https://www.thedailybeast.com/key-gop-senators-rebuke-president-trump-over-jan-6-pardons/
The small faction of dissenters included former Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, who pointed to Vice President JD Vance’s remarks earlier this month that violent criminals “obviously” should not be pardoned.
“Well, I think I agree with the vice president,” McConnell told Semafor.
Pete Hegseth, President Trump’s pick to run the Pentagon, regularly abused alcohol to the point that he passed out at family gatherings, and once needed to be dragged out of a strip club while in uniform, according to an ex-relative’s account of his behavior that was given to U.S. lawmakers and reviewed by The Wall Street Journal.
https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cz7e0jve875o
Sentencing Ulbricht - who has two college degrees - District Judge Katherine Forrest said he was "no better a person than any other drug dealer".
She said the site had been his "carefully planned life's work".
The judge noted the lengthy sentence also acted as a message to copycats that there would be "very serious consequences".
"I wanted to empower people to make choices in their lives and have privacy and anonymity," Ulbricht said at his sentencing in May 2015.
https://www.kirkusreviews.com/book-reviews/david-rohde/where-tyranny-begins/
In a hard-hitting book characterized by careful research and documentation, two-time Pulitzer winner Rohde, author of In Deep and Endgame, delineates how the Trump White House violated well-established post-Watergate norms about judicial conduct, upending and devaluing the work of the DOJ. The trajectory of the successful attempts to sway judicial philosophy started in the first week of Trump’s presidency, as he instituted the Muslim travel ban, an executive decision that went straight to the courts. Subsequently, the new attorney general, Jeff Sessions, a Trump loyalist—caught lying about meeting a Russian ambassador when he was running Trump’s campaign—recused himself from running the investigation into Russian interference, a monumental decision that would lead to Trump turning against him. After Trump fired FBI director James Comey, deputy AG Rod Rosenstein felt compelled to choose the highly revered former FBI director Robert Mueller to run the special counsel on Russia. However, Trump’s repeated attacks on the department and its officials weakened the ability of the special counsel team to make its case to the public. Moreover, the new AG, William Barr, publicly misrepresented Mueller’s conclusion two years later as proving there was “no collusion” with the Russians, when Mueller’s report was actually more damning. The new scandals over the phone call with Volodymyr Zelensky, along with the investigation into Hunter Biden and the commuting of Roger Stone and Michael Flynn’s sentences, all resulted in “myriad Justice Department and post-Watergate norms…shredded by Trump and Barr with seemingly little political consequence.” The resulting situation, Rohde argues convincingly, cannot be rectified by the cautious proceedings of Biden’s AG, Merrick Garland.
Former national security adviser John Bolton confirmed to Newsweek on Tuesday that President Donald Trump has ended the Secret Service protection assigned to him.
Bolton, national-security hawk who played a key role in shaping U.S. foreign policy during the first Trump administration, has continued to require Secret Service protection due to threats from Iran, even after leaving the White House in 2019.
After Bolton was fired by Trump, the president terminated his security detail. However, former President Joe Biden reinstated the protection upon taking office in 2021.
Former President Joe Biden greeted President Donald Trump at the White House in advance of Monday’s inauguration with a conciliatory gesture, telling him and first lady Melania Trump: “Welcome home.”
Trump ended his first day back in that home by posting a sneering message boasting of how his team was hunting down hundreds of Biden appointees to throw out of office.
“Our first day in the White House is not over yet!” Trump wrote, in a Truth Social post shortly after midnight. “My Presidential Personnel Office is actively in the process of identifying and removing over a thousand Presidential Appointees from the previous Administration, who are not aligned with our vision to Make America Great Again.”
After Israeli troops stood down when a cease-fire came into effect in the Gaza Strip, Hamas began sending thousands of its forces onto the streets to establish control.
Igros Moshe (E.H. 2:14): Question: Mixed-seating on a subway or other public transportation at a time of day that it is impossible not to come in contact with women because of the crowding of people going to work. Is it permitted to travel at that time. Answer: As regarding the forced contact with women there is absolutely no sin since it is not the result of lust and passion. The basic prohibition of with contact with women is only when it is done in a lustful manner as he learns from the verse lo tikravu. So if not done in a lustful manner there is no prohibition even rabbinically as can be seen from the Shach regarding a Nidah taking the pulse of her husband. .It is standard practice for Jewish doctors to take the pulse of women who are Niddah even if they are married or not Jewish. . In sum there is no prohibition if not done in a lustful manner – even rabbinical;ly. Therefore there is nothing to be concerned about travelling on public transportation during rush hour when because of the crowding it is impossible to avoid contact with women. Similarly there is no prohibition to sit next to a woman if there is no other place since it is not done in a lustful manner. Even sitting next to one’a wife who is Nidah is permitted according to the majority of achronim who agree with the Shach. However anyone who knows that any contact with women causes lustful thoughts should avoid it if possible. If he must travel then to get to his work it is still permitted but he should try and distract himself from the women and prohibited thoughts and think about Torah. However if he knows he is basically evil and will be sexually aroused it is prohibited to travel even to his work. But G-d forbid! that a person should be that way since it typically is the result of idleness. Therefore he should increase his Torah and work to change this.
https://etzion.org.il/en/philosophy/issues-jewish-thought/issues-mussar-and-faith/holocaust
C. Did the Jewish Spiritual Leadership Anticipate the Holocaust and Prepare for It?
This controversial question is surrounded by differing opinions as well as by some misconceptions. It is an important question and one worthy of the effort to arrive at an orderly response.
