal the arrival of lasting peace promised by President Donald Trump — nor the positive change in the Middle East that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has already claimed credit for. Instead, it reflects growing panic in Washington, where the administration is struggling to conclude Phase One of Trump’s 20-point Gaza plan. The U.S. lacks even the beginnings of a framework accepted by all parties, let alone a practical roadmap or funding for implementing Phase Two.

The panic stems from concerns that Netanyahu — as he did after the previous hostage deal this past winter — will seize on Hamas' stalling tactics and the broader implementation hurdles as justification to resume the war. Washington is well aware that members of Netanyahu’s government, and likely Netanyahu himself, believe Hamas can only be disarmed and Gaza demilitarized through an all-out military campaign in which the IDF decisively crushes the terror group. They see the current moment — after the release of all living hostages — as a rare opportunity to strike hard from air and land across the entire Gaza Strip, without risking Israeli lives, until Hamas fighters surrender.

Trump’s remedy to the panic has been creative, if somewhat crude: "Bibi-sitting" — a form of diplomatic babysitting involving a constant rotation of senior U.S. officials in Israel, whose physical presence is meant to deter Netanyahu from resuming hostilities or blocking humanitarian aid. Notably, this airlift of American envoys no longer includes Jared Kushner or Steve Witkoff, who are abroad seeking regional cooperation and unable to personally keep Netanyahu in check.

RFK Jr to urge Americans to eat more saturated fats, alarming health experts

 https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/oct/25/rfk-jr-saturated-fats

Robert F Kennedy Jr, the health and human services secretary, is planning to issue guidance encouraging Americans to eat more saturated fats, contradicting decades of dietary recommendations and alarming experts.

Krauss continued: “The guy is looking at evidence in a very cherrypicking kind of ways. There’s certain things that he says that sort of fit what I would consider responsible recommendations regarding processed foods, etc, but then it’s mixed up with this other thing, which makes it sound like the whole recommendation is evidence based, but it’s just not true.”

How a DNA test solved a medical mystery – and revealed a doctor’s decades of deception

 https://edition.cnn.com/2025/10/25/us/dna-test-fertility-fraud

But Peete is far from the only doctor to have committed this type of deception. In 1992, Cecil Jacobson was convicted of 52 counts of fraud and perjury for inseminating his patients with his own sperm and was sent to prison. And the advent of consumer DNA products has led to numerous claims of fertility fraud over the years.

Lankford says he’d be ‘apoplectic’ if Biden was striking boats ‘with this level of insight’

 https://thehill.com/homenews/senate/5572572-trump-drug-boat-strikes-lankford/?tbref=hp

Sen. James Lankford (R-Okla.) questioned the Trump administration’s strikes on Venezuelan vessels without the approval of Congress.

“The administration needs to give insight into Congress. That’s part of it. If this was happening with this level of insight under the Biden administration, I’d be apoplectic,” Lankford said during a Thursday appearance on C-SPAN’s new “Ceasefire” program.

Deja vu all over again - No Kings

From Paul Johnson's Birth of the Modern page 444-445

 But George IV, no doubt because as heir apparent he had been more indulged and flattered than his brothers, was by common consent the worst of the lot. His instinct was always to desert and betray. 

Men disliked him particularly because he was an inveterate liar. Indeed he was a fantasist who could convince himself that certain imaginary things had happened

One collateral reason why men disliked George IV was that he was very much a ladies’ man, always surrounded by petticoats.

The fact that George preferred female company did not mean that ladies liked him; quite the contrary. Outside his own family, all the women with whom he was intimately connected came to regret it. 

As with all the grandest architectural schemes, George IV’s plan to transform and beautify London was not exactly carried through as he intended, and he was particularly unlucky with the palaces he built or altered. 

Trump targets enemies using mortgage records, a threat to D.C. elite

 https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2025/10/24/washington-politicians-mortgage-scrutiny-trump

President Donald Trump’s administration is using personal mortgage files to investigate, criminally refer and indict its enemies for fraud, zeroing in on people who appear to claim multiple homes as primary residences.

At least 41 members of the House — 29 Democrats and 12 Republicans — included multiple mortgages on their most recent annual financial disclosure reports, according to a Washington Post analysis of publicly available documents. At least 26 senators — 16 Republicans and 10 Democrats — disclosed multiple mortgages on their filings.

