Saturday, January 31, 2026

Lawrence: The protesters are forcing Trump’s retreat.

Late Night DESTROYS Melania’s Documentary 馃槀 | Kimmel, Colbert, Meyers, Desi Lydic & More

‘Melania’ promises to take us behind the scenes. There’s nothing to see.

 ‘Melania’ promises to take us behind the scenes. There’s nothing to see.

There is a controversial new Amazon documentary about Melania Trump released this weekend and every single review I’ve read has been terrible, but babe, if you suspect I have come here today to trash a movie about the wife of a notoriously thin-skinned, anti-journalist president, which was bankrolled by the company owned by the man who also pays my salary — NOT TODAY, SATAN. Do you think I’m a moron? (Don’t answer that). This house is clean.

What I ended up wondering throughout this documentary, while I kept waiting in vain for director Brett Ratner to peel back another layer on Melania, is if we were dealing with a situation that was not an onion but a potato. Yes, there’s a thin protective skin. But after you breach that, no matter how many times you go after it with a peeler, you’re dealing with pretty much the same pulp.

Her worldview seems based on optics more than reality: that what things look like is as important as what things are like. She carries on about redecorating the White House tennis pavilion not because she is dim but because, in her view, her highest calling is not to give the American public something they can identify with but rather something they can aspire to.

What is she thinking? It doesn’t really matter, honestly. The fact that she is disciplined enough to hide her true personality from the public is, in fact, her personality.

Epstein Survivors Slam Trump’s DOJ Over Shoddy Release of Files

 https://newrepublic.com/post/204717/epstein-survivors-trump-justice-department-files

All those redactions and somehow the Department of Justice still didn’t redact survivors’ names.

Survivors of Jeffrey Epstein’s abuse are claiming that the Trump administration broke the law by failing to redact some of their names and withholding other documents.

In a joint statement Monday, multiple survivors slammed the government’s recent document dump for failing to redact “numerous victim identities” while also making “abnormal and extreme redactions with no explanation.”

“We are told there are that there are still hundreds of thousands of documents still unreleased. These are clear-cut violations of an unambiguous law.”

Tulsi Gabbard’s appearance at Fulton County FBI raid raises questions

 https://www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/2026/01/30/tulsi-gabbard-fulton-county-fbi-raid/

There are “only two explanations” for why Gabbard was in Fulton County on Wednesday, Senate Intelligence Committee Vice Chairman Mark R. Warner (D-Virginia) said at the hearing.

One is that she believes there’s a “legitimate foreign intelligence nexus,” he said, in which case Gabbard “violated her legal obligation to keep the intelligence committees fully and currently informed,” or she is attempting to insert the intelligence community into what Warner called “a domestic political stunt designed to legitimize conspiracy theories that undermine our democracy.’’

Former senior U.S. intelligence officials called Gabbard’s participation in the FBI action unprecedented, and out of line with her office’s legal authorities.

Trump has long maintained that the 2020 election, which he lost to Joe Biden, was rigged. U.S. national security officials at the time said they found no evidence of widespread fraud and numerous courts rejected claims of election irregularities as unfounded.

Kosher Blackmail

 https://mishpacha.com/the-fur-coat/

The fur coat, they noted, wasn’t there — and my father-in-law was intrigued. He launched an investigation. I don’t know how he found this out, but he determined that the lawyer had stolen the coat and given it to his mother.

He sent him the photo he had taken of my mother-in-law wearing the coat and told him he knew that he had stolen it.

“I have no interest in sending this photo to the police and ruining your career,” he wrote, “even though you deserve it for stealing from your client. But you need to do one simple thing — release the $300,000 for my grandson. My son-in-law will use it to further his son’s education in any way that he sees fit, without your involvement. You will make the transfer as soon as you receive this email.”

Why did G-d tell Moshe to stop praying?

Shemos (14:15) Then G-d said to Moses, “Why do you cry out to Me? Tell the Israelites to go forward.

