Hegseth Shared Attack Plans in 2nd Signal Chat Sparks Critics' Fury

 https://www.newsweek.com/report-pete-hegseth-shared-attack-plans-second-signal-chat-critics-2061948

According to a Sunday report from The New York Times, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth shared "detailed information" about forthcoming strikes in Yemen on March 15 in a private Signal group chat that included his wife, brother and personal lawyer.

Trump Posts Photoshopped Image of Kilmar Abrego Garcia’s Knuckle Tattoos With Disputed ‘MS-13’ Interpretation

 https://www.yahoo.com/news/trump-posts-image-kilmar-abrego-175852020.html

A digitally altered image that Donald Trump shared of Kilmar Abrego Garcia’s knuckle tattoos – which the president presented as evidence that the deported El Salvadorian is a member of the MS-13 gang – stirred two separate controversies this week: from people who thought it was an incredibly clumsy Photoshop attempt, and from others who saw the obvious labels as a questionable interpretation of the symbols on his left hand.

Whatever the case, the president’s theatrical reveal to stem the growing controversy Friday wasn’t the slam-dunk Trump had perhaps hoped it would be.

Erdoğan Sets His Sights on Israel

 https://www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2025/04/trump-turkey-erdogan-israel/682492/

If Trump wants to prevent another regional conflict, calling Turkey’s president a “friend” won’t cut it.

The Turkish Republic is on the brink. As Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, its would-be sultan, dismantles the country’s secular democracy, President Donald Trump has seemingly taken little notice. Soon, though, Trump will have no choice but to pay attention. While Erdoğan consolidates power at home and prepares to project it abroad, he has set the stage for a clash with Israel. Indeed, Turkey has quickly emerged as perhaps the greatest danger to the Jewish state in the Middle East, escalating the threat of a conflict he won’t be able to avoid.

US reciprocal procurement demands put Israel in a bind

 https://en.globes.co.il/en/article-us-reciprocal-procurement-demands-put-israel-in-a-bind-1001508017

The US administration demands on tariffs are putting Israel in a bind, with the issue of reciprocal procurement at the core. One of the main demands raised by the Americans is against the Israeli requirement for foreign suppliers who win tenders to either procure local products or invest in the country.

This type of procurement injects billions of dollars into Israel every year and supports hundreds of local companies. However, government ministries are currently holding feverish discussions on the dilemma of whether to exempt US companies from reciprocal procurement to gain relief in Trump's tariff plan. If this does happen, entire industries, especially in the defense sector, could suffer a painful blow.

Rubio’s firing of Marocco ignites a MAGA world meltdown

 https://www.politico.com/news/2025/04/18/marco-rubio-peter-marocco-usaid-firing-00297812

In the days since his ouster, Marocco’s MAGA allies have come to his defense and raised new suspicions of Rubio, including questions about why he would want to protect USAID and whether he’s loyal to the president.

The anger directed at Rubio by MAGA firebrands provides a vivid illustration of the ongoing feud between MAGA world and the conservatives they view as too much a part of the establishment they want dismantled. And the two men clashed over the Department of Government Efficiency’s gutting of USAID, one of the first and most visceral examples of the second Trump administration’s more aggressive, burn-it-down approach to the federal bureaucracy. As Rubio maintains what many believe is a shaky hold on his power in the Cabinet, Marocco’s ouster may further weaken his position with some of the loyalists in Trump’s ear.

Judge Wilkinson’s Sage Advice on Abrego Garcia - even Conservatives think Trump is violating law

 https://www.wsj.com/opinion/j-harvie-wilkinson-opinion-abrego-garcia-el-salvador-deportation-4e72f464?mod=hp_opin_pos_1

Why is Trump so dead set on denying due process to the wrongly deported El Salvadoran migrant?

President Trump and the federal courts are heading toward a needless constitutional collision in the case of deportee Kilmar Armando Abrego Garcia that would weaken both the executive and the judiciary. Enter conservative federal appellate Judge J. Harvie Wilkinson with some sage advice to avoid it.

In a pointed and eloquent opinion late Thursday, Judge Wilkinson (joined by two others on the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals) rejected the Administration’s request to stay a lower court’s attempt to implement the Supreme Court’s guidance in the case of Mr. Abrego Garcia. The High Court said the executive branch should “facilitate” his return to the U.S. from a Salvadoran prison so he can receive due process.

