Sunday, May 21, 2023

GOP senators unsettled by DeSantis’s escalating fight with Disney

 https://thehill.com/homenews/senate/4012889-gop-senators-unsettled-by-desantiss-escalating-fight-with-disney/

“DeSanctus is being absolutely destroyed by Disney,” Trump posted on his Truth Social platform, using a derisive nickname for the Florida governor.

“His original P.R. plan fizzled, so now he’s going back with a new one in order to save face. Disney’s next move will be the announcement that no more money will be invested in Florida because of the Governor,” Trump wrote.

Saturday, May 20, 2023

'The Origins of Judaism': Finding how far back rabbinic tradition goes - review

 https://www.jpost.com/judaism/article-743505

This extensively researched, clearly written book is thus an interesting read, but one needs to be able to think for themselves and enjoy the information while being healthily skeptical about the author’s conclusions. 

Friday, May 19, 2023

How to be a man? Josh Hawley has the (incoherent) answers.

 https://www.washingtonpost.com/books/2023/05/18/manhood-josh-hawley-review/

What is a man, anyway? Hawley’s various answers are not very illuminating. Men are dependent (“a man cannot be who he is meant to be on his own”) but also independent (“dependence is in fact a temptation to every man, in every age. It is the temptation to let someone else do it for you”). Men do not “blame someone or something else,” such as “society,” or “the system,” but men do, apparently, blame “Epicurean liberalism” for almost everything that ails them. “Manhood is real and biological,” but some of the central masculine virtues “can be learned,” and the venerable Greeks and Romans “held that manhood was a vocation that each man must struggle to assume. … Boys were born as males, but not yet as men. One became a man only by acquiring certain character traits.” A man is a rugged individualist who figures things out for himself, but he also relies on how-to guides to teach him how to exist.

Workplace AI: How artificial intelligence will transform the workday

 https://www.bbc.com/worklife/article/20230515-workplace-ai-how-artificial-intelligence-will-transform-the-workday

The technology is far from perfect, but can currently lay the foundation for workers to see outcomes and solutions outside their personal experiences, opening up opportunities for impartiality and inclusion across myriad fields and sectors. And experts say the AI will only get better at this. 

Whistleblower Rights and Protections

 https://oig.justice.gov/hotline/whistleblower-protection

Wrongdoing Defined

Violation of any law, rule or regulation;

Gross mismanagement;

Gross waste of funds;

Abuse of authority; and

Substantial and specific danger to public health or safety

Authorized Audiences

For all disclosures, classified or unclassified, an FBI employee is only protected if the disclosure is made to:


(A) A supervisor in the direct chain of command of the employee, up to and including the head of the employing agency;


(B) to the Inspector General;


(C) to the Office of Professional Responsibility of the Department of Justice;


(D) to the Office of Professional Responsibility of the Federal Bureau of Investigation;


(E) to the Inspection Division of the Federal Bureau of Investigation;


(F) as described in section 7211;


(G) to the Office of Special Counsel; or


(H) to an employee designated by any officer, employee, office, or division described in subparagraphs (A) through (G) for the purpose of receiving such disclosures


Texas professor flunked whole class after ChatGPT wrongly claimed it wrote their papers

 https://nypost.com/2023/05/18/texas-professor-flunked-whole-class-after-chatgpt-wrongly-claimed-it-wrote-their-papers/

Agriculture professor Jared Mumm sent students an email Monday informing them that he’d put their homework through the application and the AI chatbot incorrectly determined they’d all used it to write the assignment, according to Rolling Stone.

Thursday, May 18, 2023

Who Are the Three FBI Agents Having Security Clearance Revoked Over Jan 6?

 https://www.newsweek.com/three-fbi-agents-security-clearance-revoked-january-6-1801160

Three FBI agents have had their security clearances revoked over their positions on the January 6, 2021, riot at the U.S. Capitol, according to a letter to House Judiciary Committee chair Jim Jordan.

