Thursday, June 20, 2024

Killing the Iran nuclear deal was one of Trump's biggest failures

 https://responsiblestatecraft.org/iran-nuclear-deal/

Six years after former President Donald Trump’s withdrawal from the Iran nuclear deal, the disastrous consequences of this decision are still adding up.

In addition to Iran being closer than ever to a nuclear weapons capability, now we must consider how the declining security situation in the Middle East has raised the stakes significantly. Trump promised a “better deal” but instead we got an increasingly costly blunder that may be impossible to fix

President Trump's Policy Towards Iran Was A Disaster

 https://www.murphy.senate.gov/newsroom/press-releases/murphy-president-trumps-policy-towards-iran-was-a-disaster

Murphy laid out the failures of the Trump administration’s Iran policy: “Here's the facts. When Donald Trump came into office, Iran was over a year from being able to achieve a nuclear weapon. By the time President Trump left office, that breakout time had dropped to months. When President Trump came to office, proxies of Iran were strong. When he left office, they were just as strong, if not stronger. This idea that Iran stopped sending money to Hezbollah during Trump's presidency is just wrong. $700 million was the annual amount of support delivered from Iran in the middle of Trump's presidency; [and] that's what was being delivered at the end of his presidency. There were no attacks on US forces in Iraq when Donald Trump became president. From 2019 to 2020, attacks on US forces in Iraq increased by 400%. It got so bad that Secretary Pompeo started to close down the embassy in Baghdad because it had become so dangerous. Attacks on US forces raised to epidemic levels from the beginning of Trump's presidency to the end. The anti-Iran coalition wasn't strengthened, it was shattered. We had Russia and China on board with the JCPOA. By the end of the Trump presidency, Europe wasn't supporting our Trump politics, our Iran policy, they were undermining it.”

As few as 50 hostages may still be alive

 https://www.israelnationalnews.com/news/391824

Now, according to the Wall Street Journal, mediators in the talks and a US official familiar with the latest US intelligence have placed the number of hostages still alive as potentially just 50.

Trump's War on the Truth Has Officially Gone Full Orwell

https://www.esquire.com/news-politics/a22547037/donald-trump-orwellian-truth-reality-eyes-ears/

 It has long been clear that the president is attempting to build a genuine authoritarian movement over which only his word has any power, and which he can use to ride roughshod over the institutions of democracy. So far, this attempt has been an unmitigated success, as his supporters inhabit the same infotainment vortex he does and other members of the Republican Party—which controls both Houses of Congress and has a constitutional duty to provide a check on the Executive Branch—bow to him out of craven fealty.

Radical skepticism Permission to believe only what you want to believe

 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Radical_skepticism#:~:text=Radical%20skepticism%20(or%20radical%20scepticism,certainty%20is%20therefore%20never%20justified.

Radical skeptics hold that doubt exists as to the veracity of every belief and that certainty is therefore never justified. 

Or to quote Trump - Don't believe your lying eyes or fake news only believe me. 

Wednesday, June 19, 2024

Choose Life: A Documentary about Leah Kaufman

Biden and Trump: How the two classified documents investigations came to different endings

 https://apnews.com/article/classified-documents-biden-trump-special-counsel-b5589ea8f066ede51c8138665f108f7a

Trump is accused of not only hoarding classified documents at Mar-a-Lago, but trying to hide them from investigators and working to block the government from clawing them back. Prosecutors have alleged that Trump showed off the documents to people who did not have security clearances to review them and enlisted others to help him hide records demanded by authorities.

Tzadik and Time

 Sfas Emes (Chaye Sara 641) G-d knows the days of innocence... and just as the righteous break the power of nature and cancel their physicality for the sake of the Creator's commandments, so it is in their power to alter nature and elevate  time to attach it  to the highest source, that is why it says about Abraham “he comes in the days”, that indicates he elevated all his days to exist forever... 

Tzadikim will be called by G-d's Name

 Shelah (Toldos Adam Ben Dovid 73) Tzadikim will in the future called by G-d’s Name as it is said  Everything that is called in My Name and for My Honor, I created it, even I made it. And those who adhere to it are called tzadik by His Name, because they bind and unite the Heavens with the Earth. And He said that they are made like the image of G-d, because G-d has creation, formation, and action in Him. Even the tzaddik below has included in him all of these, to establish the Divine Honor below.