Could the Holocaust have been foreseen? Seemingly, the answer should be 'yes.' Anyone who paid attention to what Hitler yimach shemo was saying, in his speeches and in his writings, would have had ample evidence of his explicit intentions. Even if some of his demagoguery preceded his election and could have been interpreted as nothing more than populist rabble-rousing, it was clear from the moment that he took the reins of government in Germany and began to promote his campaign of antisemitic legislation and action that he was carrying out his previously declared intentions. Indeed, with his rise to power there began a massive emigration of Jews from Germany to the US and to Eretz Yisrael. This movement slowed around the years 1935-6, but picked up again in 1937-8, with the intensification of antisemitic attacks. Does the fact that so many German Jews left the country prove that anyone could have known? In this regard, many people point to Ze'ev Jabotinsky and his speeches throughout Europe, warning again and again of the imminent catastrophe facing the Jews of that continent.
Despite all this, I am inclined to accept the argument of Prof. Yaakov Katz that this clarity comes with hindsight, and that an authentic re-creation of the processes and events in their historical context leads us to the conclusion that it would have been difficult to imagine the Holocaust as a serious possibility. We know that the weight given to declarations by leaders, and their proper interpretation, is largely context-dependent. Who could honestly have imagined that Hitler's venomous statements, delivered to gatherings of various associations and groups, were any more than expressions of hatred and belligerence, that there was the remotest chance that anyone in the enlightened world would allow them to be fulfilled, that there would be an operative plan for their realization, and that he would attain power? All of these barriers, along with many others, prevented an accurate reading of the early signs.
Igros Moshe (CM II:66) Question: Is a young lady permitted to make herself more beautiful by Plastic Surgery? A women who wants to be more desirable for marriage through plastic surgery is this permitted since it involves wounding the body which is prohibited? Tosfos says it is prohibited to wound oneself even if it serves a constructive purpose. However we see that a Nazir is permitted to destress himself by denying himself wine so why not this. It is logical that where a person will benefit financially or other benefits by causing himself suffering through denying himself wine that it is not prohibited so why not wounding the body? We might explain that refraining from drinking wine for some other benefit is not considered distress since the compensenatory benefit is greater than the suffering. However wounding the body causes actual suffering which is not diminished by the possible benefits. However it seems from the Rambam that wounding is prohibited only when it involves degradation and embarrassment to another. So if if it is done to beautify oneself it should be permitted. There a number of sources that support this view such as a son performing medical procedures on his father and the prophet Micha asking to get hit as repentance according to G-d In conclusion it appears that plastic surgery would be permitted for beatification which is a benefit to her. Rashi says the gemora clearly permits a son bleeding his father because of ve'ahavta since it is something a person would want done to himself and therefore is not even prohibited. In conclusion since this is for her beautification and her benefit and she wants it there is no prohibition.
https://www.israelnationalnews.com/news/402627
Fourteen suspects were arrested overnight in the city of Beit Shemesh during a violent riot that began during police activity to arrest a suspect for committing indecent acts on 9-year-old and 4-year-old children.
Four police officers and a medical responder were injured by the rioters and property damage was caused. During the day, the police will request to extend the detention of the suspects involved.
The incident took place shortly after 1:00 A.M. Detectives from the Jerusalem District arrested a 20-year-old suspect on suspicions of sexual abuse of minors. Immediately thereafter, a riot erupted in which dozens of violent rioters tried to prevent the arrest.
https://www.thedailybeast.com/trump-frees-thugs-who-beat-cops-with-weapons-on-jan-6/
The list of pardons also includes the former leader of the Proud Boys, who was previously sentenced to 22 years in prison on charges of seditious conspiracy and obstruction of Congress for his role in planning the attack.
Enrique Tarrio, the alt-right organization’s former national chairman, is one of the thousands of people expected to be freed after Trump’s sweeping order.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/immigration/2025/01/20/trump-birthright-citizenship-immigrants/
When a reporter asked if the order could be called unconstitutional by a court, Trump responded: “Could be. I think we have good grounds, but you could be right. We’ll find out. It’s ridiculous. … People have wanted to do this for decades.”
https://www.jpost.com/international/article-838444
US billionaire Elon Musk appeared to make a Heil Hitler salute at the Washington DC Trump parade on Monday, following Trump's inauguration.
Musk was seen making the gesture a total of three times on live television