The tactic may pose a special threat in Washington, where dozens of lawmakers and other political figures also report holding mortgages on more than one home.

Yet the findings underscore the unusual nature of using the documents as basis for fraud.

“It’s in the same general ballpark of taking information about people that exists for a legitimate purpose,” Hedtler-Gaudette said, “and then trying to abuse and misuse it.”

How the Gaza Deal Got Done

https://time.com/7327675/trump-israel-gaza-deal-interview

 Trump’s envoys had brokered a deal with mediators from Qatar, Egypt, and Turkey to end two years of bombardment and bloodshed. The following Monday, the President told Netanyahu, they were going to announce the agreement—and the Israeli Premier had to accept it. “Bibi, you can’t fight the world,” Trump told him, recounting their conversation in an interview with TIME. “You can fight individual battles, but the world’s against you.”

Netanyahu pushed back, but Trump wasn’t having it. He launched into a profanity-laced monologue cataloguing all he’d done for Israel as President: moving the U.S. embassy to Jerusalem, recognizing its sovereignty over the Golan Heights, brokering the Abraham Accords that normalized relations between Israel and several Arab states, even joining Israel’s strikes on Iran in June. Trump could no longer stand with Netanyahu, he suggested, if the Prime Minister didn’t sign onto the pact. “It was a very blunt and straightforward statement to Bibi,” says Steve Witkoff, Trump’s special envoy to the Middle East, “that he had no tolerance for anything other than this.” (Netanyahu’s office declined to comment.)

By the end of the call, Netanyahu had agreed to a two-phase deal that included a cease-fire between Israel and Hamas, secured the return of Israeli hostages in exchange for Palestinian prisoners and detainees, allowed aid shipments into the ravaged enclave, withdrew Israeli forces from parts of the Gaza Strip, and opened negotiations for a final settlement. If it holds, the accord would end the longest war in Israel’s history, one that killed some 2,000 Israelis and nearly 70,000 Palestinians.

The next phase is even thornier. It includes defining the scope of Israel’s military withdrawal and the structure of a peacekeeping force; disarming Hamas; and determining who will govern postwar Gaza. “Those are very difficult things to do,” says Dan Shapiro, the former U.S. ambassador to Israel under Barack Obama. Among the risks, Shapiro says, is that Trump could “end up with kind of a frozen conflict in the current situation, with Israel controlling half of Gaza, Hamas controlling the other half, suppressing its own people, and no real reconstruction.”

Erdogan Sides With Hamas, Demands Trump Stop Israel

 https://www.newsweek.com/erdogan-sides-with-hamas-demands-trump-stop-israel-10932029

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan called on President Donald Trump's U.S. to take the lead in applying pressure on Israel to stop violating the ceasefire with Hamas, claiming the Islamist militant group was adhering to the truce. Erdogan's remarks were reported by Turkish state media, including TRT and Anadolu Agency.

Rubio met with Netanyahu on Thursday and, like other U.S. officials and envoys visiting Israel this week, struck a tone of optimism about progress that has been made since the ceasefire began, while noting the challenges that lie ahead.

“No one is under any illusions. We’ve already done the impossible once and we intend to keep doing that," he said.

Microsoft pulls the plug on Israel—and shoots itself in the foot

 https://www.ynetnews.com/opinions-analysis/article/b10xzudrxg

Microsoft, the world’s second most valuable public company, recently took the unprecedented decision to disable Azure cloud and AI services for Israel’s military intelligence, known as Unit 8200.  

The decision was applauded by BDS (Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions) activists, who have long sought to drive companies out of Israel to demonize and delegitimize the world's only Jewish state. The “No Azure for Apartheid” campaign declared victory and vowed to intensify pressure until Microsoft ends all “complicity in the Israeli economy of genocide, occupation, and apartheid.” 

Microsoft insists that its standards apply universally, regardless of geography. Yet, this appears to be the first time the company has unilaterally suspended services to a government under its own policies. (Microsoft restricted services in Russia, but only when legally required by government sanctions—not voluntarily based on any human rights assessments).

This decision singling out Israel stands in stark contrast to Microsoft’s operations in countries with troubling human rights records, from China’s persecution of Muslims and Christians to South Africa’s rampant crime and policing failures. If Microsoft has curtailed services in those markets based on human rights concerns, such actions remain largely unknown. 

