Agencies parse through two-page order—down to the footnotes—to try to understand which programs would be halted
Federal, state and local government officials scrambled Tuesday to assess the impact of a broad and far-reaching order by the White House to pause hundreds of billions in federal grants, loans and other financial assistance-programs pending a review by the Trump administration.
Hours after the Trump administration announced a sweeping freeze on federal spending, the U.S. government fell into chaos Tuesday, as officials braced for potential interruptions to programs that promote food safety, combat crime, provide college aid, produce medical research and respond to natural disasters.
Few in Washington appeared to understand the scope and intention of a White House memo that had directed them to “temporarily pause” the disbursement of key funds, leaving thousands of government services — totaling billions of dollars and dedicated primarily to Americans’ health, safety and well-being — at risk of shutting down, at least temporarily.
Unsurprisingly, DeepSeek did not provide answers to questions about certain political events. When asked the following questions, the AI assistant responded: “Sorry, that’s beyond my current scope. Let’s talk about something else.”
https://edition.cnn.com/2025/01/27/tech/deepseek-stocks-ai-china/index.html
US stocks dropped sharply Monday — and chipmaker Nvidia lost nearly $600 billion in market value — after a surprise advancement from a Chinese artificial intelligence company, DeepSeek, threatened the aura of invincibility surrounding America’s technology industry.
DeepSeek, a one-year-old startup, revealed a stunning capability last week: It presented a ChatGPT-like AI model called R1, which has all the familiar abilities, operating at a fraction of the cost of OpenAI’s, Google’s or Meta’s popular AI models. The company said it had spent just $5.6 million on computing power for its base model, compared with the hundreds of millions or billions of dollars US companies spend on their AI technologies.
That sent shockwaves through markets, in particular the tech sector, on Monday.
Igros Moshe (YD I #47) Commercial milk in America In general milk needs to be supervised by Jews to be regarded as fully kosher. So regarding the kashrus of commercial milk in America which while not being supervised by Jews nonetheless has a government inspector and anyone who adds the milk of an unclean animal will be punished and will also their business will be closed. Consequently the companies are definitely afraid to mix unkosher milk in the kosher milk and that is a major reason to permit as kosher their milk even according to the view of the Pri Chodesh even though there is no actual Jewish supervision. Since a clear awareness of the consequences is the same as being watched as is stated in the gemora Shavuos regarding monetary issues. An additional proof can be found in Tosfos (Yevamos) concerning the requirement that conversion requires the direct watching by beis din of the immersion of the ger in a mikveh and it says that common knowledge is considered actually observing. This is the well known concept known as Anon Sahadi. Even in the case of witnesses for a marriage, even if they didn’t actually witness the event but only that the couple were secluded together, it is considered as if they actually witnessed the intercourse and the couple is halachacly married. And they would even get the death penalty if they are involved in an adulterous relationship afterwards and they are not allowed to marry someone else. Another case is the principle that a person is assumed not to be involved in fornication and this is treated as actually witnessing in order to validate a marriage even for a liency of not requiring a Get in the case of a child without miyun who is now an adult and she married another person. There is also the case of adultery in which the witnesses do not have to see the actual intercourse but we rely on circumstantial evidence. This is also the case for the crime of murder and other capital crimes that we rely on circumstantial evidence. From all these cases we can conclude that knowledge is considered seeing even for the death penalty except where there is a derasha which requires actually witnessing an event. Consequently in the case of milk which is prohibited if a Jew has not watched it, it should be considered kosher simply by the clear awareness that a Jew has that is considered as witnessing The awareness that if the milk is mixed with unkosher milk the company will be punished and the business will be closed and they will endup losing a lot of money and that the government is supervising them, this is clearly awareness and is considered as actually witnessing and there is no prohibition according to everyone. .Therefore, there is a major justification for someone to rely on this leniency and it is fitting as in fact the majority of religious Jews and also many rabbis in fact do. G-d forbid to claim that this is against the halacha!. Nevertheless a baal nefesh should be strict and not rely on this leniency and ir is nor viewed as sinful pride. I myself am strict not to rely on it. However all those not restrained by a neder derived from custom if they wish to utilize this leniency is not considered ridiculing prohibitions. .A person who was strict 3 times it constitutes a neder unless he was strict only because he thought he was required to by halacha. He does not have to annul the mistaken neder
On Thursday, Senate hearings begin on RFK Jr.’s nomination as secretary for Health and Human Services.