“‘Facilitate’ is an active verb,” Judge Wilkinson wrote. The Supreme Court’s instruction that lower courts respect the executive’s primacy in foreign affairs does not “allow the government to do essentially nothing.”

The Trump Administration Could Have Fought to Deport Abrego Garcia in 2019. It Passed on the Chance

 https://time.com/7278832/trump-caved-on-abrego-garcia-deportation-move-in-2019/

Trump officials have acknowledged that Abrego Garcia’s deportation was an “administrative error” but have refused to correct it. The Supreme Court ruled on April 10 that the Trump administration must “facilitate” his release from prison in El Salvador and ensure his case is “handled as it would have been” if he hadn’t been improperly sent to El Salvador.  But so far, the Trump administration has done nothing.

Instead, the Trump administration has worked overtime to convict Abrego Garcia in the court of public opinion. On Wednesday, the Department of Homeland Security published a temporary restraining order that Abrego Garcia’s wife had filed against him in 2021 that said he had “punched and scratched” and “grabbed and bruised” her, and police reports detailing his alleged gang affiliation under the headline: “THE REAL STORY: Kilmar Abrego Garcia is an MS-13 Gang member with a History of Violence.”

What the Supreme Court has demanded, though, is not proof Abrego Garcia has never done anything wrong. The court demands that the Trump administration follow the procedures laid out in the law for removing someone from the country.

SCOTUS Dramatically Stops Trump’s Brazen Immigrant Roundup

 https://www.thedailybeast.com/scotus-dramatically-stops-trumps-brazen-immigrant-round-up/

The Supreme Court has blocked President Donald Trump's plan to deport Venezuelan migrants to El Salvador—for now.

In an overnight emergency order issued just before 1 a.m. on Saturday, the high court thwarted the Trump administration’s attempts to use the 1798 Alien Enemies Act to conduct mass deportation flights from a Texas migrant detention center.

“The Government is directed not to remove any member of the putative class of detainees from the United States until further order of this Court,” the justices wrote, with conservative justices Amy Coney Barrett, Neil M. Gorsuch, and Brett M. Kavanaugh breaking ranks to side with their liberal peers. Conservative stalwarts Clarence Thomas and Samuel Alito dissented.

Denying that our ancestors sinned - Theology versus Chazal

There has been a major discussion going on in the comments sections  click here regarding whether one can say that Dovid sinned or that in general our Biblical ancestors - including the Avos - literally sinned the way they are described in Tanach and Chazal. For example while it says in Shabbos (55b) that whoever says that Dovid sinned is mistaken, but Chazal also say in Avoda Zara (4b), that G-d forced the Jews to worship the Golden Calf and forced Dovid to have a sinful relationship with Batsheva in order to encourage repentance. It basically comes down to whether there is a metarule that they were free from real sin - that overrides all evidence presented by both the literal meaning of Tanach as well as explicit statements in Chazal, Rishonim and Achronim. It is also clear that there are disagreements in Chazal and Rishonim regarding what sins were done - however I don't see that they had a rule to reinterpret events to eliminate sins or to say that the sin was only relative to their exalted stature. [see Rav Yonason Eibschuetz below who notes a gemora which indicated that Yehuda sinned with Tamar - while Ramban and others considered it a mitzva.]

The Chazon Ish discusses this issue regarding the view of the Baalei Mussar that the Jews who came out of Egypt were contrary to strong evidence in Chazal and Chumash - tzadikim on a very high level. He says you can't ignore the words of the Torah and Chazal to accept such a view. A good example of the Mussar approach is Rav Dessler (Michtav M'Eliyah 1:161). I haven't found this discussed in non-Mussar works, haven't found it in Chazal, or Rishonim such as Rashi or Ramban. Can't find an example in Maharal (In fact aside from the Mussar approach it seems assumed that when a sin is mentioned it means a sin in the absolute sense).

update: The earliest example of the Mussar approach is from the Ramchal in his discussion of Agadta.

רמח"ל (מאמר על אגדות חז"ל - הקדמה לעין יעקב) "...וזה מפני כלל שבידם שבמעשה הצדיקים כל מה שיש לדרוש לשבח צריך לדרוש לשבח. וברשעים להיפך שכך היא הקבלה שכוונתו של הבי"ת במלות שהכתיב היתה לרמוז על כל פרטי הרשע של הרשעים ולבאר כל חלקי גנותם. ולהפך בצדיקים. ולהעלים כל מש שאפשר שיהיה בהם מהגנאי ולבאר כל מה שבשבחם...."

