Why Is Trump Getting Special Treatment From the Supreme Court?

 https://www.politico.com/news/magazine/2024/02/29/trump-special-treatment-supreme-court-00144138

Start with the weakness of Trump’s argument. There is absolutely no constitutional text, no precedent and no authority in the original debates over the Constitution’s ratification to support the idea for a former president’s absolute immunity. The argument advanced by Trump’s counsel is patently absurd. The idea that senators could impeach a president who threatened them with deadly violence and so no criminal justice process is needed, is facetious. The District of Columbia Court of Appeals rightly ridiculed it — and issued a comprehensive, tightly reasoned and unanimous opinion that presented no good cause for further review.

IDF soldiers sentenced to 20 days in prison for making hot dogs on Shabbat

 https://www.jpost.com/omg/article-789809

Two soldiers have been sentenced to 20 days in military prison after being caught warming up hot dogs in a military kitchen on Shabbat, according to a KAN11 report on Friday.

The pair were caught by a third soldier who entered the kitchen and saw them committing the act.

They were summoned to trial, where they initially denied the charges but later confessed and were sentenced to at least 20 days in prison.

Can a ‘Kosher’ Phone Cure Your Tech Addiction?

 https://www.thedailybeast.com/can-kosher-phones-used-by-ultra-orthodox-jews-cure-tech-addiction?ref=home?ref=home

Today, smartphone addiction is widely acknowledged, and most people I know are actively seeking to minimize screen time and shield their children from the highly addictive nature of technology. However, across the world, ultra-orthodox Jews have consistently refrained from adopting smartphones as a community and maintain a cautious approach to internet usage.

Ultra-orthodox groups are relatively secluded and are characterized by their strict adherence to Jewish law, particularly those concentrated in Israel and America but also found in various countries such as Australia, Canada, and England. They have chosen to eschew the internet and smartphones, and perceive these technologies as excessively addictive and incongruent with their traditional way of life.

Rabbi, teen hitchhiker killed in terror shooting at West Bank gas station

 https://www.timesofisrael.com/two-killed-in-terror-shooting-at-gas-station-near-west-bank-settlement-of-eli/

Two Israelis were killed when a Palestinian terrorist opened fire at a gas station in the West Bank on Thursday afternoon before being shot and killed by the proprietor of a nearby business on leave from fighting in Gaza, the military and medics said.

The attack, the second deadly shooting at the spot outside the settlement of Eli since June, comes as security tensions around the West Bank have risen ahead of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, even as the military remains focused on fighting in Gaza and escalating skirmishes on the northern border.

Poll finds nearly 1 in 4 Americans hold antisemitic views, highest in 60 years

 https://www.timesofisrael.com/poll-finds-nearly-1-in-4-americans-hold-antisemitic-views-highest-in-60-years/

Nearly a quarter of Americans hold antisemitic beliefs, with a disturbing reversal in trends showing that younger generations are more likely to believe in antisemitic tropes than previous generations, the Anti-Defamation League found in a survey released Thursday.

The poll of more than 4,000 US adults asked respondents the extent to which they agree with statements such as “Jews have too much power in the business world,” “Jews have too much control and influence on Wall Street” and “Jews are more willing than others to use shady practices to get what they want.”

The results showed that 24 percent of Americans agreed with at least six of the statements, up from 20% in 2022, and the highest figure since the 11 statements were first polled in 1964, when 29% agreed. Only 9% to 11% agreed with the statements from 2014 to 2019 before spiking this decade.

US blocks Security Council motion blaming Israel for deadly Gaza aid convoy incident

 https://www.timesofisrael.com/us-blocks-security-council-motion-blaming-israel-for-deadly-gaza-aid-convoy-incident/

Amid American opposition, Arab nations failed Thursday overnight to get immediate support for a UN Security Council statement that would have blamed Israeli forces for the more than 100 reported deaths as Palestinians in northern Gaza swarmed an aid convoy.

Riyad Mansour, the Palestinian UN ambassador, told reporters after an emergency closed council meeting on the deaths, that 14 of the 15 council members supported the statement put forward by Algeria, the Arab representative on the body.

Algeria’s draft declaration expressed “deep concern,” and stated that the situation was “due to opening fire by Israel forces.”

The United States did not support the statement and US deputy ambassador Robert Wood told reporters: “The parties are working on some language to see if we can get to a statement.

“The problem is that we don’t have all the facts here,” he said, adding that he wanted the wording to reflect “the necessary due diligence with regards to culpability.”

Jim Jordan defends Kushner after Hunter Biden raises Saudi deals

 https://thehill.com/homenews/house/4498193-jim-jordan-defends-jared-kushner-hunter-biden/

“The idea that Jared Kushner did something wrong is ridiculous,” Jordan told Newsmax’s Eric Bolling during a Wednesday night appearance on “The Balance.” 

“I mean, the Trump family has been investigated more than any family on the planet, and what they’ve attempted to do to President Trump and been doing to President Trump over the last seven years is unbelievable,” Jordan said. 

Hunter Biden appeared for a closed-door deposition Wednesday, where he was grilled by Republicans about his foreign business deals. During the process, the president’s son flipped the question back on the GOP interrogators.

