The Biden administration has failed its Covid test

 https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2022/jan/15/omicron-covid-joe-biden-administration

So, when positivity rates get too high, the science says we must wear high-quality masks, distance when possible, and lock down if needed until levels drop to levels where the vaccines are most effective. (Restaurants, very dangerous worksites, should definitely be closed and their workers paid to stay home.)

But Democrats in Washington, Chicago and New York keep using vaccination as justification to keep schools open as daycare centers. Is this really for our collective safety? Or to keep workers earning more wealth for the Democratic donor class?

Welcome to Biden’s pandemic. It’s just as bad as Trump’s was.

 https://www.washingtonpost.com/outlook/2021/12/13/biden-trump-covid-deaths/

By contrast, Biden, elected on a promise to restore responsible management of the pandemic, has had the advantage of largely presiding over a time when vaccines were available and plentiful. But his march of progress has had ironically rockier terrain: clumsy, often-rushed reopenings and stronger mutations of the virus, including the delta and omicron variants.

Comparing Trump and Biden on COVID-19

 https://www.kff.org/coronavirus-covid-19/issue-brief/comparing-trump-and-biden-on-covid-19/

To gain a better understanding of how the candidates differ on their approach to addressing COVID-19, this document compares Trump’s record with Biden’s proposals. It starts with a broad overview of each candidate’s approach, followed by a detailed, side-by-side

Trump Says He Deserves An ‘A+’ For His Handling Of The Coronavirus Pandemic

 https://www.forbes.com/sites/tommybeer/2020/09/21/trump-says-he-deserves-an-a-for-his-handling-of-the-coronavirus-pandemic/?sh=66342e233386

TOPLINE

 President Donald Trump said on Monday that he and his administration have done a “phenomenal job” and deserve an “A+” for their handling of the coronavirus pandemic, despite the fact that nearly 200,000 Americans have died from the virus, the most deaths of any country.

US could have averted 40% of Covid deaths, says panel examining Trump's policies

 https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2021/feb/10/us-coronavirus-response-donald-trump-health-policy

The US could have averted 40% of the deaths from Covid-19, had the country’s death rates corresponded with the rates in other high-income G7 countries, according to a Lancet commission tasked with assessing Donald Trump’s health policy record.

Almost 470,000 Americans have died from the coronavirus so far, with the number widely expected to go above half a million in the next few weeks. At the same time some 27 million people in the US have been infected. Both figures are by far the highest in the world.

In seeking to respond to the pandemic, Trump has been widely condemned for not taking the pandemic seriously enough soon enough, spreading conspiracy theories, not encouraging mask wearing and undermining scientists and others seeking to combat the virus’s spread.

'It's an Apathy Remover.' The End of Roe Could Galvanize Democrats' Burned-Out Base

 https://time.com/6173552/democratic-party-grassroots-abortion/

Bad as this would be from liberals’ perspective, the prospect may re-energize an exhausted base. “This is probably the best thing that could have happened from an electoral standpoint, in terms of animating Democrats,” says Jess Morales Rocketto, a Democratic strategist who has organized around progressive issues like reproductive rights.

Blemished Gedolim

there is an issue of how to relate to gedolim who have done something problematic

Adam was a heretic

Avraham questioned G-d's judgment as did Avraham and Moshe

Yitzchok was not a good father or husband

Korach lead a rebellion against Moshe

The spies made an incorrect report

Miriam spoke lashon harah

Dovid was suspected of adultery

Rabbi Akiva supported a false messiah

Elisha ben Aubya was a heretic

Shabtzai Tzvi was a false messiah

Baal Shem Tov was viewed as a heretic

Rav Eybshuetz was considered by many to follow Shabtzai Tzvi

Rav Soloveitchik supported YU

Lubavitcher Rebbe was attacked for his messianic ideas

Rav Kook was too sympathetic to Zionism

Rabbi Goren had the Langer case

There are many more examples. The question is do you ignore the shortcomings?

It seems that happens sometimes while other cases the person is considered persona non grata.

At least 3 killed in terror attack in Elad

 https://www.israelnationalnews.com/news/327033

At least three people have been killed and four others wounded in a terrorist attack in the haredi city of Elad Thursday night.

Several Magen David Adom (MDA) and United Hatzalah ambulances were called to the scene of the incident. According to MDA's statement, there are seven victims in total, three of whom have passed away. Of the other four victims, three are in serious condition, one is in moderate condition, and one is in light condition.

According to preliminary reports, the terrorist attacked people with an axe on a city street before moving to a nearby park to continue his killing spree. Police spokesperson Eli Levy said that there were reportedly two attackers, one armed with an axe, and one with a knife.

Moscow: Israeli ‘mercenaries’ fighting with far-right Ukrainian unit

 https://www.timesofisrael.com/moscow-israeli-mercenaries-fighting-with-far-right-ukrainian-unit/

A spokeswoman for Russia’s foreign ministry on Wednesday claimed Israeli mercenaries were fighting alongside the far-right Azov Regiment in Ukraine, further fueling tensions with Israel after Russia suggested Adolf Hitler had “Jewish blood.”

“Israeli mercenaries are practically shoulder to shoulder with Azov militants in Ukraine,” Maria Zakharova told pro-Kremlin Sputnik radio in an interview.

