Wednesday, March 15, 2023

'Preposterous': Chris Hayes rips GOP for blaming SVB collapse on 'wokeness'

"Like negotiating with terrorists”: Ex-Fox producer worried accurate reporting may “insult” audience

 https://www.salon.com/2023/03/13/like-negotiating-with-terrorists-ex-fox-producer-worried-accurate-reporting-may-insult-audience/

"It is so insane but our viewers believe it so addressing again how her stupid Venezuela affidavit isn't proof might insult them," Pfeiffer replied. 

Shah suggested that Carlson describe the affidavit as "not new info, not proof" but then quickly "pivot to being deferential."

Pfeiffer, who has since left the network, responded by trashing Fox viewers.

"Like negotiating with terrorists," Pfeiffer wrote. "But especially dumb ones. 

Former Fox producer for Tucker Carlson feared truth telling would insult 'dumb' audience

 https://edition.cnn.com/videos/media/2023/03/14/fox-news-text-messages-2020-election-lies-dominion-lawsuit-darcy-sot-ebof-vpx.cnn

In the course of the $1.6 billion defamation lawsuit filed by Dominion Voting Systems against Fox News, legal documents reveal new text messages between a Fox executive and Tucker Carlson's former producer have come to light, revealing how they corresponded about Donald Trump's election lies.

Netanyahu to ministers: No meetings with US officials until PM is invited to White House

 https://www.israelnationalnews.com/news/368721

Three months have passed since the current government was established, and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has yet to receive an invitation to the White House to meet with U.S. President Joe Biden.

On Tuesday, after receiving the requests of several government ministers to travel to the United States, Netanyahu allegedly issued a response clarifying that they were not to make the trip until he himself has received an official invitation.

Israeli leaders must step up to the plate to stop the madness

 https://www.israelhayom.com/2023/03/15/israeli-leaders-must-step-up-to-the-plate-to-stop-the-madness/

The silent, moderate, and mature majority knows that we have reached a point we are talking past each other. Leaders of the protests are angling for either anarchy or elections. Thus, it would be wise to deny them this pleasure by pre-empting things.

Israelis Are Now Openly Talking About the ‘Total Destruction’ of the Jewish State

 https://www.rollingstone.com/politics/political-commentary/israel-palestine-netanyahu-democracy-autocracy-1234696058/

For most Israelis, there are no words to describe the consuming fear that, as former Mossad director Tamir Pardo puts it, the country is “on the verge of collapse.” He says his fellow citizens stand at the very precipice of “the total destruction of the state of Israel.” 

He is not alone. Former PM Ehud Barak calls Netanyahu’s project “the assassination of the Declaration of Independence, which will turn Israel into a dictatorship.” If a government uses the tools of democratic rule to “destroy it from within,” Barak says, Israelis must prepare to resist. “It is not just the right of citizens; it is, in my judgment, the obligation of citizens to turn unfortunately toward civil disobedience.”

Tuesday, March 14, 2023

Tradition meets technology with UK app for halachic questions

 https://www.timesofisrael.com/tradition-meets-technology-with-uk-app-for-halachic-questions/

There is now a team of nine rabbis on payroll working full-time fielding questions, which can number as many as 250 a day before major holidays and between 40 and 60 on any given day, via a back-end app – a necessary addition, as the office employee was quickly overwhelmed by the volume of questions.

Override Clause approved in first reading in Knesset

 https://www.israelnationalnews.com/news/368679

Proposal approved by a majority of 61 to 52. The bill stipulates that laws struck down by the Supreme Court can be re-enacted by the Knesset with a majority of 61 MKs.

A Group of Scientists Suggest that Plants Feel Pain

 https://www.sciencetimes.com/articles/24473/20191218/a-group-of-scientists-suggest-that-plants-feel-pain.htm

For years, scientists are baffled by the question of whether plants can feel pain or not. A team of scientists from Tel Aviv University may have the answer to that question, as they discovered that some plants can emit a high-frequency distress sound when in environmental stress. 

EXPERTS WORRIED RITUAL ROBOTS MAY WORSHIP GODS BETTER THAN HUMANS

 https://futurism.com/the-byte/ritual-robots-hinduism-religion

"There are concerns that the proliferation of robots might lead to greater numbers of people leaving religious practice as temples begin to rely more on automation than on practitioners to care for their deities," Waters writes, citing research that has found that younger people are, indeed, going to church less.

Judaism and Vegetarianism

 https://www.chabad.org/library/article_cdo/aid/858870/jewish/Judaism-and-Vegetarianism

The sages declared that an empty-minded person has no right to eat meat.9 They also taught never to eat meat out of hunger; first satisfy your hunger with bread.10 (On an empty stomach, it is very difficult to keep focus on anything other than stuffing your face.) Only when “eating mindfully,” focusing on our divine mission, are we doing more for the animal than the animal is doing for us.

According to this approach, it may be cruel to not eat meat, because doing so robs the animal of its chance to serve a higher purpose.

Don’t be scared off. Get your act together and focus; the completion of G‑d’s universal plan is at “steak.”

Monday, March 13, 2023

West Bank teacher arrested for sexually assaulting students

 https://www.jpost.com/breaking-news/article-734211

According to the survey, the rate of victims in the welfare services following sexual abuse is higher among the students of the religious public school stream, who mainly represent people who identify themselves as religious-Zionist. For every 1,000 students in the stream, there are 2.39 students who were treated in welfare services as a result of sexual abuse, higher than in ultra-Orthodox education (1.98), and more than double the amount in the secular public school stream (1.04).

Human-dinosaur coexistence

 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Human-dinosaur_coexistence

The notion that non-avian dinosaurs and humans actually coexisted at some time in the past or still coexist in the present is a pseudoscientific and pseudohistorical belief common among Young Earth creationists, cryptozoologists, and some other groups. This belief often contradicts the scientific understanding of the fossil record and known geological events. Supposed evidence presented for the idea that non-avian dinosaurs persisted to modern times has often been determined to have been hoaxed.[2] Some proponents have tried to identify depictions of dinosaurs among ancient artwork or descriptions of cryptids, though such identifications are often based on outdated or incorrect ideas about dinosaur biology and life appearance[3][4] and often ignores the cultural/artistic context.[2]

Israel Needs Judicial Reform—but How?

 https://www.wsj.com/articles/israel-judicial-reform-supreme-court-knesset-benjamin-netanyahu-490e5712

Shrewd thinkers on Israel’s right understand that compromise is needed to lower the stakes, regain the public’s confidence and pass something durable. The opposition, however, sees Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu standing on a ledge and has no desire to let him off lightly. The coalition will have to moderate its own proposal and settle for partial victory, even though the true believers won’t like it.