Trump’s 2020 re-hash puts DeSantis in a bind: Can he bring himself to say Trump lost?

 https://www.politico.com/news/2023/05/15/trump-2020-election-desantis-bind-00096852

But implicit in DeSantis’ argument that he is a more electable alternative to Trump is the idea that Trump actually lost.The fundamental problem for DeSantis — underscored even by blunter messaging from the super PAC supporting him — is that he can’t bring himself to say it.

“First question at first debate: Raise your hand if you think Trump won the 2020 election,” said Republican consultant Alex Conant, who worked on Sen. Marco Rubio’s 2016 presidential race and is unaffiliated in the 2024 campaign. “If a candidate can’t dispose of a fake issue like who won the election, how can voters expect them to handle the real issues?”

A mother was raising her son in a city she loved. Then San Francisco changed and stole her boy

 https://edition.cnn.com/2023/05/14/us/san-francisco-drugs-homeless-sidner-tws/index.html

San Francisco is still beautiful to her – with the Golden Gate Bridge, the Presidio and Fisherman’s Wharf, the Italian enclave of North Beach. But it has become scarier, and she feels some of the blame has to go to politicians whose job it is to clean up the streets.

“I’m liberal,” Tilghman said. “My politics have stayed the same and things have gone crazy around me.”

NUTRITION SCIENCE’S MOST PREPOSTEROUS RESULT

 https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2023/05/ice-cream-bad-for-you-health-study/673487/

Studies show a mysterious health benefit to ice cream. Scientists don’t want to talk about it.

‘You Don’t Actually Have Any Facts’: Even Fox Isn’t Buying GOP’s Claims About Biden’s Foreign Business Dealings

 https://www.rollingstone.com/politics/politics-news/james-comer-fox-news-biden-foreign-business-dealings-1234733915/

Comer defended himself by arguing that Biden’s family members had taken steps to conceal the president’s involvement in his family’s financial dealings, but conceded that Republicans are in the “beginning stages” of the now five-year investigation and “still looking for more bank records that we believe will implicate Joe Biden’s active participation in this.” 

The real reasons stores such as Walmart and Starbucks are closing in big cities

 https://edition.cnn.com/2023/05/12/business/stores-closing-cities-downtown-retail/index.html

 Nordstrom. Walmart. Whole Foods. Starbucks. CVS.

These big chains and others have closed stores in major US cities recently, raising alarm about the future of retail in some of the country’s most prominent downtowns and business districts.

Several forces are pushing chains out of some city centers: a glut of stores, people working from home, online shopping, exorbitant rents, crime and public safety concerns, and difficulty hiring workers.

GOP Oversight Chair Says He’s Lost Track of His Biden Corruption Informant

 https://www.thedailybeast.com/rep-james-comer-says-hes-lost-track-of-his-top-biden-informant?ref=home?ref=home

But on Fox’s Sunday Morning Futures, Comer offered up what appeared to be a partial excuse: The probe’s primary informant had flown the coop.

“Well, unfortunately, we can’t track down the informant,” the Kentucky representative told host Maria Bartiromo. “We’re hopeful that the informant is still there. The whistleblower knows the informant. The whistleblower is very credible.”

A credulous Bartiromo interrupted. “Hold on a second, Congressman. Did you just say that the whistleblower or the informant is now missing?”

Daas Torah overrides heter for Shabbos Elevators

 
https://www.sefaria.org/Gray_Matter_IV%2C_Technology%2C_The_Prohibition_of_Turning_On_Electric_Lights_on_Shabbat_and_Yom_Tov.40?lang=en

Rav Unterman relates that he was present one Shabbat when the Chafetz Chaim was meeting with other rabbinic figures discussing community matters. When the Chafetz Chaim needed something to be brought to him, one of those present proceeded to ride the elevator along with a non-Jewish passenger to retrieve the item. None of the assembled, including the Chafetz Chaim, objected to his riding the elevator.

It should be noted that it appears that Rav Moshe Feinstein (see Teshuvot Igrot Moshe 2:80) agrees with Rav Henkin and Rav Unterman's ruling that if the elevator is not operated by a Jew and a non-Jew has not been instructed to operate the elevator, one may ride in it on Shabbat.

