https://www.thedailybeast.com/co-founder-of-wwe-linda-mcmahon-confirmed-as-education-secretary/
McMahon was given the job for her outspoken plan to shutter the Education Department, which would fulfill a longtime promise by Trump. “I told Linda, ‘I hope you do a great job and put yourself out of a job,’” Trump said last month. “I want her to put herself out of a job.”
Several senior Russian missile specialists have visited Iran over the past year as the Islamic Republic has deepened its defense cooperation with Moscow, a Reuters review of travel records and employment data indicates.
The seven weapons experts were booked to travel from Moscow to Tehran aboard two flights on April 24 and September 17 last year, according to documents detailing the two group bookings as well as the passenger manifest for the second flight. The flights came 10 days after Iran’s first-ever direct attack on Israel, and two weeks before the second and most recent attack, respectively.
Igros Moshe ( OC IV #40.11) Question Is the mitzva of comforting mourners (nichum aveilim) fulfilled by a telephone call? Answer There are two factors in comforting mourners. 1) The benefit to the mourners since they are very upset and they need comforting which normally requires going to their home 2) The benefit to the deceased as is stated in the gemora (Shabbos 152). The Rambam rules that comforting mourners takes precedence over visiting the sick since it is showing kindness with the living and the dead The Rambam is obviously referring to a situation where there are others who will be taking care of the sick otherwise there might be a problem of pikuach nefesh. It seems to me that the benefit to the mourner can be fulfilled by a telephone call. In contrast the benefit to the deceased can only be fulfilled by going to the place of mourning or where the body is located. Even for the mourners it is clearly preferable that he receive a physical visit. Consequently in actuality whenever it is possible he should go personally and thus fulfill the mitzva in the best manner. Nonetheless a telephone call is at least a partial fulfillment of the mitzva. If it is impossible to go in person because of illness or he is involved in doing another mitzva then he can at least fulfill the mitzva with a telephone call. It is clearly permitted for the mourner to to speak on the the phone and receive words of comfort. However just to make a telephone call to ask how some is doing – even a child – it is forbidden for the mourner
https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2025/03/03/trump-concessions-russia-polling/
The real question is: What kind of concessions might Americans be willing to stomach to achieve that peace?
And more specifically: How much do they worry about those concessions emboldening and enabling a powerful adversary in Russia?
It’s clear that President Donald Trump is pressuring Ukraine to make concessions. But Americans aren’t sold on giving up territory, and many are concerned about Russia’s threat.
It turns out Americans seem pretty concerned about major concessions to Russia — even as they are willing to entertain them.
Trump seems to have, at the very least, calculated that the war in Ukraine is approaching a lost cause and that major concessions are necessary. But Americans are not so clearly on the same page. They have trended in Trump’s direction, but selling a deal that emboldens and rewards an invading adversary that most Americans regard as a significant threat would seem to be a pretty difficult political task.
https://www.israelhayom.com/opinions/future-of-israel-russia-relations-after-trump-abandons-ukraine/
Since Oct. 7, 2023, our relations with Russia have cooled significantly, but they have not led to a rupture as was the case after the 1967 war. Moscow continues its unwavering support for the Palestinian cause and remains a strategic ally of China, Iran and North Korea. This new strategic axis greatly worries the Americans. They therefore prefer to neutralize it and strengthen their naval forces in the Indian Ocean and the Pacific rather than in the Mediterranean.
In the current geopolitical context, faced with the weakness of European security, and in the face of Putin's hegemonic intentions, we cannot blindly follow Donald Trump's logic on the solution of the Russian-Ukrainian crisis. Moreover, let's be modest, we do not have the means to influence the political course of the superpowers. We should therefore maintain normal bilateral relations with Russia without offering it mediation to resolve the Arab-Israeli conflict.
A Texas Republican was interrupted with “boos” and chants calling for him to be voted out of office at a heated town hall about Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency cuts.
Rep. Keith Self was greeted by two dozen protesters carrying signs that said “Dump Musk!” and “Do Your Job!” when he arrived for the event at the Collin College Conference Center in Wylie on Saturday, Newsweek reported.
Legendary Polish anti-Communist Lech Wałęsa has slammed Donald Trump’s Oval Office attack on Ukraine’s Volodymyr Zelensky, comparing it to Soviet secret police tactics.
Wałęsa, 81, signed a letter along with 38 other Poles who had been held captive by the Communist regime, telling Trump that the Friday spectacle filled them “with horror and distaste.”
The former Polish president previously revealed that he met Trump at Mar-a-Lago in 2010, and attached a photo of the two of them to the letter, which he posted on Facebook on Monday.
A town hall meeting hosted by Sen. Roger Marshall (R-Kan.) in rural northwest Kansas Saturday morning included questions and answers, shouting, applause, boos and Marshall leaving the event early.
BRUSSELS—The argument between President Trump and his Ukrainian counterpart at the White House sent relations between the two countries into a tailspin. It also caused serious damage to an alliance at the heart of the post-World War II order: NATO.
Trump staked out a position that many European allies saw as siding with Russia’s autocratic leader, Vladimir Putin, by dismissing the security concerns of a friendly country in need of Western help. He said Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky was losing the war and had “no cards.”
President Trump likes to cite the stock market when it’s rising as a sign of his policy success, so what does he think about Monday’s plunge? The Dow Jones Industrial Average took a 650-point header after he announced that he’ll hit Mexico and Canada on Tuesday with 25% tariffs.
Mr. Trump said at the White House there was “no room left” to negotiate with the two American trade treaty partners. Some of his smarter advisers have been hoping he’d start renegotiating the USMCA and delay the tariffs. But Mr. Trump wants tariffs for their own sake, which he says will usher in a new golden age.
U.S. stocks plummeted Monday afternoon after President Donald Trump confirmed that blanket tariffs on Canada and Mexico would begin Tuesday.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average closed lower by 650 points, or about 1.5 percent, after being down as much as 800 points after the president's remarks. The S&P 500 lost 1.75 percent for its biggest loss since December. The tech-heavy Nasdaq lost 500 points, or more than 2.5 percent.
https://www.newsweek.com/trump-halts-us-aid-ukraine-after-fiery-clash-zelensky-report-2039057
President Donald Trump has ordered a pause on all military aid to Ukraine following a disastrous and remarkable meeting last week with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky at the White House, Bloomberg and the Associated Press reported.
A senior Defense Department official, who spoke anonymously about internal discussions, told Bloomberg that the aid freeze will remain in place until Trump determines that Ukrainian leaders are making a genuine effort toward peace.
A White House official confirmed the pause in aid, telling PBS in a statement: "President Trump has been clear that he is focused on peace. We need our partners to be committed to that goal as well. We are pausing and reviewing our aid to ensure that it is contributing to a solution."
https://www.jpost.com/israel-news/defense-news/article-844513
IDF soldiers left so many markers on social media that Hamas invaders on October 7 had a complete breakdown of nearly every unit, sub-unit, and building within the Nahal Oz IDF base when they overwhelmed it, killed 53 soldiers, and took 10 hostage on October 7, 2023.
