https://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMc2207270
Our study indicates that BNT162b2 vaccine–induced myocarditis in adolescents appears to be a rare adverse event that occurs predominantly in males after the second vaccine dose. The clinical course appears to be mild and benign over a follow-up period of 6 months, and cardiac imaging findings suggest a favorable long-term prognosis.
https://www.israelnationalnews.com/news/364206
Avi Ciment’s recent series in The Jewish Press, The Modern Orthodox Conundrum (Part I, Part II and Part III), is an absolute must-read. The author rivetingly lays forth the issues facing Modern Orthodoxy and suggests solutions, with great detail and plenty of personal and third-person narrative, making the topic come alive and demonstrating just how serious and compelling the matter is.
Mishpacha has been running articles about The problem - for last two weeks it was the failure of family
Before that was the Internet - but we all now know never to criticize or discipline a child
But now they are saying we are failing for not telling our daughters to go to sleep instead of spending hours talking to friends on their kosher phones. Just when you thought and accepted the blame they publish a new explanation - it is the fault of the yeshivas - contrary to what was stated in the Jewish Observer
https://mishpacha.com/growing-together/
Some of us might remember the famous 1999 “Kids on the Fringe” issue of the Jewish Observer, including articles by Rabbi Russell, Dr. Norman Blumenthal, Rabbi Yakov Horowitz, and Dr. David Pelcovitz. For the first time, the phenomenon was being discussed in an honest and fearless way, but that issue — the magazine’s all-time biggest seller — was actually a response to the previous volume, in which a well-respected mechanech wrote that the overwhelming consensus of Orthodox mental health professionals is that struggling children are the product of dysfunctional families.
“I knew it wasn’t true,” he says emphatically. “But I also knew one other thing: that if you have kids going off, and you’re willing to take the plunge, in relation to the normal functioning of a Torah family, you actually will have to allow your family a level of ‘dysfunction’ in order to save your child. It will most likely mean having someone in your house who isn’t dressed like the others and who isn’t keeping Shabbos.”
Liz Crokin, a former journalist and celebrity gossip writer now associated with far-right conspiracy theories, spoke at a fundraiser intended to combat child trafficking, according to posts on her Telegram account.
At the event, Crokin said she discussed Pizzagate, a debunked conspiracy theory suggesting Hillary and Bill Clinton and other political elites run a child sex trafficking ring at a pizza shop in Washington.
https://factcheck.afp.com/doc.afp.com.32WY6M8
Health authorities around the world say the benefits of the Covid-19 vaccines far outweigh the known risks, but a pathologist from the US state of Idaho claims in a series of interviews shared on social media that the shots are linked to an uptick in cancer. This is false, according to medical experts and a leading cancer treatment hospital.
https://www.politico.com/news/2022/12/07/supreme-court-independent-state-legislature-theory-00072713
A robust adoption of the independent state legislature theory by the court could grant state legislatures significantly more power in setting the rules of the road for elections. A maximalist version of the theory would prevent state courts from weighing in on disputes over everything from voter ID to last-minute polling place adjustments, and could even imperil voter-passed referendums creating independent redistricting commissions that take over traditional legislative powers. Some would even go so far as to use the federal Constitution to deny state governors their usual role. Getting the Supreme Court to sideline governors would require overruling the 90-year-old high court precedent Roberts cited, which may be why Thompson stopped short on Wednesday of advocating for such an outcome.
On Wednesday, the U.S. Supreme Court heard oral arguments in the Moore v. Harper case involving the North Carolina Supreme Court and its state legislature. "North Carolina's legislative leaders are appealing a ruling from the North Carolina Supreme Court striking down the state's congressional map as an extreme partisan gerrymander," the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) said.
According to the Brennan Center for Justice, North Carolina legislatures have argued that the state Supreme Court did not have the authority to block a "gerrymandered congressional map."
"The legislators have argued that a debunked interpretation of the U.S. Constitution—known as the "independent state legislature theory"—renders the state courts and state constitution powerless in matters relating to federal elections," the Brennan Center said.
https://edition.cnn.com/2022/12/07/politics/takeaways-moore-harper-supreme-court/index.html
Arguments in the Supreme Court’s blockbuster election rules case played out for more than three hours on Wednesday as the justices examined claims from the North Carolina GOP legislature, which argues that state constitutions and state courts have little or no authority to impose limits on how state legislatures craft their rules for federal elections.
The controversial “independent state legislature” theory is being used by Republican lawmakers to argue that state courts could not redraw the congressional map the legislature sought to enact in 2021.
A version of theory was promoted by allies of former President Donald Trump during their attempts to overturn the 2020 presidential election.
https://www.politico.com/news/2022/12/07/arizona-legislator-danger-to-democracy-00072580
https://thehill.com/homenews/senate/3764391-gop-smells-blood-with-wounded-trump/
Sen. Kevin Cramer (R-N.D.), who was a reliable Trump ally while he was president, said the comments about suspending the Constitution and Trump’s meeting with Fuentes are potentially “fatal” to his political aspirations.
“I do think this recent behavior … these are foibles that are approaching fatality among the group that loves Donald Trump,” he said. “That’s the head-scratcher.
With prime minister-designate Benjamin Netanyahu’s deadline to form a coalition fast approaching, his Likud party signed an interim coalition deal with United Torah Judaism on Tuesday night.
According to UTJ, the party signed a document stating that it had agreed to the allocation of roles in the next government, “since an extension needs to be requested from the president.”
The ultra-Orthodox party said that it will hold another meeting on Wednesday to hammer out “fundamental issues” before signing a final coalition agreement.
Guess who’s coming to dinner? A mentally ill rapper, a neo-Nazi and a born-again apologist for pederasty. If it sounds like a set-up for a bad joke or a Mel Brooks skit, that’s because it is. It is what Donald Trump always was: a deliberate failure of taste. No one is laughing now.
Trump’s private parties are of public interest. He is still the nominal leader of the Republican Party. He is running for the Republicans’ presidential nomination in 2024. But he is already yesterday’s man.
https://www.jpost.com/israel-news/politics-and-diplomacy/article-724246
The Likud and United Torah Judaism (UTJ) announced late Tuesday night that they had reached an agreement over the jobs that UTJ will receive in the upcoming government and coalition.
The jobs include two ministers, three deputy ministers and four Knesset committee chairpersons.
The ministries are the Construction and Housing Ministry, including the Israel Land Authority, and the "Jerusalem and Tradition" Ministry, an expansion of the Jerusalem Affairs Ministry.
