Wednesday, October 7, 2020
Joe Biden Logs Biggest Polling Lead Yet and Has Donald Trump On the Defense
https://time.com/5896916/joe-biden-polling-lead-over-donald-trump/
As we head into the final stretch, with more than three million votes and counting already cast, it’s worth noting that Biden has also widened his lead in crucial battleground states, putting Republicans on their heels in places that would be safely under red ink during normal years. The former VP is also enjoying a cash advantage that no one challenging an incumbent President would ordinarily expect.
Homeland Security says white supremacists ‘most persistent and lethal’ US threat
The Homeland Threat Assessment, released on Tuesday, details an array of violent domestic threats in the United States. It also notes that, among other qualities, white supremacists are characterized by their hate of Jews, or by “their perception that the government is controlled by Jewish persons.”
It is also published a month after a whistleblower alleged that high-ranking Homeland Security appointees told officials in the department to downplay the threat posed by white supremacists. Brian Murphy complained that in writing the Homeland Threat Assessment, he was asked “to specifically modify the section on White Supremacy in a manner that made the threat appear less severe, as well as include information on the prominence of violent ‘left-wing’ groups.”
Tuesday, October 6, 2020
Trump's reckless return met with a dramatically changed White House
https://edition.cnn.com/2020/10/05/politics/trump-white-house-coronavirus-diagnosis/index.html
A new aura of mistrust was settling in as several aides raised questions about whether they had been recklessly put in harm's way over the past week. Accusations of mismanagement -- directed mainly at White House chief of staff Mark Meadows -- have flown amid one of the gravest presidential crises in a generation. An absence of robust contact tracing efforts caused ripples of concern as testing and mask-wearing norms were being second-guessed.
Trump Covid: President downplays virus on leaving hospital
https://www.bbc.com/news/election-us-2020-54427390
Donald Trump says he has overcome the coronavirus - and you can, too.
In his video message from the White House, a mask-less Trump tells the American public: "Don't be afraid of it. You're going to beat it."
And so the president's message in the final weeks of his re-election campaign takes shape. He contracted the coronavirus because he was an out-front leader and he "had to do that".
"Nobody that's a leader would not do what I did," he said.
It is a message almost messianic in its undertones - one that the rest of his party is amplifying. The president has suffered and overcome, and will lead the nation to a promised land beyond the virus.
Trump mounts bizarre and misleading White House return despite warnings
https://edition.cnn.com/2020/10/06/politics/donald-trump-coronavirus-white-house-biden/index.html
A strongly medicated President Donald Trump bolted from his VIP hospital bubble Monday, staging a bizarre White House comeback that included an irresponsible mask removal and a reckless pronouncement there is nothing to fear from Covid-19, which has already killed 210,000 Americans.
Sunday, October 4, 2020
Antibodies, Remdesivir, Vitamin D: Unpacking Trump’s COVID-19 treatment
US President Donald Trump’s physician, Sean P. Conley, released a memo Friday afternoon saying the president had received an investigational antibody cocktail and was taking a number of vitamins and minerals to help keep him healthy. The president was also administered the FDA-approved drug Remdesivir.
Friday, October 2, 2020
Rabbi Chaim Kanievsky, 92, diagnosed with coronavirus
https://www.jpost.com/health-science/rabbi-chaim-kanievsky-92-diagnosed-with-coronavirus-644267
"We should pray for the healing of Shmaryahu Yosef Chaim Kanievsky son of Pasha Miriam."
One of the leading rabbis of the non-hassidic haredi world, Rabbi Chaim Kanievsky, 92, has been diagnosed with coronavirus.
Major Torah leaders: Keep coronavirus directives on Sukkot
Two top haredi (ultra-Orthodox) rabbis have sent a letter to their constituents calling on them to keep the Health Ministry’s coronavirus regulations over the Sukkot holiday, which starts Friday at sundown.
Thursday, October 1, 2020
Suicide and repentance
Bereishis Rabba (65:22): Jakum of Zeroroth was the nephew of R. Jose b. Jo'ezer of Zeredah.5 Riding on a horse he went before the beam on which he [R. Jose] was to be hanged,6 and taunted him: ‘See the horse on which my master has let me ride, and the horse upon which your Master has made you ride.’ ‘If it is so with those who anger Him, how much more with those who do His will,’ he replied. ‘Has then any man done His will more than thou?’ he jeered. ' If it is thus with those who do His will, how much more with those who anger Him,’ he retorted. This pierced him like the poison of a snake, and he went and subjected himself to the four modes of execution inflicted by the Beth Din: stoning, burning, decapitation, and strangulation. What did he do? He took a post and planted it in the earth, raised a wall of stones around it and tied a cord to it. He made a fire in front of it and fixed a sword in the middle [of the post]. He hanged himself on the post, the cord was burnt through and he was strangled. The sword caught him, while the wall [of stones] fell upon him and he was burnt. Jose b. Jo'ezer of Zeredah fell into a doze1 and saw his [Jakum's] bier flying in the air. By a little while he has preceded me into the Garden of Eden,’ said he..