Serious Sanctions Time for Russia

 https://www.wsj.com/opinion/russia-ukraine-ceasefire-sanctions-bill-lindsey-graham-senate-gop-donald-trump-7941e3a4?mod=hp_opin_pos_3#cxrecs_s

As Putin strings along Trump, the Senate can send a message to Moscow.

President Trump told a reporter over the weekend that he’s “angry” at Vladimir Putin, and the Commander in Chief’s exasperation is welcome. The Russian dictator is stringing the President along over a 30-day cease-fire that Ukraine has already accepted.

“If Russia and I are unable to make a deal on stopping the bloodshed in Ukraine,” the President told NBC News, “and if I think it was Russia’s fault—which it might not be—but if I think it was Russia’s fault, I am going to put secondary tariffs on oil, on all oil coming out of Russia.” Under those so-called secondary sanctions, anybody buying oil from Russia “can’t do business in the United States.”

‘He is not a gang member’: outrage as US deports makeup artist to El Salvador prison for crown tattoos

 https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/apr/01/its-a-tradition-outrage-in-venezuela-as-us-deports-makeup-artist-for-religious-tattoos

“Detainee Hernandez ports [sic] tattoos ‘crowns’ that are consistent with those of a Tren de Aragua member,” an agent at California’s Otay Mesa detention centre claimed, according to court documents published this week.

Those 16 words appear to have sealed the fate of the young Venezuelan stylist, who friends, family and lawyers say has never committed a crime.

On 15 March, after more than six months in custody in the US, Hernández was one of scores of Venezuelans flown from Texas to a maximum security prison in El Salvador as part of Donald Trump’s mass deportation campaign. To the horror of their relatives, some detainees were paraded before the cameras and filmed being manhandled by guards and having their heads shaved before being bundled into cells.

“Let my son go. Review his case file. He is not a gang member,” Hernández’s mother, Alexis Dolores Romero de Hernández, pleaded as she came to terms with her son’s disappearance into the notorious Central American “terrorism confinement centre”, known by the Spanish acronym Cecot.

“Everyone has these crowns, many people. But that doesn’t mean they’re involved in the Tren de Aragua … He’s never had problems with the law,” said Hernández, 65, who has not heard from her son since he called on the eve of his transfer to let her know – incorrectly – that he was being deported to Venezuela.

Trump administration says it mistakenly deported man to El Salvador

 https://www.axios.com

A Salvadorian national living in Maryland legally was wrongly deported to El Salvador, the Department of Justice has admitted in court papers filed Monday.

The erroneous deportation of Kilmar Armando Abrego Garcia, first reported by The Atlantic, is the latest stumble by the Trump administration as it seeks to deport more people using questionable methods amid a declining pace of removals compared to the Biden administration.

Vice President JD Vance on Monday posted on X, in a reply to podcaster Jon Favreau about the case, that Abrego Garcia was a gang member.

"My comment is that according to the court document you apparently didn't read he was a convicted MS-13 gang member with no legal right to be here," Vance posted.

"My further comment is that it's gross to get fired up about gang members getting deported while ignoring citizens they victimize."

 Abrego Garcia has not been convicted of gang-related crimes.

Trump administration concedes Maryland father from El Salvador was mistakenly deported and sent to mega prison

 https://edition.cnn.com/2025/04/01/politics/maryland-father-mistakenly-deported-el-salvador-prison/index.html

 The Trump administration conceded in a court filing Monday that it mistakenly deported a Maryland father to El Salvador “because of an administrative error” and argued it could not return him because he’s now in Salvadoran custody.

he filing, first reported by The Atlantic, appears to mark the first time the administration has admitted an error related to its recent deportation flights to El Salvador, which are now at the center of a fraught legal battle.

“On March 15, although ICE was aware of his protection from removal to El Salvador, Abrego Garcia was removed to El Salvador because of an administrative error,” the Trump administration filing states.

Abrego Garcia, who attorneys say fled gang violence in El Salvador more than a decade ago, had been identified by his wife in a photo of detainees entering intake at CECOT, the country’s notorious mega prison.

Trump administration admits it wrongly deported man to prison in El Salvador

 https://thehill.com/homenews/administration/5225688-trump-administration-mistakenly-deports-salvadoran/

The Trump administration acknowledged late Monday that it mistakenly deported a Salvadoran man protected from removal, sending him to a facility in El Salvador where they argue they are unable to secure his return.

