Ramban disagreeing with Chazal because of Zohar

 Ramban (Bereishis 12:10) Know that Abraham our father unintentionally committed a great sin by bringing his righteous wife to a stumbling-block of sin on account of his fear for his life. He should have trusted that G-d would save him and his wife and all his belongings for G-d surely has the power to help and to save. His leaving the Land, concerning which he had been commanded from the beginning, on account of the famine, was also a sin he committed, for in famine G-d would redeem him from death. It was because of this deed that the exile in the land of Egypt at the hand of Pharaoh was decreed for his children. In the place of justice, there is wickedness78 and sin. This is the view of Zohar

Chazal say the exile was because Avraham questioned G-d's promise

Bereishis (15:3)And he said, Lord God, by what shall I know that I shall inherit it?

Nedarim (32a) Rabbi Abbahu said that Rabbi Elazar said: For what reason was Abraham our Patriarch punished and his children enslaved to Egypt for 210 years? Because he made a draft [angarya] of Torah scholars, as it is stated: “He led forth his trained men, born in his house” (Genesis 14:14). These trained men that he took to war were actually his disciples, who were Torah scholars. And Shmuel said: Because he greatly examined [hifriz] the characteristics of the Holy One, Blessed be He, as it is stated: “Whereby shall I know that I shall inherit it?” (Genesis 15:8). And Rabbi Yoḥanan said: He was punished because he distanced people from entering under the wings of the Divine Presence, as it is stated that the king of Sodom said to him: “Give me the people and take the goods to yourself” (Genesis 14:21), but Abraham refused to take any goods either. If he had not listened to the king of Sodom and had allowed the people to remain with him, he would have brought the prisoners under the wings of the Divine Presence. 16The Gemara returns to discuss one of the verses cited previously: “He led forth [vayyarek] his trained men, born in his house” (Genesis 14:14). Rav said: He showered them [horikan] with Torah like someone who pours from one vessel into another, and Shmuel said: He showered them [horikan] with gold and gave them an abundance of money so that they would go to war with him. 

Requirement to pay attention to stories of gedolim

 אמת ליעקב בראשית פרק יד פסוק יד

(יד) וישמע אברם כי נשבה אחיו וירק את חניכיו19.

הנה אילו היה אברהם שואל שאלה אי חייב לילך להציל את לוט בודאי היה נענה שהוא פטור, דהא אין אדם מחויב להכניס את עצמו בספק סכנה בכדי להציל את חבירו [עמש"כ בענין זה להלן סוף פרשת מסעי], אלא מה שעשה כן אברהם הוא משום שהאבות נקראו "ישרים" [עבודה זרה דף כ"ה ע"א], והיינו שכל הנהגתם היתה לא על פי דיני התורה אלא על פי השכל הישר, כי האלקים עשה את האדם ישר, ועל פי היושר היה מוטל על אברהם להשתדל להציל את לוט וכדביארתי לעיל [י"ג פ"ט] כי אברהם הרגיש את עצמו כאחראי לשלומו של לוט מכיון שהרן אביו מת בכבשן אביו משום שאמר שהוא מאמין באלקי אברהם, ולכן ע"פ היושר, "מענטשליך קייט", הוכרח אברהם להריק את חניכיו ולרדוף אחר המלכים. ובאמת כל חיי האבות, שחיו קודם זמן תורה, היו מונהגים על פי היושר, וזהו ביאור מאמר חז"ל [ויק"ר פ"ט א"ג]: דרך ארץ קדמה לתורה, והיינו שהאבות התנהגו על פי דרך ארץ והיושר עוד קודם שניתנה תורה.

ונראה שזהו פשוטו של מקרא להלן סוף פרשת משפטים [כ"ד פי"ב]: ואתנה לך את לוחות האבן התורה והמצוה, דבשלמא מצוה היינו מצוות שנצטוו בהן, אבל מה זה "התורה"20. ונראה שהכוונה היא לסיפורי התורה של האבות שנכתבו בתורה קודם המצוות, והיינו שהרי לשון תורה הוא מלשון "הוראה", כלומר מורה דרך, כי סיפורים אלו מורים לאדם איך לחיות אפילו בלי ציווי השי"ת, וכמו שאמר דוד בקינתו על שאול: הלא היא כתובה על ספר הישר, והיינו ספר בראשית וכדאיתא בגמרא [ע"ז שם].

