Top NIH Researcher Airs RFK Jr.’s Dirty Laundry on CNN

 https://www.thedailybeast.com/top-nih-researcher-retires-early-in-protest-of-rfk-jrs-censorship/

This marks the third high-profile departure from the Department of Health and Human Services since March, stemming from rifts with the Health Secretary.

A top nutrition researcher at the National Institutes of Health is “retiring” early after Robert F. Kennedy Jr. allegedly censored reporting of his research.

Dr. Kevin Hall, a senior investigator at the NIH who studies ultra-processed foods, announced in an X post that he took an early retirement offer after Kennedy’s Department of Health and Human Services denied an interview request about his study from The New York Times.

“I had hoped to expand our research program with ambitious plans to more rapidly and efficiently determine how our food is likely making Americans chronically sick,” he wrote. “Unfortunately, recent events have made me question whether NIH continues to be a place where I can freely conduct unbiased science.”

GOP Accused Democrats of Politicizing IRS. Now Trump Wants It to Punish Harvard

 https://www.wsj.com/politics/policy/gop-accused-democrats-of-politicizing-irs-now-trump-wants-it-to-punish-harvard-8ed9d247?mod=lead_feature_below_a_pos1

Republicans have contended for years that the Internal Revenue Service has been weaponized against conservatives. This week, it was President Trump who publicly raised the prospect of the agency removing a valuable tax benefit from a perceived opponent. 

Trump’s claims about Abrego Garcia’s gang ties largely rely on 1 confidential tip

 https://thehill.com/homenews/administration/5254608-trump-administration-ms-13-claims/

The Trump administration has said that two judges have found Abrego Garcia was a “verified” gang member — a reference to Kessler’s decision, which was upheld on appeal by another judge.

But Kessler only said the informant had identified Abrego Garcia as a gang member, and her decision was limited to the question of whether to release him from custody.

Trump’s Bitter Personal Feud With Rival Billionaires Is Behind His Harvard Hate Campaign

 https://www.thedailybeast.com/trumps-bitter-personal-feud-with-pritzker-family-is-behind-his-harvard-hate-campaign/

“They attacked me when I was down,” Trump said. “Now I’m doing great again and it’s my turn. I always said, the first time I got back on my feet, the Pritzkers would be the first people I’d go after.”

Trump’s accountants had complied and by using further unorthodox procedures and came up with $667,155. Trump’s people howled when Burstein prepared to release the findings of her audit.

“‘His people called all the time saying, ‘This is Donald Trump. You can’t do this,’” Burstein remembered. “And I said, ‘He’s exactly like any lessee of the city… Of course I can publish it.”

Burstein went ahead and released the results. Trump responded like a married guy who has been caught cheating.

The Lesson of Trump vs. Powell

 https://www.wsj.com/opinion/donald-trump-jerome-powell-federal-reserve-interest-rates-tariffs-8ef4a95e?mod=hp_opin_pos_1

Their dispute is a reminder that monetary policy can’t make up for economic policy errors like tariffs.

President Trump’s tariff war isn’t going well, with market ructions and evidence of a slowing economy. So it was probably inevitable that Mr. Trump would demand that the Federal Reserve ride to his rescue by cutting interest rates. The President took to social media Thursday morning to blast Fed Chairman Jerome Powell with his familiar nuance.

Mr. Trump was reacting to Mr. Powell’s remarks Wednesday that the President’s tariffs complicate the Fed’s job of maintaining stable prices with low unemployment. “The level of the tariff increases announced so far is significantly larger than anticipated. The same is likely to be true of the economic effects, which will include higher inflation and slower growth,” Mr. Powell told the Economic Club of Chicago.

RFK Jr.'s Child Autism Comments Spark Backlash: 'Flat Out Lie'

 https://www.newsweek.com/robert-f-kennedy-jr-children-autism-comments-spark-online-backlash-2060850

RFK Jr. spoke to reporters on Wednesday after the release of a new survey from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's Autism and Developmental Disabilities Monitoring Network, which found that autism prevalence in the U.S. had increased from one in 36 children in 2020 to one in 31 today.

