How an Ordinary Guy Took a $3,000 Case to the Supreme Court

 https://www.wsj.com/us-news/small-claims-case-goes-to-supreme-court-b24ac380?mod=wknd_pos1

The Department of Defense employee is waiting to find out whether a missed email spells an end to his 11-year quest to get $3,000 of pay (and interest) he says was wrongly withheld during 2013 budget cuts that briefly forced him out of work.

His case would feel right at home in small-claims court. But in March, the nine justices of the highest court in the land heard oral arguments about whether the government should let him continue his fight for six days of back pay.

Now Republicans Are Blaming George Soros for Campus Protests

 https://www.thedailybeast.com/now-republicans-are-blaming-george-soros-for-campus-protests

A number of Republicans are now suggesting—or in some cases, flat-out declaring—that George Soros, often the target of right-wing conspiracy theories, is funding the pro-Palestine protests on college campuses.

The dishonest — and ironic — push to blame campus protests on George Soros

 https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2024/04/26/dishonest-ironic-push-blame-campus-protests-george-soros/

But back to that “cash from Soros and his acolytes.” At no point does the Post article demonstrate how this purported cash has been critical, instead simply listing organizations that have been involved in the protests to some extent and tracing their funding back to OSF.

Reported Soros funding of anti-Israel encampments sparks antisemitic conspiracy theories

 https://www.jpost.com/diaspora/antisemitism/article-799583

In a post reaching almost 120,000 views, fringe conspiracy theorist David Icke similarly accused Soros of being “Israel’s man,” accusing “Ultra Zionist Sabbatian Cultists” of ‘funding both sides’ in an attempt to stir civil war in the US, all the while controlling both Biden and Trump, pointing at the ethno-religious background of high ranking members in the US administration.

Republicans Voting for Bill That Could Make 'Bible Illegal' Outrages MAGA

 https://www.newsweek.com/republicans-voting-antisemitism-bill-bible-illegal-1896543

The bill drew bipartisan criticism, with both Democrats and Republicans voting against it. Critics argue the bill, if signed into law, stifles free speech that is protected by the U.S. Constitution and is overly broad in its definition of antisemitism, pointing to the definition including "claiming that the existence of a State of Israel is a racist endeavor."

US says Hamas seized first aid shipment that entered Gaza via reopened Erez crossing

 https://www.timesofisrael.com/us-says-hamas-seized-first-aid-shipment-that-entered-gaza-via-reopened-erez-crossing/

His comments follow Israel’s long-standing contention that Hamas stockpiled supplies and kept them from increasingly desperate civilians. Footage from Gaza has shown gunmen, who were reportedly linked to the terror group, stealing trucks delivering humanitarian aid from Egypt.

In February, the US diplomat who was then involved in humanitarian assistance for Gaza denied allegations that Hamas stole aid and commercial shipments into the enclave, saying that no Israeli official had presented him or the Biden administration with “specific evidence of diversion or theft of assistance.”

US House advances bill to codify contentious and popular antisemitism definition

 https://www.timesofisrael.com/us-house-advances-bill-to-codify-contentious-and-popular-antisemitism-definition/

“Speech that is critical of Israel alone does not constitute unlawful discrimination,” The Associated Press quoted Nadler as saying during a hearing Tuesday. “By encompassing purely political speech about Israel into Title VI’s ambit, the bill sweeps too broadly.”

House passes antisemitism bill over complaints from First Amendment advocates

 https://www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/2024/05/01/antisemitism-awarness-act-campus-protests/

Rep. Jerry Nadler (D-N.Y.), a Jewish lawmaker who has co-sponsored other bills aimed at combating antisemitism and described himself Wednesday as a “deeply committed Zionist,” urged colleagues to reject Lawler’s bill, which he characterized as “misguided” because it “threatens to chill constitutionally protected speech.”

Lawler, Moskowitz slam Greene over antisemitism bill pushback

 https://thehill.com/homenews/house/4637197-lawler-moskowitz-slam-greene-over-antisemitism-bill-pushback/

Greene said she opposed the bill because it would define antisemitic behavior to include remarks about Jews killing Jesus, which she said went against the Bible.

Greene said she wasn’t voting for the bill because the new definition “could convict Christians of antisemitism for believing the Gospel that says Jesus was handed over to Herod to be crucified by the Jews.”

Sacred space

 Religious Jews are welll aware of the idea of holinesss regarding objects. But the idea also applies to space. For example the requirement to stand up when a rosh yeshiva or Torah is close by

We also know that certain areas belong to others and thus can not be violated. Prayer requires having restricted access to the area in front or behind someone praying. 

I am interested in the fact that in many situations frum people feel it their right or obligation to interfere with others so they have maximal space. It is not only those who dig out illegal and unsafe spaces under their apartment or neighbor's apartments

Today the sidewalk in front of the shul was blocked by a car parked up against the entrance because someone was late coming to minyan because his wife needed to get to hospital to give birth and since he would have missed the minyan if he looked for a normal parking space 

Also someone brought their child to minyan because his wife was tired and the child screamed all during tefila. 

In addition are the tzadikim who insist on praying in the aisle or entrance so they have enough space for three steps before and after. My son told me he witnessed at Ponovich, that one rosh yeshiva's way to the bathroom was blocked by a tzadik saying a very long Amida in the isle. The gabbayim simply lifted him and stood him on a nearby bench while he continued talking with G-d. Some people seem to think' if they need something they  should take it. 

Trump’s apologists say it doesn’t matter if he’s guilty of insurrection. That’s not true

 https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2024/mar/05/trump-supreme-court-insurrection-ruling-election

Proponents of law and order – who, for decades, railed against judicial decisions that freed from criminal sanction suspected and convicted criminals based on due process rights that are unconnected to guilt or innocence – now celebrate the possibility that a contemporary Benedict Arnold may hold the highest office of the land. They rejoice that the supreme court kept the former president on the ballot in all 50 states by relying on alleged constitutional rules that do not require Trump to defend himself against treason allegations.

Trump and His Apologists

 https://www.wsj.com/articles/trump-and-his-apologists-1437345060

July 19, 2015

The summer Trump polling spurt has nonetheless been instructive in exposing a growing problem on the political right. All too many conservatives, including some magazine editors, have been willing to overlook his hucksterism as he’s risen in the polls. They pretend that he deserves respect because he’s giving voice to some deep disquiet or anger in the American electorate.