Trump Embrace of Laura Loomer Adds New Figure to Controversial Entourage

 https://www.wsj.com/politics/elections/donald-trump-connections-republicans-election-2024-3f520567?mod=hp_lead_pos4

Donald Trump’s press conference Friday at his oceanfront golf club near Los Angeles was meant to highlight public-safety problems in California that he blamed in part on his election opponent, Vice President Kamala Harris.

Instead, he spent much of the time fielding questions on his relationship with Laura Loomer, a right-wing conspiracy theorist who was part of his entourage this past week.

“I know she’s a big fan of the campaign,” Trump said, adding that with regard to some of her controversial and racist statements, “I don’t know what she said.”

I asked criminologists about immigration and crime in the US. Their answers may surprise you

 https://edition.cnn.com/2024/02/15/us/border-migrants-crime-cec/index.html

Kubrin: Across a variety of studies that use different years of data that focus on different areas of the United States — with some exceptions, there’s some nuance there. I don’t want to deny the nuance — in general, on average, we do not find a connection between immigration and crime, as is so often claimed. The most common finding across all these different kinds of studies is that immigration to an area is either not associated with crime in that area, or is negatively associated with crime in that area. Meaning more immigration equals less crime. It’s rare to find studies that show crime following increases in immigration or with larger percentage of the population that are immigrants.

Immigrants are less likely to commit crimes than U.S.-born Americans, studies find

 https://www.npr.org/2024/03/08/1237103158/immigrants-are-less-likely-to-commit-crimes-than-us-born-americans-studies-find

During the current presidential campaign, the vitriol has been intense. Just in the last few months, former President Donald Trump has spoken of immigrants as criminals and mentally ill people who are "poisoning the blood of our country." Florida Gov. (and former presidential candidate) Ron DeSantis said migrants suspected of carrying drugs across the border should be shot, without specifying how drug smugglers could be told apart from other migrants.

However, research indicates that immigrants commit less crimes than U.S.-born people.

Opposition to Tzadikim

 Lekutei Moharan (208:1) That the wicked afflict the righteous and pursue them is brought about by G-d in order that the tzadik should consider and examine his deeds. Thus it is that the wicked man is like a watchman, like the guard of the city, who is called a tzopheh. So too, the wicked man guards the tzadik from succumbing to physicality. Another explanation: Some of the opposition that tzaddikim face is for their benefit. This is because opposition is like a cover, keeping them from being discovered and becoming famous more than is necessary. This is the explanation of:…

Nobody Is Eating Our City’s Dogs Mr. Trump—I’d Know, I’m the Dog Warden

 https://www.thedailybeast.com/nobody-is-eating-our-citys-dogs-mr-trumpid-know-im-the-dog-warden?ref=home?ref=home

The Clark County dog warden has refuted viral pet-eating allegations in Springfield, Ohio, after Donald Trump regurgitated unfounded claims that the city’s pets were being poached by Haitian immigrants on Tuesday.

“Nobody has any proof of anything,” Sandi Click told the Daily Beast. “It’s all just a bunch of hearsay.”

Trump ally Laura Loomer swatted down after posting bigoted attack on Harris

 https://www.politico.com/news/2024/09/11/laura-loomer-trump-mtg-00178815

Two loyal allies of Donald Trump are feuding over a bigoted post about Kamala Harris’ Indian heritage, the latest sign of discord among MAGA surrogates as the former president seeks to regain his lead in the presidential race.

Putin Pals Eat Crow as ‘Complete Fool’ Creams ‘Our Donald’

 https://disqus.com/profile/login/?next=/admin/moderate/pending

In the run-up to this presidential debate, Russian state TV propagandists constantly predicted that the “charismatic” Trump—previously described as “our Donald”—would resoundingly defeat his opponent. They’ve consistently described Harris as a stupid, inexperienced newcomer, who simply cannot function without a teleprompter, even citing ridiculous conspiracy theories from the likes of Alex Jones to assert that the Vice President has a severe “performance anxiety” and would show up to the debate high on drugs

Doubts for Tzadikim?

 Lekutei Moharan (063:6) The ant that lies inside the serpent’s mouth is the aspect of the tzadik of the generation, who is upright and righteous and possesses good character traits. Because he is wise and involves himself in their scholarship and philosophical investigation, probing these wisdoms, this tzadik suffers greatly when these scholars begin to engage in their philosophical investigation. He wages a fierce battle with them—i.e., with the aforementioned aspect of the serpent—for he is greatly assailed by doubts, untrue assertions…

Huge majority of debate watchers say Harris took home the victory

 https://www.foxnews.com/politics/huge-majority-debate-watchers-say-harris-took-home-victory-cnn-poll-finds

An overwhelming majority of debate watchers said they thought Vice President Kamala Harris outperformed former President Trump in Tuesday night's debate, according to a CNN poll.

The survey respondents went into Tuesday night's debate split, with 50% saying they expected Trump to win and 50% saying they expected a Harris victory. By the end of the night, however, 63% said Harris came out on top, compared to 37% for Trump.

Kamala Harris Won Debate by a Knockout—but Her Fight Is Far From Over

 https://www.thedailybeast.com/kamala-harris-won-debate-by-a-knockoutbut-her-fight-is-far-from-over?ref=home?ref=home

But do not expect that opinion polls will show her lead ballooning in the next few days. It will grow probably—but by a modest amount. That is due in part, of course, to the fact that many opinion polls are deeply flawed. But it is also a consequence of the fact that we live in a country in which the members of our two political parties receive their information from dramatically different sources.

Koheles is Heresy?

 Koheles Rabbah (01:3) “What profit is there for man in all his toil that he toils under the sun?”. “What profit is there for man?” Rabbi Binyamin said: The Sages sought to suppress the book of Koheles because they found in it matters that tend toward heresy. They said: All of Solomon’s wisdom that he seeks to impart is: “What profit is there for man in all his toil,” but one might think that he meant even in the toil of Torah. They then said: He did not say “in all toil,” but rather in his toil…

Who Won the Debate? Even Republicans Agree it Was Kamala Harris

 https://www.thedailybeast.com/who-won-the-debate-harris-and-trump-both-claim-victory?ref=home?ref=home

What happens when a former president whose own niece has diagnosed him as a “narcissist” is declared the loser of a crucial debate that could make or break the 2024 presidential election?

He declares himself the winner.

“Comrade Kamala Harris is going around wanting another Debate because she lost so badly - Just look at the Polls! It’s true with prizefighters, when they lose a fight, they immediately want another. MAGA2024,” Donald Trump posted on his own social media platform. He cited a far-right Newsmax snap poll conducted after the debate that declared Trump the winner over Harris by 93 percent to 6 percent.

Disagree With Chazal?

 Rav Avraham ben HaRambam (Discourse on Agada): We are not obligated to accept the views of the sages of the Talmud on matters concerning medicine, natural science or astronomy  -  simply because of their greatness and authority  -  as we are concerning their explanations of the Torah. That is because concerning Torah, they were the ultimate experts and they had the exclusive authority to teach it as it says in the Torah, “You should do according to the Torah that they teach.”

Fact-checking the ABC News presidential debate

 https://edition.cnn.com/2024/09/10/politics/fact-check-debate-trump-harris/index.html

Former President Donald Trump repeated a false claim at Tuesday’s debate that has been promoted by numerous prominent Republicans in the past week, including Republican vice presidential candidate Sen. JD Vance. Trump claimed that Haitian migrants in the city of Springfield, Ohio, are stealing people’s pet dogs and cats and eating them.