He called autism a "preventable disease," adding: "We know it's environmental exposure. It has to be. Genes do not cause epidemics. They can provide a vulnerability, but you need an environmental toxin."

Many medical experts and autism advocacy groups reject this idea and have suggested that greater awareness, in addition to increased testing and screening by health care professionals, has led to higher numbers.

'Criminal contempt' looms over Trump's showdown with courts over deportation fiat

A Passover Message to President Putin: Stop This Blood Libel by Rav Shalom C. Spira

       Shulchan Arukh Orach Chaim 472:11 declares that there is a mitzvah to prefer the use of red wine for the Seder.(*) However, Mishnah Berurah (§38) cautions that in a society afflicted with the canard of blood libels, white wine should be substituted.

      Unfortunately, it is Russian President Vladimir Putin who appears to be the exponent of a blood libel this Passover, continuing to attack Ukraine on the claim that he seeks to de-Nazify it. Alas, the actual Nazis are in the Hamas headquarters of Gaza [as explained at <https://daattorah.blogspot.com/2023/12/a-call-for-hamas-to-surrender-by-rabbi.html>] and not in Ukraine. To that effect, it is Putin himself who risks being branded as a Nazi, since his attack on Ukraine is potentially contrary to the Noahide Code, as argued at <https://daattorah.blogspot.com/2022/06/a-cri-de-coeur-for-russian-army-to_30.html>. Indeed, the manner in which Putin hijacked the democratic machinery of Russia to become its dictator seems reminiscent of Hitler's self-promotional technique in the Weimar Republic.

      The Mishnah, Pesachim 49a teaches us that if a Jew on Passover Eve is occupied with a mitzvah enterprise such as the Pesach sacrifice, circumcision or a betrothal meal, and he suddenly realizes that he forgot to liquidate chametz from his home, then [provided he has enough time to go home for chametz liquidation and then return to his mitzvah enterprise] he must go home. However, continues the Mishnah, if the same Jew is occupied with saving a human life from an attacking army, an overflowing river, bandits, a conflagration or an avalanche, then [even if he has enough time to go home for chametz liquidation and then return to his mitzvah enterprise] he is obligated to continue forward without first going home, and the prohibition against owning chametz will have to be meagerly satisfied by nullifying the chametz in his heart. [According to Torah law, mere nullification of chametz in the heart is sufficient, as per the Gemara, Pesachim 4b. There are certain exceptions to this principle, such as where the Jew accepted custodial responsibility for someone else's chametz, or where it is past the hour on Passover Eve when chametz becomes forbidden in benefit, beyond the scope of this essay. The requirement to actually liquidate the chametz is generally rabbinic in nature. The rabbis suspended the latter obligation when the Jew in question is embarked upon a piku'ach nefesh sortie.] Clearly, what this Mishnah underscores is that as important as the liquidation of chametz may be in the context of celebrating Passover, saving lives from an attacking army spiritually trumps that value. And so, President Putin should abort his invasion of Ukraine this Passover. 

      Furthermore, the Mishnah compares saving lives from an attacking army to saving lives from an avalanche. The latter fact pattern, detailed in a parallel Mishnah of Yoma 83a [and the ensuing Gemara, Yoma 85a with its attendant commentaries], yields the potential conclusion that there is a mitzvah to medically treat a brain dead patient. It is for this very reason that my father heroically gave his life in sanctification of the Name of Heaven by refusing a heart transplant, as I eulogized three months ago at <https://daattorah.blogspot.com/2025/01/a-eulogy-for-my-father-bt-av-shalom-c.html>. The heroism of my father ought to inspire President Putin: If my father was so concerned about one life being snuffed out by a cardiac harvest that he categorically refused the medical procedure, then how much more so should President Putin be concerned about the myriads of lives in Ukraine that are at stake.

