Have babies for Russia: Putin presses women to embrace patriotism over feminism

 https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2024/07/30/russia-putin-antifeminism-women-children-society/

Vladimir Putin, who has long cultivated an aura of machismo as Russia’s strongman leader, is enlisting women to grow Russia’s population through childbirth and to rebuild his nation as a great power steeped in traditional family values — a campaign that is eroding equal rights and protections, human rights advocates and Russian feminists say.

“Many of our grandmothers and great-grandmothers had seven or eight children, and maybe even more,” Putin declared to an audience of ultraconservative religious and political figures who had convened in the State Kremlin Palace in November. “We should preserve and revive these wonderful traditions.”

Trump Buries Project 2025

 https://www.wsj.com/articles/project-2025-heritage-foundation-paul-dans-kevin-roberts-donald-trump-38b913b0?mod=hp_opin_pos_3#cxrecs_s

The Democratic attacks on Project 2025 were laughable because Mr. Trump is never going to have a governing platform. Oh, and anyone who becomes a political liability to Mr. Trump is expendable.

This is a hard education for Mr. Roberts, who made a loud cause of opposing aid to Ukraine when that became the view of the likes of J.D. Vance. He also adopted the line that anyone who resisted the new right-wing populism of Mr. Trump was a nostalgic Reaganite who doesn’t “know what time it is.”

The lesson for Heritage, and other think tanks, is that it’s better to stick to your principles rather than court the political flavor of the day. And never trust a politician.

Trump Buries Project 2025

 https://www.wsj.com/articles/project-2025-heritage-foundation-paul-dans-kevin-roberts-donald-trump-38b913b0

In case there was any political doubt, Trump campaign officials Susie Wiles and Chris LaCivita shot the wounded in a joint statement on Tuesday. “Reports of Project 2025’s demise would be greatly welcomed and should serve as notice to anyone or any group trying to misrepresent their influence with President Trump and his campaign,” they wrote. “It will not end well for you.” Bang, bang, bang, bang.

Murkowski slams Vance's 'childless cat ladies' comments as 'offensive' to women

 https://www.politico.com/live-updates/2024/07/30/congress/murkowski-critical-vance-cat-lady-trump-republicans-senate-00171864

Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) hit her party's own vice presidential nominee, Sen. JD Vance (R-Ohio), for what she called "offensive" comments about “childless cat ladies."

"If the Republican Party is trying to improve its image with women, I don't think that this is working," Murkowski told POLITICO, calling Vance's comments unfortunate, unnecessary and "offensive to many women."

Maddow points out frightening truth about Trump's lack of concern about votes

Hitler encourages Germans to have multiple children with the Mother’s Cross

 https://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/hitler-institutes-the-mothers-cross

The German Reich needed a robust and growing population and encouraged couples to have large families. It started such encouragement early. Once members of the distaff wing of the Hitler Youth movement, the League of German Girls, turned 18, they became eligible for a branch called Faith and Beauty, which trained these girls in the art of becoming ideal mothers. One component of that ideal was fecundity. And so each year, in honor of his beloved mother, Klara, and in memory of her birthday, a gold medal was awarded to women with seven children, a silver to women with six, and a bronze to women with five.

J.D. Vance’s Basket of Deplorables

 https://www.wsj.com/articles/j-d-vances-basket-of-deplorables-cf86985f?mod=trending_now_opn_5

One possibility is that at some level Mr. Vance really doesn’t respect people who make different life choices. Politicians often reveal their true beliefs when talking to supporters, as Hillary Clinton did when she sneered at the “basket of deplorables” who supported Mr. Trump in 2016.

J.D. Vance Says Racism ‘Definitely’ Helped Trump Win in Resurfaced Clip

 https://www.thedailybeast.com/jd-vance-says-racism-definitely-helped-trump-win-in-resurfaced-clip?ref=home?ref=home

Former President Donald Trump’s re-election running mate J.D. Vance was caught in another resurfaced clip talking about Trump and his MAGA fan base.

In the video, Vance blamed the “well-educated and the alt-right” for a “hyper-racialized” 2016 election—and even called some Trump voters “racists.”

JD Vance Slammed by Former Friend Over 'Lack of Integrity'

 https://www.newsweek.com/jd-vance-slammed-former-friend-over-lack-integrity-1931791

"He always approached conversations with respect and kindness," said Nelson. "And what we've seen with Donald Trump is a callousness and a cruelty in the way he talks about people ... he's a bully and he calls people names."

"When JD decided to run for the Senate in 2022, he started adopting that similar persona," they continued. "He just started talking in this divisive, dismissive and cruel way about people who were different from him. And that's just not the person that I used to know."

Harris Erases Trump’s Lead, WSJ Poll Finds

 https://www.wsj.com/politics/elections/harris-erases-trumps-lead-wsj-poll-finds-e286144d?mod=hp_trending_now_article_pos5

The presidential race between Kamala Harris and Donald Trump is essentially tied, according to a new Wall Street Journal poll that shows heightened support for her among nonwhite voters and dramatically increased enthusiasm about the campaign among Democrats.

The former president leads the current vice president 49% to 47% in a two-person matchup, but that is within the margin of error of plus or minus 3.1 percentage points. Trump held a six-point lead earlier this month over President Biden before he exited the race and backed Harris.

Alzheimer’s blood test catches 90% of early dementia cases, study finds

 https://edition.cnn.com/2024/07/28/health/alzheimer-blood-test-p-tau-217-wellness/index.html

 A combined blood test for cognitive decline has a 90% accuracy rate in determining whether memory loss is due to Alzheimer’s disease, a new study found.

In comparison, neurologists and other memory specialists correctly diagnosed Alzheimer’s in 73% of their cases. Primary care doctors had even less success, with only a 61% accuracy rate, according to the study.

Why JD Vance Worries About Childlessness

 https://www.wsj.com/politics/elections/why-jd-vance-worries-about-childlessness-00bb96cb?mod=hp_lead_pos8

Vance said lower fertility might also be the result of less patriotism. In Israel, which has relatively high fertility, “there’s still a fundamental sense that they love their country, they want their country to keep going. America was always considered by our European friends to be kind of jingoistic back in the 1990s and 2000s. We had pretty healthy fertility rates back then. Now that we’re a little bit more like our European counterparts, much less sort of innately patriotic than we were 20, 30 years ago, our fertility rates have declined.”

J.D. Vance Takes Another Stab at Cleaning Up His ‘Cat Ladies’ Rant

 https://www.thedailybeast.com/jd-vance-takes-another-stab-at-cleaning-up-his-cat-ladies-rant?ref=home?ref=home

He then went on to criticize Harris’ policies of harming parents, while falsely accusing her of seeking to cut the child tax credit. She has previously expressed support for the policy, which was expanded significantly under the Biden administration as part of the American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) in 2021.

Safety and Religion

 Would you invite your family and friends to a place that might endanger them and cause injuries?  That is exactly what you are doing if the Simcha Hall is not licensed – because it means that it did not meet the safety requirements.

We went to a wedding and my husband ended up in the neurology department in the hospital with internal bleeding in the head, a broken nose and a fractured eye socket.  He fell and lost consciousness because the hall was lacking simple basic safety features required by law – especially near steps.

Be Responsible!  Before booking a Simcha ask the hall to show you their license and insurance policy.  No insurance company will insure a business without a legal license.  If an accident occurs, you bear responsibility and could be sued along with the hall for negligence!