Child abuse scandal rattles Orban’s image as defender of ‘family values’

 https://edition.cnn.com/2024/02/17/europe/hungary-child-abuse-scandal-orban-family-values-europe-intl/index.html

Hungary’s Prime Minister Viktor Orban has for years told his country its children are under attack from deviant sexualities and pedophilia. Now, his government is embroiled in a scandal after it emerged that its president had pardoned a man convicted of covering up sexual abuse at a children’s home.

President Katalin Novak, Orban’s loyal but largely impotent ally, resigned last Saturday amid public furor over her decision in April 2023 to pardon the deputy director of a children’s home who had helped to cover up the abuse of underaged boys. She said she made a “mistake” in “believing that the convict did not exploit the vulnerability of children whom he had overseen.”

Takeaways from the $355 million civil fraud ruling against Donald Trump

 https://edition.cnn.com/2024/02/16/politics/takeaways-donald-trump-fraud-ruling/index.html

Judge Arthur Engoron hit Donald Trump with his biggest punishment to date on Friday, in a ruling that fined the former president $355 million for fraudulently inflating the values of his properties.

Combined with the $83 million judgment issued against Trump for defaming E. Jean Carroll, that means Trump has been fined roughly $438 million over the past four weeks.

Torah is not Inherited

 Nedarim (81a) Be on guard against scabs; take good care to study in company and be heedful not to neglect the children of the poor, for from them Torah goeth forth, as it is written, The water shall flow out of his buckets meaning, from the poor amongst them goeth forth Torah. And why is it not usual for scholars to give birth to sons who are scholars? — Said R. Joseph, That it might not be maintained, The Torah is their legacy. R. Shisha, the son of R. Idi, said: That they should not be arrogant towards the community. Mar Zutra said: Because they act high-handedly against the community. R. Ashi said: Because they call people asses. Rabina said: Because they do not first utter a blessing over the Torah. For Rab Judah said in Rab's name: What is meant by, Who is the wise man, that he may understand this. . . for what is the land destroyed etc.? Now, this question was put to the Sages, Prophets, and Ministering Angels, but they could not answer it, until the Almighty Himself did so, as it is written, And the Lord said, Because they have forsaken my law which I set before them, and have not obeyed my voice, neither walked therein: but is not ‘have not obeyed my voice’ identical with, ‘neither walked therein’? — Rab Judah said in Rab's name: It means that they did not first recite a benediction over the Torah.

Rule Exception or Precedent

Sanhedrin (74a) If one pursuer was pursuing another pursuer in order to save him, i.e., if he was trying to save the person being pursued by killing the pursuer, and while doing so he broke vessels belonging either to the pursuer or to the one being pursued, or to anyone else, he is exempt from paying for them. The Gemara comments: This is not by strict law, as if one who saves himself at another’s expense is liable to pay for the damage, certainly one who saves another at the expense of a third party should bear similar liability.

This is also mentioned in bava Kamma without  mention of Takkana

Bava Kamma (117b) And with regard to a pursuer who was chasing after another pursuer in order to save the latter’s intended victim, and he broke vessels during the chase, whether they belonged to the pursued individual, i.e., the individual attempting murder, or to anyone else, he is exempt from payment. The Gemara notes: And this is not the halakha by Torah law, but if you do not say so, you will not have any person that saves another from a pursuer.

Shulchan Aruch (M 380) doesnt say there is a takkanah

ואחד שרדף אחר הרודף להציל את הנרדף ושבר כלים בין של רודף בין של כל אדם פטור כדי שלא יבואו מלימנע מלהציל את הנרדף:

While the gemora and Shulchan Aruch simply note that we ignore the halacha in this case the Rambam asserts there is a Rabbinic decree to ignore the Torah rule in this case. None of the comentaries mention this assertion of the Rambam

Rambam (Chovel Umazick 8:14) (When a person pursues a rodef to save the person he is pursuing, and in so doing breaks utensils - whether those belonging to the rodef or those belonging to another person - he is not liable. This does not follow the letter of the law, but is a Rabbinic ordinance, enacted so that a person will not refrain from trying to save his colleague, or will hesitate and proceed carefully while he chases after the rodef.

רודף אחר רודף להצילו ושיבר את הכלים בין של רודף בין של נרדף בין של כל אדם פטור ולא מן הדין שאם אי אתה אומר כן נמצא אין לך כל אדם שמציל את חבירו מיד הרודף:

Renowned Lizard Fossil Exposed as Forgery

 https://www.newsweek.com/lizard-fossil-forgery-tridentinosaurus-antiquus-1870372

New analysis has found, however, that the fossil is actually black paint on a carved piece of stone surrounding a few fossilized bones, according to a paper in the journal Palaeontology.

"The peculiar preservation of Tridentinosaurus had puzzled experts for decades. Now, it all makes sense. What it was described as carbonized skin, is just paint," paper co-author Evelyn Kustatscher, a paleontologist at the Museum of Nature South Tyrol, said in a statement.