והנה רש"י ריש בראשית הקשה מדוע התחילה התורה מבראשית ברא אלקים היה לו להתחיל מהחדש הזה לכם, ותירץ משום כח מעשיו הגיד לעמו לתת להם נחלת גוים כו' הוא בראה ונתנה לאשר ישר בעיניו וכו'. ולכאורה זה רק מיישב מדוע הביאה התורה את סיפורי מעשי בראשית וכו', אבל כל הפרשיות מלך לך עד פרשת בא, עדיין אינו מובן מדוע הוצרכה התורה להאריך בכל זה, ועל זה לכאורה לא תירץ רש"י כלום. אבל לפמש"כ נראה שבאמת על פרשיות אלו לא קשה כלל, דמהסיפורים האלו אנו למדים מה צריכה להיות הנהגת האדם על פי היושר והדרך ארץ, ודבר זה אפשר לתבוע אפילו מהגויים, כי אף על פי שמצוות לא ניתנו להם, אבל אעפ"כ לחיות על פי יושר זה יכול כל אחד אם הוא רק רוצה בזה, ודו"ק21..

• וירדף עד דן. 

Conservative Figures Spread Baseless Claims About Attack on Paul Pelosi

 https://www.factcheck.org/2022/11/conservative-figures-spread-baseless-claims-about-attack-on-paul-pelosi/

A man armed with a hammer broke into the home of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and fractured the skull of her husband, Paul. Some conservative figures — including Donald Trump Jr. — have shared social media posts claiming with no evidence and contrary to police reports that the man was a prostitute known to Paul Pelosi. He wasn’t.

Elon Musk's Actions on Twitter Are Already Angering Conservatives

 https://www.newsweek.com/elon-musk-actions-twitter-already-angering-conservatives-1756659

Right-wingers and conservatives, who only a few days ago were celebrating Elon Musk's rise to Twitter ownership as a triumph over the perceived liberalness dominating the platform, are now turning against the billionaire after he decided to stand in defense of Yoel Roth, Twitter's 35-year-old head of safety and integrity.

Trump Joins Growing GOP Effort To Whitewash, Lie About Pelosi Attack

The 15 most notable lies of Donald Trump’s presidency

 https://edition.cnn.com/2021/01/16/politics/fact-check-dale-top-15-donald-trump-lies/index.html

 Trying to pick the most notable lies from Donald Trump’s presidency is like trying to pick the most notable pieces of junk from the town dump.

There’s just so much ugly garbage to sift through before you can make a decision.

But I’m qualified for the dirty job. I fact checked every word uttered by this President from his inauguration day in January 2017 until September 2020 – when the daily number of lies got so unmanageably high that I had to start taking a pass on some of his remarks to preserve my health.

Do Demons Exist According to Judaism?

Demons are nonsense

 Meiri (Sanhedrin 101a) ואלו שמאמינים במציאות השדים ובפעולותיהם אסור להם לשאול בהם אף בחול ויש להתיר בשרי בהן ושרי ביצים אלא שאינם אלא דברי הבאי והגירסא לפי דעת זה אלא שמכזבין וגדולי הפוסקים גורסין מפני שמכזבין כלומר שעיקר התירם מפני שהם דברי הבאי ואין אדם מצוי לימשך אחריהם וכן עיקר והוא נמשך למה שכתבנו בסוף פרק ארבע מיתות בענין המעוננים והוא מה שהתירו בתלמוד הרבה בלחישות המוניות והדומים לאלו:

The return of Hunter Biden’s laptop

 https://www.vox.com/22992772/hunter-biden-laptop

But the emails were indeed being put out as part of an orchestrated campaign by Trump’s team to try to drive negative media coverage toward Joe Biden shortly before the election. And whatever the revelations about Hunter, claims from conservatives that the leaked emails proved Joe Biden acted corruptly in some way were false — they proved no such thing.

Hunter’s emails contained a whole lot of embarrassing and arguably newsworthy material about himself, and the shady foreign business interests of the son of the potential next president are certainly a worthy topic of media coverage. But as for the Biden who was actually on the ballot, there was very little from him personally in those messages (other than an exchange where he comforts his despondent, drug-addicted son). The emails didn’t dominate mainstream media because, at least so far, they didn’t have the goods.

Did Study Link More Strokes in Young People to COVID Vaccine?

 https://www.newsweek.com/newsweek-com-fact-check-link-more-strokes-young-people-covid-vaccine-1756397

False.