Chazon Ish (Letters I:208) responded to the assertion that the Jews in Egypt were on the highest level in Torah, Mitzvos, faith and piety. The assertion was based upon the medrashism which said that the righteous women went to the fields and gave birth and left their children and there were many miracles done for them…The deduction being that surely because of these righteous women and these miracles – the entire Jewish people must of have been totally devoted to G-d and his mitvos. A further foundation of this assertion was the medrash which states that the Jews were only enslaved for 86 years and that this is insufficient time to become significantly dissolute and debased. The Chazon Ish said that these deduction have no basis since they are all against what Chazal themselves say on the subject.   He concludes that the assertion that it was impossible for the Jews to become ruined since they saw miracles is not valid. In fact the Jews saw miracles when they were redeemed from Egypt and at the Sea, as well as the Maan and at the giving of the Torah – and yet they made the Golden Calf. Furthermore there were 10 miracles at the Beis HaMikdash and many miracles and wonders done by the Prophets – nevertheless this did not prevent them from having free will to serve idols. one should not interpret the early generations in such a way that it is impossible for us to comprehend and learn from them. In fact they had free will and this is main thing in avodas HaShem.

Chazon Ish (Letters I:209) states a rule that for major widely stated facts one should should not interpret them significantly from the clear simple meaning. Only isolated things can be occasionally explained differently then their simple meaning. In the Torah we see much effort to save the Jews from deserting the entire Torah and running instead after idol worship something which according to our present condition where the Yetzer harah has been killed is totally incomprehensible.The reality of the desire for idol worship is really beyond our comprehension is the same way a blind person can’t comprehend colors

A similar assertion is made by the Leshem regarding why Chazal tell us  that Yosef really was on the verge of an adulterous relationship  - despite that fact not being explicit in the Torah. He rejects the idea that Chazal used a metaprinciple that we always explain  things so that Tzadikim are understood to do good things and the wicked do wicked things. He says that Chazal say what they said because they know it to be true through ruach hakodesh - including the nature of their sins.

Leshem(Shaarei Leshem 2:4:19): The critical point is that every Jew is obligated to believe with perfect faith that all which is found in the words of our Talmudic Sages - both in halacha, Talmudic agada and medrashim - are in their entirety the words of the living G‑d. That is because everything that they say is with ruach hakodesh (Sanhedrin 48:). This includes even that which isn’t relevant to halacha and deed…Also all their decrees and statutes are not the product of human intellect at all but rather are the result of ruach hakodesh in which G‑d has expressed Himself through them. This is the great sound that doesn’t end (Devarim 5:19) of the giving of the Torah at Sinai and it expresses itself in the Oral Torah…. Thus, the Sages are just like messengers in what they say…. This is why the Baal Halachos Gedolos includes the Rabbinic mitzvos with the Torah mitzvos since all of them were given by G‑d (Chagiga 3b)…We can conclude from all this that anyone who tries to analyze the words of the Sages in order to establish the nature of their truth places himself in great danger. That is because man’s intellect cannot properly comprehend this matter and thus a person can come to heresy from the endeavor. This is what Koheles (7:16) states: Don’t make yourself too wise - why destroy yourself? A person who gets involved in this matter will find it very difficult to resist following his human understanding. He will end up going back and forth between the view of the Torah and that of his own understanding…. The righteous person lives by his faith because that is the foundation of the entire Torah….

 update: Regarding Dovid HaMelech see Shabbos (56a), Avoda Zara 4b) and other places

