FEC Decides Not to Review Trump’s Role in Stormy Daniels’s Payments

 https://www.wsj.com/articles/fec-decides-not-to-review-trumps-role-in-stormy-danielss-payments-11620358793

 A split Federal Election Commission said it won’t pursue a complaint that former President Donald Trump violated campaign finance rules when his lawyer tried to buy an adult film actress’s silence before the 2016 presidential election.

The commission’s decision, made public Thursday, was the result of a deadlock between Republican and Democratic members during a meeting in February. Four of the six commissioners must agree to proceed with an action.

Mr. Trump’s then-personal attorney, Michael Cohen, pleaded guilty in 2018 to making hush-money payments to the adult film actress and coordinating another payment to a former Playboy model. Mr. Cohen said in court that Mr. Trump was aware of the payments to the women, which weren’t disclosed on the Trump campaign’s financial reports.

Israel’s abortion rate continues 32-year decline

https://www.jpost.com/israel-news/israels-abortion-rate-continues-32-year-decline-654367 

 Referrals in Israel to pregnancy termination committees, from which approval is required before undergoing the procedure, have been trending downward since 1988, as has the number of abortions performed, according to new data from Israel’s Central Bureau of Statistics (CBS).

In 2019, the most recent year for which data is available, 17,688 females turned to the committees. Some 99.4% were approved for an abortion, while only 106 applications were rejected.

Has Rashby become a Jewish deity?

 

Safe in the Arms of Jesus
Text: Fanny Crosby, 1868

Safe in the arms of Jesus,
safe on His gentle breast,
there by His love o’ershaded,
sweetly my soul shall rest.
Hark! ’tis the voice of angels
borne in a song to me.
Over the fields of glory,
over the jasper sea.

Why McCarthy is worried about testifying on Trump phone call

'Absolutely not true': Dr. Gupta reacts to Fox host's vaccine comments

Berman: McCarthy sides with Taylor Greene but not Liz Cheney

How Orthodox Women Are Using Social Media to Liberate Each Other From Dead Marriages

 https://www.vogue.com/article/agunah-get-refusal-social-media-campaign-orthodox-women

 Currently, in New York, there are two laws in place that theoretically protect against get refusal, the Domestic Relations Law 253 and Domestic Relations Law 236(b). Both are intended to prevent the get system from being misused, but both laws contain loopholes that can be exploited, says Starr. DRL 253, for instance, mandates that the person requesting the divorce must pledge that they have removed all barriers to remarriage for their spouse; but it does not work the other way around.

Unmasked, the Christian missionary who went undercover in Jerusalem as an Orthodox rabbi

 https://www.thejc.com/news/israel/exclusive-unmasked-the-christian-missionary-who-went-undercover-as-an-orthodox-rabbi-1.516346

Today, after an exhaustive investigation both in Jerusalem and Elkohen’s hometown of Penns Grove, New Jersey, the JC can disclose the bombshell answers to these troubling questions. 

We can confirm for the first time that the apparent rabbi qualified as a clergyman online; has thousands of dollars of unpaid debts to his name in the US; was deeply involved with American evangelical churches; and was born to a Methodist mother and Protestant father.

Modern Orthodoxy in Israel and female clergy-crossing the line

 https://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/305680

 However, evasion of rabbinic verbiage gets rather sticky under examination. For example, the RCA bans the “ordain(ing of) women into the Orthodox rabbinate, regardless of the title used”; the OU ruling prohibits “the appointment of women to perform clergy functions on a regular ongoing basis – even when not accompanied by a rabbinic-type title.” A handful of American congregations at the edge of the Orthodox orbit have attempted to circumvent the prohibition on female clergy by hiring graduates of Yeshivat Maharat and assigning them rabbinic functions while bestowing up them novel titles such as “Director of Spiritual Engagement”, and it appears that OTS has embarked upon a similar path, as it provides women with rabbinic training and helps procure rabbinic-type positions for them, but makes sure to leave out the “rabbinic” wording.

Rav Tazdok Rav Hutner free will vs determinism

 https://traditiononline.org/rejecting-embracing-and-neutralizing-determinism-rav-hutner-in-dialogue-with-the-izbitzer-and-rav-tzadok/

 A prime example of the struggle Rav Hutner faced in integrating conflicting theories regards the place of determinism in Judaism. Determinism had a central place in the worldview of Rav Mordechai Yosef Leiner of Izhbitz, and in that of his student Rav Tzadok of Lublin, that were prevalent in young Hutner’s Warsaw youth, and had a long-lasting impact on his thought. Yet, as a student of Slabodka Musar, R. Hutner was also well aware of the central place of free will in Judaism. How did R. Hutner reconcile Izhbitz’s focus on God’s omnipotence with Slabodka’s emphasis on the grandeur of man and man’s ability to change the course of history?

Zadok HaKohen

 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zadok_HaKohen

Influence

Zadok HaKohen's philosophy was a major influence on Rabbi Yitzchok Hutner.

Rabbi Moshe Tuvia Lieff has given numerous lectures on the works of Zadok HaKohen.^[6]

Artscroll: The Case for a Traditional Approach in the Study of Tanach

 https://jewishaction.com/cover-story/the-case-for-a-traditional-approach-in-the-study-of-tanach/

RDB: I’m curious about some of your influences outside of the canon of Rishonim and Acharonim that appear in Mikraos Gedolos. Were there any Chassidic thinkers who influenced your approach to Tanach?
RNS: Rabbi Gedaliah Schorr, the Sefas Emes [Rabbi Yehudah Leib Alter], and Rabbi Tzadok HaKohen all had an influence. If you read the overviews [in the ArtScroll translations], you’ll see that there’s a heavy combination of mussar and chassidus that we incorporate into our commentary and that form our worldview.

What Does Free Speech Mean?

 https://www.uscourts.gov/about-federal-courts/educational-resources/about-educational-outreach/activity-resources/what-does

 The First Amendment states, in relevant part, that:

“Congress shall make no law...abridging freedom of speech.”

NJ police officer says she was fired over Facebook post calling Black Lives Matter protesters ‘terrorists’

 https://www.foxnews.com/us/nj-police-officer-fired-facebook-black-lives-matter-terrorists

 Erwin reportedly wrote in the post: "Last night as I left for work I had my two kids crying for me not to go to work. I don’t think I’ve ever felt the way I did last night. And then I watched people I know and others I care about going into harms way. I love my police family like my own. So when you share posts and things on Facebook I’d really appreciate if you’d THINK before doing so. I’ve seen so many black lives matter [sic] hashtags in these posts. Just to let you know — they are terrorists. They hate me. They hate my uniform. They don’t care if I die."