Hey, RFK: Go to Texas and prove you mean it on vaccines

 https://nypost.com/2025/02/26/opinion/hey-rfk-go-to-texas-and-prove-you-mean-it-on-vaccines/

In seeking Senate approval to take his new job, Health Secretary Robert Kennedy insisted he’d come around on the safety and efficacy of (most) vaccines.

Now he has a chance to prove he really meant it.

The measles outbreak in Texas (and now New Mexico) just claimed its first life, an unvaccinated school-age child who’d been hospitalized in Lubbock last week.

It was the first US measles death since 2015.

More may be ahead: Most of the Texas cases are among the Mennonite faith community, where resistance to vaccinations is strong.

BBC Gaza documentary translates ‘Jihad’ to ‘resistance,’ ‘Jews’ to ‘Israeli army’

 https://www.timesofisrael.com/bbc-gaza-documentary-translates-jihad-to-resistance-jews-to-israeli-army/

The controversial BBC documentary on life in Gaza has again come under scrutiny, as a report Monday accused the film of “whitewashing” references to terrorism, Jihad, Hamas and prejudice against Jews in the English translation of the original Arabic dialogue.

The film, “Gaza: How To Survive a War Zone”, was pulled from BBC‘s online streaming service last week after a Telegraph report found that the documentary’s narrator was the son of a major Hamas governmental figure.

On Monday, a new report in the Telegraph found that the English translation of the film repeatedly mistranslated certain words in an attempt to “whitewash” the statements of the ordinary Gazans who were interviewed in the documentary.

RFK Dismisses Measles Outbreak That Killed Kid as No Biggie

 https://www.thedailybeast.com/rfk-claims-measles-outbreak-that-killed-first-us-kid-in-decades-is-totally-normal/

Donald Trump’s health secretary waved off the active Texas outbreak—where pediatricians on the ground have reported children being accepted into care unable to properly breathe—as a normal thing that happens every year.

“There have been four measles outbreaks this year in this country, last year there were 16,” he told a reporter from Trump’s cabinet meeting. “It is not unusual, we have measles outbreaks every year.”

His presence as a prominent figure in the anti-vax community has been credited with leading to an increase in the number of parents who now refuse to vaccinate their children—a movement that may now be causing a spike in measles cases.

Texas Measles Surge 'Inevitable' Due to Vaccine Exemptions, Experts Warn

 https://www.newsweek.com/texas-measles-surge-inevitable-vaccine-exemptions-2035228

Texas is facing its largest measles outbreak in nearly 30 years, with 124 confirmed cases as of February 25, 2025.

The outbreak coincides with Robert F. Kennedy Jr.'s appointment as U.S. Health Secretary. While Kennedy has promised not to change vaccination schedules, his role has reignited debates on vaccine policies. In Texas, more vaccine exemptions has led to lower vaccination rates, meaning communities could be more vulnerable and the disease spreading more easily.

Looking at the data for Texas, it appears to pretty much fit the profile one would expect: high vaccine exemption rate in schools—one in five kids, apparently—85 of 90 cases unvaccinated, most cases—80 to 90—under the age of 18.

Masses of Israelis pay respects to Bibas family; funeral procession reaches cemetery

 https://www.timesofisrael.com/liveblog-february-26-2025/

The funeral procession for Shiri, Ariel and Kfir Bibas has arrived at the Tsoher Cemetery near Kibbutz Nir Oz.

The burial will take place in private. The eulogies will be broadcast.

5 Lessons We Learned From The Body Keeps The Score

 https://www.myndlift.com/post/5-lessons-we-learned-from-the-body-keeps-the-score

There aren't many books containing dense and scientific material that also manage to top the New York Times best-seller list for 150 weeks – that's almost three years – and counting. The Body Keeps the Score by psychiatrist and author Bessel van der Kolk is quite possibly one of the most popular mental health books in the last decade. The numbers speak for themselves; it has sold nearly two million copies worldwide!

