Former President Donald Trump lashed out at Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin on Friday morning in a racist post on his Truth Social platform.
Trump—who views Youngkin as part of the Republican establishment that wants to squeeze the former president out of the GOP—suggested Youngkin’s name “sounds Chinese.”
https://www.jpost.com/opinion/article-721708
My close friend and one of my great Jewish heroes, Dennis Prager, last week defended his protege, Candace Owens, who has been stalwart in protecting her ally, arch antisemite Kanye West, as he has characterized Jews as being essentially thieves, bloodsuckers and parasites. Why would a great man like Dennis do this?
Before I delve deeper into the story, let’s first seek how Owens rewarded Prager’s friendship and all that he and Ben Shapiro have done to promote Owens’ career.
This is where all this gets rather sickening. What Shapiro is guilty of, as are an increasing number of Jewish Republicans, is putting Conservatism and the Republican Party before decency, fighting hatred and defending the Jewish people. Why is Shapiro putting party before principle and politics before his people? Are we going to see the Daily Wire give West an award for being the foremost pro-life, pro-faith, and pro-Conservative antisemite in America?
On Wednesday's edition of The Daily Wire's The Candace Owens Show, the namesake right-wing host encouraged her audience to read Adolf Hitler's 1925 autobiography Mein Kampf while complaining about the backlash over Brooklyn Nets point guard Kyrie Irving's embrace of antisemitic conspiracy theories.
https://www.newsweek.com/three-quarters-jewish-voters-blame-donald-trump-rise-antisemitism-1758824
Adovish Middle East advocacy group has released poll results showing that a vast majority of Jewish voters attribute a recent rise in antisemitism to Donald Trump and his allies in the Republican Party.
J Street on Thursday published the election night poll finding that 76 percent of American Jews believe the former president and his wing of the GOP are responsible for an uptick in antisemitism and white supremacy. The poll also found 74 percent believe Trump and the MAGA movement are "a threat to Jews in America." The poll follows reports of increasing antisemitic incidents and as Trump is expected to announce another bid for the presidency.
The poll was conducted by research company GBAO on behalf of J Street, which describes itself as a "pro-Israel, pro-peace" advocacy group, and included responses from 800 self-identified Jewish voters who cast ballots in Tuesday's midterm elections.
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-63569850
"There's an argument to be made here that this was as much a referendum on Donald Trump as it was anything else," he said. "And if you look at the candidates that he supported, particularly the election deniers running for governor, Senate or secretary of state positions, many of them lost. Even if he got a couple of wins, it's not like he expanded any sort of Republican base or majority."
Mr Taylor's assessment was echoed by Alex Heide, a previously undecided 31-year-old voter in Georgia who said he was "really turned off" by Mr Trump's endorsement, in his case of Republican candidate Herschel Walker.
"I don't agree with Democrats on everything," he told the BBC before voting. "But I feel it's significantly more stable than the Republican platform."
https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/election-night-votes-counted/
We're going to dive into reporting on past elections and show examples of how it wasn't true that every vote was counted by election night. Bear in mind that there are multiple examples like the following from each election year and that the certified, or final, vote count always occurs later. For the purpose of keeping this story brief, we have documented only a few of the examples from each past election year.
Democrats' strategy of spending millions to boost pro-Trump candidates in Republican primaries appeared to pay off Tuesday as the party ended the night with a clean sweep of the races in which it chose to meddle.
All six of the Republican candidates who seemingly benefited from the meddling in their primary victories fell to their Democratic opponents. Those races include a number of key House and gubernatorial races, as well as the New Hampshire Senate race.
The Orthodox community have become strong supporters of Republicans - especially when Trump supported . They were expecting a Red Wave in the mid terms and strongly endorsed Zeldin because he promised to support Yeshiva education. Mishpacha magazine and others were looking forward to the Jewish governor and demonized his opponent.
Now that Zeldin lost and the "demon" is the winner, what leverage remains to lobby for Jewish interests?
Why were the gedolim so convinced Zeldin would win and be able to keep his promises, It is an old wisdom that seems to have been forgotten - that Jews need at least to appear to support both sides so it becomes "heads I win tales you lose". Instead they acted as a drunken gambler who puts in all his money because he is convinced that finally this time he will win - but he loses. We are in Golus and we are not surviving because we are political geniuses or beloved of the world community or even deserving to be pitied because of the Holocaust or always doing the right thing and thus are viewed as a light to the nations.
Three states have voted to change their state constitutions to remove a loophole allowing slavery as a form of punishment.