Bava Basra (075b) Tzadikim will in time to come be called by the name of G-d; for it is said: Every one that is called by My name, and whom I have created for My glory. I have formed him, yea, I have made him.   R. Samuel b. Nahmani said in the name of R. Johanan: Three were called by the name of G-d, and they are the following: The righteous, the Messiah and Jerusalem. 

Bava Basra (075b) There will come a time when ‘Holy’ will be said before the righteous as it is said before G-d; for it is said: And it shall come to pass, that he that is left in Zion, and he that remains in Jerusalem, ‘shall be called Holy.

Marhasha (Bava Basra 75b) 3 things are called on the name of G-d. Seeing that it does not say with the name of G-d, but they were called on the name of G-d.  This means the name of G-d  will be  associated with them - the Messiah, meaning the Lord's Messiah, Jerusalem, meaning the city of G-d, as well the tzaddik, meaning,  a tzaddik to G-d. In other words  all their actions  are for the sake of Heaven. This as also true for Messiah that all his deeds are for the sake of Heaven. Also concerning Jerusalem the only ones allowed there will be those whose deeds are only for the sake of Heaven. 

Ben Shapiro and Piers Morgan on guns

Piers Morgan vs Ben Shapiro on Facts

Seeing Tzadikim and Gedolim

 Rav Eibschitz (Yaaras HaDevash 01:12) Meeting Sages – There are two benefits. The first is receiving beracha. Shefa and Tov  merely by seeing him. While seeing an evil person causes spiritual damage, seeing a saintly man is beneficial since the light of the Shechina is on him. This is indicated by the gemora (Eiruvin 13b) which notes that those scholars who benefitted from seeing Rabbi Meir’s back would have benefitted even more if they saw his front . 

Rav Eibschitz (Yaaras HaDevash 01:12) And there is another benefit to meeting the tzaddik and Sage , as they say, the sight of a tzaddik is a blessing, because while from some people who have an Evil Eye like Bilaam rays of light that come out of their eyes are harmful, so the rays of light that come out of a tzaddik is a blessing and their seeing us is good. Therefore there are two benefits from the tzadik -  one comes from seeing him and the other comes that he sees us. 

Eiruvin (13b) Rabbi Yehuda HaNasi  declared: The only reason why I am keener than my colleagues is that I saw the back of R. Meir, but had I had a front view of him I would have been keener still, for it is written in Scripture: But thine eyes shall see thy teacher

The Wall Street Journal’s story about Biden’s mental acuity suffers from glaring problems

 https://edition.cnn.com/2024/06/06/media/wall-street-journal-biden-mental-acuity/index.html

The New York Times’ Katie Rogers and Annie Karni even reported last year that McCarthy had praised Biden’s mental faculties when speaking amongst confidantes — a starkly different tune than the one he is now singing in public. “Privately, Mr. McCarthy has told allies that he has found Mr. Biden to be mentally sharp in meetings,” Rogers and Karni reported in March 2023. Rogers re-upped that reporting on Wednesday in the wake of The Journal’s story.

Tuesday, June 18, 2024

Piers Morgan -Objective observer of Trump?!

 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Piers_Morgan

Morgan was the winner of the U.S. celebrity version of The Apprentice in 2008. He was eventually the overall winner, being named Celebrity Apprentice by host Donald Trump on 27 March, ahead of fellow finalist, American country music star Trace Adkins,[119][120] and having raised substantially more cash than all the other contestants combined.[121] Morgan was called "ruthless, arrogant, evil and obnoxious" by Trump in the final.[122] Morgan stated he personally would not vote for Trump in the 2016 United States presidential election (though as a permanent resident of the United States, not a citizen, he is not qualified to vote).[123] He predicted Trump's election as President of the United States and described himself as a close friend.[124] 

People worldwide are disconnecting from the news

 https://www.israelnationalnews.com/news/391668

And how much do people believe the news itself? 40 percent of the survey participants said that "they believe the news," a figure that remained stable in comparison to the previous study. The survey included 94,943 people from 47 countries around the world and was held in January and February 2024.

What research actually says about social media and kids’ health

 https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2024/06/17/social-media-mental-health-research-surgeon-general/

There is no clear scientific evidence that social media is causing mental health issues among young people. Public health officials are pushing for regulation anyway.