Trauma, trust and triumph: psychiatrist Bessel van der Kolk on how to recover from our deepest pain

 https://www.theguardian.com/society/2021/sep/20/trauma-trust-and-triumph-psychiatrist-bessel-van-der-kolk-on-how-to-recover-from-our-deepest-pain

Van der Kolk’s insistence that no single treatment is likely to work alone, and no combination will be exactly the same for every patient, is iconoclastic enough on its own. Yet it is his engagement with what you could loosely classify as “hippy stuff” – eye-movement desensitisation and reprocessing, yoga, bodywork (Feldenkrais, craniosacral therapy) and touch – that shows how unperturbed he is in going beyond the realm of classic psychiatry. His thinking on the body is so succinct and simple: if the body is storing trauma in its musculature, in its hormonal pathways, then it is the body that needs “experiences that deeply and viscerally contradict the helplessness, rage or collapse that result from trauma”, as he writes in his book.

ירושלים: החשוד התבצר בדירתו, הצית אותה – וחולץ במצב קשה

 https://www.bhol.co.il/news/1687459#:~:text=החשוד%2C%20שעל%20פי%20הדיווחים%20ביצע,הוא%20חולץ%20כשהוא%20מחוסר%20הכרה&text=כוחות%20משטרה%20וכבאות%20הוזעקו%20הלילה,חשוד%20במעשים%20חמורים%20שהתבצר%20בביתו.

החשוד, שעל פי הדיווחים ביצע מעשים חמורים, התבצר בדירתו בשכונת מאה שערים והצית אותה כשהכוחות ניסו לפרוץ פנימה. לאחר מאמצי חילוץ, הוא חולץ כשהוא מחוסר הכרה

Crisis with Hamas resolved: 4 dead hostages, hundreds of Palestinian prisoners to be released in next 24 hours

 https://www.ynetnews.com/article/h1cpxascyl

Israeli officials confirmed that agreements reached marking completion of Phase I of cease-fire deal: Hamas will transfer coffins containing 4 hostages to Egypt without a ceremony, and at the same time the prisoners will be released

Elon Musk Throws X Tantrum After Judges Defy President Trump’s Orders

 https://www.thedailybeast.com/elon-musk-throws-x-tantrum-after-judges-defy-president-trumps-orders/

Elon Musk has had it with judges blocking the Trump administration’s moves.

The billionaire face of DOGE called for the impeachment of judges in a meltdown on X Tuesday night, following a flurry of court orders blocking the government’s bids to freeze funding for foreign aid and federal grants, as well as stem refugee admissions.

“The only way to restore rule of the people in America is to impeach judges,” Musk wrote in one post. “No one is above the law, including judges.”

“If ANY judge ANYWHERE can block EVERY Presidential order EVERYWHERE, we do NOT have democracy, we have TYRANNY of the JUDICIARY,” he added in another.

Agreement reached on release of terrorists

 https://www.israelnationalnews.com/news/404512

Israeli official confirms: Bodies of hostages will be released by Hamas without a "ceremony", the terrorists will be released gradually.

Trump administration plans to deport children, create a registry for illegal immigrants

 https://www.jpost.com/breaking-news/article-843764

The Trump administration plans to create a registry for immigrants who are in the United States illegally, The Wall Street Journal reported on Tuesday, citing documents including a draft regulation.

The registry will be for immigrants to submit their personal information or face fines and prison time, the newspaper added.

US media reported that immigration officials under the Trump administration are planning a nationwide operation to find children who came into the United States without a parent or legal guardian, with the potential to deport them pending a judge’s call for whether or not they have a legal basis to remain in the country.

Australian nurse charged after video threatening Israeli patients

 https://www.israelnationalnews.com/news/404515

Sarah Abu Lebdeh, a nurse from New South Wales, charged by police following social media video in which she stated she would refuse to treat Israeli patients.

Chareidi world continues to self-destruct

Behadrey Haredim (Hebrew)    See Rabbi Grylak's problematic editorial  Behadrey Haredim (English)

Avrechim must sign: pledge to abide by Gedolei Yisroel    

The Litvishe sector split saga continues, as after yeshiva students who voted 'Etz' were thrown out of kollelim, as well as the order of Hagaon R' Chaim Kanievsky to fire melamdim who voted 'Etz', comes the next step, designed to completely differentiate the voters of Etz and subscribers of Hapeles from the Litvishe community.

After a series of consultations, the heads of the large kollelim initiated a version which every avreich will be asked to sign, in which he undertakes not to dispute with Gedolei Yisroel, not to support the controversy, not to bring home the newspaper 'Hapeles' and other writings of mockery of Gedolei Yisroel and to increase respect of Torah.[...]