Robert Mueller, ex-FBI director at center of political tempest, dies at 81

 https://www.washingtonpost.com/obituaries/2026/03/21/robert-mueller-dead/

Robert S. Mueller III, a career prosecutor who became a central figure in two searing national traumas, first as FBI director in the aftermath of the 9/11 terrorist attacks and later as special counsel investigating ties between President Donald Trump’s campaign and Russia, died Friday. He was 81.

During more than four decades in law enforcement — as line prosecutor, U.S. attorney and FBI chief — Mr. Mueller developed a reputation as a stickler for detail who savored methodical investigation and nearly always got his man. Some colleagues privately spoke of the decorated Marine veteran as “Bobby Three Sticks,” referring to his patrician pedigree and the three-fingered Boy Scout salute.

At the FBI, in an era of increasingly partisan national division, he built a reputation for nonpartisan rectitude and stone-faced reserve, frustrating speechwriters by crossing out every “I” they wrote into his prepared remarks. It wasn’t about him, he told them: “It’s about the organization.”

President is a mere Puppet for G-d?

Many years ago I asked a distinguished Talmid chachom whether Gedolim were infallible and he answered if so why is it obvious that Sanhedrin can err?

A similar reply is indicated to those who claim that all leader's are mere puppets of G-d and have no free will.

In Vayikra it states not only the Sanhedrin can err but also a king or any leader

Mishlei (21:01) Like channeled water is the mind of the king in the LORD’s hand;He directs it to whatever He wishes.

Vayikra (04:22) When a ruler has sinned, and done something through ignorance against any of the commandments of the Lord his God concerning things which should not be done, and is guilty;

Berachos (55a) There are three things for which one should supplicate: a good king, a good year, and a good dream. ‘A good king, as it is written: A king's heart is in the hands of the Lord as the water-courses. ‘A good year’, as it is written: The eyes of the Lord thy God are always upon it, from the beginning of the year even unto the end of the year.A good dream’, as it is written; Wherefore cause Thou me to dream and make me to live.

Meshech Chochma (Devarim 17:15): … The Ralbag notes that the heart of the king is in G-d’s hand (Mishlei 21:1). Thus the king has no free will but what he does is determined by G d. Shmuel was thus afraid of Shaul at this point [Shmuel 1 1:11] because Shaul was no longer king and thus had free will to harm him.

Rabbeinu Bachya (Devarim 17:15) It would do well for us to study our history and to learn what happened to the Jewish people during the centuries when their political system was headed by a king of flesh and blood. Devarim Rabbah 5,11 sums it up in these words: the Jewish kings caused many of their people to fall in battle because of their faulty policies. Shaul caused many casualties at Gilboah  David caused a plague. Achav, King of Israel, became the cause of the three year famine. Tzidkiyah’s policies became the immediate cause for the destruction of the Temple . How was it that the entire people who had experienced a tremendous renaissance under the leadership of the prophet Samuel agreed to ask for a king? The Talmud Sanhedrin 20 dissects the wording in Samuel I 8, pointing out that the elders of the people were motivated by pure considerations asking that the purpose of the king be “to judge us,”. The common people were motivated by the desire for their king to be a general who would lead them in war, and their sin was in saying “like all the nations.” They spelled this out in greater detail in verse 20 of that chapter. The people were agreed that they wanted a king, but they differed regarding the tasks of that king.

Pentagon press policy ruled unconstitutional in case brought by N.Y. Times

 https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2026/03/20/pentagon-press-policy-unconstitutional-nyt/

A federal judge in Washington, D.C., struck down the Defense Department’s controversial press policy as unconstitutional Friday, ruling in favor of the New York Times and one of its reporters, Julian E. Barnes.

The policy, introduced in October, stated that the Pentagon could revoke credentials for any journalist who solicits information the department has not authorized for release — even if that information was unclassified. The policy led to a mass exodus of journalists from dozens of news organizations who refused to sign, including the Times and The Washington Post. Only a handful of the hundreds of formerly credentialed members of the media signed the updated agreement.

Iran Believes It’s Winning—and Wants a Steep Price to End the War

https://www.wsj.com/world/middle-east/iran-war-negotiations-demands-85555522?mod=WSJ_home_mediumtopper_pos_1 

Three weeks into the war, the Iranian regime is signaling that it believes it is winning and has the power to impose a settlement on Washington that entrenches Tehran’s dominance of Middle East energy resources for decades to come.

