Russians See Republicans as 'Tools,' Former CIA Director Warns

 https://www.newsweek.com/russians-see-republicans-tools-former-cia-director-warns-1873162

Brennan added that Russian officials view GOP Congress members as "tools" in their information operations.

"I think that my colleagues are concerned that the Russians see the Republican lawmakers as tools. They are so willing to accept anything, and Russians use information operations very effectively. And I have no doubt at all that they are going to continue to use it in this presidential election.

"And the fact that Comer and Jordan and others willingly accept these things, and they don't care whether it's true or not as long as it's salacious, as long as it's something they can use. This is something that the Russian's recognize is ready for their exploitation," he said.

How to ensure a perfect psak~

 Some people think halacha is determined by applying the Torah to facts. The problem is the results sometimes go against what you want 

Others always get the results they want by simply making up facts - in other words they provide false information

This reflects a fundamental question - Is halacha determined by what a posek says or what the Torah says?

Actually this post was about people who lie to poskim in order to get the answer they want claiming that once they get a psak that determines the truth.

Is Shoplifting Really Surging?

 https://www.nytimes.com/2023/11/29/briefing/shoplifting-data.html

Videos of extreme but rare crimes can go viral today. On social media, people post videos of looting flash mobs or thieves ramming cars into stores. “There are millions of property crimes a year,” said Jeff Asher of the research firm AH Datalytics. As a result, people can always find outlandish anecdotes, even if crime is down.

Conservative media has promoted these videos as evidence of disorder in liberal cities and under President Biden.

2024 Contest

I guess I am just getting tired of hearing the same nonsense. 

Biden is senile but he is the evil puppet master behind Trump indictments

America was a better place to live when Trump was president

Cities are being destroyed by a crime wave caused by Biden's open border principles

Black protesters are burning down a vast number of white businesses. 

Progressive district attorneys elected by the evil Nazi Soros are freeing murderers and that is why the streets are not safe!

Their leniency with criminals is why hundreds of business have been forced to close as the result of unchecked shoplifting

The Republicans are the only competent politicians and Russia and Hamas would have not attacked if Trump were president

Finally Biden's incompetence is why America is going through a recession. 

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The only problem with these Republican taking points that are mindlessly repeated by frum Jews is that there is actually no evidence they are true 

They are typically defended with the comment that everybody knows these things to be self evidently true or my son or cousin living in the US said they are true and that is why everybody is leaving New York for Lakewood or Florida,.

I would like to throw out a public challenge - for someone to actually to present convincing supportive data for these claims. If they can provide convincing data I am willing to vote Republican in November

Trump: ‘Black People Like Me’ Because I ‘Got Indicted’

 https://www.thedailybeast.com/trump-black-people-like-me-because-i-got-indicted?ref=home

Just a few days after comparing himself to a Russian dissident who was poisoned, jailed, and likely killed by the Kremlin, Donald Trump took his delusions of grandeur to a new level on Friday night by suggesting he has special insight into the lives of Black Americans because he, too, has “been discriminated against.”

He went on to claim that “a lot of people” told him “that’s why the Black people like me, ’cause they have been hurt so badly and discriminated against. And they actually viewed me as, I’m being discriminated against, it’s been pretty amazing. But possibly, I don’t know, maybe there’s something there.”

Biden impeachment effort on the brink of collapse

 https://www.politico.com/news/2024/02/23/biden-impeachment-collapse-00142689

“I happen to know there are like 20 Republicans who are not in favor of a Biden impeachment. Mainly because it smells bad what he did, it looks bad, but when you ask them what crime is committed — they can’t tell you,” said Rep. Don Bacon (R-Neb.), a vulnerable purple-district incumbent who’d raised doubts about impeaching Mayorkas but eventually backed that effort.

Torah saves

 Avos (03:05) WHOEVER TAKES UPON HIMSELF THE YOKE OF THE TORAH, THEY REMOVE FROM HIM THE YOKE OF GOVERNMENT AND THE YOKE OF WORLDLY CONCERNS, AND WHOEVER BREAKS OFF FROM HIMSELF THE YOKE OF THE TORAH, THEY PLACE UPON HIM THE YOKE OF GOVERNMENT AND THE YOKE OF WORLDLY CONCERNS.

Missionary Alert!

 

Survivors, families of those killed at Nova festival on Oct.7 file suit against AP

 https://www.timesofisrael.com/survivors-families-of-those-killed-at-nova-festival-on-oct-7-file-suit-against-ap/

A number of survivors of the Hamas October 7 attack on Israel and families of victims of the unprecedented terror assault have filed a lawsuit against the Associated Press, accusing the news agency of being complicit in the Palestinian terror group’s killing spree over four months ago by working with freelance photojournalists they believe were embedded with the thousands of terrorists who overran southern communities.

The seedy underbelly of the life coaching industry

 https://www.bbc.com/worklife/article/20240206-life-coaching-industry-scams

Angela Lauria, 50, discovered life coaching when she was struggling with postnatal depression and had been recently fired from her job. Initially interested in a coaching programme focusing primarily on weight loss, Lauria signed up for a $2,000 (£1,595) retreat. "In the first year alone, I spent $14,000 working with my life coach, and in the years that followed I probably spent $100,000," she says. She also spent thousands of dollars on additional courses and mentorships with other life coaches that her primary coach recommended. "I got sucked into it."

Studying Torah while working

 Tanna Devei Eliyahu Zuta (2) Even though the entire world belongs to G-d, He only took from it the Jews. This is to make known that all those who are involved in studying Torah despite suffering and especially those who study despite having a job, will receive benefits in This World while the main reward is reserved for the Next World

Torah and Astrology

 Devarim Rabbah (08:06) What is the meaning of, IT IS NOT IN HEAVEN? Samuel said: The Torah is not to be found amongst astrologers whose work is to gaze at the heavens. People said to Samuel: ' Lo, you are an astrologer, and yet you are also great in the Torah.’ Whereupon he replied: ' I only engage in astrology when I am free-from studying the Torah. When is that? When I am in the bath.

Greek Wisdom - learning?

 Yerushalmi (Peah 01:01) They asked Rebbi Joshua: May a person teach Greek to his son? He said to them, he may teach him at an hour that is neither day nor night as it is written (Jos. 1:8): “You shall meditate about it day and night.” If it is so, a man would be forbidden to teach a profession to his son since it is written: “You shall meditate about it day and night.” But Rebbi Ismael stated (Deut. 30:19): “Choose life!” That refers to a profession. Rebbi Abba, son of Rebbi Ḥiyya bar Abba, Rebbi Ḥiyya in the name of Rebbi Joḥanan: Because of informants. Rebbi Abbahu in the name of Rebbi Joḥanan: A person may teach Greek to his daughter since it is an ornament for her. Simeon bar Abba heard that and said: Because he wants to teach his daughters, he attaches it to Rebbi Joḥanan. It should come over me if I ever heard it from Rebbi Joḥanan.

Former FBI Informant Accused of Lying About Bidens Claimed Russian Intelligence Contacts

 https://www.wsj.com/politics/national-security/former-fbi-informant-accused-of-lying-about-bidens-claimed-russian-intelligence-contacts-f74ac6c6?mod=hp_lead_pos5

Sen. Chuck Grassley (R., Iowa) publicly released a copy of the record and, without naming Smirnov, described the claims as “very significant allegations from a trusted F.B.I. informant implicating then-Vice President Biden in a criminal bribery scheme.” 

But, in the court filing Tuesday, prosecutors cast Smirnov as an incessant liar who couldn’t be trusted even to provide accurate information about his own finances while he faces criminal charges.