A company with Microsoft’s global influence does not act in a vacuum. By pulling the plug on Israel to appease activists, Microsoft has shot itself in the foot—emboldening further demands and undermining the trust that sustains its business, a precedent that will haunt the company for years to come.

Vance Says International Security Force Will Take Lead on Disarming Hamas

 https://www.nytimes.com/2025/10/23/world/middleeast/rubio-israel-gaza.html

Vice President JD Vance said Thursday that an international security force that has yet to be formed would take the lead on disarming Hamas, which has been one of the thorniest issues when it comes to reaching a lasting peace in Gaza.

The cease-fire deal that came into effect earlier this month was based on a proposal outlined in September by President Trump, which includes a stipulation that a “temporary International Stabilization Force” be deployed in Gaza. But several countries have hesitated to commit troops to such a force because its exact mission in the devastated Palestinian enclave was unclear. The possibility that such a force might be drawn into direct conflict with Hamas fighters has also been a worry.

While they smear ‘No Kings’ rallies, Trump and his GOP can’t escape their own ‘Nazi’ problem

 https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/us-politics/trump-no-kings-protests-gop-nazi-b2849718.html

Republicans suffered a key defeat as one of Donald Trump’s nominees went down in flames on Tuesday.

An embarrassing spectacle played out over the course of several days on the Hill as the president’s nominee to lead the Office of Special Counsel saw members of the GOP come out one by one to oppose his nomination. Paul Ingrassia withdrew his bid Tuesday evening after it became clear he was not going to receive enough votes for even a simple majority in a chamber where Republicans hold 53 votes out of 100 seats.

The reason for Ingrassia’s unpopularity was obvious: reports revealed that Ingrassia allegedly claimed to have “a Nazi streak” in texts sent to other Republicans. He is also accused of using racist slurs and allegedly referred to Martin Luther King Jr., the American civil rights champion, as “the 1960s George Floyd,” adding that “his ‘holiday’ should be ended and tossed into the seventh circle of hell where it belongs.”

US weighs which side’s red line to cross as it seeks to implement Gaza deal’s 2nd phase

 https://www.timesofisrael.com/us-weighs-which-sides-red-line-to-cross-as-it-seeks-to-implement-gaza-deals-2nd-phase

Saudi, UAE, Jordan, Egypt conditioning assistance on PA role, which Israel rejects, while Qatari help has fewer strings attached; MBS Nov. 18 DC visit seen as decision deadline

The four Arab countries have indicated willingness to either contribute funds to this effort or assist in the establishment of an International Stabilization Force (ISF) that will gradually replace the IDF in Gaza, the Arab diplomat and a US official said.

But Israel has made clear that it will condition the IDF’s continued withdrawal on the disarmament of Hamas, which the terror group has shown little indication that it is prepared to carry out.

Haredi draft dodgers complain about detention conditions

 https://www.israelnationalnews.com/news/416692

Nahum Mikler, a married yeshiva scholar from Modi'in Illit who was arrested about a month ago at the airport on his way to Uman and was held for 13 days in the military prison, described the detention conditions this morning (Thursday), calling them a "spiritual danger."

"Eight people in one room - seculars, Druze, front-line soldiers. A very difficult atmosphere, especially for someone who comes from the world of Torah," he described the initial cultural shock in an interview with Kol Chai.

Trump’s Muslim ambassador pick faces GOP backlash over anti-Israel, antisemitic posts

 https://www.israelnationalnews.com/news/416753

After Amer Ghalib became the most prominent Muslim politician in the country to endorse Donald Trump for US president last year, he did so on pro-Palestinian grounds. And he was rewarded with a plum position: the administration’s ambassadorship to Kuwait.

But the mayor of Hamtramck, Michigan, had to get through Senate approval first. And at Thursday’s confirmation hearing before the foreign relations committee, multiple Republicans broke rank and took Ghalib to task for his past social media posts and actions about Jews and Israel.

“It appears you have a deep-felt and passionate view about the Middle East,” Texas Sen. Ted Cruz told Ghalib. “But it is a view that is in direct conflict with the policy positions of President Trump and this administration.”

Cruz grilled the Yemen-born mayor on Hamtramck becoming the first American city to adopt a boycott, divestment and sanctions policy against Israel; on his previous “liking” of Facebook posts comparing Jews to monkeys; and on his past stances opposing the Abraham Accords.