But nothing has changed about Kennedy from last spring. He’s still a radical left lunatic who is anti-energy, a “big time” taxer and completely incoherent about our nation’s health.
No Republican can vote for this guy. No senator should.
https://thehill.com/homenews/media/5108598-wall-street-journal-rfk-jr-hhs-trump-anti-vax/?tbref=hp
The editorial board of The Wall Street Journal is coming out in opposition to Robert F. Kennedy Jr., President Trump’s pick to lead the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS).
“Senate Republicans have an obligation to scrutinize his giant closet of business conflicts and dubious ideas,” the Journal wrote in an editorial published Sunday ahead of Kennedy’s hearings with the Senate Finance Committee on Wednesday and the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions on Thursday.
The newspaper’s op-ed board said it expects Kennedy to “obfuscate about his ties to trial lawyers, anti-vaccine views, and support for sundry progressive causes,” while also “presenting himself as a truth-teller and slayer of government corruption, [even though] he’s as slippery as Anthony Fauci.”
“Most troubling is his long record of anti-vaccine advocacy,” the Journal wrote, noting the former presidential candidate has “tried to soften his vaccine skepticism since being nominated, and he now says he won’t take away anyone’s vaccines.”
1) The Midrash (Yalkut Shimoni 944) records an episode that occurred immediately following the brutal murder of Rav Akiva. Eliyahu Hanavi came to bury Rav Akiva. As Eliyahu carried Rav Akiva’s body on his shoulders, Rav Yehoshua, one of Rav Akiva’s main disciples, wondered how this is permitted if in fact Eliyahu was a kohen (as was indicated previously in the Midrash). Eliyahu responded: “Rav Yehoshua, my son, heaven forbid for tumah does not exist when it comes to talmidei chachamim or their students.” Some poskim feel that the statement of Eliyahu can serve as a source to allow kohanim to visit the graves of tzadikim.
Igros Moshe (OH II:113) The question was raised why the Tur and the Shulchan Aruch do not mention that it is prohibited to spit today on the Temple mount? The answer given that it is irrelevant since it is prohibited for those who are impure from the dead (as everyone today has that status) to go there. In fact, however, there are places on the Temple mount that it is permitted for those impure from the dead to enter even according to Rabbinic prohibition. That is until the Chayel which is before the Soreg. The Rambam writes that the Soreg encloses and possibly the Chayel encloses as is explained by Tosfos Yom Tov. That would mean it would be permitted from all sides even on the west, for those who are spiritually impure to enter up to the Soreg which is a number of amos wide. I couldn’t find the exact measure. However according to the Rosh the Soreg is only on the east from north to south it is possible that the Chayel is only there, if so then on the other sides after 10 amos of the Chayel behind the Ezras Nashim it would be permitted. Also on the western side it would be permitted for the impure from the dead as well as other impurities since they can go to mikveh. If you are concerned for zivah they can count seven clean days and then tovel in a mikveh and after the sun sets they would be spiritually pure. Even if they didn’t bring a korban, they are allowed in the Ezras Nashim and surely on the rest of the Temple Mount as stated by the Rambam. .In conclusion we find that regarding the prohibition of spitting on the Temple Mount, those places where it is prohibited to spit it is also prohibited for the impure from the dead to enter Perhaps the problem is that it is not so clear which wall. If there is a clear tradition that it is the Western Wall of the Temple Mount or the Wall of the Ezara behind the Kapores then it would definitely be prohibited for the impure from the dead. It is also possible that it is the lower wall which is prohibited even according to the Rosh. I seem to recall that Rav Dovid Karliner was uncertain which wall. Perhaps this is the reason that they say about the Brisker Rav that he did not go to the Western Wall because of concerns for spiritual impurity. But I find that astounding! The place that Jews have prayed for many generations, obviously has a tradition from the ancient rabbis that it is permitted top go there – so how can anyone disagree with them?