This attitude may prove to be a dangerous misreading of President Trump’s determination, or of Israel’s capacity to inflict strategic blows on the Islamic Republic’s surviving leadership and military capabilities.

Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu have given mixed signals on how long the war would go on, as they try to talk markets down and keep Tehran guessing. Netanyahu said Thursday that the war would end “a lot faster than people think.” Trump said this week the U.S. would wrap up the conflict in the “near future” even as the Pentagon dispatched thousands of additional Marines to the Middle East.

Hegseth has repeatedly said the US is upping the frequency of its Iran strikes. The data tells a different story

 https://edition.cnn.com/2026/03/20/politics/us-strikes-iran-frequency-data

While Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has repeatedly stated that the number and intensity of the strikes the US is carrying out against Iran is only increasing, data provided by the US military shows a pace of operations that has ebbed and flowed over the last three weeks.

As Hegseth has gone to the podium alongside Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Dan Caine in a series of press conferences, he has repeatedly asserted that the coming day would bring the most US strikes on Iran yet.

Starting on March 4, his second briefing on the war which began on February 28, Hegseth said “more and larger waves” of strikes were coming, and that the Defense Department was “accelerating, not decelerating.”

But data released publicly by US Central Command has not shown that the number of strikes has increased daily the way Hegseth has indicated, which could partly be due to the need to adjust the frequency of flights as aircraft and ships receive maintenance while operations continue, or because the military started with a set target list and is now working to identify and confirm new targets.

As Iran war diverts attention from Gaza, Hamas police openly tighten grip on Strip

 https://www.timesofisrael.com/as-iran-war-diverts-attention-from-gaza-hamas-police-openly-tighten-grip-on-strip/

A few days ago, police working under Hamas who were patrolling a market in Gaza City came upon a vendor who was selling tomatoes for the wildly inflated price of NIS 25 per kilogram, or about $3.60 a pound.

The officers seized the produce, citing a law against price gouging meant to protect Gazans amid a reduction in goods entering the Strip since the outbreak of the war in Iran on February 28, according to Anas Arafat, a Gaza City resident who witnessed the incident.

With attention in Israel and the region largely on the war in Iran and fighting in Lebanon, Hamas security forces in Gaza have stepped up their visibility in Gaza over the last two weeks, according to locals who spoke with The Times of Israel and corroborated by footage circulating in the enclave.

Alongside Hamas’s increased presence have also been reports of rising violence against Gazans, as the terror group ostensibly holding the enclave seeks to reassert power.

GOP grapples with $200B Iran funding request from Trump, Hegseth

 https://thehill.com/homenews/house/5791945-pentagon-funding-iran-war-supplemental-republicans/

Republicans are grappling with how to handle an expected $200 billion request for supplemental funding for the war in Iran, weighing their desire to support the president with demands from fiscal hawks, questions about the scope of the funding and the challenge of a super-slim majority in the House.

Democrats are not expected to support such a Pentagon funding boost for a war they oppose, leading Republicans to eye fulfilling the request through the special budget reconciliation process, which bypasses the need for Democratic support to clear the 60-vote threshold in the Senate.

Adding $200 billion more to the military’s budget would represent a major expenditure of federal dollars, considering the entire military budget for fiscal 2026 was $1 trillion. The White House Office of Management and Budget still must make a formal request to Congress, meaning the figure could be reduced. 

LevinAt11 broadcast VaYikra-86

 This is a brief introduction to this week's LevinAt11 radio broadcast for Parshas VaYikra, of 2 Nissan 5786, which is linked to below.

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We extend our deepest sympathies and condolences to the family of Arthur Goldberg Z"L, of NJ, who just passed away this week.  May his mesiras nefesh in countering the LGBT mafia serve as an unrelenting inspiration to the next generation.

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Selected Topics:

First Half:

1. Arapoh Board, including Sholom Kamenetsky, along with Rephoel Szmerla, the banned [Co-]author of Alternative Medicine In Halacha, aka 

כי אני ד' רופאך.

The book was unofficially "co-authored" by Sholom Kamenetsky, as particularly evident from a preview version.

The book is a bunk-packed, New-Age missionary book. For two (of innumerable) examples, it "legitimizes" the Taoist principle of Q-i/ Ch-i, portraying it as fully compatible with Judaism, עפר לפיהם. It portrays even long- distance universal energy-work as natural, beneficial - and permitted according to Halacha.