Rav Dovid Cohen

 

Egypt Builds Walled Enclosure on Border as Israeli Offensive Looms

 https://www.wsj.com/world/middle-east/egypt-builds-walled-enclosure-on-border-as-israeli-offensive-looms-e5c12043?mod=hp_lead_pos1

Egyptian authorities, fearful that an Israeli military push further into southern Gaza will set off a flood of refugees, are building an 8-square-mile walled enclosure in the Sinai Desert near the border, according to Egyptian officials and security analysts.

For weeks, Egypt has sought to bolster security along the frontier to keep Palestinians out, deploying soldiers and armored vehicles and reinforcing fences. The massive new compound is part of contingency plans if large numbers of Gazans do manage to get in.

More than 100,000 people could be accommodated in the camp, Egyptian officials said. It is surrounded by concrete walls and far from any Egyptian settlements. Large numbers of tents, as yet unassembled, have been delivered to the site, these people said.

Joe Biden's Accuser Indicted for Lying in Blow to GOP Impeachment Effort

 https://www.newsweek.com/trump-appointed-attorney-delivers-big-win-bidens-1870438

President Joe Biden and his son Hunter Biden on Thursday were handed a huge legal win by the announcement of charges against an FBI informant who was central to a Republican inquiry to impeach Biden.

Special counsel David Weiss, an appointee of former President Donald Trump who was appointed to lead the investigation into Hunter Biden by Attorney General Merrick Garland, announced charges against 43-year-old Alexander Smirnov on Thursday for allegedly making false statements and manufacturing false records concerning Biden's business dealings in Ukraine.

Putin Says He Prefers Biden to Trump Because He’s ‘Predictable’

 https://www.thedailybeast.com/putin-says-he-prefers-biden-to-trump-because-hes-predictable?ref=home

Russian President Vladimir Putin prefers his current U.S. counterpart, Joe Biden, to the chaos of former President Donald Trump—at least that’s what he said Wednesday during an interview with Russian state media. “Biden, he’s more experienced, more predictable, he’s a politician of the old formation,” Putin said when asked who he would prefer. “But we will work with any U.S. leader whom the American people trust.” He was also asked to comment on recent criticism leveled at Biden’s “poor memory” and whether the 81-year-old is too old to carry out a second term, saying that he did not see any evidence of declining cognition during the pair’s meeting in 2021. “They talked about him being incapacitated [at that time], but I saw nothing of the kind.

Teammates put peanuts in allergic student’s locker. School district says it wasn’t bullying

 https://thehill.com/changing-america/enrichment/education/4458224-teammates-put-peanuts-in-allergic-students-locker-school-district-says-it-wasnt-bullying/

More than a month later, Mannon stood before the Lake Travis school board in November. She was livid. The kids responsible were disciplined, but she expected it to be to a different level. They were benched from some football games. She was told the district’s athletic director and head football coach were determining the discipline. 

The district said it worked with other law enforcement agencies and consulted the assistant district attorney’s office, but ultimately, the school district’s police department decided criminal charges were not warranted. 

RAV AVIGDOR MILLER ON ENJOYING EVERYTHING

 https://torasavigdor.org/qa/rav-avigdor-miller-on-enjoying-everything/

Q:

What is meant by the statement in the Gemara (Yerushalmi Kiddushin 12:4) that a person is going to have to give an accounting in the Next World for everything that he saw in this world and didn’t utilize for pleasure?

Cohen marrying giyores

 

The Warped Electoral Logic Behind Trump’s Antisemitism

https://www.politico.com/news/magazine/2022/12/07/electoral-logic-behind-trumps-antisemitism-00072661 

In October, when Trump complained about ungrateful Jews, there was little or no pushback from Republicans.

After Ye tweeted that he was “going death con3 on JEWISH people,” the former president invited him to dinner. He came with a notorious neo-Nazi.

And, once again, Trump offered no apology. He doesn’t think he has to, because his base doesn’t mind. These are his people. And he needs them.

Trump says loss caused by her refusal to respect him

 https://www.newsweek.com/democrat-tom-suozzi-wins-new-york-special-election-ap-projects-1869531

Former President Donald Trump lashed out at Pilip over her loss, referring to her as a "very foolish woman" in a post on his Truth Social platform around 11:20 p.m. on Tuesday. In the social media post, the MAGA leader decried the loss and said the Republican candidate would have won had she treated MAGA with respect.

"Republicans just don't learn, but maybe she was still a Democrat? I have an almost 99% Endorsement Success Rate in Primaries, and a very good number in the General Elections, as well, but just watched this very foolish woman, Mazi Melesa Pilip, running in a race where she didn't endorse me and tried to 'straddle the fence,' when she would have easily WON if she understood anything about MODERN DAY politics in America," Trump said in the Truth Social post. "MAGA, WHICH IS MOST OF THE REPUBLICAN PARTY, STAYED HOME - AND IT ALWAYS WILL, UNLESS IT IS TREATED WITH THE RESPECT THAT IT DESERVES. I STAYED OUT OF THE RACE, 'I WANT TO BE LOVED!' GIVE US A REAL CANDIDATE IN THE DISTRICT FOR NOVEMBER. SUOZZI, I KNOW HIM WELL, CAN BE EASILY BEATEN!"