Igros Moshe (OH II #113) ומה שתירצת מה שהקשה בספר אומר השכחה מה שבטור וש"ע לא הוזכר הדין דאסור לרקוק בזה"ז בהר הבית, משום שלא יצוייר למעשה דאסור ליכנס טמאי מתים לשם וכולנו טמאי מתים, הנה הא יש מקום בהר הבית שמותרין טמאי מתים ליכנס לשם אף מדרבנן שהוא עד החיל שהיה לפנים מהסורג. ולמה דאיתא ברמב"ם פ"ה מביה"ב ה"ג שהסורג היה מקיף סביב אפשר גם החיל היה סביב ובתי"ט מדות פ"ב מ"ג מפורש כן בשם הראבי"ה, הרי מותר מכל צד אף במערבי ליכנס טמאי מתים עד הסורג שהיה רוחב איזה אמות, ולא מצאתי השיעור, ולפי' הרא"ש במדות שם שהסורג היה רק לצד המזרח מצפון לדרום אפשר גם החיל היה רק שם, וא"כ אפשר שבצדדים האחרים אחר העשר אמות של החיל אחורי העזרת נשים וכן מצד מערב היה מותר לטמאי מתים. ומשאר טומאות הא אפשר לטבול, ואם יחוש לזיבה יספור שבעה נקיים ויטבול במים חיים ויעריב שמשו, ואף שהוא מחו"כ =מחוסר כפרה= הא מותר מחו"כ אף בעזרת נשים וכ"ש בשאר הר הבית כדאיתא ברמב"ם פ"ג מביה"מ ה"ה. ונמצא שנוגע הדין שאסור לרקוק באותו המקום מהר הבית שמותרין טמאי מתים ליכנס ומקשה שפיר. ואולי אינו ברור כ"כ איזה כותל היא אם היה קבלה ברורה שהוא כותל מערבי של הר הבית או כותל העזרה שאחורי בית הכפורת שלכן אסור לשם טמאי מתים כתירוצך וגם אפשר שהוא כותל התא שאף להרא"ש אסור. וכמדומני שבס' שאילת דוד להגאון ר"ד מקרלין מסתפק בהכותל איזה הוא. ואולי זהו טעם הגאון רי"ז מבריסק זצ"ל שאמרו עליו שלא הלך אל כותל המערבי מחשש טומאה. אבל אני תמה כי מקום שמתפללין שם הוא ודאי קבלה מדורות רבותינו הראשונים שמותר לילך לשם ואיך שייך לחלוק עליהם.
Much has been made of the news that Reform has overtaken Labour in voting intentions in a recent poll. The poll, produced by market research agency Find Out Now, put the Conservatives on 26%, Reform on 24% and Labour on 23%.
Most recent polls show that Labour is still ahead of Reform, but only by a small margin. So while it is too early to say that Reform is beating Labour, it is nonetheless snapping at the heels of both Labour and the Conservatives. If this pattern of support continues up to the local elections in May next year, Reform is very likely to win a lot more councillors.
President Donald Trump stepped back into the presidency this week moving quickly to set a new agenda, but from his inaugural address continuing through a flurry of executive actions, press conferences and interviews Trump relied on an array of false and misleading information to support his case.
Jan. 6 attacks on police downplayed
CLAIM: Asked by Hannity why he pardoned Jan. 6 rioters who attacked police at the Capitol, Trump said, “They were treated like the worst criminals in history. And you know what they were there for? They were protesting the vote because they knew the election was rigged and they were protesting the vote.” He noted that some of the rioters engaged with police, “but they were very minor incidents.”
THE FACTS: Rioters at the Capitol engaged in hand-to-hand combat with police and many of the rioters were carrying weapons, including firearms, knives, brass knuckle gloves, a pitchfork, a hatchet, a sledgehammer and a bow. They also used makeshift weapons, such as flagpoles, a table leg, a hockey stick and a crutch, to attack officers. One officer was crushed in a doorframe and another suffered a heart attack after a rioter pressed a stun gun against his neck and repeatedly shocked him. One rioter was charged with climbing scaffolding and firing a gun in the air during the melee.