U.S. Surgeon General Vivek H. Murthy on Monday called for social media platforms to add warnings reminding parents and kids that the apps might not be safe, citing rising rates of mental health problems among children and teens. It follows an advisory Murthy issued last year about the health threat of loneliness for Americans, in which he named social media as a potential driver of social isolation.

White House slams 'bad faith' viral clips of Biden

 https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/clee77n5n78o

The newspaper last week reported that the president had "started to wander off during a skydiving demonstration" in Italy on Thursday, with other G7 leaders "needing to pull him back to focus".

But British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak told the Telegraph the US president was simply "being very polite and went over to talk to all of [the parachute jumpers] individually", before Italian PM Giorgia Meloni told him they would all line up for handshakes.

Magician Uri Geller: 'I helped stop the Iranian UAV attack'

 https://www.israelnationalnews.com/news/391681

Geller has in the past taken credit for other major events in the Middle East, including freeing a cargo ship that blocked the Suez Canal in 2021.

Monday, June 17, 2024

Donald Trump: Family Medical History

 https://doctorzebra.com/prez/z_x45_trump_family_medical_history_g.htm

Trump's father died with Alzheimer disease at age 93. His mental status was in decline for at least seven years before then. Mary Trump describes him as "a high-functioning sociopath" 1a.

Shadowing Trump’s attacks on mental fitness — his own father’s dementia

 https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2024/03/20/donald-trump-dementia-father-fred-alzheimers-biden/

Ziad Nasreddine, the neurologist who created the test, said in an interview that if an individual in their 70s had not taken the Montreal test since 2018, the results would not be valid to cite today.

Trump’s long fixation on mental fitness followed years of watching his father’s worsening dementia — a formative period that some associates said has been a defining and little-mentioned factor in his life, and which left him with an abiding concern that he might someday inherit the condition. While much remains unknown about Alzheimer’s, experts say there is an increased risk of inheriting a gene associated with the disease from a parent.

Biden knows ‘exactly what he is doing’ and will likely win election, says German chancellor

https://www.politico.com/news/2024/06/15/biden-scholz-g7-00163585

 In an interview with Axel Springer media outlets on the sidelines of the G7 summit in Italy on Saturday, Scholz made assurances that Biden “knows exactly what he is doing,” and can provide critical leadership as the group of global leaders faces a complex web of issues, including multiple conflagrations and hotly-contested elections that threaten to upend the international status quo. POLITICO is owned by Axel Springer.

Biden allies say president is ‘sharp,’ special counsel criticism is ‘B.S.’

 https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/white-house/mayorkas-defends-biden-sharp-intensely-probing-detail-oriented-rcna138192

“I’ve been knowing him for 30 years. I have met with him personally. I’ve met with him with two people, five people, 10 people. I have been on trips with him, crisscrossing the country, rebuilding America based on this incredible infrastructure bill that was passed. And I’m telling you, this guy is tough. He’s smart. He’s on his game,” Landrieu said.

Michael Douglas defends Biden mental acuity: ‘Sharp as a tack’

 https://thehill.com/blogs/in-the-know/4611047-michael-douglas-biden-trump-2024-november/

Douglas said “everybody” in Biden’s orbit who he’s consulted with says the president is “fine.”

“His entire Cabinet, including his vice president, everybody that’s in his Cabinet would be more than happy to work with him again on a next term,” Douglas said, before knocking Trump, without mentioning the former president by name.

Haredi leader on army draft: ‘You don’t want us and you don’t need us’

 https://www.timesofisrael.com/haredi-leader-on-army-draft-you-dont-want-us-and-you-dont-need-us

/Citing a tweet by former politician Haim Ramon, Goldknopf claimed that “four thousand Haredim asked to enlist since the beginning of the year — though that’s not good to hear — but you ruled out 3,300 of them. You don’t want us and you don’t need us. Why do you abuse us?” (Ramon in his tweet cited data from the Knesset, though he later acknowledged that some individuals had challenged the data as problematic.)

Are animals conscious? How new research is changing minds

 https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cv223z15mpmo

"The field is replete with weasel words and unfortunately one of those is consciousness," says Prof Stevan Harnad of Quebec University.

"It is a word that is confidently used by a lot of people, but they all mean something different, and so it is not clear at all what it means."

He says that a better, less weasley, word is "sentience", which is more tightly defined as the capacity to feel. "To feel everything, a pinch, to see the colour red, to feel tired and hungry, those are all things you feel," says Prof Harnad.

