Trump says he will pardon former Honduran president serving sentence in drug-trafficking case

 https://edition.cnn.com/2025/11/28/politics/trump-honduran-president-juan-orlando-hernandez-pardon

President Donald Trump said Friday he intends to grant a “full and complete pardon” to former Honduran President Juan Orlando Hernández, a move that would erase a major US drug-trafficking conviction for a onetime US ally who is currently serving a 45-year federal prison sentence.

Prosecutors had accused Hernández of conspiring with drug cartels during his tenure as they moved more than 400 tons of cocaine through Honduras toward the United States. In exchange, prosecutors said, Hernández received millions of dollars in bribes that he used to fuel his rise in Honduran politics.

During his years in office, the Justice Department said, Hernández “protected and enriched the drug traffickers in his inner circle.” Prosecutors cited his use of executive power to support extraditions to the US of certain drug traffickers “who threatened his grip on power,” while “promising drug traffickers who paid him and followed his instructions that they would remain in Honduras.”

The Kingmaker from Williamsburg endorsed Mamdani

 https://mishpacha.com/the-kingmaker-from-williamsburg

“How could you endorse Mamdani?” Tough questions for Satmar askan Rabbi Moishe Indig

The first anti-Semite in history was Eisav. And what did Yaakov do? He gave him piles of gifts. Ja, mein Herr. Yeah, I’m your slave, how are you? What else can I do for you? He hugged and kissed him even while Eisav was trying to bite him.

With this approach, we’ve won over many people.

For example, Brooklyn Borough President Antonio Reynoso was considered for years to be an outright enemy of our community, but now he’s a great friend. The same is true for Ed Day in Monsey, and many others.

I said to him, “The perception is that you are an anti-Semite. So I want to ask you straight out, are you an anti-Semite?”

He said, “No, I’m not an anti-Semite. I just don’t like what Israel is doing in Gaza.”

Crows know the future

 Malbim (Bereishis 08:07) And Noach sent out the crow – in ancient times  they thought that crows knew about the future and therefore they had special houses for them and their priests were thought to be able to divine the future from whether they flew to the right or left or up or down whether they were silent or made noise

Political negligence: Joe slams Republicans’ ‘stupid political play’ over illegal orders

National Guard Shooting Suspect Granted Asylum by Trump Admin:

 https://www.newsweek.com/national-guard-shooting-suspect-rahmanullah-lakanwal-granted-asylum-trump-admin-11118397

The suspect in the shooting of two National Guard members near the White House on Wednesday was granted asylum by President Donald Trump's administration, it has been reported.

A source familiar with the case and a separate law enforcement source told NBC News that Rahmanullah Lakanwal was granted asylum in the U.S. this year. CBS also reported that Lakanwal had applied for asylum in 2024 and that his application was granted earlier this year.

Lakanwal, 29, is reported to be an Afghan national who came to the United States as part of Operation Allies Welcome, the Biden-era effort to resettle Afghans who assisted U.S. forces. He was then granted asylum in the U.S. in April 2025, CNN reports.

The suspect worked with the U.S. government in Afghanistan, including with the CIA, CIA Director John Ratcliffe said in a statement.

U.S. Senator CALLS PETE HEGSETH A COWARD Live on CNN!!!

Trump Threatens Members of Congress Who Spoke Truthfully About Obligation to Disobey Unlawful Orders

FBI 'doesn't have' authority to question Dems in video if there's no offense: Ex-Senior official

Trump THROWS Noem UNDER THE BUS in CONTEMPT HEARING

Trump brushes off concerns about Witkoff’s interactions with Russians as leaked transcript roils Washington

 https://edition.cnn.com/2025/11/26/politics/trump-witkoff-russian-call

The transcript generated concern among some GOP Russia hawks on Capitol Hill who asserted that Witkoff was too much under Russia’s spell. Rep. Don Bacon called for him to be fired.

“For those who oppose the Russian invasion and want to see Ukraine prevail as a sovereign & democratic country, it is clear that Witkoff fully favors the Russians. He cannot be trusted to lead these negotiations. Would a Russian paid agent do less than he?” Bacon wrote on X.

Russia rejects major concessions on Ukraine as leaked call shows Witkoff advising Moscow

 https://www.jpost.com/international/internationalrussia-ukraine-war/article-876329

Russia will make no big concessions on a peace plan for Ukraine, a senior Russian diplomat said on Wednesday, after a leaked recording of a call involving US envoy Steve Witkoff showed he had advised Moscow on how to pitch to Donald Trump.

The plan - and the leaked Witkoff call - prompted unusually harsh criticism from Trump's fellow Republicans, who have generally marched in lockstep with the president since he began his second term.

Senator Mitch McConnell, the party's former Senate leader, said Russia should not be rewarded. "A deal that rewards aggression wouldn’t be worth the paper it’s written on. America isn’t a neutral arbiter, and we shouldn't act like one," he said on X.

Trump, on Air Force One, brushed aside a question from a reporter about why Witkoff appeared to be coaching Russian officials as "what a dealmaker does" and "a very standard form of negotiation."

The Psychology of Hypocrisy – Why We Do it & How to Stop

 https://www.straighttalkcounseling.org/post/the-psychology-of-hypocrisy-why-we-do-it-how-to-stop

At the root of hypocrisy is fear and low self-esteem. We use hypocrisy to avoid looking at our shortcomings and figure out our part in it. It typically stems from a sincere belief that we should not be held to the same standards as others because we have better intentions. Our belief is juster, nobler, and sincerer. 

It feels good to be morally superior to someone else. It helps us to avoid humility, which is a very painful emotion. Even the best of us use hypocrisy when we feel attacked. For example, in the workplace, we may enjoy gossiping about our coworker’s poor performance but are secretly concerned about our own job performance. It’s a deflection to avoid dealing with our own problems because we don’t want to be judged. 

The moral hypocrisy of Trump’s GOP enablers

 https://thehill.com/opinion/campaign/4713212-the-moral-hypocrisy-of-trumps-gop-enablers

So it was strange that Johnson has allied himself with the manifestly immoral Donald Trump. Wearing the uniform of the day, a blue suit festooned with a red tie, Johnson — who has supported outlawing pornography, penned op-eds opposing marriage equality and advocated against everything from abortion to LGBTQ rights — traveled to a dingy courthouse in downtown New York City to voice his support for Donald Trump on trial for committing 34 felonies related to hush money payments to a porn actress.

Johnson doesn’t share Trump’s interest in porn stars. He and his son have purchased the Covenant Eyes porn surveillance app, which scans all your online activity and “sends a report to your accountability partner,” Johnson told some Louisiana Baptists a couple of years ago. “My accountability partner right now is Jack, my son. He’s 17. … I’m proud to tell you, my son has a clean slate.”

Hypocrisy should come as no surprise in a politician, and perhaps it is not misplaced, but this one rivals Trump’s mentor Roy Cohn denying he was gay even as he was dying of AIDS.

Hypocrisy, Spinelessness, and the Triumph of Donald Trump

 https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2024/10/trump-gop-support-jd-vance-2024/679564

But I was struck by one theme that Trump kept pounding on over and over: that he was used to dealing with “brutal, vicious killers”—by which he meant his fellow ruthless operators in showbiz, real estate, casinos, and other big-boy industries. In contrast, he told me, politicians are saps and weaklings.

“I will roll over them,” he boasted, referring to the flaccid field of Republican challengers he was about to debate at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library that September. They were “puppets,” “not strong people.” He welcomed their contempt, he told me, because that would make his turning them into supplicants all the more humiliating.