Saturday, October 25, 2025
Aide to Republican candidate for NJ governor says he isn’t ‘taking money from Jews’
Following Nadeem’s remarks, Ciattarelli took to the stage and praised Nadeem, telling the crowd that the adviser “hasn’t let me down one day” since the pair met eight months ago.
He also boasted that he was the “first gubernatorial candidate in history that has a Muslim as part of his inner circle of advisers.”
“Unmitigated Disaster for Jack:” What They’re Saying as Ciattarelli’s Campaign Defends Homophobic, Antisemitic Senior Advisor
As a Ciattarelli campaign Executive Director’s comments that they aren’t “taking money from Jews” and want a “ban on same-sex marriage” draw more and more scrutiny, instead of doing what any normal campaign would do – immediately denouncing and firing this individual for his disgusting comments – the Ciattarelli campaign is doubling down, telling reporters it “stands by” him.
Rider University Rebovich Institute Director Micah Rasmussen summed it up simply: This is “an unmitigated disaster for Jack.”
And as Jack refuses mounting pressure to fire this senior advisor, it’s only getting worse.
Zohran Mamdani’s mayoral candidacy stirs Jews in New York – and beyond
https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2025/10/25/mamdani-israel-newyork-jews
But it is his stance on Israel — including its right to any kind of Jewish identity — and his positions on Palestinian rights that have proved the most emotional issues of the race. And in the closing days of the New York mayor’s race, sharp debates over antisemitism and Islamophobia, present from the moment of Mamdani’s upset primary win, have reached a crescendo.
“When public figures like New York mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani refuse to condemn violent slogans, deny Israel’s legitimacy, and accuse the Jewish state of genocide, they, in the words of New York Board of Rabbis president Rabbi Ammiel Hirsch, ‘Delegitimize the Jewish community and encourage and exacerbate hostility toward Judaism and Jews,’” the petition said.
“This is something starting to make Jewish people very, very nervous,” he said. “Throughout the country, Jews have a wide range of opinions on any action the state does. Many, many Zionist Jews are highly critical of Israel, just like there are American patriots critical of our government. That doesn’t mean our government shouldn’t exist.”
At the same time, Mamdani has been embraced by Jewish progressives dedicated to the cause of Palestinian rights. Mamdani declined to be interviewed for this piece.
How Trump’s ballroom will dwarf the White House
https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2025/10/25/trump-white-house-ballroom-east-wing
Trump’s new 90,000-square-foot White House ballroom would be almost as large as the rest of the complex.
President Donald Trump’s project to build an expansive new White House ballroom officially broke ground Monday. Crews tore down the East Wing in only four days, despite Trump’s claim that the ballroom wouldn’t interfere with the existing building. There has been little public information released about the layout or design of the addition, which would be the largest ever, with a planned size almost double the footprint of the 55,000-square-foot main section of the White House.
Trump’s 20-point Gaza plan faces growing doubts and diplomatic tensions
https://www.ynetnews.com/opinions-analysis/article/s1c7nw9clg#autoplay
The stream of senior U.S. officials landing in Israel does not signal the arrival of lasting peace promised by President Donald Trump — nor the positive change in the Middle East that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has already claimed credit for. Instead, it reflects growing panic in Washington, where the administration is struggling to conclude Phase One of Trump’s 20-point Gaza plan. The U.S. lacks even the beginnings of a framework accepted by all parties, let alone a practical roadmap or funding for implementing Phase Two.
RFK Jr to urge Americans to eat more saturated fats, alarming health experts
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/oct/25/rfk-jr-saturated-fats
Robert F Kennedy Jr, the health and human services secretary, is planning to issue guidance encouraging Americans to eat more saturated fats, contradicting decades of dietary recommendations and alarming experts.
Krauss continued: “The guy is looking at evidence in a very cherrypicking kind of ways. There’s certain things that he says that sort of fit what I would consider responsible recommendations regarding processed foods, etc, but then it’s mixed up with this other thing, which makes it sound like the whole recommendation is evidence based, but it’s just not true.”
How a DNA test solved a medical mystery – and revealed a doctor’s decades of deception
https://edition.cnn.com/2025/10/25/us/dna-test-fertility-fraud
But Peete is far from the only doctor to have committed this type of deception. In 1992, Cecil Jacobson was convicted of 52 counts of fraud and perjury for inseminating his patients with his own sperm and was sent to prison. And the advent of consumer DNA products has led to numerous claims of fertility fraud over the years.
Lankford says he’d be ‘apoplectic’ if Biden was striking boats ‘with this level of insight’
https://thehill.com/homenews/senate/5572572-trump-drug-boat-strikes-lankford/?tbref=hp
Sen. James Lankford (R-Okla.) questioned the Trump administration’s strikes on Venezuelan vessels without the approval of Congress.
“The administration needs to give insight into Congress. That’s part of it. If this was happening with this level of insight under the Biden administration, I’d be apoplectic,” Lankford said during a Thursday appearance on C-SPAN’s new “Ceasefire” program.
