Everything is controlled by G-d except Cold and heat

 Avoda Zara (3b) All occurrences that befall man are in the hands of Heaven except for colds and obstacles, from which one is able to protect himself, as it is stated: “Colds and snares are on the path of the crooked; he who guards his soul shall keep far from them”. This indicates that cold and, conversely, heat, are forms of harm from which one must protect himself, which teaches that being exposed to excessive heat can cause death.

Bava Basra (144b) All occurrences that befall man are in the hand of Heaven except for colds and obstacles, from which one is able to protect himself, as it is stated: “Colds and snares are on the path of the crooked; he who guards his soul shall keep far from them”.

Bava Metzia (107b) All occurrences that befall man are at the hands of Heaven, except for excess cold and heat, as it is stated: “Cold and heat are on the path of the perverse; he who guards his soul shall keep far from them”. This indicates that cold and heat are forms of harm caused by man, from which one can protect himself.

Kesubos (30a) All matters are at the hand of Heaven except for cold and heat, as it is stated: “Cold and heat are on the path of the crooked, he who guards his soul shall keep far from them”? This indicates that cold and heat are forms of harm caused by man, from which one can protect himself.

Mission accomplished? The 2003 boast that haunts today's Iran conflict

 https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c1e9yy84we8o

Three weeks on from the statue coming down, America's President, George W Bush, stood aboard a US aircraft carrier, anchored off the Californian coast, behind a banner saying "Mission Accomplished". Except it was anything but.

Iraq and Iran are very different countries but can lessons be learnt? So far there is little sign of a coherent plan for what the US wants to bring about or what kind of future it envisages for the country. This time, the improvisation seems to be a deliberate strategy as it leaves President Trump with different options for what he can declare as victory before moving on, creating his own "Mission Accomplished" moment.

But this time round in the US, there has been no attempt to publicly resolve the sometimes contradictory desires to take action. In fact, US President Donald Trump has himself seemed to veer between them depending on which day he is talking and who to.

Nor has there been any attempt to sell the war to the American public – a process which unfolded over months with Iraq. And nor has there been any attempt to seek international legitimacy through the UN. Back in 2003, there was endless discussion of which states might back action.

Iraq is now in a much better state than it was in the immediate aftermath and many are glad to see Saddam Hussein gone. But democracy did not spread through the Middle East in the aftermath as some had claimed it would. Instead, one of the biggest winners of the invasion would be Iran whose main adversary was removed, allowing it to extend its influence into Iraq and beyond in the years after the war. And it would increase the terrorist threat within the UK and the broader West. Wars do not always have the outcomes people expect or want.

Pushing back against Trump’s insults, Herzog decries ‘blatant attack’ on Israel’s sovereignty

 https://www.timesofisrael.com/liveblog-march-13-2026/

After US President Donald Trump on Wednesday calls him “weak and pathetic” in his handling of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s pardon request, President Isaac Herzog says that Israel’s “dignity, independence and sovereignty” are not for sale.

Netanyahu was asked about the insults during a press conference last night, and said that “US presidents are entitled to say what’s in their hearts,”  while blasting the trial as a political witch hunt.

The prime minister should have pushed back on Trump, Herzog indicates.

Trump Religious Liberty Commission Advisor Resigns In Protest

https://www.newsweek.com/donald-trump-sameerah-munshi-resigns-religious-liberty-commission-advisor-iran-war-11671262

 Sameerah Munshi, an advisor on the White House Religious Liberty Commission, has resigned in protest over the war in Iran and the removal of Carrie Prejean Boller from the board.

Munshi confirmed her resignation in a post on X where she said she was resigning in protest of “The official removal of Carrie Prejean Boller for her deeply held beliefs about Palestine and the federal government’s illegal war against Iran, undertaken without clear constitutional or congressional authorization.”

Sameerah Munshi, in a post on X: “I want to be very clear: I am not resigning out of fear or intimidation from anyone affiliated with the Commission, the government, or any interest group. I am resigning because I have seen firsthand the injustice perpetrated by members of this commission, and I am unwilling to be associated with it any longer.”

A Foreign Policy Made by Idiots

WHAT ARE WE DOING?!': See epic anti-Trump, anti-war rant on live TV

How the US Turned Iran Into a Dictatorship: The 1953 Coup (Documentary)

‘This cannot be sustainable’: The U.S. borrowed $50 billion a week for the past five months, the CBO says

 https://fortune.com/2026/03/10/treasury-debt-borrowing-five-months-deficit-warning/?utm_campaign

The U.S. Treasury’s borrowing showed no signs of slowing as the U.S. headed deeper into fiscal year 2026, with the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) reporting that another $1 trillion was added to the federal deficit in the first five months of the year.

The monthly budget review from the CBO, updated to February 2026 and released yesterday, showed that the government is estimated to have borrowed $308 billion last month alone.

Of course, with more borrowing comes higher interest costs on the debt. Between October 2025 (when the 2026 fiscal year started) and February, the Treasury spent an additional $31 billion on net interest on public debt, compared to the prior year. As a result, in just five months, the Treasury forked out a total of $433 billion to service public debt, which is now nearing $38.9 trillion.