The book had been banned - due to kefirah related ideology - by over a dozen prominent Rabbonim, when it came out in 5777, as you've probably seen in our materials (see https://daattorah.blogspot.com/2025/02/ban-by-over-dozen-rabbonim-against-new.html and other related posts on Rav Doniel Eidensohn's site).  Note that they appropriately banned the deceptive author himself - the gavra - not just the cheftza. And ShMK has unfortunately certified both (e.g. see page xxxvii until the end, in 1st edition).

~~~

Second Half:

2. Simcha Felder voted for more LGBT legislation in the NYC Council;

3. Some reflections on the current war and the need for a restoration of morality.

Good Shabbos,

Rabbi Noson Shmuel Leiter,

Executive Director,

Help Rescue Our Children

845.642.1679

Direct: 771.215.8892

Israeli Helpline: 03.721.3337

torahjewsfordecency@gmail.com

Tomim Tih'yeh [countering "New-Age" infiltration]: 

Tomim1679@gmail.com

Presentations on New-Age dangers: 605-313-6831 ext. 2

Heard weekly on New Jersey's WSNR Radio 620AM, co-hosting the renowned Levin At Eleven program, every Thursday evening, 11pm to midnight (ET).

~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~ 

Additional Post of Interest:

https://www.blogger.com/blog/post/edit/7309929059139673041/7415589111062155832

A new war revives a hateful old lie

 https://blogs.timesofisrael.com/a-new-war-revives-a-hateful-old-lie/

What do New York Times columnist Thomas Friedman, antisemitic podcaster Tucker Carlson, Progressive politician Bernie Sanders, and the lunatic influencers Candace Owens and Nick Fuentes all have in common? Each has accused Israel, Netanyahu, and the Jews of dragging the United States into yet another endless and unwinnable war in the Middle East. 

Not much nuance separates Friedman’s assertion that “Bibi is playing both President Trump and American Jews for fools. And if the US lets him get away with it, we are fools,” from Carlson’s claim “This is Israel’s war. This is not the United States’ war. The United States didn’t make the decision here. Benjamin Netanyahu did.” Sanders’s statement that “US cannot continue to be complicit in Netanyahu’s wars,” is virtually indistinguishable from Owens’s “Trump has betrayed America and expects you to die for Israel,” and “Trump launched a war on Zionist vibes.”

Of course, there is nothing new about the right-left alliance against Israel. The 1960s Weather Underground described Israel as “a Nazi state” and a “racist atrocity,” and Ku Klux Klan Grand Wizard David Duke accused the Zionists of controlling the US government, “lock, stock, and barrel.” Nor was the claim that Jews manipulate American leaders into going to war remotely original. Henry Ford blamed the outbreak of World War I on “German Jewish bankers,” and before America entered World War II, Charles Lindbergh singled out the Jews for “pressing this country toward war.”

Who Needs Teshuva More?

 Parshas VaYikra, Rosh Chodesh Nissan, 5786

As we enter Chodesh Nissan, we're reminded of the fact that this month is "mesugal for" (meaning, more likely to merit) the Final Redemption, the Ge'ulah (see Gemara Rosh HaShonah 11a, in the name of Rebbi Yehoshua).  However, the Geulah isn't ushered in by bombing - it's ushered in by belonging - to HaShem -- meaning Teshuvah.

We see a lot of focus on indicators - simonim - of Geulah.  These simonim can play a very positive role if they motivate us to introspect and repent.  However, they're close to worthless, and even worse, if we misuse them to distract ourselves - and fail to pursue the cause of Geulah - the sibas haGeulah, being Teshuva, repentance.

This year, Rosh Chodesh Nissan falls on Thursday, corresponding to the aliyah of Chamishi, which addresses the Korbonos brought when leadership errs in inadvertently sinning  These korbonos serve as part of the Teshuva process.  Being a leader doesn't mean being perfect; it means being responsible, including rectifying mistakes, and thereby showing the way for the rest of the tzibbur.

Perhaps the coinciding of the two (Rosh Chodesh Nissan and Chamishi) relates to a powerful lesson about the pivotal role leadership plays in restoring the Divine Presence, one primary function of the Geulah. This is a lesson that appears to be spectacularly revealed by a deep insight hidden in the Ba'al HaTurim of last week's kriyah. The Ba'al HaTurim on 35:26 (the 26th passuk of VaYakhel), on the word "Ossonah" ("them"), contrasting with the very same word in Yechezkel 34:21.  The Ba'al HaTurim explains that the Torah is alluding to the following contrast: Just as the righteous women spinning the wool for the Mishkon, on one hand, brought the Divine Presence to dwell amongst us -- on the other hand - faulty leadership - which the Novi Yechezkel excoriates - repel the Divine Presence, by causing the "sheep" to sin.