Trump insists he can strike alleged drug traffickers without Congress declaring war

 https://edition.cnn.com/2025/10/23/politics/trump-drug-traffickers-congress-venezuela

President Donald Trump on Thursday insisted that he could continue to launch strikes against alleged drug traffickers abroad without Congress first passing an official declaration of war.

“I’m not going to necessarily ask for a declaration of war,” he said. “I think we’re just doing to kill people that are bringing drugs into our country. Okay? We’re going to kill them, you know, they’re going to be like, dead.”

Trump’s dismissal came as he suggested his administration would soon begin targeting those deemed as cartel members within countries like Venezuela, in addition to continuing to strike alleged drug boats in international waters.

The lethal strikes on vessels in the Caribbean and east Pacific have unnerved some lawmakers, given the little evidence the administration has presented proving that the targets were so-called narco-terrorists.

On Thursday, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth insisted that the military has confirmed that each targeted boat is trafficking drugs. Still, he defended the decision to return two survivors of a recent strike as “standard” practice in war.

Trump’s teardown of White House’s East Wing raises questions of authority

 https://thehill.com/homenews/administration/5569609-white-house-east-wing-trump-demolition-authority/

But the enthusiasm over the ballroom isn’t widespread among the public. On Wednesday, a YouGov America poll found that 53 percent of Americans somewhat or strongly disapprove of the East Wing’s demolition. Fifty percent disapproved of the plans to build the ballroom.

Frustrations boil over as Vance delivers ‘firm’ message to Netanyahu

 https://www.politico.com/news/2025/10/23/frustrations-boil-over-as-vance-delivers-firm-message-to-netanyahu-00621213

The mounting frustrations come as a succession of senior officials are passing through Israel this week looking to keep a fragile ceasefire in place. They see some recent developments — the Israeli Defense Force’s counter-attack in Gaza on Sunday, and the Knesset’s vote in favor of West Bank annexation, which Trump has ruled out — as detrimental to the already fragile agreement between Israel and Hamas.

That so many administration officials criticized Israel so unequivocally less than two weeks after Trump landed to a hero’s welcome and promised eternal friendship and peace underscores how frustrated the White House is with the Netanyahu government.

This is how Israel has become a US protectorate

 https://www.israelhayom.com/2025/10/21/this-is-how-israel-has-become-a-us-protectorate

In the Gaza War, the war against Iran, and now during the ceasefire, it increasingly appears that Israel is losing its freedom to maneuver, as Washington takes the wheel. Alongside diplomatic backing, here are four points showing how Israel seems to have become America's 51st state.

Read the Full Transcript of Donald Trump’s Interview on the Gaza Ceasefire With TIME

 https://time.com/7327689/trump-israel-gaza-deal-interview-transcript

You told Netanyahu you will not allow him to annex the West Bank. There are still forces in his coalition who are pressing for it. I'm just wondering what, what are the consequences if they move forward?

It won't happen. It won't happen. It won’t happen because I gave my word to the Arab countries. And you can't do that now. We've had great Arab support. It won't happen because I gave my word to the Arab countries. It will not happen. Israel would lose all of its support from the United States if that happened.

Well, Marwan Barghouti is seen by many as the one figure who could unite Palestinians behind a two-state solution. He tops most polls amongst Palestinians for whom they would vote for in a presidential election. But he's in prison, and Israel has refused to let him out. He was arrested in 2002. Ron Lauder, a big support of yours, recently encouraged Israel to let him out. Do you think Israel should release him from prison?

I am literally being confronted with that question about 15 minutes before you called. That was the question. That was my question of the day. So I'll be making a decision. 

Trump is self proclaimed ruler of Isael

 https://www.jpost.com/middle-east/article-871430

Israel will lose all support from the United States if it decides to annex the West Bank, US President Donald Trump told Time Magazine in an interview published Thursday afternoon. 

"Israel would lose all of its support from the United States if that happened," he said. "It won't happen because I gave my word to the Arab countries."

When asked about the possibility of Marwan Barghouti being a top candidate to lead a Palestinian state, Trump said that it is his "question of the day," and that he'll "be making a decision."