Jim Jordan's FBI Whistleblower Hearing Descends Into Chaos

 https://www.newsweek.com/fbi-whistleblower-hearing-chaos-jim-jordan-1801284

"Each committee shall keep a complete record of all committee actions, which shall include, in the case of a meeting or hearing transcript, a substantially verbatim account of the remarks actually made during the proceedings subject only to some technical things," Democratic Representative Dan Goldman read out loud. "Such records should be the property of the House and each member delegate and the resident commissioner shall have access thereto."

Democrats had already cast doubt over the legitimacy of the witnesses before the hearing. In a March report, House Democrats said that two of the three witnesses had previously been paid by Trump adviser Kash Patel and "put forward a wide range of conspiracy theories" in the past.

הפוסק על החולדות בבני ברק: "חילול השם שכך נראים הרחובות"

 https://www.kikar.co.il/haredim-news/ruu7lx

עמוד ההוראה הגאון רבי יצחק זילברשטיין התייחס למגפת החולדות והעכברים בבני ברק, ותולה את הדבר בלכלוך וההזנחה בחצרות הבניינים | הרב מזהיר כי זה "חילול השם שכך נראים הרחובות" | ומה הפתרון שהרב מציע?

Rabbi Yitzhak Zilberstein referred to the plague of rats and mice in Bnei Brak, and blames it on the dirt and neglect in the courtyards of the buildings | The rabbi warns that it is "blasphemy that the streets look like this". And what is the solution that the rabbi offers?

Thousands march through Bnei Brak against Haredi ‘pillaging of the public coffers’

 Thousands march through Bnei Brak against Haredi ‘pillaging of the public coffers’

Thousands of anti-government demonstrators marched through the ultra-Orthodox city of Bnei Brak on Wednesday night to protest against the government’s plans to allocate large sums of money to the ultra-Orthodox community — a move that has drawn criticism from within the Finance Ministry for being unsustainable in the long term.

When older parents resist help or advice, use these tips to cope

 https://edition.cnn.com/2023/05/17/health/aging-parents-resisting-help-kff-partner-wellness/index.html

“It’s hard when you see an older person making poor choices and decisions. But if that person is cognitively intact, you can’t force them to do what you think they should do,” said Anne Sansevero, president of the board of directors of the Aging Life Care Association, a national organization of care managers who work with older adults and their families. “They have a right to make choices for themselves.”

Republicans Pull Off Face-Saving Gambit to Keep George Santos in Congress

 https://www.thedailybeast.com/republicans-pull-off-face-saving-gambit-to-keep-george-santos-in-congress?ref=home?ref=home

Republicans say they’re simply following “due process.” Democrats say they’re trying to do right by voters and Congress. And all the while, as the two sides bicker, indicted Rep. George Santos (R-NY) will remain in Congress.

After Republicans turned a long-shot motion to kick Santos out of Congress into a vote to refer the matter to the Ethics Committee, Democrats were quick to cry foul, complaining that Republicans were just using “due process” as an excuse to keep Santos in Congress indefinitely.

Wednesday, May 17, 2023

Health through Torah

 Rambam (Avoda Zara  11:12) A person who whispers an incantation over a wound and then recites a verse from the Torah, who recites a verse over a child so that he will not become scared, or who places a Torah scroll or tefillin over a baby so that it will sleep, is considered to be a soothsayer or one who cast spells. Furthermore, such people are included among those who deny the Torah, because they relate to the words of Torah as if they are cures for the body, when, in fact, they are cures for the soul, "It is, however, permitted for a healthy person to read verses from the Bible or chapters from Psalms so that the merit of reading them will protect him and save him from difficulties and injury.

Healing and faith in G-d

 Chovas HaLevavos (04:04) Regarding health and sickness. A man is placed under a duty to trust in the Creator in this, while working on maintaining his health according to the means whose nature promotes this, and to fight sickness according to the customary ways, as the Creator commanded "and he shall surely heal him". All of this, without trusting in the means of health or illness that they could help or hurt without the permission of the Creator. And when one puts his trust in the Creator, He will heal him with or without a means, as written "He sends His word and heals them It is even possible that He will heal him through something that is normally very harmful, as you know from the story of Elisha and the bad water, that he healed their damaging properties with salt