Convicted paedophile Grynhaus released despite minister's call to keep him jailed

 https://www.thejc.com/news/news/convicted-paedophile-grynhaus-released-despite-ministers-call-to-keep-him-jailed-5BYqqG5WsjTy0pITrvT3BI

Convicted paedophile Todros Grynhaus has been released from prison after serving just over half his sentence despite an application from Justice Secretary Dominic Raab for the Parole Board to reconsider its decision.

Grynhaus, 57, from Salford, the son of a prominent rabbi, was jailed for 13 years and two months in July 2015 for indecent assault and sexual assault against two girls aged around 14 and 15.

Health minister allows artificial insemination for ‘chained’ women

 https://www.timesofisrael.com/health-minister-allows-artificial-insemination-for-chained-women/

Health Minister Nitzan Horowitz changed his ministry’s policies on Tuesday to give so-called “chained women” access to artificial insemination and other fertility treatments, following years of efforts by activists.

Until now, such options were all but off-limits for “chained” women — whose husbands refuse to grant them a divorce, or get in Hebrew, leaving them in a tragic state of religious and legal limbo — as Health Ministry guidelines required the consent of a married woman’s partner before she could use them, which they were unlikely to request or receive from their divorce-refusing husbands.

This week, Horowitz revised those guidelines, despite stiff opposition from the Chief Rabbinate, the Walla news site reported.

Madison Cawthorn Concedes Primary, Loses to Chuck Edwards

 https://www.newsweek.com/madison-cawthorn-concedes-primary-loses-chuck-edwards-1707624

Cawthorn, who is a vocal supporter of former President Donald Trump, was seen as a rising GOP star two years ago when he was first elected. Since then, the representative who had received a highly sought-after Trump endorsement has made repeated scandalous headline appearances in the recent months.

Finland and Sweden want to join NATO. Here's how it works and what comes next

 https://edition.cnn.com/2022/05/14/europe/sweden-finland-nato-next-steps-intl/index.html

Finland's neutrality has historically proved more difficult, as it shared a massive border with an authoritarian superpower.

A Finno-Soviet treaty known as the Agreement of Friendship, signed in 1948 and extended on occasion through the decades, prohibited Finland from joining any military alliance considered hostile to the USSR, or from allowing a Western attack through Finnish territory.

To keep the peace, Finns adopted a process some call "Finlandization," in which leaders acceded to Soviet demands from time to time. The term was coined during the Cold War and has been applied to other countries in which a superpower exerts control over smaller neighboring states.

Trump Kept Asking if China Was Shooting Us With a ‘Hurricane Gun’

 https://www.rollingstone.com/politics/politics-news/trump-hurricane-gun-china-world-war-1350638/

Near the beginning of Donald Trump’s time in office, the then-president had a pressing question for his national-security aides and administration officials: Does China have the secret technology — a weapon, even — to create large, man-made hurricanes and then launch them at the United States? And if so, would this constitute an act of war by a foreign power, and could the U.S. retaliate militarily? Then-President Trump repeatedly asked about this, according to two former senior administration officials and a third person briefed on the matter.

“It was almost too stupid for words,” said a former Trump official intimately familiar with the then-sitting president’s inquiry. “I did not get the sense he was joking at all.”

Who are the real insiders?

 We have discussed the chareidi chiloni divide the Ashkenaz Sephardi split FFB vs Bal tshuva, young vs old, American vs Israeli, Litvaks vs Chasidim as well as Orthodox vs non Orthodox. The real question is who thinks they belong and are not only see themselves as insiders but the transmitters of the true mesorah

I was told the only people who feel that they truly belong are the grandchildren of gedolim - everyone else feels like an outsider. 

Pre-army program head arrested for alleged sexual acts against girls

 https://www.jpost.com/breaking-news/article-706867

Yosef Ohayon is the 40-year-old Jerusalem resident arrested for suspected sexual offenses against female minors in a pre-military (mechina) program under his supervision. His name was released for publication on Sunday night.

Ohayon, the head of the program, would contact the girls and took advantage of his close relationship with them, as well as his fake extensive military background — which is how he presented himself to them — to get increasingly closer to them and exploit them. The age range of the girls was 14-18, KAN noted.

