Trump scrambles to claim credit for Israel’s Iran attack he publicly opposed

 https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/jun/13/trump-iran-israel-attacks-response

Donald Trump is walking a tightrope as he claims that he was fully aware of Israel’s plans to launch massive airstrikes against Iran while continuing to distance the US from those strikes and deny Washington took any active role in the preparations.

The White House’s messaging has shifted quickly from Marco Rubio’s arms-length description of the Israeli attack as a “unilateral action”, to Trump claiming on Friday morning that he was fully in the loop on the operation and that it came at the end of a 60-day ultimatum he had given Iran to “make a deal” on its nuclear programme.

The MAGA split over Israel

 https://www.politico.com/newsletters/politico-nightly/2025/06/13/the-maga-split-over-israel-00405778

Israel’s early-morning strikes targeting Iran have supercharged a debate that has been simmering for years on the MAGA right: Is America’s “special relationship” with Israel consistent with the realist principles of an “America First” foreign policy?

The clash — which is taking place between two powerful factions of the MAGA movement — is unfolding primarily at an ideological level, but its consequences are far from academic. As the U.S. and Israel weigh their response to retaliatory strikes from Iran, the position that the Trump administration eventually adopts in this intra-conservative skirmish will almost certainly shape its involvement in the next stages of conflict — and, by extension, the long-term trajectory of the Middle East.

Tucker Carlson Blasts Former Fox News Colleague Sean Hannity: 'Warmongers'

 https://www.newsweek.com/tucker-carlson-sean-hannity-maga-trump-iran-israel-2085472

Right-wing commentator Tucker Carlson blasted his former Fox News colleague Sean Hannity on Friday, calling Hannity and other MAGA hawks "warmongers" for cheering Israel's missile strikes against the Iranian regime.

On Friday, Carlson tore into Hannity, Levin, conservative media mogul Rupert Murdoch and conservative megadonors Isaac Perlmutter and Miriam Adelson.

"The real divide isn't between people who support Israel and people who support Iran or the Palestinians. The real divide is between those who casually encourage violence, and those who seek to prevent it — between warmongers and peacemakers," Carlson wrote on X, formerly Twitter.

He added: "Who are the warmongers? They would include anyone who's calling Donald Trump today to demand air strikes and other direct US military involvement in a war with Iran. On that list: Sean Hannity, Mark Levin, Rupert Murdoch, Ike Perlmutter and Miriam Adelson. At some point they will all have to answer for this, but you should know their names now."

Iran missile barrages kill 3 Israelis, wound dozens including baby rescued from rubble

 https://www.timesofisrael.com/iran-launches-barrages-of-ballistic-missiles-at-israel-hits-buildings-in-countrys-center/

Iran launched three major barrages of ballistic missiles at Israel Friday night and early Saturday morning, sending Israelis across the country rushing to shelters as the skies were filled with streaks of light and fireballs from incoming projectiles and Israeli interceptions.

Some 80 people were reported hurt in the strikes, including three people who were critically injured and later succumbed to their wounds in the cities of Ramat Gan and Rishon Lezion. According to Magen David Adom, several more people were seriously hurt. The rest were lightly to moderately injured or suffered acute anxiety.

Psychology of everyday life: "I feel sorry for him - but it's not my job!"

Update about Judaism and Psychology. I mentioned to the director of the program that asked me to write on the topic - that in contrast to other topics that they dealt with - this topic was different. Topics such as suffering or purpose in life etc - utilized questions simply as a means to teach the student that which the teacher already knew. These topics are closed ones with a clear answer. In contrast the topic of Judiasm and Psychology was an open one - with fundamental unanswered questions for both Judaism and Psychology. So while I could present the questions, and some basic principles - I could not provide them final clear answers. In other words I can teach an approach to deal with these issues - but not give "the Torah answers." This in in fact the dispute of the Rambam and Ravad of how to deal with free will. Ravad said an intelligent person does not ask questions that have no clear answer and but apparently the Rambam disagreed.

While we are on the topic of Psychology and Judaism I am reminded of a story.

When I first visited Israel I had a Shabbos meal at the home of an occupational therapist who worked at Haddassa with wounded soldiers from the Six Day War and Yom Kippur War as well  as handicapped people.

She mentioned two incidents to illustrate the Israeli mentality - as opposed to the American. 1) She said that when the wounded soldiers were brought to the hospital from the battle field - some with horrible wounds - they were totally silent. No crying, no moans, no cursing - total silence - which she said was totally different than her experience in American hospitals. She said that Israelis feel uncomfortable about sharing their personal feelings with others - even if it means not screaming in pain or even complaining about severe burns and wounds.

2) The second anecdote was more upsetting. She said there was one quadriplegic who lived in the hospital and whose mobility depended on an electric wheelchair - that he operated with the fingers on his right hand that he still could move - that had to be charged every night. One day she came in and found that the wheel chair had not been charged. She angrily asked the attendant why he hadn't plugged it in? She berated him by pointing out that the handicapped young man had lost the whole day because of the attendant's negligence.

The attendant expressed astonishment at the criticism. "Of course I wanted to charge the battery. I know full well the consequence of not having a charged wheelchair. You think I am a moron? An insensitive person? But what could I do - the faceplate on the socket was loose and I couldn't insert the plug!" She angrily said, "Well why didn't you fix the socket - it is a simple job taking 30 seconds with a screwdriver. The attendant patiently explained to this "stupid" American nurse that what she said was absolutely true - the repair was trivial. "But it is not my job. My job is to insert the plug not fix the socket!"