Hamas threatens: We will continue the terrorism until we reach Jerusalem

 https://www.israelnationalnews.com/news/391642

Hamas releases a video clip in which it stresses its commitment to continue the Jihad until the destruction of the State of Israel.

White House, Obama team dispute characterization of fundraiser video

 https://thehill.com/blogs/blog-briefing-room/4725036-white-house-obama-teams-dispute-characterization-of-fundraiser-video/

The White House and former President Obama’s team disputed the characterization that President Biden froze up on stage at a Los Angeles fundraiser and had to be led off the stage by the former president.

The New York Post wrote about the video of Biden under the headline “Biden appears to freeze up, has to be led off stage by Obama at mega-bucks LA fundraiser.”

The Hostages Next Door: Inside a Notable Gaza Family’s Dark Secret

 https://www.wsj.com/world/middle-east/the-hostages-next-door-inside-a-notable-gaza-familys-dark-secret-2896f6aa?mod=hp_lead_pos7

Many hostages have been held in tunnels, but a number have been held in apartments, potentially reflecting the challenge of moving around so many captives in an active war zone.

Sunday, June 16, 2024

Balancing Bitachon and Hishstadlus is Not Easy

 Michtav M’Eliyahu (01 page 187) And those who think that everything they strive for almost all their days is truly for heaven's sake, they should examine themselves, to see if a spiritual thought comes to them in the middle of their troubles in their business, or rather it is the thought of their business which comes to them in the middle of prayer? ... From two sides the evil inclination attacks. If he increases his efforts entirely according to the demands of his business then he is a heretic since he is lacking in bitachon but if he absolutely minimizes the amount of effort for parnossa he is rebelling against the words of our Sages. Finding the proper balance of effort and bitachon is not easy or clear since it depends on his free-will. It is impossible to find the true balance without properly utilizing pure Fear of Heaven free of biases. The correct point was not even revealed to Moshe

Trump's former doctor says Biden is "juiced" on a drug

Fox Host Skeptical of Joe Biden Drug Use Claim: 'We're Not Doctors'

 https://www.newsweek.com/maria-bartiromo-skeptical-joe-biden-drug-use-claim-donald-trump-1902305

Bartiromo responded: "These are obviously very serious charges that he is jacked up, we don't know. We're not doctors. We have no idea."

Trump Mocks Biden for Gaffes While Making a Big One of His Own

 https://www.thedailybeast.com/trump-mocks-biden-for-gaffes-while-making-a-big-one-of-his-own?ref=home

He then went on to repeat his now infamous story about how he “got every question right” for the crowd at a conservative conference in Detroit, bragging about how the former White House doctor administering the test had “never seen” such an impressive result before. But with that same doctor sitting in the audience, Trump proceeded to butcher his name—twice. “Doc Ronny! Doc Ronny Johnson! Does everyone know Ronny Johnson? Congressman from Texas,” he excitedly declared. He was referring, of course, to Rep. Ronny Jackson (R-TX), the former physician and Republican ally who has repeatedly talked up Trump’s “incredible genes.”

Shavuos became the time of the giving of Torah - When?

 There is no description in the Torah or Talmud that states Shavuous is celebrated as the time of the giving of the Torah. Nor could I find such a description in the Rambam

However Shulchan Aruch (OC 494)The fiftieth day of the count of the Omer is the holiday of Shavuot. The prayer service is like the holiday of Passover, rather we say "the Holiday of Shavuot, the time of the giving of our Torah". We say full Hallel. We take out two Torah scrolls and read in the first one of five [sections] from "The third month" until the end of the order. The Maftir is read in the second scroll, "On the day of the first fruits". As Haftorah we read the chariot of Ezekiel, and end with the verse "and the wind took me up."


The Magen Avraham asks that since everyone agrees that the Torah was given on the 51st day of the Omer - why do we celebrate Shavuous on the 5oth day?

Correction 

Pesachim (68b) Rabbi Elazar said: All agree with regard to Atzeret, the holiday of Shavuot, that we require that it be also “for you,” meaning that it is a mitzva to eat, drink, and rejoice on that day. What is the reason? It is the day on which the Torah was given, and one must celebrate the fact that the Torah was given to the Jewish people. 


However this contradicts two other gemoras as well as the Magen Avraham.