*Elijah Zvi Soloveitchik, The Bible, the Talmud, and the New Testament: Elijah Zvi Soloveitchik’s Commentary to the Gospels*, ed. Shaul Magid (Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 2019)

 https://www.academia.edu/41218586/_Elijah_Zvi_Soloveitchik_The_Bible_the_Talmud_and_the_New_Testament_Elijah_Zvi_Soloveitchik_s_Commentary_to_the_Gospels_ed_Shaul_Magid_Philadelphia_University_of_Pennsylvania_Press_2019_

Elijah Zvi Soloveitchik’s maternal grandfather was Hayyim Volozhin, the disciple of the Vilna Gaon, who founded the great yeshiva in Volozhin. And his brother, Isaac Zev Soloveitchik, was the father of a rabbinical dynasty. That dynasty began with Isaac Zev’s son, Joseph Dov Soloveitchik (the Beit ha-Levi), who was the father of Hayyim Soloveitchik (the Brisker Rav), who was the father of the next Isaac Zev Soloveitchik (Velvele Brisker) and Moses Soloveitchik (a distinguished rabbi who emigrated from Volozhin to Khislavishi to Warsaw to New York, where he taught at Yeshiva University), who was the father of Joseph Dov Baer...

Elijah Zvi Soloveitchik’s commentary on the New Testament, particularly the Gospels, offers a unique intersection of Jewish and Christian texts. This work emphasizes the importance of Soloveitchik's insights into the relationship between Hasidism and Christianity. The book serves as a comprehensive exploration of Soloveitchik’s writings, contextualizing his interpretations within both Jewish and modern Christian perspectives.

Trump says East Wing being demolished for White House ballroom: ‘We had to take down the existing structure’ - Trump lies again surprised?

 https://thehill.com/homenews/administration/5568467-trump-white-house-east-wing-ballroom

The entire East Wing of the White House is being demolished to make way for President Trump’s planned massive ballroom.

“In order to do it properly we had to take down the existing structure,” Trump, flanked by renderings of the ballroom, told reporters in the Oval Office on Wednesday. 

Shortly after the project was originally announced in July, the president said that the construction of the 90,000-square-foot ballroom wouldn’t “interfere with the current building.”

“It’ll be near it, but not touching it, and pays total respect to the existing building, which I’m the biggest fan of,” Trump said.

Trump Wants the American People to Pay Him $230 Million

https://www.nytimes.com/2025/10/22/opinion/trump-230-million-justice-department.html

 The president’s conflict of interest in this situation is so broad as to have no parallel in American history. One ethics expert called it a “travesty.” Senator Richard Blumenthal, Democrat of Connecticut, called it “head spinning chutzpah.” Even Mr. Trump seemed to acknowledge the bizarre nature of the demand that the government he controls pay him a fortune. “I’m the one that makes the decision, and that decision would have to go across my desk, and it’s awfully strange to make a decision where I’m paying myself,” he said. But no sense of shame seems likely to stop his demand for payback. His promise to give the Treasury cash to charity adds to the outrage, given his record of exploiting philanthropy for personal gain.

‘War on Torah students’: Haredi MKs condemn ‘despicable arrests’ of draft dodgers

 https://www.timesofisrael.com/war-on-torah-students-haredi-mks-condemn-despicable-arrests-of-draft-dodgers/

Ultra-Orthodox activists and lawmakers on Wednesday raged against what they described as a “wave of arrests” by the IDF of yeshiva students who ignored enlistment orders and are evading military service, framing the military’s activities as “religious persecution” aimed at criminalizing Torah scholars.

According to the hardline Jerusalem Faction, the IDF resumed enforcement operations last Friday, raiding a number of homes in Jerusalem, the West Bank community of Adam, Ramat Gan, and Givatayim.

Among those the group listed as arrested was Ariel Rosenzweig, a student at the Neve Eretz Yeshiva who was detained during the seven-day mourning period for his late father. The Jerusalem Faction later announced that Rosenzweig had been released from custody.

United Torah Judaism chairman Yitzhak Goldknopf slammed the arrests, claiming that yeshiva students “have been made into criminals — solely because they are Torah learners, all under the auspices of the government of Israel.”

Trump demands $230 million of taxpayer's money

Grift! Trump plots to pocket $230M from taxpayers over his own ‘Joker’ intel scandal

The return of Hamas: With wave of executions, terror group reasserts control in Gaza

 https://www.timesofisrael.com/the-return-of-hamas-with-wave-of-executions-terror-group-reasserts-control-in-gaza

“Hamas operatives are on the ground and naturally they’ll rule,” said Salah. He claimed most Gazans don’t want Hamas rule, “but feel there is a vacuum; there is no one to enter and replace them.”