Trump's Iran war whiplash clouds U.S. endgame

 https://www.axios.com/2026/03/12/trump-iran-war-endgame

Nearly two weeks in, Trump continues to send conflicting signals about how and when the fighting ends. The confusion has left both allies and adversaries struggling to plan for what comes next.

When Trump announced the war on Feb. 28, he laid out four objectives: destroy Iran's navy, degrade its ballistic missile capability, put a nuclear weapon beyond reach and end Iranian support for regional proxies.

On the metrics Trump has touted publicly, the war is going well. On the objective that most justified launching it, the U.S. is not there yet.

With no direct dialogue between Washington and Tehran, and with Trump hinting he wants new supreme leader Mojtaba Khamenei dead, Iran has little incentive to stand down.

US to give Israel one week to end the war

https://www.israelhayom.com/2026/03/12/us-to-give-israel-one-week-to-end-the-war/

A senior political source from the Middle East tells Israel Hayom that the US wants the military campaign against Iran to end, and has given Israel just one week to conclude it. The source also assessed that the regime in Tehran is unlikely to be replaced, because such a change would require either a ground invasion by troops or the renewal of large-scale protests inside Iran, something the source does not believe will happen in the near future.

According to the senior source, there is a major gap between how the war is viewed in the US and how it is seen in Israel. In Washington, the source said, officials are worried about the impact on oil prices, whereas Israel sees the war as an achievement and is celebrating it.

The source also addressed the issue of Lebanon and Hezbollah, saying that despite Israel's killing of Hezbollah's previous secretary-general, Hassan Nasrallah, the organization is still standing, as is Hamas.

According to the source, Israel is making a mistake by not fully pursuing diplomatic channels after the military achievements it has secured, adding that countries in the region could help advance such efforts, saying that the matter is sensitive.

Why time is on Iran’s side as Trump faces pressure to end conflict

 https://thehill.com/policy/defense/5781823-iran-conflict-trump-pressure/

Time may be on Iran’s side in its conflict with the United States as President Trump faces domestic and international pressure to end the war.

U.S. and Israeli military superiority has wreaked havoc on Iran, pounding its navy, missile launch sites and other assets. But the conflict is also inflicting pain on the president as oil prices spike and Gulf allies scramble to intercept a barrage of Iranian drones — all as the pivotal midterm elections inch closer.

“Time is on Iran’s side. They’re on their home turf. They have long planned for this. Iran’s entire defense doctrine was based around this idea that we face enemies that are conventionally superior to us,” said Jon Hoffman, a research fellow for defense and foreign policy studies at the Cato Institute. 

A changing battlefield: Five takeaways from Israel's war with Iran, two weeks in

 https://www.jpost.com/middle-east/iran-news/article-889809

Israel’s decision to strike deep inside Iran, knowing full well it would trigger retaliation, reflects a willingness to accept immediate costs in order to prevent far greater dangers later. It marks a stark departure from the earlier instinct to delay confrontation in hopes of avoiding escalation.

In effect, Israel has moved from managing threats to dismantling them. The calculation today is that waiting carries greater danger than acting – even if acting means putting your own population on a war footing for weeks at a time.

Seen in this light, Trump’s messaging is serving two purposes: reassuring markets and allies that escalation will not spiral indefinitely, while simultaneously maintaining pressure on Iran through ongoing military operations.

Iran’s Islamic Republic 2.0 is coming — and it won’t be pretty

 https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2026/03/12/trump-iran-regime-attack-forever-war/

There will probably be some sort of ceasefire, maybe soon. Tanker traffic will resume through the Strait of Hormuz. Bombing by U.S. B-52s and B-2s will stop. Iran and its proxies will refrain from drone attacks across the Persian Gulf. Tehran may haggle over ceasefire conditions, but that won’t matter much because its military power has mostly been destroyed — at least for now.

If there’s one lesson America and Israel should have learned in recent decades, it’s that military success doesn’t usually translate to political victory — in Gaza, Afghanistan or, now, Iran. The adversary keeps coming back. The Israelis have learned that they have to keep “mowing the grass,” the harsh phrase they use for the cycle of recurring violence. America, after avoiding an all-out clash with Iran for 47 years, may now be caught in a similar cycle.

But the regime survives. It has taken America’s best punch, and it’s still standing. Tiers of senior military, intelligence and political leaders are dead, but they have been replaced by others. There’s no sign of a popular uprising. The cadres of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps hide among piles of rubble, but they haven’t been eliminated.

I truly wish that “regime change” were possible in Iran. This dreadful government has brought misery to its people and its neighbors and deserves to go. But that process is hard to imagine for hard-line intelligence experts in the United States and abroad who have been studying the mullahs for decades. “I don’t think we are going to break their will,” fears one senior Gulf official who passionately opposes the regime. “They will rebuild as long as they’re alive.

Shooter in Michigan synagogue attack dead, all others safe and unharmed

 https://www.jpost.com/diaspora/antisemitism/article-889806

Police are responding to an active shooter, vehicle ramming, and fire at Temple Israel Synagogue in West Bloomfield, Michigan.

According to NBC News, no casualties or injuries resulting from the attack have been reported, other than the suspected shooter, who was killed.

According to its website, Temple Israel is one of the largest Reform Jewish congregations in the US, boasting over 3,000 members.