Ambassador to US suggests NY Times Gaza coverage preparing ‘next genocide’ of Jews

 https://www.timesofisrael.com/ambassador-to-us-suggests-ny-times-gaza-coverage-preparing-next-genocide-of-jews/

Yechiel Leiter, Israel’s ambassador to the United States, on Sunday suggested The New York Times published a “blood libel” about IDF actions in Gaza “to prepare the next genocide” of Jews.

“There is no difference between what is being done to us today and what was done to our grandparents in the ghettos of Europe 800 years ago,” Leiter said.

Leiter made the comments at the closing ceremony of Chabad’s Kinus Hashluchim, the annual gathering of the Hasidic sect’s thousands of emissaries from around the world, in Edison, New Jersey.

The Unity of Science

 https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/scientific-unity/

Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy

The Unity of Science

The topic of unity in the sciences can be explored through questions such as the following: Is unity a feature of reality or of our modes of cognition? Is there one privileged, most basic or fundamental concept or kind of thing and, if not, how are the different concepts or kinds of things in the universe related? Can the various natural sciences (e.g., physics, astronomy, chemistry, biology) be unified into a single overarching theory, and can theories within a single science (e.g., general relativity and quantum theory in physics, or models of evolution and development in biology) be unified? How are the so-called human sciences related to the natural ones? Are theories or models the relevant connected units? What other connected or connecting units are there? Does the unification of these parts of science involve only matters of fact or are matters of value involved as well? What about matters of method, material, institutional, ethical and other aspects of intellectual cooperation? Moreover, what kinds of unity, not just units, in the sciences are there? And is the relation of unification one of reduction, translation, explanation, logical inference, collaboration or something else? What roles can unification play in scientific practices, their development, application and evaluation? Are those expressions of more general cognitive activities? How are all these questions to be investigated? Is unification an aim of inquiry or a guiding idea at the service of ulterior aims? Is it a question for philosophy, e.g., for metaphysics or epistemology? If so, how can examining scientific practices help? Or is philosophy, rather, a resource for understanding science?

Over the last four decades much historical and philosophical scholarship has challenged the ideals of monism and reductionism and pursued a growing critical interest in pluralism and interdisciplinary collaboration (see below). Along the way, the distinction between the historical human sciences and ahistorical natural sciences has received much critical and productive attention. One outcome has been the application and development of concepts and accounts in philosophy of history in understanding different human and natural sciences as historical, with a special focus on the epistemic role of unifying narratives and standards and problems in disciplines such as archeology, geology, cosmology and paleontology (see, for instance, Morgan and Wise 2017; Currie 2019). Another outcome has been a renewed critique of the autonomy of the social sciences. One concern is, for instance, the raising social and economic value of the natural sciences and their influence on the models and methods of the social sciences; another is the influence on both of certain particular political and economic views. Other related concerns are the role of the social sciences in political life and the assumption that humans are unique and superior to animals and emerging technologies (see, for instance, van Bouwel 2009b; Kincaid and van Bouwel 2023).

At the end of the day, one should not lose sight of the larger context that sustains problems and projects in most disciplines and practices. We are as free to pursue them as Kant’s dove is free to fly, that is, not without the surrounding air resistance to flap its wings upon and against. Philosophy was once thought to stand for the systematic unity of the sciences. The foundational character of unity became the distinctive project of philosophy, in which conceptual unity played the role of the standard of intelligibility. In addition, the ideal of unity, frequently under the guise of harmony, has long been a standard of aesthetic virtue, although this image has been eloquently challenged by, for instance, John Bailey and Iris Murdoch (Bailey 1976; Murdoch 1992). Unities and unifications help us meet cognitive and practical demands upon our life as well as cultural demands upon our self-images that are both cosmic and earthly. It is not surprising that talk of the many meanings and levels of unity—the fundamental level, unification, system, organization, universality, simplicity, atomism, reduction, harmony, complexity or totality—can place an urgent grip on our intellectual imagination.