We are heading towards Hamas staying in power

 https://www.israelnationalnews.com/news/416618

The Arab affairs commentator, Zvi Yehezkeli, warns that the Trump administration - together with the mediators in the hostage deal - is about to bring about a situation in which Hamas will remain in power in the Gaza Strip.

"The mediators' working assumption is that you cannot remove Hamas from power. They are assuming that it will simply return rebranded. You can include Hamas in any government and they know how to operate in a 'quiet jihad.' The mediators tell Hamas, 'Give Israel all the bodies and then you will see Gaza's rehabilitation and your return to power. You will benefit from it'," explains Yehezkeli.

Blood test 95% accurate in spotting suicide risk in bipolar patients, says Israeli scientist

 https://www.timesofisrael.com/blood-test-95-accurate-in-spotting-suicide-risk-in-bipolar-patients-says-israeli-scientist

A researcher from the University of Haifa says that she has developed a new method to predict a high suicide risk among patients with bipolar disorder through a simple blood test.

Prof. Shani Stern of Haifa’s Sagol Department of Neurobiology, who worked on the study with researchers from Canada and Italy, said the team developed an artificial-intelligence algorithm based on genetic changes in the white blood cells of patients with bipolar disorder.

The groundbreaking study, published in the peer-reviewed Translational Psychiatry, achieved more than 95% accuracy.

Republican nominee’s ally draws outrage with remarks about Jews, gay marriage

 https://www.politico.com/news/2025/10/21/ciattarelli-new-jersey-jewish-lgbtq-00617399

Jack Ciattarelli affirmed his support of same-sex marriage and the Jewish community, but did not condemn the comments.

An unpaid adviser to the Republican nominee for governor of New Jersey advocated for a ban on same-sex marriage and insisted he personally isn’t “taking money from Jews.”

Ibrar Nadeem, the Muslim relations adviser to Jack Ciattarelli, hosted an event Saturday where he delivered a wide-ranging, 20-minute speech that included a call to ban same-sex marriage. Toward the end of his remarks, Nadeem, who is Muslim, said that people in his community accuse him of “taking money from Jews,” to which he replied: “I check my bank account every day, brother, it is not there.”

Ciattarelli has sought to garner support among the Jewish community throughout the race, including by visiting Israel. The Vaad — an influential group of leaders of the Orthodox Jewish community in Lakewood and nearby towns that backed Democratic Gov. Phil Murphy in 2021 — is reportedly poised to endorse Ciattarelli.

Trump says he ‘could be’ seeking $230 million from his own Justice Department

 https://edition.cnn.com/2025/10/21/politics/justice-department-trump-compensenation

President Donald Trump said Tuesday that he “could be” seeking $230 million from his own Justice Department as compensation for past investigations into him, though he professed to have little knowledge of the specifics and said he would give the money to charity.

“With the country, it’s interesting, because I’m the one that makes the decision,” Trump said Tuesday.

“It’s awfully strange to make a decision where I’m paying myself. In other words, did you ever have one of those cases where you have to decide how much you’re paying yourself in damages?” he said.

A settlement to Trump would come from taxpayer funds.

Asked to confirm the $230 million amount, a spokesperson for Trump’s outside legal team said only that “President Trump continues to fight back against all Democrat-led Witch Hunts, including the ‘Russia, Russia, Russia’ hoax and the un-Constitutional and un-American weaponization of our justice system by Crooked Joe Biden and his handlers.”

The return of Hamas: With wave of executions, terror group reasserts control in Gaza

 https://www.timesofisrael.com/the-return-of-hamas-with-wave-of-executions-terror-group-reasserts-control-in-gaza

Hamas does not announce these actions on its official social media accounts. But every few days since the ceasefire began and the Israel Defense Forces partially withdrew, Telegram channels linked to Hamas have been publishing footage showing violence against Gaza residents — people being shot in the legs or hit with stone blocks in ostensible punishment for alleged crimes including stealing aid, using drugs and collaborating with Israel.