Amalek was punishment for rejecting a potential convert

Sanhedrin (99b) Timna sought to convert. She came before Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and they did not accept her. She went and became a concubine of Eliphaz, son of Esau, and said, referring to herself: It is preferable that she will be a maidservant for this nation, and she will not be a noblewoman for another nation. Ultimately, Amalek, son of Eliphaz, emerged from her, and that tribe afflicted the Jewish people. What is the reason that the Jewish people were punished by suffering at the hand of Amalek? It is due to the fact that they should not have rejected her when she sought to convert. 

Hegseth takes fire from Republicans at heated Senate hearing

 https://thehill.com/policy/defense/5345183-hegseth-takes-fire-from-republicans-at-heated-senate-hearing/

Republican senators came out firing during Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth’s hearing on Wednesday before the Senate Appropriations subcommittee on armed forces.

Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) immediately pressed Hegseth over the Russia-Ukraine war, with Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) driving home the point later in the hearing; Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine), the top Senate appropriator, scolded the Pentagon’s delays with budget information; and Sen. Lisa Murkowski closed out the hearing by questioning the administration’s focus on Greenland in its Arctic strategy. 

McConnell, one of three Republicans who opposed Hegseth’s confirmation, gaveled in the hearing by calling out the Trump administration for what he views as a flat base-line defense budget. He then launched into strong warnings against the U.S. cozying up to Russia in its bid to end its war in Ukraine.

McConnell said Washington’s allies are “wondering whether we’re in the middle of brokering what appears to be allowing the Russians to define victory. I think victory is defined by the people who have to live there — the Ukrainians.”

Jimmy Kimmel Tells the Truth About What’s REALLY Happening in LA

California AG points out Trump's 'trigger words' that expose his next move

Marines in streets: Trump hit for 'illegal' crackdown after anti-police pardons

Jan. 6 was the one day in Trump's presidency when he needed to call in federal troops

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Treating patient that the doctors don’t know what to do.

Igros Moshe (Choshen Mishpat II #75.6) Question: Doctors don’t know how to cure patient should he be treated anyway?Answer It is obvious that he needs to be attended to so that he lacks nothing for what remains of his life.  He should not be abandoned  but he needs to be under the care of expert doctors to assure that he is fed properly and he lives the best he can for his remaining years and that he doesn’t die prematurely. It should not be viewed that there is no benefit to continue living. He therefore needs to be treated for those conditions which are curable and thus extend his life to the degree possible.  Life and death are in G-d’s hands and one should not give up hope because of the evaluation of doctors. Therefore he should be given what is good for him as well as some medical treatment so that he doesn’t give up hope. There isn’t anything more harmful than giving up hope. 

Fact-checking Trump and Miller’s claims of a ‘migrant invasion’ in California

 https://www.washingtonpost.com/immigration/2025/06/10/fact-check-trump-california-migrant-invasion/

President Donald Trump deployed the National Guard to California, saying the troops need to “liberate” Los Angeles from a “migrant invasion.” White House Deputy Chief of Staff Stephen Miller, a key architect of the president’s immigration crackdown, said on social media that the city is proof of how migration “unravels” a society.

But federal and state data tell a far different story about the Golden State than the political fury unfolding in Washington and on the streets of Los Angeles, where the administration has sent 700 Marines and 4,000 National Guard troops as protests continue over recent immigration raids.

In California, violent crime is down, and the unemployment rate is close to the national average. The state recently overtook Japan as the world’s fourth-largest economy. It has the highest number of immigrants — both legal, most of them citizens, and undocumented. But in recent years, the state has lost hundreds of thousands of undocumented immigrants to their homelands or to more-affordable states. Unauthorized immigrants in California remain well below the peak of nearly 3 million more than a decade ago for reasons that often have little to do with enforcement — or Trump.

“Even the surge that we’ve seen more recently in undocumented immigration, a lot of that has not come to California,” said Eric McGhee, policy director and senior fellow at the nonpartisan Public Policy Institute of California. “If I were to hazard a guess, it’s because California’s expensive.”

New York’s Assisted-Suicide Mistake

 https://www.wsj.com/opinion/new-york-assisted-suicide-bill-kathy-hochul-amy-paulin-4b41c605?mod=hp_opin_pos_3

Gov. Kathy Hochul can veto a law with few safeguards and no waiting period.

New York’s Legislature embraces every progressive cause, and the latest is making it easier for people to kill themselves. The state Senate voted 35-27 Monday to pass the Medical Aid in Dying Act, and let’s hope that Gov. Kathy Hochul has the courage to veto it for the sake of society’s most vulnerable.

One irony is that New York passed the first U.S. law that banned assisting death in 1828. Eight years ago the New York Court of Appeals affirmed the state government “has an interest in preserving life and preventing suicide.” But times and morals have changed. Life itself is less valued today than a life that is supposedly worth living. For Assemblywoman Amy Paulin this means being allowed to “end unbearable suffering.” Eleven states and the District of Columbia have legalized assisted suicide since 1997.

New York’s proposal is for “mentally competent” adults who have been given prognoses of six months or less to live. This sounds compassionate, but around the world it has proved to be a slippery slope. In Canada the “medical assistance in dying” program has become at least the fifth-leading cause of death since 2015. The law has shed its original safeguards and in 2027 will be available to those with mental illness alone. It already is in parts of Europe.