Yoma (22b):R. Huna said: How little does he whom the Lord supports need to grieve or trouble himself! Saul sinned once and it brought [calamity] upon him, David sinned twice and it did not bring evil upon him — What was the one sin of Saul? The affair with Agag.19 But there was also the matter with Nob,20 the city of the priests? — [Still] it was because of what happened with Agag that Scripture says: It repenteth Me that I have set up Saul to be king.21 What were the two sins of David? — The sin against Uriah22 and that [of counting the people to which] he was enticed.23 But there was also the matter of Bathsheba?[Rashi says because he had sexual relations with her] 24 — For that he was punished, as it is written, And he shall restore the lamb fourfold:25 the child, Amnon, Tamar and Absalom.26 But for the other sin he was also punished as it is written: So the Lord sent a pestilence upon Israel from the morning even to the time appointed?27 — There his own body was not punished — But in the former case, too, his own body was not punished either?28 Not indeed? He was punished on his own body, for Rab Judah said in the name of Rab: For six months David was smitten with leprosy, the Sanhedrin removed from him, and the Shechinah departed from him, as it is written: Let those that fear Thee return unto me, and they that know Thy testimonies,29 and it is also written: Restore unto me the joy of Thy salvation.30 But Rab said that David also listened to evil talk?31 — We hold like Samuel [who says] that David did not do so. And even according to Rab, who says that David listened to calumny, was he not punished for it? For Rab Judah said in the name of Rab. At the time when David said to Mephibosheth: I say: Thou and Ziba divide the land,32 a heavenly voice came forth to say to him: Rehoboam and Jeroboam will divide the Kingdom. [...] Rab Judah said in the name of Samuel: Why did the kingdom of Saul not endure? Because no reproach rested on him,38 for R. Johanan had said in the name of R. Simeon b. Jehozadak: One should not appoint any one administrator of a community, unless he carries a basket of reptiles on his back, so that if he became arrogant, one could tell him: Turn around!39

[Rashi understands the above as meaning that Shaul did not have a degrading family tree while Dovid did.]

Yaaros Devash (1:15): Why does Yoma (22b) consider Dovid’s descent from Tamar to be degrading? Isn’t it a fact that at that time — before the Giving of the Torah — it was considered normal for the father of the deceased to marry the widow? It was only after the Giving of the Torah that the widow was restricted to a marriage with a brother‑in‑law? See Ramban (Bereishis 38:8) and Abarbanel who agree that Yehuda fulfilled the mitzva of yibum by marrying Tamar. Therefore why was it considered a degradation — the opposite seems true because Yehuda was fulfilling the mitzva of levirate marriage?

update: Rav S. R. Hirsch(Bereishis 12: 10 – 13):.  The Torah does not seek to portray our great men  as perfectly ideal figures; it deifies no man. It says of no one: “Here you  have the ideal; in this man the Divine assumes human form!” It does  not set before us the life of any one person as the model from which  we might learn what is good and right, what we must do and what we  must refrain from doing. When the Torah wishes to put before us a  model to emulate, it does not present a man, who is born of dust.  Rather, God presents Himself as the model, saying: “Look upon Me!  Emulate Me! Walk in My ways!” We are never to say: “This must be  good and right, because so-and-so did it.” The Torah is not an “anthology  of good deeds.” It relates events not because they are necessarily  worthy of emulation, but because they took place.    The Torah does not hide from us the faults, errors, and weaknesses  of our great men, and this is precisely what gives its stories credibility.  The knowledge given us of their faults and weaknesses does not detract  from the stature of our great men; on the contrary, it adds to their  stature and makes their life stories even more instructive. Had they  been portrayed to us as shining models of perfection, flawless and  unblemished, we would have assumed that they had been endowed  with a higher nature, not given to us to attain. Had they been portrayed  free of passions and inner conflicts, their virtues would have seemed  to us as merely the consequence of their loftier nature, not acquired  by personal merit, and certainly no model we could ever hope to  emulate.

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We also find criticism of the Avos in Chazal such as this medrash which said they erred in chinuch.

SHEMOTH RABBAH (1:1):  NOW THESE ARE THE NAMES OF THE SONS OF ISRAEL, WHO CAME INTO EGYPT WITH JACOB; EVERY MAN CAME WITH HIS HOUSEHOLD (EX. I, 1): Thus we read: He that spareth his rod hateth his son; but he that loveth him chasteneth him betimes (Prov. XIII, 24). Ordinarily, if a man's friend says to him: ' So-and-so, smite your son,’ he is ready even to deprive him of his livelihood.l Then why ’He that spareth his rod hateth his son’?2 To teach you that anyone who refrains from chastising his son causes him to fall into evil ways and thus comes to hate him. This is what we find in the case of Ishmael who behaved wickedly before Abraham his father, but he did not chastise him, with the result that he fell into evil ways, so that he despised him and cast him forth empty-handed from his house. What did Ishmael do? When he was fifteen years old, he commenced to bring idols from the street, toyed with them and worshipped them as he had seen others3 do. So when Sarah saw the son of Hagar the Egyptian, whom she had borne unto Abraham, making sport (Gen. XXI, 9)- (the word mezahek being always used of idolatry as in And they rose up to make merry (Ex. XXXII, 6)4)-she immediately said unto Abraham: Cast out this bondwoman and her son (Gen. XXI, 10) lest my son learn of his ways. [see rest of medrash]

Supreme Court Blocks Donald Trump Deportations Under Alien Enemies Act

 https://www.newsweek.com/supreme-court-blocks-donald-trump-deportations-alien-enemies-act-2061693

In the early hours of Saturday, the Supreme Court instructed the Trump administration to pause the deportation of a number of Venezuelan men in custody using a 1798 law traditionally only applied in wartime.

