Trump’s business deal with Oman raises new ethical questions

 https://www.pbs.org/newshour/show/trumps-business-deal-with-oman-raises-new-ethical-questions

He was quite friendly with Saudi Arabia. And so now, after he leaves office, his son-in-law gets $2 billion worth of investment from the Saudi public sovereign — sovereign wealth fund. And then the sovereign wealth fund always — also LIV Golf. And LIV Golf puts several of its tournaments at Trump golf courses in the United States.

And this — there's a lot of money between the Middle Eastern companies, be it in Saudi Arabia or now in Oman, and Trump business operations that overlap with his activities as president. What were those deals and reward for his actions as president? It's an open question.

Did the biblical prophet Moses promise his firstborn son to idolatry?

 https://www.jpost.com/judaism/article-747272

In an unexpected passage in the Midrash, the sages recount a deal struck between Moses and his future father-in-law, Jethro. Moses had already decided to serve God when he came to Jethro to ask for Zipporah’s hand in marriage. Before giving his blessing, Jethro asks Moses for one undertaking.“What is it?” inquired Moses. 

Jethro explains: “Your first child should be for idol worship, from here onwards,” – referring to subsequent children – “they will be for the sake of Heaven.” 

When Moses said to Jethro, "Give me your daughter Tzipporah as a wife", Jethro answered, "If you do what I ask of you, I will give her to you as a wife." Moses said: "What do you ask?" Jethro replied: "Your first son must serve idolatry. The following sons may serve God in heaven." Moses accepted. Jethro said: "Swear." And Moses swore. [Mechilta d'Rabbi Yishmael 18:3]

Prigozhin’s coup attempt unleashes chaos on Russia

 https://www.vox.com/2023/6/23/23771853/wagner-group-russia-prigozhin-feud

Russia is in turmoil as the leader of a powerful paramilitary group staged an armed and brazen challenge to the Russian regime.

Yevgeny Prigozhin, the head of the private military company, the Wagner Group, said Saturday that his forces will halt their march on Moscow, and that he is “turning around our columns and returning to field camps according to plan.” We don’t know what that plan is, but Belarusian president Alexander Lukashenko claimed to have reached a deal with Prigozhin. Prigozhin has denied a deal, saying he turned around to avoid bloodshed.

‘Freaked Out’ Russia Shocked by Military Coup Against Putin

 https://www.thedailybeast.com/freaked-out-russia-shocked-by-military-coup-against-putin?ref=home?ref=home

Millions of Russians woke up on Saturday to shocked social media messages and baffling memes depicting a full-on civil war.

Fox News Analyst Pours Cold Water on Hunter Biden Allegations

 https://www.newsweek.com/fox-news-analyst-pours-cold-water-hunter-biden-allegations-1808842

What we have this week was a decision by a Trump-appointed prosecutor who had full authority over the case, by his own account, to bring two misdemeanor charges basically against Hunter Biden," Williams said. "That was it. All these other things that we're hearing about, an app message? We don't know if the president was involved and he wasn't even president or vice president at the time. This was from 2017."

Williams went on to compare the allegations against Biden to the Steele Dossier, a 2016 report that alleged collusion between Trump's presidential campaign and Russia. In making the comparison, he dismissed the Hunter allegations touted by Republicans as "a bunch of rumors and innuendo" with "no hard evidence, no proof, nothing."

Russia Demands U.S. Pay Reparations for Helping Ukraine in War

 https://www.newsweek.com/russia-us-antonov-blinken-reparations-ukraine-war-1808439

Russia Ambassador to the U.S. Anatoly Antonov speaks during a World Affairs event at the Fairmont Hotel on November 29, 2017 in San Francisco, California. He has demanded that the U.S. pays reparations for helping Ukraine in the war.

Republicans Are Smearing the Bidens Like They Did Hillary Clinton

 https://newrepublic.com/article/173811/republicans-smearing-bidens-like-hillary-clinton

The point of the GOP-led investigations into his actions wasn’t to actually find evidence of criminal activity, as much as they would have welcomed it, but to create an aura of corruption and criminality around the 2020 and 2024 Democratic presidential candidate in much the same way they did against the party’s 2016 nominee. To their immense frustration, Republicans haven’t yet succeeded in that enterprise against Biden.

Lieu blasts ‘dumb’ Durham hearing: Republicans focused on ‘stupid stuff’

Supporters blast Netanyahu trial after report shows bribery case falling apart

 https://www.jpost.com/israel-news/article-747353

"After years of media and legal persecution against the prime minister, a persecution that has turned an entire country, today the judges also say clearly that there is no chance of a conviction for bribery," said Education Minister Yoav Kisch in response to a Channel 12 report about a secret meeting about Case 4000 between the judges, State Attorney's Office representatives, and Netanyahu and Bezeq owner Shaul Elovitch's lawyers.

Behind the Hunter Biden hype: GOP scramble to keep up the outrage — but they've got nothing

 https://www.salon.com/2023/06/21/behind-the-hunter-biden-hype-scramble-to-keep-up-the-outrage--but-theyve-got-nothing/

I would have thought that no sentient being on the planet would have the nerve to compare what Donald Trump is accused of with the charges against Hunter Biden. Not even Speaker Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif. But as long as we're talking about him, perhaps McCarthy would care to comment on the big story By Eric Lipton in the New York Times yesterday about the Trump family's latest "sweetheart deal" with the governments of Saudi Arabia and Oman.

Attorney General Merrick Garland Was Actually Pretty Harsh on Hunter Biden

 https://www.thedailybeast.com/attorney-general-merrick-garland-was-actually-pretty-harsh-on-hunter-biden

So the result of this five-year long investigation is that a recovering drug addict who paid his taxes late and lied about using drugs to purchase a firearm will be convicted of tax evasion, and be given pre-trial diversion for lying on his gun ownership application. It is likely that any other drug addict who was not the son of a sitting president would not have been prosecuted for these charges.

Hunter Biden Got Special Treatment — Especially Harsh

 https://www.politico.com/news/magazine/2023/06/22/hunter-biden-got-special-treatment-especially-harsh-00103184

If Hunter Biden were not the president’s son, it’s not clear whether prosecutors would have investigated for as long or as hard as they did, or that they would have decided to spend additional federal resources prosecuting misdemeanors instead of moving on to the next case.

Revealed: The Mystery Benefactors Who Paid George Santos’ Bail

 https://www.thedailybeast.com/gercino-dos-santos-jr-and-elma-santos-preven-bailed-george-santos-out-of-jail-report?ref=home?ref=home

Santos’ father and aunt both donated thousands to his congressional bid, according to federal elections data. Preven’s social media accounts reflect a particular interest in Brazilian politics, as she has posted material critical of the country’s left-wing President Ignacio Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva and supportive of his far-right foe and predecessor, Jair Bolsonaro. A United States Postal Service worker, she owns properties in both Queens and in Brazil.

Purple from Holy Temple objects traced to snail guts at 3,000-year-old Haifa factory

 https://www.timesofisrael.com/purple-from-holy-temple-objects-traced-to-snail-guts-at-3000-year-old-haifa-factory/

The true purple argaman dye and its associated azure techelet variant are mentioned dozens of times in the Hebrew Bible and Sennacherib’s Cylinder (690 BCE), among other texts.