“He drew the distinction between what he has done in a business world with independent businessmen, versus foreign governments, which he did not do any business with — unlike Jared Kushner,” Rep. Dan Goldman (D-N.Y.) said Wednesday during a break in the testimony. 

First recorded case of pregnancy in liver shocks Israeli doctors

 https://www.ynetnews.com/health_science/article/b1emnd03a

“The danger in this situation is that if the pregnancy grows in an unprotected area and if a fetus is growing inside the liver, it may rupture it, which could lead to death. When an egg is released from the ovary and moves toward the uterus, this transition passes through an organ called the fallopian tube, which isn’t completely hermetic," he explained.

IDF Spokesman: 'IDF did not fire on Gaza aid convoy'

 https://www.israelnationalnews.com/news/386044

Rejecting Hamas' accusations of a massacre of over 100 civilians, he said that “The Israel Defense Forces operates according to the rules of engagement and international law. No IDF strike was conducted toward the aid convoy. I want to repeat that: No IDF strike was conducted toward the aid convoy."

FBI Informant in Hunter Biden Case Left Trail of Broken Promises

 https://www.wsj.com/us-news/informant-charged-with-lying-about-bidens-flaunted-fbi-ties-for-financial-gain-fcf86af2?mod=hp_lead_pos8

Born in Soviet Ukraine, Smirnov spent years in Israel before moving to the U.S. in 2006, where he drew on his international contacts and bounced between business ventures as he fed information to the FBI, according to the Journal’s review. Prosecutors said that on several occasions, Smirnov was authorized by the FBI to engage in criminal activity as part of a continuing investigation.

A dual U.S.-Israeli citizen, Smirnov spent 16 years in Los Angeles before moving in recent years to Las Vegas, where his girlfriend in 2022 bought a high-rise apartment for $1.4 million—after he had wired her nearly twice that, prosecutors said.

Smirnov carved out a role for himself raising money for fledgling companies, connecting investors to founders in exchange for equity, former associates said. He was an officer of at least four businesses, the Journal’s review found. All of them have since closed.

Michigan Democratic Protest Votes Aren’t as Big a Threat to Biden as They Look

 https://www.thedailybeast.com/michigan-democratic-protest-votes-arent-as-big-a-threat-to-biden-as-they-look?ref=home

Finally, there’s Trump, who instituted a ban on travelers from several majority-Muslim countries as one of his first significant acts as president in 2017. If the “uncommitted” vote manages to sufficiently harm Biden in November to return Trump to the White House, he is all but certain to pursue policies harmful to both Arab Americans in the United States and Palestinians fighting for statehood and survival. He has, for example, already promised to deport immigrants who voice support for Hamas at pro-Palestinian protests.

“Unless you actually want Trump back in the White House, your inability to support the only viable alternative to him doesn’t make any rational sense,” the progressive activist Joanne Carducci, who is better known as @JoJoFromJerz on X, where she has nearly a million followers, wrote for The Daily Beast.

In other words, we hear you, Dearborn. We see the suffering in Gaza. But electing Trump again is not the answer to your pain.

Dems Bet a Vote Against Biden in Michigan Now Will Move Him on Israel and Save Him Later

 https://www.thedailybeast.com/dems-bet-a-vote-against-biden-in-michigan-now-will-move-him-on-israel-and-save-him-later?ref=home

If the activists are wrong—which veteran Michigan pollster Bernie Porn fears they may be—“the Listen to Michigan effort could well help to give the election to Trump.”

“It is possible that Biden may have already lost the election,” Porn said in a statement to The Daily Beast.

If Listen to Michigan organizers aren’t careful, he said, “they could be playing a very dangerous game that could hand the election over to Trump, mostly because of Biden’s age, which will make life for civilians in Gaza even more difficult, which is hard to believe but indeed possible.”

In short, it’s a risky electoral gambit. (The February EPIC-MRA poll found that 53 percent of Michigan voters support a ceasefire.)

Whose Blood Is Redder

 https://etzion.org.il/en/talmud/studies-gemara/talmudic-methodology/mai-chazit-whose-blood-redder

These different approaches in explaining mai chazit yield an interesting nafka mina: Would yeihareig ve-al ya'avor apply to a sin performed passively?  One of the Ba'alei Tosafot (Rivam) adopts an opinion (cited in several Tosafot in shas - Ketubot 3b and Sanhedrin 74b) that if a woman remains completely passive, she has no obligation to surrender her life to avoid giluy arayot.  As the very source of yeihareig ve-al ya'avor stems from the logic of mai chazit in the case of retzicha, passive involvement is not included in this principle.  I cannot ACTIVELY murder since his blood might be redder.  But by similar logic, if I am completely passive (for example, I allow myself to be thrown onto another person whereby he will be crushed), I cannot refuse, since my blood might indeed be redder than his.  The paralysis which results from the inability to evaluate forces me to withdraw from any active decision.  If the murder will be executed without my active contribution, the logic of mai chazit disappears and yeihareig ve-al ya'avor no longer applies.

‘Uncommitted’ Voters Must Accept Trump Is Much, Much Worse Than Biden

 https://www.thedailybeast.com/uncommitted-voters-must-accept-trump-is-much-much-worse-than-biden?ref=home?ref=home

I have a question for the roughly 100,000 “uncommitted” voters in Michigan—do you want Donald Trump back in the White House?