The 2022 study provides no evidence that the COVID-19 vaccine is responsible for the increasing stroke rate in under 55s. The data used in this study was collected between 2002 and 2018 and therefore bears no relation to the COVID-19 pandemic.

While the vaccine has been associated with a small increase in blood clots, the absolute risk is much lower than the risk of blood clotting and stroke associated with COVID-19 infection. Therefore vaccination may reduce overall stroke risk for individuals exposed to SARS-CoV-2.

How a Trump-supporting election-denier has gained footing in this solidly blue state

 https://www.msnbc.com/opinion/msnbc-opinion/trump-esque-election-denier-s-gained-footing-solidly-blue-new-n1300304

But Zeldin has made a compelling case for himself: If Hochul wants to stick her closing argument, she needs to make it clear that his claims about crime are disingenuous, that he is vehemently anti-abortion, and that he would sow chaos and gridlock in a Democratic legislature, making meaningful change impossible.

Donald Trump’s conspiracy theory about broken glass at the Pelosi house

 https://www.politifact.com/factchecks/2022/nov/02/donald-trump/donald-trumps-conspiracy-theory-about-broken-glass/

Trump claimed that at the Pelosi house, "the glass it seems was broken from the inside to the out, so it wasn’t a break-in, it was a break out."

This is refuted by police and accounts Pelosi and DePape told officials.

A Justice Department criminal complaint says DePape told authorities he broke into the house through a glass door and that he wanted to take Nancy Pelosi hostage.

Trump’s claim isn’t supported by evidence. We rate it Pants on Fire!

Rambam - how could he learn from heretics?

 Chida (Pesach Einayim 1:202b): R’ Meir found a verse and interpreted it. The gemora did not simply say, “R’ Meir found a verse.” This implies that only R’ Meir interpreted the verse as permission to learn from a heretic while the rest of the sages disagreed with him. Thus according to the majority position there is no distinction between an adult and child learning from a heretic. That is why the Rambam omitted such a distinction in the Mishneh Torah. This is also the understanding of the Shach (Yoreh Deah 246).  Others disagree with this interpretation  However if the Rambam rejected R’ Meir’s position that a mature adult can learn from a heretic - how could he himself have learned secular knowledge. He writes in one letter that he learned all the books of idol worship… Furthermore we find that the Rivash (#45) said that the Rambam learned philosophy because he accepted the view of R’ Meir that a mature adult is allowed. The Rivash also notes that the Rambam cites the verse of R’ Meir in the introduction to Moreh Nevuchim! I think the resolution of these difficulties is what I wrote elsewhere. The Rambam’s definition of mature adult is not great in years but rather great in Torah and with an advanced mind even in matters of the world as was R’ Meir. Therefore, if the Rambam wrote in the Mishneh Torah that a G-dol was permitted to learn from a heretic, everyone would view themselves as a Godol and permit themselves to learn from a heretic. Therefore, he deleted this distinction. The spirit of G d spoke in him, in particular in our orphaned generation where every student thinks he is a rabbi. They are in fact naked and yet they are not embarrassed…

Gra criticized Rambam regarding the supernatural

 Gra (Commentary to Shulchan Aruch YD 179:13): Shulchan Aruch (Yoreh Deah 179) Uttering an incantation on the wound from a scorpion is permitted even on Shabbos even though this type of remedy is ineffective since the person is in mortal danger. This ruling of the Shulchan Aruch is view of the Rambam (Mishna Torah Avoda Zara 11:11). The Rambam expressed this view also in his comments on the Mishna (Avoda Zara 4:7) However, every rabbinic authority after the Rambam disagreed with him. This is because there are many gemoras describing use of Divine names and witchcraft. The Rambam had such a view because he was influenced by philosophy. Therefore he writes that witchcraft, use of Divine names, incantations, demons, and charms are all false. His view is completely erroneous since we see many descriptions in the gemora of these things. Even the Torah itself gives examples such as Moshe’s staff turning into a snake. The Zohar also describes these things. And there are too many cases to enumerate dealing with incantations. Philosophy has warped his understanding so that he describes all these gemoras as meaningless or interprets them not according to their plain meaning. I don’t accept the philosophers or their approach. To the contrary, all of these stories are to be taken literally. While they in fact have a deeper concealed meaning it is not the understanding of the philosophers which is merely a superficial understanding but rather that of the kabbalists.