Trump vs. Trump, the Final Act

Torah Study must be According to the Individual

quote from "The Spiritual Revolution of Rav Kook" by Schwartz,  Ari Ze'ev -

 "Many people have left religion because in their learning and spiritual perfection, they betrayed their unique personalities. For example, a person may be naturally talented in matters of aggadah1 and be unsuited to constant immersion in matters of halachah.2 Yet because he does not recognize his unique talents, he occupies himself in matters of Gemara and its commentaries, since he sees that this is customary in the religious world today. But deep inside his soul he feels a hatred toward the material he is learning, since constant involvement in it does not suit his unique natural gifts. However, if he were to find the specific type of Torah that fits his unique talents and immerse himself in it, he would then immediately recognize that the nauseating feeling he experienced when involved in matters of halachah was not coming from any flaw in that holy and important type of learning. It was rather his soul expressing its desire to be absorbed in another type of Torah. This person would then stay truly faithful to the Torah and become an expert in the type of Torah that is unique to him. In fact, he would even be able to help those who are more talented in halachah by showing them the inner peace of aggadah, poetry, and emotions. Unfortunately, because this person does not recognize the true reason for his feelings of nausea toward halachah, he forcefully ignores his nature. And as soon as the path of a non-Torah way of life opens up to him, he breaks out and then hates and becomes an enemy of Torah and religion. He will go from one sin to another. It is from these types of people that haters of our people are created. They try to proclaim a new vision and blind the eyes of the world. There is a great diversity of wisdom that expands even greater than this. One may be strongly attracted to a certain secular wisdom. Such a person must also follow his unique talents, while setting aside fixed times for learning Torah. If he does this, then he will succeed in both, because “Torah together with the way of the world is beautiful” (Pirkei Avot 2:2). And the Gemara at the end of Yoma discusses how to find the right balance of priorities for such people. In general, this whole issue is dependent on each person’s unique soul. (KYK 1, Pinkas Acharon b’Boisk, 52)"

Start reading this book for free: https://read.amazon.com/kp/kshare?asin=B07BPLGHNW&ref_=kar_wh_ca

 

Blinken: I warned Netanyahu Israel could lose young Republicans and evangelicals

 https://www.jpost.com/international/article-914277

Former US secretary of state Antony Blinken said Sunday that he warned Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu during the Gaza war that Israel risked losing support among young Republicans and young evangelicals, alongside its mounting difficulties within the Democratic Party.

“You are not only losing the Democratic Party, and that may be fine from your perspective. You’re going to be losing young Republicans, young evangelicals,” Blinken said he told Netanyahu.

Blinken said the image of Israel had changed profoundly between generations. He recalled growing up when Israel was broadly seen as David facing a surrounding Goliath; for the generation now coming to the fore, he said, that perception had reversed.

Trump cites dislike of Israel as key factor in GOP midterm losses alongside war with Iran

 Trump cites dislike of Israel as key factor in GOP midterm losses alongside war with Iran

US President Donald Trump said that growing dislike of Israel among American voters was one of the main reasons for the Republican Party’s sweeping defeat in the midterm elections, alongside the war with Iran and rising gasoline prices.

Asked to explain the defeat, Trump insisted that his personal popularity remained strong and suggested that Republican candidates had failed to translate his support into votes.

The president pointed to the large crowds at his campaign rallies but acknowledged that other factors had influenced voters.

Trump: Republicans did poorly in midterms because of a ‘great dislike’ for Israel

 https://www.timesofisrael.com/liveblog-november-9-2026/

US President Donald Trump says that one of the reasons Republicans did so poorly in last week’s midterm elections is because Americans really don’t like Israel, with whom his government has a close relationship.

Trump is asked during an interview on 60 Minutes to reflect on the midterms, and he gives several reasons for the Democratic takeover of both the House and the Senate.

“Number one, I was not on the ballot,” Trump says, noting that voters didn’t like some of the Republican candidates, including ones he endorsed.

“But there’s something beyond that. They didn’t like the war. They didn’t like the fact that gasoline went up,” he adds.

“And there’s a great dislike — incredibly — for Israel,” Trump says, without elaborating.

AIPAC Wanted to Shape the Debate. Now It Is the Debate.

 https://www.politico.com/news/magazine/2026/11/08/israel-aipac-midterm-elections-foushee-01154924

The American Israel Public Affairs Committee was both the primary adversary and in some sense a model for the new group. In late 2021, AIPAC had formed its own super PAC, United Democracy Project, which spent $64 million in the following two cycles. American Priorities set a goal of raising $10 million for the midterms, and came up short of that in its spending of around $8 million. Campaign-finance disclosures show UDP alone spending over $50 million this cycle through mid-October, not accounting for other AIPAC-affiliated groups. “We never thought we could outspend them,” said Mohammed Waqas Javed, a former director of engineering at the tech company AppLovin, whose $1 million in donations made him one of American Priorities’ early backers. “We wanted to be smart about where we spent, and surgically deploying $10 million was enough to run a serious operation across the country.”

But the financial mismatch was less important than the environment in which American Priorities arrived. A longstanding, bipartisan pro-Israel consensus that AIPAC had helped establish — and, more recently, enforce — was already fracturing over the war in Gaza, and AIPAC’s own role in Democratic primary politics had become controversial. American Priorities formed in part to capitalize on the shift, but its emergence was far more an effect than a cause of the public’s changing views on Israel. Indeed, candidates attacked AIPAC in races where neither its own super PAC nor American Priorities even spent.

The group will face a very different Capitol Hill in January. Thirteen members of the Democratic majority will arrive with American Priorities having backed their elections. And Rep. Valerie Foushee, one candidate American Priorities opposed for AIPAC’s role helping bring her to Congress in the first place, turned on her former backers before the primary even started — the anti-AIPAC group now considers her an ally.