      The above clarion call for President Putin to abort his invasion of Ukraine should be carefully distinguished from the absolute halakhic prohibition against intermarriage between a Jewish gentleman and a Noahide lady. As Rema to Shulchan Arukh Even ha-Ezer 16:2 rules, a Jewish gentleman must forfeit his life in sanctification of the Name of Heaven rather than marry a Noahide lady. Obviously, then, the personal behaviour of Volodymyr Zelensky is completely unacceptable. However, that problem can be resolved without necessarily killing the other human beings in Ukraine. [See also Chazon Ish, Yoreh De'ah 2:16, final paragraph, that heretics in the contemporary era should be brought to repentance in a diplomatic manner "as far as our hand reaches" (be-mah she-yadeinu maga'at).]

(*) = The preference of red wine over white wine also occurs in an entirely separate context which by remarkable coincidence was featured in the Daf Yomi this past Passover Eve. Namely, Tosafot to Makkot 4a, s.v. amar, observe that a sea-submerged barrel of white wine will wreak havoc with an immerser's attempt to purify himself there, since the white wine is visually indistinguishable from seawater. By contrast, continue Tosafot, red wine suffers from no such difficulty, since the presence of wine (that would interfere with valid immersion) optically announces itself. [And see the Haggadah of the Gra, s.v. Rabbi Eliezer omer, for a fascinating suggestion how to conceptually unite the Seder with the laws of sea immersion.]

      

Rabbi Spira works as the Editor of Manuscripts and Grants at the Lady Davis Institute for Medical Research, a Pavilion of the Jewish General Hospital in Montreal, Canada

Trump Flabbergasted That Judge Wants to Uphold Due Process

 https://www.thedailybeast.com/trump-flabbergasted-that-judge-wants-to-uphold-due-process/

Last month, the Department of Homeland Security informed about 532,000 migrants from Cuba, Haiti, Nicaragua, Venezuela that they would lose their legal status on April 24, after which they would have to self-deport or face arrest. They were granted parole under the Biden administration’s CHNV program and allowed to work in the U.S. legally for two years.

But U.S. District Court Judge Indira Talwani ruled on Monday that the Trump administration can’t revoke the migrants’ parole without an individual review.

“The early termination, without any case-by-case justification, of legal status for noncitizens who have complied with DHS programs and entered the country lawfully undermines the rule of law,” she wrote.

Talwani said the government “offered no substantial reason or public interest that justifies forcing individuals who were granted parole into the United States for a specified duration to leave (or move into undocumented status) in advance of the original date their parole was set to expire.”

Judge Boasberg Warns Trump Officials of Criminal Contempt

 https://www.newsweek.com/judge-boasberg-warns-trump-officials-criminal-contempt-2060613

 A federal judge wrote Wednesday that he has found probable cause to hold the Trump administration in criminal contempt of court for disobeying his order to turn back planes carrying deportees to El Salvador. U.S. District Judge James E. Boasberg warned that unless the administration takes immediate steps to "purge" itself of the contempt finding, he will initiate formal hearings and may refer the matter for prosecution.

"The Court does not reach such conclusion lightly or hastily; indeed, it has given Defendants ample opportunity to rectify or explain their actions. None of their responses has been satisfactory," the judge wrote.

"The Constitution does not tolerate willful disobedience of judicial orders — especially by officials of a coordinate branch who have sworn an oath to uphold it," Boasberg continued.