At least two public incidents of multiple executions were filmed on October 13 and subsequently acknowledged by Hamas-affiliated media. The footage provoked an uproar online and increasing anger from US President Donald Trump, who is adamant that Hamas must and will disarm. It was also followed by a warning from the US State Department that Hamas was planning further attacks against the people of Gaza, and that these attacks would constitute “a direct and grave violation of the ceasefire agreement.”

Trump: Hamas could be taken care of in two minutes

 https://www.israelnationalnews.com/news/416607

US President Donald Trump said on Tuesday that Hamas could be “taken care of very quickly”, but stressed he would rather give the terrorist organization a chance to honor the ceasefire deal.

“They're pretty violent people, I would say, that we could put that out in two minutes. We're giving them a chance,” Trump told reporters in the Oval Office.

He added, “You know, they agreed that they'd be very good, very straight. They wouldn't be killing people, and they have killed people. That wasn't the deal we made.”

If they don't honor the deal, they'll be taken care of very quickly, but I'd rather not have to do that,” said Trump. “But we have total peace in the Middle East. We have levels of friendship with everybody, and countries that hated each other now love each other.”

Donald Trump Reacts to Report He’s Seeking $230 Million from DOJ

 https://www.newsweek.com/donald-trump-doj-230-million-settlement-investigation-government-10916432

President Donald Trump said Tuesday that the federal government owes him “a lot of money” for past Justice Department investigations and declared that he would ultimately decide whether to award himself compensation because “that decision would have to go across my desk.”

Trump’s remarks at the White House came in response to a New York Times report that he had filed administrative claims before his reelection, seeking about $230 million in damages.

Although the Justice Department follows an established process for reviewing such administrative claims, Trump asserted that he, as president, would have the final say. “It’s interesting, ’cause I’m the one that makes the decision, right?” he told reporters. “That decision would have to go across my desk.”

Trump Pick for Special Counsel Pulls Out Amid Racist Text Scandal

 https://www.newsweek.com/ingrassia-withdraws-trump-special-counsel-racist-text-scandal-10916824

President Donald Trump’s nominee to lead a federal watchdog agency withdrew from consideration Tuesday after a series of racist and inflammatory text messages attributed to him became public, prompting a backlash from Senate Republicans.

Paul Ingrassia, nominated to head the Office of Special Counsel, had been scheduled to appear before the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee later this week. But his confirmation bid unraveled after Politico reported on messages in which he described the Martin Luther King Jr. holiday as belonging in “the seventh circle of hell” and referred to himself as having “a Nazi streak.”

Witches are dangerous

 Netziv (Shemos 22:17) A witch should not remain alive According to the simple meaning that means even a non Jewish one even according to the view that goyim were not prohibited from witvchcraft. Nevertheless because they are considered.life threatening they are to be killed like  a rodef 

Argentina Beef: Trump’s New Plan Sparks Fury After Bailout

 https://www.newsweek.com/argentina-beef-trump-plan-sparks-fury-bailout-10908176

President Donald Trump's new plan to purchase additional beef from Argentina to lower prices for consumers in the United States has sparked backlash from critics and alarm from some American producers—as the administration already faces questions and criticism for its recent $20 billion bailout of the South American nation.

Meriwether Farms, a beef producer based in Wyoming that said it supports and loves Trump, described the plan as an "absolute betrayal to the American cattle rancher" in an X post Monday. "The continued manipulation and betrayal by the very people who claim to support them [cattle ranchers], needs to end immediately," the producer said.

Meriwether Farms on X: "Why is it that members of Congress, Cabinet Secretaries, and other senior government officials continue to call farmers and ranchers the 'backbone of the country' while simultaneously screwing them with disastrous policy decisions? Do they even believe what they are saying or do they think we are stupid?"

Vance visits Israel as Trump administration officials worry ceasefire could fall apart

 https://edition.cnn.com/2025/10/21/politics/israel-vance-trump-administration-ceasefire

Vice President JD Vance’s arrival in Israel on Tuesday comes as some Trump administration officials are concerned that the fragile ceasefire between Israel and Hamas could fall apart, sources familiar with the matter told CNN.

Vance’s presence in the region is meant, at least in part, to ensure Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu remains committed to the US-negotiated deal as some Trump administration officials worry he could work to thwart it.

One US official characterized it as “Bibisitting.” Another framed it as a “show of force from the highest-ranking person after the president himself” to make the administration’s view clear that the ceasefire needs to be durable enough to “outlast inevitable skirmishes.”

