Vladimir Putin: a miracle defender of Christianity or the most evil man?

 https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2022/mar/06/vladimir-putin-a-miracle-defender-of-christianity-or-the-most-evil-man

A miracle defender of Christianity or the most evil man? Well, it is Ukrainian Christians among others whom he is now slaughtering indiscriminately and he has little understanding of Jesus, who said “blessed are the peacemakers”.

No, this is a power vision threaded through with nationalistic Christian theology. And evil is the right word when a leader uses religion to justify in God’s name invasion, violence and annihilation.

The Myth of the “Crusader Putin”

 https://www.crisismagazine.com/2022/the-myth-of-the-crusader-putin

Russia and Ukraine, while both Christian on some issues, are pretty much like any other nation when it comes to their laws—cafeteria Christian and non-Christian on the preeminent issues.

Yet, even with all of these facts, you will hear that Russia is a Christian country, as if Ukraine is less of one. You will hear justification of Russia’s aggression as a type of a Christian crusade against Western atheism. But such an outlook fails to line up with the facts.

Putin's war against Ukraine may have spiritual, religious foundations: 'Good vs. evil'- more nonsense from Fox

 https://www.foxnews.com/lifestyle/putin-war-ukraine-spiritual-religious-foundations

Three years ago, the leader of the world's Orthodox Churches in Istanbul, Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew, granted the Ukraine Orthodox Church independence from the Russian Church in Moscow. It's called autocephaly.

To Western officials, it seemed a victory for religious freedom. But to Putin and the closely aligned Russian clergy, it was a shattering slap in the face.

Said Brownback, "That blew a gasket with the Russian Orthodox church. They were livid. It was also 40 percent of their membership, roughly, in Ukraine."

Ukraine refugees: Why the US has allowed so few

 https://edition.cnn.com/2022/03/19/politics/ukraine-refugees-us-what-matters/index.html

Many Ukrainians -- more than 3 million and counting -- have fled their country since Russia's invasion, with nearly 2 million pouring into neighboring Poland and hundreds of thousands going to other nearby countries.

But only the smallest trickle -- around 690 -- have come to the US as refugees since last October. That means essentially no Ukrainians of those 3 million who left since the war began have come to the US.

Most Ukraine refugees don't want to come to Israel

 https://www.jpost.com/diaspora/article-701632

To paraphrase, this is what the ambassador said: You Israelis are worried that your country, of all the countries in the world, will be inundated by Ukrainians just dying to live here? Relax, it won’t happen.

Though a bit jarring to hear, the ambassador is probably right.

BORDERLINE CHAOS

https://mishpacha.com/borderline-chaos/

All this is more complicated than it looks. Think about the people who have had to wait in a line stretching 12 kilometers for over 24 hours. Suddenly, out of nowhere, all the people of a certain ethnic identity are whisked out, just like that. Of course this isn’t going to go over very well. Especially given the cold, the anxiety, the hunger.

One giant ... lie? Why so many people still think the moon landings were faked

 https://www.theguardian.com/science/2019/jul/10/one-giant-lie-why-so-many-people-still-think-the-moon-landings-were-faked

Fox News broadcast a documentary called Did We Land on the Moon? Hosted by the X-Files actor Mitch Pileggi, it repackaged Kaysing’s arguments for a new audience. Launius, who was working at Nasa at the time, recalls much banging of heads against consoles. “For many years, we refused to respond to this stuff. It wasn’t worth giving it a hearing. But when Fox News aired that so-called documentary – stating unequivocally ‘We haven’t landed on the moon’ – it really raised the level. We began to receive all kinds of questions.”

Schwarzenegger, Vindman Team Up For Viral Video Against Russian Disinfo

 https://www.newsweek.com/schwarzenegger-vindman-team-viral-video-against-russian-disinfo-1689256

Schwarzenegger, former governor of California, took to social media Thursday sharing an intimate nine-minute video message to Russian citizens and soldiers deployed in Ukraine, stating terrible things "are going on in the world that are being kept from them. Vindman, who was born in Ukraine, retweeted Schwarzenegger's video to increase its reach.

Rabbi Dr. Abraham Twerski on Purim.

Purim according to Rabbi Sacks and Ashley Blaker

Post Purim Reflections

Purim passed with no phone call "allowed" and of course no photo of my boys in costume. No response from the Bidermans either.

I have written the post below as a somber lesson to hopefully prevent anyone else suffering as we have.

Javelin anti-tank missiles become a symbol of Ukrainian resistance

 https://www.timesofisrael.com/javelin-anti-tank-missiles-become-a-symbol-of-ukrainian-resistance/

Images of Ukrainian troops carrying Javelin missile launchers on their shoulders have flashed around the world, making the anti-tank weapon — capable of piercing the most sophisticated armor, and particularly useful in guerrilla warfare — a symbol of Ukrainian resistance to Russia’s invasion.But it is the US-made Javelin that has become the weapon of choice, to the point that a meme circulating on social media has transformed it into a religious icon borne by Mary Magdalene, an emblematic saint of the Orthodox church.

When Rabbi Kook spent Purim in the Yeshiva of Volozhin

 https://www.israelnationalnews.com/news/324084

In 1885, the year that Rav Kook studied in the famed yeshivah of Volozhin, he was unanimously chosen to lead the Purim revelry as Purim gabbai. The most important students in the yeshivah lit the streetlights along the road from Rav Kook’s lodgings to the yeshivah. This created a festive atmosphere, as Rav Kook was led to the yeshivah and to the home of the Rosh Yeshivah, Rabbi Naftali Tvi Yehudah Berlin, known as the Netziv.

Before age 60, 4th vaccine slightly cuts infection rates, moderately thwarts illness

 https://www.timesofisrael.com/before-age-60-4th-vaccine-slightly-cuts-infection-rates-moderately-thwarts-illness/

People who received a fourth shot of Pfizer vaccine were 30 percent less likely to be infected than people who got three doses. Among the Moderna recipients, people were 18% less likely to get infected after a fourth shot.

But Regev-Yochay said that there is a stronger effect against symptomatic illness. Pfizer recipients were 43% less likely to develop symptomatic illness after a fourth shot, and among Moderna participants the figure was 31%.

She emphasized that her research was conducted on health workers under the retirement age, and therefore doesn’t give a picture of the fourth dose’s effectiveness for the elderly, which its main target in Israel and in some other countries, including the UK.