Rashi ( Shemos (14:15)) WHEREFORE CRIEST THOU UNTO ME? — there is no mention that he prayed to God concerning this, but this teaches us that Moses stood in prayer. Whereupon the Holy One, blessed be He, said to him, “It is no time now to pray at length, when Israel is placed in trouble”.

Why did G-d tell Moshe to stop praying?  The Medrash Rabbah says

Shemos Rabbah (21:07) WHEREFORE CRIEST THOU UNTO ME? It is written, Hast thou prepared thy prayer before thy trouble came? . Why is this so? R. Eleazar b. Pedath said: The proverb has it: ' Honour thy physician even before thou hast need of him. R. Simeon b. Lak. ish says: Prepare thy prayer before thy Creator, so that no troubles may befall thee from above. R. Hama b. Hanina said: When Israel departed from Egypt, the angel Samael arose to accuse them. R. Hama added the following explanation in the name of his father: It can be compared to a shepherd who was leading his sheep across a river when a wolf came to attack the sheep. What did the shepherd, who knew well how to deal with such emergencies, do? He took a large he-goat and threw it to the wolf, saying to himself, Let him struggle with this till we cross the river, and then I will return to bring it back. So, when Israel departed from Egypt, the Angel Samael arose to accuse them, pleading before God: ' Lord of the Universe! Till now they have been worshipping idols, and now Thou dividest the sea for them? ' What did God do? He delivered into his hands Job, one of the counsellors of Pharaoh, of whom it is written, And that man was wholehearted and upright, and said: Behold, he is in thy hands. God reckoned: While he is busily occupied with Job, Israel will go through the sea! Afterwards, I will deliver Job; this is why Job said, I was at ease, and He broke me asunder. ‘I was at ease in the world,’ said Job, but He broke me asunder, He hath taken me by the neck, and dashed me to pieces, in order to make me the target for His people, for it says, He hath also set me up for His mark, God delivereth me to the ungodly, He hath delivered me into the hands of Satan; and in order that Israel may not emerge guilty from the trial, He hath delivered me into his hand’; hence, And casteth me into the hands of the wicked. It was then that God said to Moses: Moses, behold I have given Job over to Satan. It is for you to Speak unto the children of Israel, that they go forward.

Friday, January 30, 2026

How two federal agents escalated an encounter with Alex Pretti into a deadly shooting

 https://edition.cnn.com/2026/01/29/politics/video/immigration-agents-shooting-alex-pretti-vid-invs

In the chaotic moments leading up to Alex Pretti’s death on Saturday, the aggressive actions of two federal agents transformed the encounter into a deadly shooting, a CNN analysis of video has found.

The conduct of those two agents, from the earliest moments interacting with demonstrators up through their decision to pull weapons and fire at Pretti, illustrate the dangers of flooding American cities with officers ill-equipped to deal with protesters in urban environments, experts told CNN.

While major city police departments have embraced a philosophy of cooling down heated encounters with the public, the immigration officers in Minneapolis did the opposite – right up to the moment of Pretti’s death.

Law enforcement experts who reviewed the videos for CNN said the officers’ use of deadly force likely stemmed from lack of training or a failure by the agents to follow it during the heated encounter.

Thursday, January 29, 2026

Fuel tanker overturned, flooding section of Highway 60 in Jerusalem with flammable material

 https://www.ynetnews.com/article/wwecwhp07

A gasoline tanker rolled down a hill onto Highway 60 in Jerusalem, between the neighborhoods of Beit Hanina and Neve Yaakov, flooding the road with flammable material. Firefighting teams and a hazardous materials unit are working at the scene in coordination with police to prevent ignition.

https://rotter.net/forum/scoops1/930728.shtml#5

Melania Trump documentary bombs with only 1 ticket sold

 https://www.israelhayom.com/2026/01/28/melania-trump-documentary-box-office-failure-empty-theaters/

First Lady Melania Trump's documentary "Melania" sells just one or two tickets per screening worldwide, turning Amazon's $75M investment into a historic flop.