The filing lays bare the risks associated with the Trump administration’s removal of migrants to El Salvador without hearings or other review.

Abrego Garcia’s attorneys argue that he was sent “to El Salvador knowing that he would be immediately incarcerated and tortured in that country’s most notorious prison.”

Abrego Garcia is married to a U.S. citizen and is the father of a “disabled U.S.-citizen child.”

His attorney said while the government had numerous methods for raising questions about his status and seeking to deport him, “defendants found those legal procedures bothersome, so they merely ignored them and deported Plaintiff Abrego Garcia to El Salvador anyway, ripping him away.”

Trump has the world on edge as he mulls fateful tariffs decades in the making

 https://edition.cnn.com/2025/04/01/politics/trump-tariffs-liberation-day-oval-office/index.html

He’s got the world hanging on his every word — and that’s how he loves it.

President Donald Trump held court in the Oval Office on Monday evening, ratcheting up suspense over his promised tariff war “Liberation Day” on April 2 and riffing on his 19th-century worldview that threatens to rock the 21st-century economy.

Many of the president’s allies on Capitol Hill still hope he’s bluffing — employing the familiar argument that he’s a great dealmaker who stakes out the most extreme position to extract concessions from adversaries.

But there’s a growing sense of hubris surrounding Trump and his team, some of whom falsely argue that tariffs represent a tax cut rather than a tax hike for consumers. Things rarely end well when presidents seem determined to prove their critics wrong, at any cost, in the face of inconvenient truths.

The White House is showing no signs of doubt ahead of a decision that could be fateful for Trump’s second term and the retirement savings of millions of Americans already hit by market sell-offs.

Flags in Synagogue

Igros Moshe (OC I #46) Question  There is a synagogue in which there are two flags set up one of America the other of Israel. Because of these flags there are people who refuse to pray there. Is there any genuine problem with having the flags? Answer  Assuming that this is a shul that was constructed properly to have the holiness of a shul and people have already prayed there assuming it was holy. Even if a serious sin were done there or a degrading act it is not profaned and lose its holiness because of that even at the time the sin was done.  As regards to the question of losing its holiness after the sin it depends. If it is used immediately after the sin to pray as a holy place then there is no loss of holiness. Consequently even if you want to claim that the flags are sinful it does not lose its holiness because of them. It is better to pray there  than to make a minyan in a secular place and it is treated as any other shul. However I don’t understand what sin you think is being done by these flags? There is no prohibition to bring non holy objects into a shul even if not needed for the shul. This is true even if not built as a shul and surely if it were built as a shul as ours are.  This is true even if the flags were erected as a sign of the state of Israel by wicked people. Nevertheless, the flags are not regarded as holy objectsthat might be cause to be concerned for idolatry. They are simply a sign and are clearly secular. .  .  This is true also for the American flag. The flags are merely showing appreciation of Israel and America.  Therefore while it is better not to have the flags there permanently especially not next to the aron Kodesh. There is no actual prohibition being violated as it is clearly not idolatry but only nonsense. It would be best if they could be removed in a peaceful manner. But if that would cause fights  it is clearly prohibited. Therefore a new minyan should not be made for those who object to having the flags. It simply an issue of politics brought about by the yetzer harah and Satan

Death Definition

Igros Moshe (YD III #132) The definition of when a person is dead is stated explicitly in the gemora (Yoma 85a) in the case where a person is buried under a pile of rubble. It says he can be dug out even on Shabbos and then his nostrils are examined to determine if he is still breathing. Rambam and Shulchan Aruch rule that  if breathing is not detected he is considered dead. Thus we determine death by the absence of breathing. Even if the breathing is very slight he is considered alive. This can readily be determined with the aid of a feather placed near the nostrils. If the feather or a small piece of paper doesn’t move at all, he is presumed dead. Nevertheless he should be examined a number of times as I have explained previously to ensure he hasn’t just fainted because it is impossible to live without breathing. This test is valid only if the person is under constant watching. However since this is not realistic and it is possible he regained his strength a bit and was able to briefly get a few weak breathes it is impossible to properly determine death except by repeated testing. If these tests reveal there is no breathing at all than that is a sign the person is dead. This is more fully discussed by the Chasam Sofer. This is also relevant with the typical sick person who is close to dying, but is not dependent on a respirator. However there are many sick people who can not breathe without a respirator. Thus it is possible with a respirator to continue breathing even after death and these people are not considered alive.  If it is not clear that he is alive from other indicators e.,g. he doesn’t respond even if stabbed with a needle such as being in a state known as a coma. Then as long as the respirator is working it is prohibited to remove it from his mouth because he might be alive and by the removal he is being killed. However when the respirator stops working for example when the oxygen tanks are depleted, it is not required to put him back on the respirator when it starts working for a period of 15 minutes. If he is no longer alive as seen by the absence of breathing then it means he has died. IKn contrast if he is living as can be seen from the fact that he is breathing even without the respirator even if it is with difficulty and interruptions then he should be returned to the respirator immediately. This should be done a number of times until his condition improves or it is apparent that he can’t breathe on his own  and is dead. 