However, he doesn't explain the significance of the term "Ossonah" in Yechezkel referring not to the corresponding misleading "shepherds" - but rather to the weak sheep - victimized by the former - described as "nachlos" (see Rashi 34:4).

Therein, I humbly suggest, lies a powerful and very relevant lesson.  Those very same weak sheep, who acutely need chizuk [and who even endure Galus under the influence of faulty leadership (see meforshim in Yechezkel)] - those same "shvacheh Yidden" - when provided the chizuk and direction they need - by replacing their misleaders with proper leadership - can grow and thrive, and become the ultimate of noshim tzidkoniyos - akin to the righteous women, exemplified in VaYakhel (see Rav Shamshon R. Hirsch ZY"A there).*

(*  It's been suggested that the Torah juxtaposes the "weak sheep" to righteous women in particular because women often tend to be more trusting, thus more susceptible to the influences of leadership.)

This is a powerful rebuke of the attitude of abandoning spiritually weak and disadvantaged Jews to be victimized - be it by derelict leaders, or via other harmful influences and dangers.

Those who have worked on saving neshomos from less/ non-observant backgrounds extricate themselves from the ravages of the broader culture - or who've been involved in work like that of the "Chomosaich" organization, saving "periphery" girls from the headhunting crusaders of the Israeli Army Draft Office - can see the truth of this in high relief.

Furthermore, this also holds a powerful message for each one of us. In our weaker moments, we tend to abandon ourselves to yi'ush, giving up.  In reality, it is precisely in such times that being mechazek ourselves is so much more potent in actualizing the latent greatness hidden in every soul.

Perhaps this year's coinciding of Rosh Chodesh Nissan with the aliyah of Chamishi is to alert us, individually and communally, to focus on saving potential tzaddikim - and tzidkoniyos - in who's merit the future Geulah is to come (Sefer Kav HaYashar, ch. 82) - from derelict leadership -- by providing them the authentic leadership they so desperately need -- if we truly wish to merit to witness the Geulah, for which this month is so mesugal.

In this context, we need mention the following insight by Rav Eliezer Simcha Lieff שליט"א, Rosh Yeshiva of Yeshiva Gedola of South Monsey.

The term "Ba'al Teshuva" is generally a misnomer.  It applies to those who actively left Torah observance - and then returned. Most of those who are described as ba'alei teshuva simply never had a Chinuch opportunity.  In other words, "their school bus just came 15 years late."  They just had a late start.  However, often they're unfairly penalized for that which wasn't their fault.

I would humbly observe that with all the talk about the important role of Achdus in meriting the Geulah, many lose sight of what it really requires.  Authentic Achdus is not about feel-good virtue-signalling. It's about taking responsibility for those who need our help, particularly those so often ignored or sidelined - be it due to their non-observant background, being otherwise disadvantaged, or other factors.  And when we, as a community, tolerate the institutionalization of relegation of such neshomos to those who have wicked designs for them, we ought not be surprised when HaShem sends us continuous, sometimes seemingly unbearable wake-up calls.

Perhaps the ones who need to do Teshuva the most are not those who never had a proper chance - but those of us who did.

If you would like to do your part in participating in such work, with respect to saving the next generation of Jewish mothers from abandonment to the Israeli military draft, please contact us, today.  We're no more obligated to over-extend ourselves than most of you reading this.

May we merit the Geulah in the zechus of performance of that which helps bring it, including authentic Teshuva, on both an individual and communal level. 

Good Shabbos,

Rabbi Noson Shmuel Leiter,

Executive Director,

Help Rescue Our Children

845.642.1679

Direct: 771.215.8892

Israeli Helpline: 03.721.3337

torahjewsfordecency@gmail.com

Tomim Tih'yeh [countering "New-Age" infiltration]: 

Tomim1679@gmail.com

Presentations on New-Age dangers: 605-313-6831 ext. 2

Heard weekly on New Jersey's WSNR Radio 620AM, co-hosting the renowned Levin At Eleven program, every Thursday evening, 11pm to midnight (ET).