All of this comes as Trump himself has argued both privately and publicly that Sunday’s attack on IDF soldiers wasn’t the work of Hamas leaders but part of a “rebellion.” He has said that some members of Hamas “got very rambunctious,” but he believes the group is still committed to the truce and negotiations, the sources said.

Vance lands in Israel as US said to fear Netanyahu could collapse Gaza ceasefire

 https://www.timesofisrael.com/vance-lands-in-israel-as-us-said-to-fear-netanyahu-could-collapse-gaza-ceasefire/

US Vice President JD Vance arrived in Israel on Tuesday as part of efforts to advance and bolster the Gaza ceasefire, amid reports that Washington is concerned that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu could collapse the truce and return to war.

Officials in Washington fear Netanyahu could end the Gaza ceasefire and return to the war against Hamas, The New York Times reported Tuesday.

There is growing worry in the administration that Netanyahu could actively work against the deal, the report said, citing several unnamed US officials. Vance, Witkoff, and Kushner are planning to pressure Israel not to undermine the accord as they visit the country, it said.

White House Secret Group Targeting Donald Trump’s Enemies

 https://www.newsweek.com/white-house-secret-group-targeting-donald-trumps-enemies-report-10910951

The Trump administration has created a new multiagency body to investigate President Donald Trump’s perceived enemies, according to an investigation by Reuters.

During the 2024 presidential election campaign, Trump told his supporters “I am your retribution.” In recent weeks, criminal charges have been filed against former national security adviser John Bolton, former FBI director James Comey and New York Attorney General Letitia James. All three have either been involved in investigations of Trump or been highly critical of him.

According to Reuters, the new body—called the Interagency Weaponization Working Group—has been active since at least May and includes dozens of personnel from the White House, FBI, CIA, Office of the Director of National Intelligence and the Justice, Defense and Homeland Security departments.

Fox News Digital confirmed the group’s existence, quoting Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard as saying, “I stood up this working group to start the important work of interagency coordination under President Trump’s leadership to deliver accountability.”

Citing officials, Fox reported that the group had been meeting twice a week since April to “share information, coordinate, and execute.”

Trump's plan: Deja vu all over again

 https://www.israelnationalnews.com/news/416567

On its face, the Trump plan is a caricature. Israelis should finally learn that the core requirements of a genuine peace must always be analytic and intellectual. Simplistic remedies concocted by well-meaning but unrealistic politicos can never rise above parody.

“It’s like déjà vu all over again.” - Yogi Berra.

New York Yankee philosopher Yogi Berra, the creator of the tautology quoted above, would have understood. Long after Israel’s grievously failed Oslo agreements with Palestinian authorities and recent US disclosures of a Qatari military facility going up at an Air Force base in Idaho, American president Donald Trump added a special enhancement to his “20-Point Plan for Peace in the Middle East.”

This addendum orders the US Department of State to provide SWAT training of “Palestinian security forces.” More precisely, the American objective is to provide “advanced tactical courses” - including “live-fire and urban combat simulations” - for these "peacekeepers" in Judea/Samaria (aka "West Bank").

There is more. Reassuringly, the State Department solicitation includes the following specific demand: “Proposals must include a work plan, liability insurance, team details, prior project experience, and a plan for compliance with anti-human trafficking regulations.”

Credo quia absurdum said the ancient philosopher Tertullian: “I believe it because it is absurd.” How comforting it must be for Israelis to know that the next batch of US-trained Palestinian Arab terrorists will be properly insured and also opposed to human trafficking.

Israeli Military Says Gaza Ceasefire is Back On

 https://www.newsweek.com/israeli-military-says-gaza-ceasefire-back-on-10903919

Israel’s military has resumed a ceasefire in Gaza following a collapse of the truce on the weekend when Israel said it launched a series of attacks on Hamas in response to a ceasefire violation by the Palestinian militant group in which two Israeli soldiers were killed, news agencies reported.

"In accordance with the directive of the political echelon, and following a series of significant strikes in response to Hamas’ violations, the IDF has begun the renewed enforcement of the ceasefire, in line with the terms of the agreement," the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said in a statement posted on X, formerly Twitter. "The IDF will continue to uphold the ceasefire agreement and will respond firmly to any violation of it."