The Daily Beast reported that the flagship Vue cinema location in Islington, London, sold just one ticket for the 3:10 p.m. screening and two tickets for the 6:00 p.m. showing. A similar picture emerged at an AMC theater in Orange County, California, which failed to sell a single ticket for Saturday evening's screening – evidence that the failure has crossed the Atlantic Ocean.

Online reactions have been scathing. The Queerty website noted that users of the film review social media platform Letterboxd left insulting comments on the page for the 2020 film "Looking for Melania Trump" – which is unrelated to the new film. One called the new documentary "a 104-minute perfume commercial for 'gold-plated despair.'" Another user wrote, before the comment was deleted: "No one asked for this burning garbage."

Not to disagree with Evil People!?

 The gemora seems full of contradictions. Tonite I leaned that one should not figtht against Evil Men

Sanhedrin (110a)With regard to the verse: “And Moses arose and went to Dathan and Abiram” (Numbers 16:25), Reish Lakish says: From here we derive that one may not perpetuate a dispute, as Rav says: Anyone who perpetuates a dispute violates a prohibition, as it is stated: “And he will not be like Korah and his assembly, as the Lord spoke by the hand of Moses to him” (Numbers 17:5). Even the aggrieved party must seek to end the dispute. Dathan and Abiram accused Moses and by right should have initiated the reconciliation. Nevertheless, Moses was not insistent on this; he went to them.


However The Mishna Berura and many others say that one should protest against evil doers and hate them until they are defeated and destroyed

Biur Halacha (1.1) And he should not be embarrassed - Refer to the Mishna Berurah quoting the Beis Yosef.  Know that the Beis Yosef is only dealing with [a case of]  where he does [an exclusively] personal Mitzvah  and men mock him, for then certainly their is no thoughtful assumption to mock them, nor to quarrel with them. However, if he is in a situation where there are heretics who rise against the Torah, and want to pass certain rules in matters of the city, and through this, detach the public from the will of Hashem, and, if one would try to negotiate peacefully, they wouldn't listen to his words- the Beis Yosef wasn't speaking about an example like this at all. Rather, it is a Mitzvah to hate them and to quarrel with them and to contradict their advice in whatever way one is able. As King David said in the verse, "For indeed, those who hate you, O Hashem, I hate them, and with those who rise up against you I quarrel! With the utmost hatred, I hate them...."(Psalms 139, 21). 

Senior Hamas official: We never agreed to disarm, no one’s raised it with us directly

 https://www.timesofisrael.com/senior-hamas-official-we-never-agreed-to-disarm-no-ones-raised-it-with-us-directly/

Senior Hamas official Moussa Abu Marzouk said Wednesday that Hamas never agreed to disarm, casting doubt on whether the terror group will fulfil a key US and Israeli demand included in the American-backed plan for postwar Gaza.

Abu Marzouk’s statement runs contrary to the insistence of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and US President Donald Trump that the terror group give up its weapons in the near future as part of the second phase of the Gaza ceasefire. Trump has repeatedly asserted that Hamas “promised” to lay down its arms, and has threatened the group over the issue.

Abu Marzouk also suggested Hamas has a de facto veto on any appointment to the new technocratic committee set up to run the Gaza Strip, and stressed that Hamas still rules over the part of the enclave that, in accordance with the ceasefire, is not under IDF control.

Trump and Fox News Blame Greg Bovino for Violence in Minneapolis as Some Agents Leave:

National Guard deployments cost taxpayers almost half a billion dollars

 https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2026/01/28/national-guard-deployments-cost/

President Donald Trump’s deployment of National Guard and active-duty Marine personnel to U.S. cities cost approximately $496 million between June and December last year, according to an estimate from the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office.

Continuing the deployment for the next year could cost the nation over $1 billion, the estimate found.

Trump has repeatedly said his deployments are necessary because local leaders have not done enough to combat crime in major cities. The deployments, however, have been repeatedly challenged in court, and legal experts have warned that Trump may be exceeding his authority.