~~~~~~~   ~~~~~~~  

The GOP is dismissing Joe Kent. They might come to regret it.

 https://www.politico.com/news/2026/03/19/the-gop-is-dismissing-joe-kent-they-might-come-to-regret-it-00836746

And the White House was doing what it has done since the war began — insisting that the critics amount to little more than a loud, online fringe with no real purchase in Trump’s MAGA party.

But there is a clear risk in dismissing Kent. Carlson and Owens, whose average viewership rivals CNN’s primetime lineup, have both suggested, or hosted people who have suggested, that Israel is behind a range of ills — from leading the U.S. into a war with Iran to the murder of Charlie Kirk. Kent’s resignation letter, which he shared on X, said intelligence showed Iran posed no imminent threat despite Trump’s assertions and that Israel pushed the U.S. into war.

“The president does not make these incredibly important national security decisions based on fluid opinion polls or podcast hosts, but on the best interest of the American people,” said White House spokesperson Davis Ingle.

Ingle described Kent’s letter as “self-aggrandizing” and “riddled with lies,” disputing the assertion that Israel forced the U.S. to strike Iran and insisting that Iran did in fact pose an “imminent threat” and was “preparing to strike Americans first.”

Whether this proves the start of something larger remains to be seen. When Biden administration staffers began resigning over the U.S.’s support for Israel’ s war in Gaza, the White House dismissed them as fringe voices out of step with the American mainstream.

Frustrated Trump struggles against perception that he’s losing control of Iran war

 https://thehill.com/homenews/administration/5792686-iran-war-trump-oil-prices/

A tide of political danger is rising around President Trump as criticism grows that he may be losing control of the war in Iran.

Grant Reeher, a professor of political science at Syracuse University’s Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs, said that although much of the reaction to the conflict so far has been bifurcated along partisan lines, “I do think it’s a particular moment of danger [for Trump]. Up to now, there has been this drip-drip-drip erosion in the president’s support. This one, to me, has more of a potential to open up a floodgate.”

An Economist/YouGov poll earlier this week asked whether people approved or disapproved of how Trump was handling the situation in Iran.

Only 36 percent of respondents approved. Fifty-six percent disapproved.

That’s bad news for the White House by any measure.

How the Trump administration could be hurting Israel’s already damaged brand

 https://edition.cnn.com/2026/03/19/politics/israel-trump-administration-iran-war

President Donald Trump joined with Israel to launch the Iran war at an inauspicious time for the US-Israeli relationship.

Just a day before the first strikes, Gallup polling had shown Americans’ views of Israel hitting a 21st century low; most strikingly, Americans for the first time didn’t sympathize more with Israelis than Palestinians.

Making matters even more fraught, the right has in recent months become riven over how to deal with what many regard as a troubling rise in antisemitism in its base and influencer class. Some of the biggest names in conservative thought have increasingly — and often conspiratorially — linked Israel to all manner of American maladies.

On two major occasions now, the administration has gestured at Israel being mostly responsible for major inflection points in the war — even though the evidence on both counts isn’t totally clear

Obama Didn’t Give Iran ‘150 Billion in Cash’

 https://www.factcheck.org/2019/03/obama-didnt-give-iran-150-billion-in-cash/

A viral meme distorts the facts about the Iran nuclear agreement. The deal, approved by six countries and the European Union, gave Iran access to its own frozen assets.

As a candidate during the 2016 campaign, President Donald Trump criticized the international agreement to curb Iran’s nuclear weapons’ program — formally called the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action — that had been adopted the year before. He suggested that the U.S. had returned $150 billion to Iran as part of the deal.

That’s not true. We’ve written about this issue before. PolitiFact and the Washington Post have, too.

But Trump has repeated the claim as recently as December, when he tweeted: “The Democrats and President Obama gave Iran 150 Billion Dollars and got nothing, but they can’t give 5 Billion Dollars for National Security and a Wall?”

The meme, which has been shared 149,000 times on Facebook, mentions the recent lawsuit brought against the Trump administration by 16 states to block the national emergency. The meme says: “So, when Obama bypassed the Congress while giving Iran 150 billion in cash, how many States had sued him?”

The nuclear agreement included China, France, Germany, Russia, the United Kingdom, the United States and the European Union, so Obama didn’t carry out any part of it on his own. The deal did lift some sanctions, which lifted a freeze on Iran’s assets that were held largely in foreign, not U.S., banks. And, to be clear, the money that was unfrozen belonged to Iran. It had only been made inaccessible by sanctions aimed at crippling the country’s nuclear program.