Igros Moshe (YD II #146) This that doctors say that the sign of of whether a person is alive or dead is in the brain In other words if according to their evaluation of a person if his brain is not working properly then he is considered that he is dead even though he is still breathing. You discuss this at length and try to refute this claim. You also say that the brain does not mean the brain stem at the top of the spine which you claim is irrelevant to this issue. I don’t understand your point. Since you are referring to the brain stem at the top of the spine in your discussion of the gemora in Chullin while the doctors are referring to the brain in the head. Furthermore the gemora is describing a case of where the brain stem is detached while the brain itself remains intact and healthy. If in fact the brain decomposes the animal is a treifa. Similarly if the brain dissolves and flows like water. Even though in general the status of treifa is because eventually the brain cover will be perforated, nevertheless the status of treifa occurs for other conditions both the actual brain and the brain stem. Thus it is possible to say like the doctors if the damage prevents the body from functioning properly it means death. Nevertheless it is certainly true that the brain stopping from  working is not what we define as death since as long as there is breathing he is considered alive. It just means that when the brain stops working it will lead to death which is defined as the cessation of breathing. It is possible that since such a person is still alive and that there are known or yet to be discovered medicines that will restore the function of the brain. It is also possible in this case to pray to G-d to cure him. Thus he has the status of a seriously ill person whose life is in danger but he is not considered dead. If he were dead it would be prohibited to pray for him since it is considered a meaningless and worthless prayer. It is also obvious that anyone who killed such a person is considered a murderer and is subject to the death penalty. All this is because there is no mention in the classic sources of the gemora and poskim that the brain status determines whether the person is considered alive. It is not relevant to claim that nature has changed in this issue because even in Talmudic times the brain functioned then as it does now and all of man’s functioning depended on it. Nevertheless it was not considered that the person was considered dead with the cessation of functioning of the brain and so today we don’t either. 

Heart Transplants are Murder!

Igros Moshe (YD II #174) Question Heart transplant from another person – a new procedure that a number of Doctors are now starting to do. Answer I don’t want to show a lot of proofs and analysis because all those who add analysis and proofs are simply making the issue worse. That is because it seems to be saying that proofs are needed since it is a complicated matter. As a consequence it will lead to leniencies when some of the proofs are refuted even though the proofs were not genuine. Thus they serve to weaken the case against transplants because people will conclude it is simply a matter disputed by great authorities and it is legitimate to choose either side.  G-d forbid!. Therefore I will respond to this issue in this letter in a clear ruling clearly and absolutely and will avoid all dialectics and analysis  stating unambiguously that this procedure of heart transplants that doctors have recently started to do is simply the killing of two people. The doctors are killing with their own hands the one who is donating the heart since he is still alive not only according the Torah for which it is a capital crime , but also according to the doctors since there are some who are truthful and say the donor is alive when the heart is removed. However because of their wickedness they are not interested in preserving the donor’s life because he is not expected to live much longer anyway.  In addition they are killing with their own hands the recipient  who can live for many more years sometimes even for decades with his heart condition. It is well established that heart disease patients can live long lives. This that a heart transplant is done  results in the deaths of the donor and recipient in a short time sometimes even hours. Others linger for a few days.  While it is true there is a case in Africa that the recipient is still alive after 6 months, nevertheless the consensus is that it is impossible for him to continue living.  It is astounding that countries around the world permit the evil doctors to kill two people since it is known that  neither typically lives. Therefore the governments should punish these doctors who are literally murderers even though the patient consents. The agreement is a mistake because of the seduction of the evil doctors.  Beside that a person is not allowed t to kill himself. My response to this question  should be publicized without modifying my language

Republicans fear Florida election upset could threaten Trump's agenda

 https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c209jxv77rjo

"Their 2025 agenda stops here," he promised, railing against President Donald Trump and Elon Musk's efforts to slash government services and personnel.