Voters in Vermont, Tennessee and Alabama voted Tuesday to end constitutional clauses that allow slavery or indentured servitude as a form of punishment.
Ratified in 1865, the 13th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution abolished slavery and involuntary servitude in America, but it provided leeway for the practice as punishment for individuals convicted of a crime. Several state constitutions still have language allowing involuntary servitude for prisoners.
Kalonymus HaQatan • 11 days ago
Introduction to Aggadata 2: Three Approaches to Understanding Aggada
Rabbi Jonathan Ziring: jziring@migdalhatorah.org
1. Introduction of Rambam to Perek Chelek, Translation based on I. Twersky, A Maimonides Reader, pp. 407-409
You must know that the words of the Sages are interpreted differently by three groups of people.
The first group is the largest one. I have watched them, read their books, and heard about them. They accept the teachings of the Sages in their simple literal sense and do not think that these teachings contain any hidden meaning at all. They hold these opinions because they do not understand science and are far from having acquired any knowledge. They posses no perfection which would give them their own insights, nor have they found anyone else who would provide them with a similar understanding. Therefore, they believe that the Sages intended no more with their deliberate and straightforward utterances than what they understand based on their own inadequate knowledge. They understand the teachings of the Sages only in the literal sense, even though some of these teachings, when taken literally, would make even the uneducated (let alone sophisticated scholars) ask how anyone in the world could believe such things are true, let alone edifying. The members of this group are ignorant, and one can only regret their folly. Their very effort to honor and exalt the Sages using their own meager understanding actually humiliates them...
The second group is also large. When the people in this group read or hear the words of the Sages, they too understand them according to their simple literal sense and believe that the Sages intended nothing other than what may be learned from their literal interpretation. Inevitably, they ultimately declare the Sages to be fools, hold them in contempt, and slander that which does not deserve to be slandered. They imagine that they are more intelligent than the Sages, that the Sages were simpletons who suffered from inferior intelligence. The members of this group are so pretentious and stupid that they can never attain genuine wisdom. Most of those who have stumbled into this error are involved with medicine or astrology. How remote they are from true philosophy compared to real philosophers! They are more stupid than the first group; many of them are simply fools.
There is a third group. Its members are so few in number that it is hardly appropriate to call them a group, except in the sense that one speaks of the sun as a group (or species) of which it is the only member. This group consists of men to whom the greatness of the Sages is clear. They recognize the superiority of their intelligence from their words, which point to exceedingly profound truths. Even though this third group is few and scattered, their books teach the perfection which was achieved by the authors and the high level of truth which they had attained. The members of this group understand that the Sages knew as clearly as we do that difference between the impossibility of the impossible and the existence of that which must exist. They know that the Sages did not speak nonsense, and it is clear to them that the words of the Sages contain both an obvious and hidden meaning. Thus, whenever the Sages spoke of things that seem impossible, they were employing the style of riddle and parable, which is the method of truly great thinkers. For example the greatest of our wise men (Shlomo) began his book by saying, “To understand an analogy and a metaphor, the words of the wise and their riddles” (Mishlei 1:6).
All students of rhetoric know the real concern of a riddle is with its hidden meaning, and not with its obvious meaning, as:“Let me now put forth a riddle to you” (Shoftim 14:12). Since the words of the Sages all deal with supernatural matters whichare ultimate, they must be expressed in riddles and analogies
As the midterm results rolled in Tuesday night, and the "red wave" long hoped for by Republicans had not materialized, many pundits and journalists across the spectrum pointed their fingers at former President Trump.
As several Trump-backed candidates in major races lost or lagged behind other Republicans in their states, a consensus appeared to emerge that Trump had a bad night, although it was still up in the air whether Republicans would re-capture the House and Senate.
Trump himself commented about tonight's results declaring it a "great evening" and claimed the news media was trying to downplay it.
"174 wins and 9 losses, A GREAT EVENING, and the Fake News Media, together with their partner in crime, the Democrats, are doing everything possible to play it down. Amazing job by some really fantastic candidates!" Trump posted on his social media site Truth Social.
https://www.politico.com/news/2022/11/09/2022-election-results-analysis-and-takeaways-00065878
There was no red wave. Republicans, though still poised to take the House, under-performed, while Democrats breathed a huge sigh of relief.
It was a good night for Joe Biden, and a miserable one for Donald Trump.
Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., expressed disappointment Tuesday night at the lack of Republican wins in the midterm elections.
"Definitely not a Republican wave, that is for darn sure," Graham said in an interview on NBC News. "I think that we are going to be at 51,52 when it is all is said and done in the Senate."