Medicine Career typically for status and wealth

 Igros Moshe (YD IV #36.12) ) Question: What is typically the reason to become a doctor?  Answer  The reason that people want to become doctors in modern times and even in previous times more than two hundred years for the sake of parnossa is not because it is fitting for his nature. Rather it is typically for the high status that it is perceived by ordinary Jews and non Jews. Medicine is inherently not only parnossa but also high status.  Thus it has no connection to the view of Chovas Halevavos that everyone has an innate desire for a specific type of job or business. Therefore he says if a person is strongly attracted to a particular type of work and he can do it competently he should do it for the sake of parnossa. This rule only applies to a profession that a person is naturally attracted to do. and not for external reasons of great honor and wealth that it produces.  The reason it is not a natural profession because the world was not created with a need for it since people initially did not become sick. Even though death was decreed on the first day immediately after Adam ate from the HaDaas, nevertheless there was no sickness until Yakov prayed for weakness. And still there was no sickness until Elisha who prayed for a cure.  

Judge gives Trump admin two weeks to prove they aren't in contempt of court

 https://www.foxnews.com/politics/cancel-vacations-judge-gives-trump-admin-two-weeks-prove-arent-contempt-of-court

The U.S. judge gave Trump lawyers two weeks to outline what, if any steps it has taken to facilitate the release of Kilmar Armando Abrego Garcia, the Maryland resident wrongfully deported to El Salvador last month

A federal judge told Trump lawyers they must expeditiously comply with her requests in the case of Kilmar Armando Abrego Garcia, the Maryland resident wrongfully deported to El Salvador last month, as she weighs next steps in the politically charged case.

U.S. Judge Paula Xinis told Trump administration lawyers Tuesday that they will have two weeks to comply with discovery requests in the case of Abrego Garcia, the Maryland resident deported to El Salvador last month in what Trump officials have acknowledged was an "administrative error," demanding the government spend time detailing with what, if any, steps it is taking to facilitate his release and return to the U.S.

"Cancel vacations, cancel other appointments," Xinis told lawyers at the Tuesday evening hearing.

Trump and Judiciary in Escalating Standoff Over Wrongfully Deported Migrant

 https://www.wsj.com/us-news/law/trump-and-judiciary-in-escalating-standoff-over-wrongfully-deported-migrant-520e1baa?mod=hp_lead_pos10

Judge demands more answers from government about what it has done to facilitate migrant’s return

The Trump administration is setting up the biggest test yet of judges’ authority to rein in its actions, as it skirts court orders that it facilitate the return of a migrant deported in error to a Salvadoran maximum-security prison.

Tensions escalated Tuesday in a federal court hearing in Greenbelt, Md., where a federal judge expressed frustration at how little had been done to help bring back the migrant, Kilmar Abrego Garcia, despite a series of orders—including from the Supreme Court—to facilitate his return. 

Donald Trump Tries to Run Harvard

 https://www.wsj.com/opinion/donald-trump-harvard-funding-conditions-constitution-congress-c26040f8?mod=hp_opin_pos_1

Many of his demands on the school exceed his power under the Constitution.

The Trump Administration on Monday froze $2.2 billion in funds to Harvard after the university refused to surrender to its sweeping demands. Few Americans will shed tears for the Cambridge crowd, but there are good reasons to oppose this unprecedented attempt by government to micromanage a private university.

Stipulate that the feds have a duty to enforce civil-rights laws, and Harvard failed to protect Jewish students during anti-Israel protests. But the university agreed to strengthen protections for Jewish students in a legal settlement with Students Against Antisemitism, which praised it for “implementing effective long-term changes.”

The Trump Administration nonetheless demanded last week that Harvard accede to what is effectively a federal receivership under threat of losing $9 billion. Some of the demands are within the government’s civil-rights purview, such as requiring Harvard to discipline students who violate its discrimination policies. It also wants Harvard to “shutter all diversity, equity and inclusion” programs, under “whatever name,” that violate federal law.

But the Administration runs off the legal rails by ordering Harvard to reduce “governance bloat, duplication, or decentralization.” It also orders the school to review “all existing and prospective faculty . . . for plagiarism” and ensure “viewpoint diversity” in “each department, field, or teaching unit.”