Just an hour earlier, in a telephone town hall meeting, Randy Fine, his Republican opponent in Tuesday's special election, had a similar message – although he framed it as a warning, not a promise.

"Democrats are mad," he said. "They're going to do whatever it takes to grind Donald Trump's agenda to a halt."

To this end, some of the party's heaviest hitters stepped in to help. Last Thursday, Trump joined the Republican candidate in two telephone town hall events. On Monday night, Florida Congressman Byron Donalds and conservative commentator Ben Shapiro held their own event.

"Donald Trump's agenda is hanging by a thread," Shapiro said. "This is a district that simply cannot fall into Democratic hands."

Delta to resume flights to Israel Tuesday

 https://www.israelhayom.com/2025/03/31/delta-to-resume-flights-to-israel-tuesday/

Delta Airlines is set to resume its operations to Israel tomorrow (Tuesday), with the first flight scheduled to land in the country on Wednesday morning. The American carrier will operate daily flights on the New York-Tel Aviv route.

The airline will use the Airbus A330-900neo aircraft for these direct flights, providing approximately 2,000 seats weekly according to company announcements.

Delta becomes the second American airline to return to Israel, following United Airlines which resumed operations about two weeks ago. United has since doubled its service and now operates two daily flights to Israel. Following Delta's anticipated return, four airlines will be offering direct flights between New York and Tel Aviv: El Al, Arkia, United, and Delta.

Joe Rogan Splits From Trump on ‘Horrific’ Deportations

https://www.thedailybeast.com/joe-rogan-on-horrific-trump-deportations-lets-not-get-innocent-gay-hairdressers-lumped-up-with-the-gangs/

“That’s bad for the cause,” Rogan added. “The cause is: Let’s get the gang members out. Everybody agrees. But let’s not get innocent gay hairdressers lumped up with the gangs?”

“How long before that guy can get out? Can we figure out how to get them out? Is there any plan in place to alert the authorities that they’ve made a horrible mistake and correct it?” Rogan said, prompting his guest, political commentator Konstantin Kisin, to reply that the government isn’t likely to admit that it may have made a mistake.

“That’s the thing about politics, right? Never admit your fault. Never admit you’re wrong,” Kisin said.

“It’s so dumb,” Rogan said. “And this is the thing we’re seeing with the Signal thing, and this is the thing we’re seeing with this. It’s like, I don’t know if it’s been brought to their attention.

“I mean, I would assume someone’s alerted them to the fact that they might have rounded up this just random hairdresser and accused him of being a gang member,” he continued.

Why Trump’s Brattish Mini-Me Has MAGA Fearing They’ll Lose a Lay-Up

 https://www.thedailybeast.com/why-trumps-brattish-mini-me-randy-fine-has-republicans-in-fear-of-losing-easy-election/ 

The Democratic Party may be in disarray and largely leaderless, but many individual Americans are alarmed and outraged by the autocratic actions of the new administration. Key Lime used texts rather than mailers and online videos more than TV ads to trigger more personal responses and it raised $9.5 million for Weil. (It had a hiccup when it clashed with two prominent Democrats—Rep. Alexandra Ocasio-Cortez and Democratic National Committee Vice Chair David Hogg—over the unauthorized use of their voices in their ads, but that did little to stop the cash coming in.)

But the little bucks also point to what appears to be the second major factor in changing the race from a cinch into a maybe; Randy Fine himself. Not even a Trump endorsement can make this former Nevada casino consultant into an actually appealing candidate once his petty and choleric aspects become apparent. Those same qualities are forgiven on a large scale with Trump, but a mini-Donald just becomes a vituperative, vengeful brat.

Why do US Jews leave Orthodoxy? A new study tries to map out the reasons

 https://www.timesofisrael.com/why-do-us-jews-leave-orthodoxy-a-new-study-tries-to-map-out-the-reasons/

A new survey of American Jews who have left Orthodox Judaism asks tough questions of the community as it describes the complicated web of factors causing people to leave the fold.

Published by the Orthodox Union (OU), one of the Orthodox world’s most prominent organizations, the survey’s conclusions call for synagogues and schools to adopt more inclusive mindsets, for rabbis to look out for children on the fringes and for parents to establish clear expectations with love and support.

One of the study’s biggest surprises was that many of the surveyed individuals who left Orthodoxy remain connected to the community.