Azov rose to prominence in 2014, when its far-right activists took up arms to fight pro-Russian separatists in Ukraine’s eastern Donbas region but have since fallen under the command of Ukraine’s military.

They have been fighting alongside the Ukrainian army against Russian troops, who on February 24 launched a military campaign in the pro-Western country.

Its members are part of the Ukrainian resistance in the port city of Mariupol, holed up inside the Azovstal steel plant against which Russian forces launched a major assault on Tuesday.

US intelligence helped Ukraine target Russian generals — report

 https://www.timesofisrael.com/us-intelligence-helped-ukraine-target-russian-generals-report/

Intelligence provided by the United States has helped the Ukrainian military target several Russian generals since Moscow’s invasion, the New York Times reported on Wednesday.

Citing multiple senior US officials, the newspaper said that of the approximately dozen Russian generals killed by Ukrainian forces, “many” had been targeted with the help of US intelligence

Euthanasia permitted?

  AND HE CALLED THE NAME OF THAT PLACE BETH-EL, BUT THE NAME OF THE CITY WAS LUZ AT THE FIRST. that is the Luz in which the angel of death never bore sway. What then did they do with the old people? When they were very old, they were led without the city wall and there they died.) R. Abba b. Kahana said: Why was it called Luz?- Whoever entered it blossomed forth into meritorious acts and good deeds like a luz (nut tree). The Rabbis said: As the nut has no mouth [opening], so no man could discover the entrance to the town. R. Simon said: A nut tree stood at the entrance to the city. R. Leazar b. Merom said in the name of R. Phinehas b. Hama: A nut tree stood at the entrance of a cave; this tree was hollow, and through it one entered the cave and through the cave the city. 

U.S. Close to Surpassing 1M COVID Deaths Since Pandemic Began

 https://www.newsweek.com/us-close-surpassing-1m-covid-deaths-since-pandemic-began-17035985

Despite the easing of most pandemic-related restrictions across the country, hundreds of people continue to die from the virus every day and the total U.S. death toll undisputedly remains the highest in the world. Nearly 200,000 American children lost one or both of their parents, according to an AP estimate.

Recent attempts to secure additional funding to fight the pandemic have stalled in Congress. President Joe Biden's request for $22.5 billion in COVID relief funding failed last month over a Republican demand to reinstate the Trump-era Title 42 immigration policy.

Lavrov's 'Hitler was a Jew' claim is part of the long history of Russian antisemitism

 https://daastorah.disqus.com/admin/moderate/pending

In a subsequent statement, the Russian Foreign Ministry enthusiastically promoted Lavrov's view by pointing the finger at Kyiv and at past instances of Ukrainian antisemitism. The Russian Foreign Ministry labelled Lapid's angry reaction as 'anti-historical'. Yet this deflection strategy conveniently ignored Russia's long history of antisemitism — stretching back to the 1920s when references were made to the Jewish origins of Trotsky, Zinoviev and Kamenev, Bolshevik revolutionaries who opposed Stalin.

Angels are natural forces

 Moreh Nevuchim (2:06.03) Say to a person who is believed to belong to the wise men of Israel that the Almighty sends His angel to enter the womb of a woman and to form there the fœtus, he will be satisfied with the account; he will believe it, and even find in it a description of the greatness of God's might and wisdom; although he believes that the angel consists of burning fire, and is as big as a third part of the Universe, yet he considers it possible as a divine miracle. But tell him that God gave the seed a formative power which produces and shapes the limbs, and that this power is called "angel," or that all forms are the result of the influence of the Active Intellect, and that the latter is the angel, the Prince of the world, frequently mentioned by our Sages, and he will turn away; because he cannot comprehend the true greatness and power of creating forces that act in a body without being perceived by our senses.

Moreh Nevuchim (2:06.03) Our Sages have already stated--for him who has understanding--that all forces that reside in a body are angels, much more the forces that are active in the Universe. The theory that each force acts only in one particular way, is expressed in Bereshit Rabba (chap. 1.) as follows: "One angel does not perform two things, and two angels do not perform one thing"; this is exactly the property of all forces. We may find a confirmation of the opinion that the natural and psychical forces of an individual are called angels in a statement of our Sages which is frequently quoted, and occurs originally in Bereshit Rabba (chap. lxxviii.): "Every day God creates a legion of angels; they sing before Him, and disappear." When, in opposition to this statement, other statements were quoted to the effect that angels are eternal--and, in fact, it has repeatedly been shown that they live permanently--the reply has been given that some angels live permanently, others perish; and this is really the case; for individual forces are transient, whilst the genera are permanent and imperishable. 

Moreh Nevuchim (2:06.03)Again, we read (in Bereshit Rabba, chap. lxxxv.), in reference to the relation between Judah and Tamar: "R. Jochanan said that Judah was about to pass by without noticing Tamar, but God caused the angel of lust, i.e., the libidinous disposition, to present himself to him." Man's disposition is here called an angel. Likewise we frequently meet with the phrase "the angel set over a certain thing.'' In Midrash-Koheleth (on Eccles. 10:7) the following passage occurs: "When man sleeps, his soul speaks to the angel, the angel to the cherub." The intelligent reader will find here a clear statement that man's imaginative faculty is also called "angel," and that "cherub" is used for man's intellectual faculty. How beautiful must this appear to him who understands it; how absurd to the ignorant!