In its ruling, the Supreme Court suspended this bid, writing: "The Government is directed not to remove any member of the putative class of detainees from the United States until further order of this Court."

The British Chief Rabbi that never was

 https://forward.com/yiddish-world/557043/rabbi-louis-jacobs-british-bible-chabad-library/

While Rabbi Jacobs had stellar Orthodox credentials, his unique understanding of Jewish theology ruffled many feathers within the British Orthodox establishment. For a time in the 1960s, Rabbi Jacobs was in line to become the chief rabbi of the British Commonwealth. But once he published his seminal book We Have Reason to Believe he was sidelined and ostracized from the United Synagogue. He never became the chief rabbi.

Why? The book challenged the traditional belief in the origins of the Torah

Why a worsening measles outbreak is a big deal

 https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2025/04/17/measles-outbreak-vaccine-children-families/

“I live in a retirement community where people love [Kennedy],” wrote Eve from Florida. “I hear them say things like ‘Measles is not that serious.’ They all got measles as kids. They didn’t get sick, it’s not even as bad as flu, so why the fuss? Some of them have family in Texas who aren’t vaccinating their kids. My reaction is that measles is very serious, but they say there have been only a handful of deaths, far less than the flu. So who’s right?”

You are. As I wrote in February, while it is true that most people infected with measles will recover quickly with no long-term consequences, complications affect as many as 3 in 10 infected individuals. Out of 1,000 unvaccinated children who contract measles, approximately 200 will be hospitalized. Fifty will develop pneumonia. Between one and three will die

Trump's United States of Emergency

 https://www.axios.com/2025/04/18/trump-national-emergency-declarations

In his first 100 days, President Trump has declared more national emergencies — more creatively and more aggressively — than any president in modern American history.

Powers originally crafted to give the president flexibility in rare moments of crisis now form the backbone of Trump's agenda, enabling him to steamroll Congress and govern by unilateral decree through his first three months in office.

"Troubling times call for serious responses. The previous administration left President Trump a nation in decline — financially vulnerable, with unsecured borders and dangerously unfair trade deals. The President is leveraging every tool the Constitution provides to Make America Great Again," White House spokesman Harrison Fields said in a statement.

"You would hope to see authorities like these used sparingly and reluctantly, as the last resort in an actual crisis situation, because they are a real departure from the constitutional norm," Goitein told Axios.

The bottom line: Trump campaigned on "saving America" — framing his return to power as an urgent, existential mission. Now that he's back in Washington, the sirens never stop.

Trump said it out loud: He wants to deport Americans to El Salvador’s CECOT

 https://thehill.com/opinion/5251941-trump-administration-exporting-americans/?tbref=hp

To be clear, there is no legal pathway for any president to deport native-born U.S. citizens. Sending Americans to El Salvador would be illegal under existing U.S. and international law. Such a move would not only be unconstitutional, it could amount to an improper overreach by the executive branch into the judicial system.  

When the president said last week that he would “love” to send imprisoned Americans to El Salvador, he added, “I don’t know what the law says on that, but I can’t imagine the law would say anything different.”  

In fact, U.S. law does say something different. 

One statute says that any person in the custody of the Bureau of Prisons must be able to be transported to court. This would probably not be possible if a person were in El Salvador, where the government is currently maintaining that it cannot bring back a migrant wrongfully deported there. 

Another law states that incarcerated people can only be transferred out of the U.S. to the country where they are a citizen, which would rule out Americans being sent to El Salvador. The U.S. is also a signatory to the Convention Against Torture, which forbids sending people to a country where they could be at risk for torture.  

Then there’s the matter of the Constitution. Sending Americans to El Salvador would likely run afoul of the Eighth Amendment’s prohibition of “cruel and unusual punishments.”