Deja vu all over again - No Kings
From Paul Johnson's Birth of the Modern page 444-445
But George IV, no doubt because as heir apparent he had been more indulged and flattered than his brothers, was by common consent the worst of the lot. His instinct was always to desert and betray.
Men disliked him particularly because he was an inveterate liar. Indeed he was a fantasist who could convince himself that certain imaginary things had happened
One collateral reason why men disliked George IV was that he was very much a ladies’ man, always surrounded by petticoats.
The fact that George preferred female company did not mean that ladies liked him; quite the contrary. Outside his own family, all the women with whom he was intimately connected came to regret it.
As with all the grandest architectural schemes, George IV’s plan to transform and beautify London was not exactly carried through as he intended, and he was particularly unlucky with the palaces he built or altered.
Friday, October 24, 2025
Trump targets enemies using mortgage records, a threat to D.C. elite
https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2025/10/24/washington-politicians-mortgage-scrutiny-trump
President Donald Trump’s administration is using personal mortgage files to investigate, criminally refer and indict its enemies for fraud, zeroing in on people who appear to claim multiple homes as primary residences.
At least 41 members of the House — 29 Democrats and 12 Republicans — included multiple mortgages on their most recent annual financial disclosure reports, according to a Washington Post analysis of publicly available documents. At least 26 senators — 16 Republicans and 10 Democrats — disclosed multiple mortgages on their filings.
The tactic may pose a special threat in Washington, where dozens of lawmakers and other political figures also report holding mortgages on more than one home.
Yet the findings underscore the unusual nature of using the documents as basis for fraud.
“It’s in the same general ballpark of taking information about people that exists for a legitimate purpose,” Hedtler-Gaudette said, “and then trying to abuse and misuse it.”
How the Gaza Deal Got Done
https://time.com/7327675/trump-israel-gaza-deal-interview
Trump’s envoys had brokered a deal with mediators from Qatar, Egypt, and Turkey to end two years of bombardment and bloodshed. The following Monday, the President told Netanyahu, they were going to announce the agreement—and the Israeli Premier had to accept it. “Bibi, you can’t fight the world,” Trump told him, recounting their conversation in an interview with TIME. “You can fight individual battles, but the world’s against you.”
Netanyahu pushed back, but Trump wasn’t having it. He launched into a profanity-laced monologue cataloguing all he’d done for Israel as President: moving the U.S. embassy to Jerusalem, recognizing its sovereignty over the Golan Heights, brokering the Abraham Accords that normalized relations between Israel and several Arab states, even joining Israel’s strikes on Iran in June. Trump could no longer stand with Netanyahu, he suggested, if the Prime Minister didn’t sign onto the pact. “It was a very blunt and straightforward statement to Bibi,” says Steve Witkoff, Trump’s special envoy to the Middle East, “that he had no tolerance for anything other than this.” (Netanyahu’s office declined to comment.)
By the end of the call, Netanyahu had agreed to a two-phase deal that included a cease-fire between Israel and Hamas, secured the return of Israeli hostages in exchange for Palestinian prisoners and detainees, allowed aid shipments into the ravaged enclave, withdrew Israeli forces from parts of the Gaza Strip, and opened negotiations for a final settlement. If it holds, the accord would end the longest war in Israel’s history, one that killed some 2,000 Israelis and nearly 70,000 Palestinians.
The next phase is even thornier. It includes defining the scope of Israel’s military withdrawal and the structure of a peacekeeping force; disarming Hamas; and determining who will govern postwar Gaza. “Those are very difficult things to do,” says Dan Shapiro, the former U.S. ambassador to Israel under Barack Obama. Among the risks, Shapiro says, is that Trump could “end up with kind of a frozen conflict in the current situation, with Israel controlling half of Gaza, Hamas controlling the other half, suppressing its own people, and no real reconstruction.”
Erdogan Sides With Hamas, Demands Trump Stop Israel
https://www.newsweek.com/erdogan-sides-with-hamas-demands-trump-stop-israel-10932029
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan called on President Donald Trump's U.S. to take the lead in applying pressure on Israel to stop violating the ceasefire with Hamas, claiming the Islamist militant group was adhering to the truce. Erdogan's remarks were reported by Turkish state media, including TRT and Anadolu Agency.
Rubio met with Netanyahu on Thursday and, like other U.S. officials and envoys visiting Israel this week, struck a tone of optimism about progress that has been made since the ceasefire began, while noting the challenges that lie ahead.
“No one is under any illusions. We’ve already done the impossible once and we intend to keep doing that," he said.
Microsoft pulls the plug on Israel—and shoots itself in the foot
https://www.ynetnews.com/opinions-analysis/article/b10xzudrxg
Microsoft, the world’s second most valuable public company, recently took the unprecedented decision to disable Azure cloud and AI services for Israel’s military intelligence, known as Unit 8200.
The decision was applauded by BDS (Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions) activists, who have long sought to drive companies out of Israel to demonize and delegitimize the world's only Jewish state. The “No Azure for Apartheid” campaign declared victory and vowed to intensify pressure until Microsoft ends all “complicity in the Israeli economy of genocide, occupation, and apartheid.”