Walking with G-d

 Rabbeinu Bachya (Bereishis 06:09) Noach’s third virtue is described by the words “Noach walked with G-d.” This virtue of “walking with G-d” is something so exceptional that we find it mentioned only very rarely. Nonetheless, it is one of the imperatives G-d (Moses) commanded the Jewish people (Deut. 13,5) when He said:, “You shall follow the Lord your G-d, etc.” Interestingly , in our verse the Torah does not describe Noach as having walked behind G-d, The Torah says “he made himself walk.” This was not a construction that can be applied to an entire nation and this is why Moses did not phrase his imperative as,”make yourselves follow (in the footsteps of) the Lord your G-d.” Only select individuals ever attain such a lofty spiritual level and only after having become outstandingly righteous people The very attainment of that level of comprehension of the forces at work in our universe reveals that the person who commands it has an appreciation of G-d and His Majesty. This is what David meant when he said (Psalms 19,2) “the heavens declare the glory of G-d , the sky proclaims His handiwork.” ….This is also why our sages (Shabbat 75) have said: “anyone who knows how to calculate the various seasons and horoscopes correctly and fails to use his ability is the subject of the verse (Isaiah 5,12) “and he fails to take note of what He is designing.” We have another scriptural verse (Psalms 82,5) “they neither knew nor understood, they make themselves walk in darkness;” this verse too describes people who, though able to comprehend the mysteries of nature, fail to pay attention to this and to draw the appropriate conclusions regarding their conduct on earth. The reason that Noach’s name is mentioned three times in this verse is because of the three levels of perfection he had attained, i.e. he was righteous, perfect, and he walked with G-d.

Israeli TV show puts wall between secular and ultra-Orthodox Jews

 https://www.theguardian.com/world/2019/sep/10/israeli-tv-show-wall-secular-and-ultra-orthodox-jews-autonomies

Many Israelis increasingly see secular-Haredi disaccord about the future of the state as a greater concern than the Palestinian issue, and fear it could tear the country apart from the inside.

Secular Israeli Fear of the ultra-Orthodox Has Turned Into Hatred

 https://www.haaretz.com/jewish/.premium-secular-israeli-fear-of-the-ultra-orthodox-has-turned-into-hatred-1.8349346

In my many meetings with secular Israelis, I have recently encountered numerous manifestations of fear of ultra-Orthodox Jews. More precisely, their fear for the future because of the very existence of the Haredim. The fear is expressed across a broad spectrum: from sharp criticism and show of contempt, to latent hatred and pure, unadulterated panic that is anything but hidden.

Haredim, not Arabs or Iran, are the biggest threat to Israel - opinion

 https://www.jpost.com/opinion/haredim-not-arabs-or-iran-are-the-biggest-threat-to-israel-opinion-672968

It’s not from the Palestinians, important though they are (as I argued on these pages), nor from the wider Arab world or even Iran. The greatest danger is from within: the rapidly expanding haredi state-within-a-state whose current dynamic cannot continue without ending the country’s brittle tenure as a Western-style democracy with per capita income to rival Britain or France.

Do Israel's haredim really live off the state?

 https://en.globes.co.il/en/article-do-israels-haredim-really-live-off-the-state-1001359942

What is it about Haredim that interests Israelis politically more than, say, security or the housing crisis? Well, exemption from army service is without a doubt a top issue. And many blame haredim for spreading Covid-19. But if you follow the extensive media coverage of haredim, you’ll notice that lack of contribution to the Israeli economy and manipulation of the national budget are an even greater source of contention for many citizens. As Liberman posted recently in Facebook: "On the day that Balfour ceases to be Deri, Gafni, and Litzman’s bank account, that is the day we can point to as the beginning of the Israeli economy’s recovery."

Secular Jews are the true "fearful" ones

 Over heard at a recent graduating class of hareidi women in a special program to train them in scientific knowledge

One of the secular professors commented " \They just want to steal our knowledge"

Fact-checking “2000 Mules,” the movie alleging ballot fraud

 https://www.denverpost.com/2022/05/08/2000-mules-fact-check/

CLAIM: At least 2,000 “mules” were paid to illegally collect ballots and deliver them to drop boxes in key swing states ahead of the 2020 presidential election.

THE FACTS: True the Vote didn’t prove this. The finding is based on false assumptions about the precision of cellphone tracking data and the reasons that someone might drop off multiple ballots, according to experts.