Trump Shares Posts Questioning Midterm Election Results

 https://www.newsweek.com/donald-trump-midterm-election-results-truth-social-12681983

President Donald Trump repeatedly shared social media posts Saturday questioning the scale and credibility of Democrats’ midterm election gains, days after saying he was “absolutely willing” to accept the results of an election that cost Republicans control of Congress.

Trump reposted material on Truth Social questioning Democratic vote totals nationally and in Texas, including a post describing Gina Hinojosa’s performance in the Texas governor’s race as “Looney Tunes numbers.”

The activity marks a shift in tone from election night, when Trump acknowledged Republicans’ losses and said he would accept the results

Stop Telling Children How Good They Are

 https://aish.com/stop-telling-children-how-good-they-are/

Instead of teaching our children to develop and maintain a positive opinion of themselves, we should teach them to accept their inherent worth—and then turn their attention away from judging themselves and toward evaluating their actions.

Because once feeling good about myself becomes the focus, I now have something I need to protect. When I fail, what does that say about me? When someone criticizes me, I need to defend myself. When someone else succeeds, perhaps his success somehow diminishes me.

Let’s spend a little less time convincing our children how good they are and more time teaching them how much good they can do. They don’t need to spend their lives proving to themselves how good they are. They need to know how important they are—and live accordingly.

Who is Stephen Miller? The Jewish hardliner even Trump finds too extreme, now running the White House

 https://www.ynetnews.com/article/hjjkt3i6fe

Born into a wealthy Jewish family descended from refugees, Miller became the driving force behind Trump's immigration crackdown and one of his most trusted advisers; now, as White House chief of staff, the 41-year-old hardliner faces his biggest test yet

During Trump's second term, he became deputy chief of staff and homeland security adviser, establishing himself as one of the few White House figures whose opinions Trump regularly seeks on a broad range of issues. His promotion to chief of staff places him in charge of managing the very administration whose policies he has spent a decade helping to shape.

Critics accuse him of undermining human rights and the rule of law, while Miller presents his policies as necessary to defend America's borders and national security. His uncompromising approach has also created a deeply personal controversy within his own family, whose history stands in striking contrast to his political views.

Pro-Israel conservatives blast JD Vance for blaming Israel after GOP midterm losses

 https://www.timesofisrael.com/pro-israel-conservatives-blast-jd-vance-for-blaming-israel-after-gop-midterm-losses/

Conservative pro-Israel voices are lashing out at Vice President JD Vance after he linked the Republican Party’s massive midterm losses to the country’s relationship with Israel and the war in Iran.

Vance on Wednesday said that “the real reason we lost is obvious to almost everyone.” Citing an unidentified pollster, he alleged the top demands of voters who had left the Republican side were: end the war in Iran; focus on the cost of living and inflation; put America first and “change our relationship to Israel.”

Eric Levine, a board member of the Republican Jewish Coalition, told the Jewish Telegraphic Agency that he doesn’t “recall seeing a single exit poll in which any voter identified ‘change our relationship with Israel’ as a factor in their voting decision.”

Stephen Miller’s promotion angers industries reeling from immigration enforcement

 https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2026/11/06/industries-that-rely-immigrant-workers-decry-stephen-millers-promotion/

President Donald Trump’s naming of deportation architect as his chief of staff unleashed anger, fear and astonishment among leaders of industries that depend on immigrant labor.

“When I got a text message, ‘Hey, have you heard about Stephen Miller?,’ my first thought was: Thank goodness he was let go,” said Chris Herr, president of PennAg Industries Association, which represents farmers and pork and poultry producers. Many of his members helped propel Trump to victory in 2024 but have soured on the president, as some farmers reel from the loss of workers to immigration enforcement, he said.

“Time will tell if Stephen Miller continues to wreck the economy, destroy families, tarnish the Republican political coalition and obliterate Trump’s legacy,” said Rebecca Shi, chief executive of the American Business Immigration Coalition, a bipartisan group that lobbies for immigration reform on Capitol Hill, which organized the letter

Is the Trump era over?

 Is the Trump era over?

A day after their crushing midterm defeat, Republicans are already engaged in a bitter blame game. Members of Congress are demanding a leadership shake-up, while Sen. Ted Cruz acknowledges the party failed to address Americans' financial struggles: "Food is too high, gas is too high, diesel is too high, insurance is too high, life is too high." The war with Iran is also drawing fierce criticism: "We should have never done the war before the midterms." Meanwhile, CNN reports that Trump has no intention of becoming a lame-duck president and is exploring ways to expand his powers.

The shock of the Republicans' crushing defeat in the US midterm elections is rapidly giving way to soul-searching and a bitter internal blame game. Just one day after what has been described as the party's biggest wave of midterm losses in 50 years, Republicans are no longer content to explain away the results as isolated setbacks. Their anger is now directed at the party's leadership, the Trump administration's policies and President Donald Trump himself.

According to Axios, Republicans woke up to the election results "in shock," but their shock turned to fury within hours. The battle over who was responsible for the defeat quickly escalated, with members of Congress demanding changes to the party's leadership and its approach to governing.