Mike Lindell Reveals He's Spent $40 Million Trying to Overturn Election

 https://www.newsweek.com/mike-lindell-huge-amount-hes-spent-trying-overturn-election-1800182

He added: "With the money that I used to save this country... I've spent over $40 million... and I need help. You know, we need help but we need help making the voice bigger and we need help."

Florida rejects Holocaust ed textbooks in clampdown on ‘woke’ instruction

 https://www.jpost.com/international/article-742839

One of this year’s rejected Holocaust textbooks was called “Modern Genocides,” and the other was an online learning course titled “History of the Holocaust.” Both were intended for high school students.

“Modern Genocides” was rejected in part for its discussion of “special topics” prohibited by the state. The list of such topics includes terms such as “social justice” and “critical race theory,”a phrase that traditionally concerns a method of legal analysis but that Republicans have used pejoratively to refer to discussion of systemic racism in the United States. The department did not clarify which prohibited “special topics” the book included.

For Israel, e-commerce tax challenges may lie ahead

 https://www.jpost.com/business-and-innovation/banking-and-finance/article-742806

Action to consider: E-commerce companies should urgently consider actions A to F below, namely:

Automated reporting.

Business nexus review.

Comprehensive structural planning.

Double tax avoidance (an absolute must).

Evaluating it all.

Further implementation points.

Halachic Revolutions - Significance?

 The recent Angels's Boycott brought up an important issue - What is the true authority behind halacha - gedolim or widespread acceptance?

There have been a many of revolutions or attempted revolutions this is only a partial list

The question is Once the revised halacha is accepted is the original mesora no longer valid?

Acceptance of Talmud Bavli

Kiddushei Katana

Mishna Torah

Shulchan Aruch

Chassidus

Kitniyos

Girl's formal Torah education

Doublimg measures

Sheitel for hair cover

Mishna Berura as final halacha

Daas Torah as final arbiter of everything

Rav Moshe as the Posek Hador

Loshan Hara as halacha rather than ethical behaviour

Modesty by Rabbi Falk

Glatt kosher

Yoshan

Chalav Yisroel

Shemitta

Kabbalah/Zohar

Techeles

Shatnes

All bugs are treif

Science vs Chazal

Chalitz required

Conversion reqires full acceptance of mitzvos

Tefillin need to be hand made

Kollel

Troppper's attempt to convert intermarried spouse

Kiddushei Taus instead of Get

Reporting Sexual abuse to police

A Jewish journalist takes sides in America’s ‘slow civil war’

 https://www.timesofisrael.com/a-jewish-journalist-takes-sides-in-americas-slow-civil-war/

It’s a familiar story of an America on the edge, but Sharlet adds the perspective of a journalist who has long covered religion. He was among the first to note that Trump rallies were less political events than religious revivals. And like many religions, he says, Trumpism is resistant to the kinds of “civil discourse” that many people propose as an antidote to polarization.

“We cannot fact-check a myth, right?” Sharlet told me in a video interview from his home in Vermont. “It’s not going to work to say, ‘That’s not true.’”

Why the Clarence Thomas Timeline of Gifts Isn’t Pretty

 https://www.thedailybeast.com/why-the-clarence-thomas-timeline-of-gifts-isnt-pretty?ref=home?ref=home

But Crow isn’t the only Republican giving generously to the Thomas household. Conservative judicial activist Leonard Leo also funneled $80,000—in a small world way, through Kellyanne Conway—to Thomas’ wife, Ginni Thomas.

Both Crow and Leo have had considerable business before the Supreme Court. And a close examination of some of these decisions—all decided on 5-4 votes, where Thomas’ decision was critical—are now coming into sharper focus.

Kevin McCarthy Cuts Ties with George Santos Amid Indictment

 https://www.newsweek.com/kevin-mccarthy-cuts-ties-george-santos-amid-indictment-1799568#:~:text=House%20Speaker%20Kevin%20McCarthy%20told,revealed%20earlier%20in%20the%20day.

House Speaker Kevin McCarthy told congressional reporters Wednesday evening that he will not support Representative George Santos' reelection bid amid the New York congressman's 13-count federal indictment revealed earlier in the day.