Tuesday, May 21, 2024

Netanyahu’s Main Challenger Loses His Edge

 https://www.wsj.com/world/middle-east/benny-gantz-israel-netanyahu-challenger-8096b12d?mod=lead_feature_below_a_pos1

Support for the leader of the National Unity Party soared after the Oct. 7 attack, when public anger with Netanyahu was at its height. Previously a member of the opposition, Gantz joined Netanyahu’s coalition as part of an emergency government, a move that gave him a seat on the powerful three-member war cabinet. 

But as the war drags on, support for Gantz has slid while Netanyahu’s has stabilized. Many voters think Gantz has stayed in the emergency government for too long and he is now perceived as being part of the failures of the war instead of someone who can change its course.

Iran postpones execution of Jewish man who killed a Muslim

 https://www.ynetnews.com/article/bjj9m4dxr

Arvin Nathaniel Ghahremani, a 20-year-old Iranian Jew, was convicted of killing a Muslim man two years ago and was supposed to be put to death on Monday. On Sunday, the Jewish community in Iran was informed that the execution has been postponed until next month,

Just How Big of a Threat Is RFK Jr.?

 https://www.usnews.com/news/the-report/articles/2024-05-16/just-how-big-of-a-threat-does-rfk-jr-pose-to-biden-trump

Polling is a tricky indicator. History shows that third party candidates tend to poll higher than they perform on Election Day.

“Third party candidates tend to do a bit better when you’re further out because it's, in some ways, a measure of dissatisfaction with the current candidates,” Wagner says. “And I think it's fair to say that there is a fair amount of dissatisfaction with the current candidates.”

Polls should be examined with caution, she adds, as “we're six months out from election, so polls are not very accurate or indicative of what the results will be come November at this juncture in the election.”

Republicans are starting to worry about RFK Jr.

 https://www.politico.com/news/2024/04/22/republicans-are-starting-to-worry-about-rfk-jr-00153763

Republicans are waking up to the reality that Robert F. Kennedy Jr. could sink their standard-bearer just as easily as he could hurt President Joe Biden, after a pair of new polls showed the presence of third-party candidates on the ballot might not necessarily benefit former President Donald Trump.

Even Trump is acknowledging his potential problem.

But recent polling broadly shows Kennedy drawing evenly from both of the major party candidates’ 2020 supporters. And Kennedy’s significantly higher favorable ratings among Republican voters suggests he has more room to eat into Trump’s vote share than Biden’s.

Tucker Carlson Launches Show On Russian State TV

 https://www.newsweek.com/tucker-carlson-launches-show-russian-state-tv-russia-24-1903045

Conservative TV host Tucker Carlson has launched his own show on a Russian state television channel.

The former Fox News anchor is presenting the program Tucker on the rolling news channel Russia 24, with the first episode now available online, Russian state newspaper Rossiskya Gazyeta reported.

Message from Joseph Stalin to President Harry S. Truman expressing condolences on the death of Franklin D. Roosevelt

 https://alliance.rusarchives.ru/message-joseph-stalin-president-harry-s-truman-13-april-1945

In the name of the Soviet government and myself personally, I would like to extend heartfelt condolences to the government of the United States of America on the death of President Roosevelt. The American people and the United Nations have lost a great international politician and an advocate of the postwar organization of peace and security.

U.S. ‘Condolences’ for Raisi Reflect a Delicate Diplomatic Ritual

 https://www.nytimes.com/2024/05/20/us/politics/us-condolences-raisi.html#:~:text=In%20a%20direct%20message%20to,Minister%20of%20the%20Soviet%20Union.”

More often there is complicated nuance, even in the cases of infamous tyrants. Upon the March 1953 death following a stroke of the Soviet leader, Joseph Stalin, it was left to President Dwight D. Eisenhower to issue a response.

President Eisenhower sent condolences to Russia when Stalin died

 https://www.cia.gov/readingroom/docs/CIA-RDP70-00058R000100120061-0.pdf

When the butcher of Russia aka Stalin died while still in power President Eisenhower sent condolences to Russia. 

Making excuses for dictators is nothing new: "Mr. Republican" and the Nazis

 https://www.salon.com/2023/01/07/making-excuses-for-dictators-is-nothing-new-mr-republican-and-the-nazis/

In 1940, the Wall Street Journal asserted that "our job today is not to stop Hitler," the dictator whom the editorial claimed had "already determined the broad lines of our national life at least for another generation." Note that the Journal, then as now the flagship of "respectable" conservatism, not only consigned Europe to Hitler's domination, but America as well, and for the following 30 years. The title of the editorial, "A Plea for Realism," is a reminder that in some quarters, "realism" means abandoning democracy and submitting to force.  

Trump’s social media account shares video referencing ‘unified reich’

 https://www.politico.com/news/2024/05/20/trump-social-media-video-unified-reich-00159067

Donald Trump’s social media account on Monday shared a video referencing a “unified reich” in a post about how the country will change if he becomes president again.

His campaign said a staffer did not see the word “reich” before it was posted — an explanation President Joe Biden’s team blasted on Monday night.

Trump’s social media account shares video referencing ‘unified reich’

 https://www.wsj.com/politics/elections/trumps-social-media-account-posts-video-referencing-a-unified-reich-6707b59b

A video shared by a social-media account of Donald Trump referenced imaginary headlines and a “unified Reich” in the context of him winning the election in November.

Fulfilling the Vision: Rabbi Steinsaltz’s Writings and Teachings are Accessible Online

 https://www.israelnationalnews.com/news/390001

Rabbi Even Israel shares that one of the first to give his approbation for the Steinsaltz Talmud was American posek hador Rabbi Moshe Feinstein. “He said that the pictures and notes make it very useful for the layman, but especially so for Torah scholars.”

Trump Hilariously Claims He ‘Doesn’t Freeze!’ in Viral Gaffe Pushback

 https://www.thedailybeast.com/trump-hilariously-claims-he-doesnt-freeze-in-viral-gaffe-pushback

Footage of Trump’s performance—in which he stopped speaking for around 35 seconds while music played—was shared on X by the Biden-Harris campaign. The post accused the former president of playing “QAnon music during his bizarre slur-filled NRA speech,” but did not mention him freezing. Others did, however, including one from an account named “Biden’s Wins” which said Trump “just glitched out and froze at his rally tonight” and accused him of being “unfit for office” and “senile.”