“Why not other media? Why not Newsmax? Why did he just give one host, on one cable network, this information?” Eric Bolling, another longtime friend of Trump’s, said on his Newsmax TV show on Thursday. During Trump’s failed effort to cling to power following the 2020 presidential election, Fox brass were actively worried that Newsmax was pulling away too many of the cable-news giant’s viewers, as the two channels competed to attract Trump-loving, election-denying demographics.
Tuesday, February 28, 2023
Covid ‘lab leak theory’: What we’ve learned
https://edition.cnn.com/2023/02/27/politics/covid-lab-leak-what-matters/index.html
The change in opinion by the Energy Department’s intelligence office is far from a total backing of the “lab leak” theory.
For starters, the conclusion was reached only with “low confidence,” as opposed to medium or high confidence.
Zero-calorie sweetener linked to heart attack and stroke, study finds
n response to the study, the Calorie Control Council, an industry association, told CNN that “the results of this study are contrary to decades of scientific research showing reduced-calorie sweeteners like erythritol are safe, as evidenced by global regulatory permissions for their use in foods and beverages,” said Robert Rankin, the council’s executive director, in an email.
The results “should not be extrapolated to the general population, as the participants in the intervention were already at increased risk for cardiovascular events,” Rankin said.
Rupert Murdoch Admits He ‘Could Have’ Prevented Rudy’s Lies on Fox but ‘Didn’t’
Fox News owner Rupert Murdoch admitted in a deposition that while he had the opportunity to stop former President Donald Trump’s legal team from peddling election fraud lies on his network, he decided not to take it.
“I could have. But I didn’t,” Murdoch told lawyers for Dominion Voting Systems when asked if he could have ordered Fox News to keep Rudy Giuliani and Sidney Powell off the air following the 2020 election.
Fauci Speaks Out About COVID Lab Leak Theory After Report
https://www.newsweek.com/fauci-speaks-out-about-covid-lab-leak-theory-after-report-1784157
In a video interview with The Boston Globe, Fauci—who retired as director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases at the end of last year—urged people not to jump to conclusions. He said the DOE report was made with "low confidence" and he hasn't seen the data used to compile the report.
Instead, Fauci shared data submitted by evolutionary virologists in peer-reviewed journals. He said the information "strongly suggests" the virus was a natural occurrence.
Monday, February 27, 2023
Dead rabbi’s pants expected to fetch thousands pulled from NJ auction
https://nypost.com/2023/02/25/late-rabbi-chaim-kanievskys-pants-pulled-from-nj-auction/
An auction house planned to sell a top Orthodox Jewish leader’s pants, but pulled the dead rabbi’s trousers off the block after an inquiry by The Post.
Social pressure
Shabbos(118b) I have never disregarded the words of my neighbours. I know of myself that I am not a priest, yet if my neighbours were to tell me to ascend the dais, I would ascend it R. Jose also said: I have never in my life said anything from which I retracted.[Rashi refers this] to his opinions on other people: even if unfavourable he did not retract even in the owner's presence, because he did not state them in the first place without being perfectly sure of their truth.
Tosfos
אילו היו אומרים לי חברי עלה לדוכן - לא ידע ר"י מה איסור יש בזר העולה לדוכן אם לא משום ברכה לבטלה של כהנים אמרה תורה לברך את ישראל:
Darchei Moshe, Orach Chaim 128:1:1
כתבו התוס' פרק כל כתבי (שבת קיח:) לא ידעתי מה איסור יש בזר העולה לדוכן אם לא משום ברכה לבטלה שלכהנים אמרה תורה לברך עכ"ל. ומצאתי כתוב ע"ז ולפ"ז יכול הישראל לעלות עם הכהנים והם יברכו לרוב עם הדרת מלך מה טוב אכן לא נהגו באולי אשר אף בלא כהנים יעלו עכ"ל ועל דברי התוס' קשה לי דהא איתא בהדיא בכתובות פרק שני (כד:) דזר הנושא את כפיו עובר בעשה ואפשר דר"י לא קאמר אלא כשעולה עם כהנים אחרים אבל לבד הוא עובר בעשה וצ"ע:
Sunday, February 26, 2023
Mazal
Ohr HaChaim (Vayikra 26:09 Israel is not subject to the restrictions inherent in the term mazzal, G-d will turn aside the horoscopic influences and apply a different set of rules to the dispensation of the blessings involving the three areas to which G-d personally holds the keys. Although, our Sages say life children and food are dependent on mazal, G-d will make an exception to this rule by "moving the relevant constellation "aside," to enable Israel to overcome negative influences.
BAD BEHAVIORAL SCIENCE EXPOSED
https://pocketmags.com/us/skeptic-magazine/274/articles/1237823/bad-behavioral-science-exposed
There is probably no other scientific discipline in which fads come and go so quickly, and with so much hype, as psychology. In his Quick Fix, Jesse Singal discusses eight different psychological ideas that have been promoted as quick fixes for different social problems. He refers to these as “halfbaked ideas—ideas that may not be 100 percent bunk but which are severely overhyped” (p. 6)
Thursday, February 23, 2023
Torn pants of late haredi Rabbi Chaim Kanievsky will be auctioned starting at $3,200
https://www.jpost.com/diaspora/article-732466
Rather, the pants once belonged to the late Rabbi Chaim Kanievsky, an Israeli haredi Orthodox leader considered by his followers to be the leading Jewish authority of his generation. Kanievsky died last year at age 94, and now anyone can be the owner of his trousers – provided they can afford them. The starting bid is $3,200.
Wednesday, February 22, 2023
Meiri - some statements of Chazal are because they were confused!?
Meiri (Shabbos 156): …. In general Jews are not controlled absolutely by mazal. Don’t pay attention to the alternative view that says that Jews are in fact controlled by mazal. That view is the result of some of the sages became confused after they saw the lack of order in the manner of mankind’s reward and punishment. This confusion is also manifest in Moed Koton(28a) which states that “Lifespan, children and livelihood are not the result of merit but rather mazal.” This statement was made only because the author saw someone who was a tzadik and great scholar who was unsuccessful in these three areas.
Meiri (Shabbos 156): Another one of these confused sages stated in Bava Kama (80b): “A door which is locked is not readily opened” and “All those who suffer misfortune do not quickly obtain good fortune” while another one of this group said, “He will never obtain good fortune” . This statement was only made because of bad personal experience as the gemora itself concludes that it was not a general rule but he was only describing his own personal experience. All this shows that these statements asserting the importance of mazal were only made in response to their authors’ personal experiences or what they observed with others. Thus these are only exceptions to the general rule that “Jews are not governed by mazal.” In other words reward and punishment typically determines what happens to a person and not mazal.
Halacha and Arizal
Mystical Significance of Hair
Kabbalistic and Chasidic practice don't avail themselves of these lenient halachic opinions (Shulchan Aruch, Yoreh Deah 181:3 see Veyesh Osrim & 181:11 and the Arizal quoted above), and so Kabbalistic principles differs in the following ways:
1. A man does not shave, nor permit others to shave, his beard at all, with the exception of the mustache that overlaps the top lip, and this is only to be trimmed to above the lip with a scissors. (Writings of the Ari, Taamei Hamitzvot, parashat Kedoshim)
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