What a GOP loss in Trump’s Mar-a-Lago district says about the midterms

 https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2026/03/25/democrats-midterms-special-election-wins/

Gregory, a first-time candidate and fitness business owner, defeated Jon Maples, a Republican endorsed by President Donald Trump and aligned with his policies. The two were going head-to-head in a special election for a district that includes the president’s Palm Beach home, Mar-a-Lago. The Democrat’s win was an upset: Despite Palm Beach County leaning left, this district was a red enclave, with Republicans holding a significant voter-registration advantage and the Republican who vacated the seat last year winning it by 19 percentage points in 2024.

Since the start of 2025, Democrats have used special elections to flip a dozen state legislative seats, while Republicans have not flipped one. When off-year elections in 2025 are included — in which Democrats dominated both statewide and downballot contests in Virginia and New Jersey — the number of flipped seats rises to 30.

This, coupled with Trump’s slumping approval ratings, has Democrats hopeful that the November elections could be a chance to sweep Republicans out of power in the House and alter control of many state legislatures.

Two arrested over antisemitic arson attack on London Jewish community ambulances

 https://www.timesofisrael.com/two-arrested-over-antisemitic-arson-attack-on-london-jewish-community-ambulances/

Third suspect believed to still be at large, as police examine claim of responsibility by group with possible links to Iran

British police said on Wednesday they had arrested two men over an arson attack on four ambulances belonging to a Jewish community organization in north London.

The arrests came after police said they were investigating an online claim of responsibility by a little-known Islamist group that has possible links to Iran.

The Metropolitan Police said two men aged 47 and 45 were arrested by counter-terrorism detectives “on suspicion of arson with intent to endanger life.”

Israeli assessment: Trump may announce ceasefire by Saturday

https://www.israelnationalnews.com/news/424572

 Israeli officials predict that US President Donald Trump may announce a ceasefire with Iran by the end of the week or the middle of next week at the latest.

Israeli officials predict that US President Donald Trump may announce a ceasefire with Iran by the end of the week or the middle of next week at the latest.

The officials understand that Trump is seeking a month-long ceasefire, and may even announce it unilaterally by the end of the week.

The New York Times reported earlier on Tuesday that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu issued orders yesterday (Tuesday) that as much of Iran's arms industry as possible should be destroyed within 48 hours in response to US President Donald Trump's announcements on talks with Iran to end the war.

People 65 and older can get better with age, study shows

 https://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/2026/03/25/aging-positive-mindset/

Researchers found that nearly half of adults over 65 did better on tests of cognitive and physical function as they aged.

Levy and her co-author found that nearly half of the participants over 65 improved — physically, cognitively or both. And people with positive beliefs about aging were more likely to be in that group.

Part of the reason for the disconnect between the stereotypes and the reality, experts said, is that a lot of research on older people looks at average outcomes rather than individual outcomes, or looks only for decline or lack thereof, rather than the possibility of improvement.

Lachs said his patients are around 89 years old on average, and the people who are thriving usually have one thing in common: something in their life that gives them meaning and a sense of purpose.

Meta, YouTube found negligent in landmark social media addiction trial

 https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2026/03/25/meta-youtube-verdict-social-media-addiction/

A Los Angeles jury found social media giant Meta and video platform YouTube negligent in a landmark trial, awarding $3 million in compensation to a young woman who alleged she had become addicted to the companies’ platforms as a child.

The verdict came at the end of a month-long trial that featured testimony by Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg and a day after a jury in New Mexico ordered Meta to pay $375 million in penalties for endangering children. The twin verdicts are signs that legal protections which for decades made tech companies seem almost impervious are beginning to crack, as lawyers accuse the platforms of putting addictive or otherwise harmful features into their platforms.

Israel’s 81% war consensus is an illusion

 https://www.jpost.com/opinion/article-891155?utm_source=jpost.app.android&utm_medium=share

When we breakdown the data, what looks like national unity turns out to be two markedly different understandings of the war, imagined by two different publics.

Beyond the 81%: two visions of Israel’s war

When we break the data down this way, what looks like national unity turns out to be two markedly different understandings of the war, imagined by two different publics.

Third, and most revealing, opposition voters support a fundamentally different campaign: while 86% of coalition voters support continuing until the regime falls, 40% of opposition voters prefer a ceasefire following limited degradation of capabilities, and 7% are unsure. 

Among the left-leaning third of the opposition, this divergence is even starker: 48% prefer a ceasefire, 8% unsure, and 45% want to continue until the regime falls.

The Israeli Left is imagining a bounded military operation. The Right is imagining regime change.

Did Rabbeinu Yonah write Shaarei Teshuva in response to the burning of the Gemara?

 https://judaism.stackexchange.com/questions/66759/did-rabbeinu-yonah-write-shaarei-teshuva-in-response-to-the-burning-of-the-gemar

It is widely believed that Rabbeinu Yonah played a part in having the Rambam's works burned around 1232, and that after the 1242 burning of twenty-four wagonloads of Gemaras he felt that it was a Divine punishment for the first burning. He wrote Shaarei Teshuva to express his remorse.

This is a citiaion from "The Chosen Path" - a history of Medieval Jewry by Binyamin Sendler: R’ Yonah b. Avraham certainly saw it in this light. Following is an extract from the letter that his student R’ Hillel HaChasid (of Verona) wrote to R’ Yitzchok HaRofeh: Letter by R’ Hillel HaChasid

R’ Yonah of Barcelona (originally of Gerona) was the primary instigator of this controversy that brought about all the calamities that befell the Jews in France. At that time R’ Yonah’s heart melted within him, and he vowed to make a pilgrimage to the Rambam’s grave and remain there for seven days, begging forgiveness from the Rambam for slandering his works. He publicly confessed in these words: “I am embarrassed and I regret that I opened my mouth against our holy master R’ Moshe b. Maimon and his works. I say now for all to hear: Moshe is true and his Torah is true and we are all frauds ....

Trump THROWS Hegseth Under The Bus

FACT CHECK: Democratic Mayors Driving Crime Reductions ...

 https://democraticmayors.org/news/fact-check-democratic-mayors-driving-crime-reductions-with-proven-public-safety-strategies-no-thanks-to-trump/

Donald Trump travels to Memphis today to take credit for the reduction in crime – but the facts tell a different story: Democratic mayors have implemented smart, effective strategies to reduce crime even as Trump cut funding for police and other public safety resources. 

 Local leadership continues to step up where federal support has lagged, investing in a holistic approach that invests in law enforcement and strengthens communities. 

Fact: Major Cities Are Seeing Significant Declines in Violent Crime—Driven by Local Leadership, Not Trump

Bottom Line: Crime is declining in many American cities not by accident, but because Democratic mayors are implementing smart, data-driven strategies that deliver results.

Trump holds Memphis Safe Task Force roundtable

Iran Plays Hardball as Mediators Push for Talks With U.S.

 https://www.wsj.com/livecoverage/iran-war-us-israel-news-updates

Mediators from Turkey, Egypt and Pakistan are pushing for a meeting between U.S. and Iranian officials, but Tehran has displayed defiance over the possibility of diplomacy and both sides remain far apart.

The U.S. sent Iran a 15-point plan to end the war, which centers largely on previous Trump administration demands of Tehran. Iran’s state-run Press TV broadcaster said Tehran had rejected the U.S. proposal and set out its own conditions for a deal, including reparations and recognition of Iranian sovereignty over the Strait of Hormuz.

Gulf Arab states are growing alarmed by Trump’s eagerness to do a deal. The leaders of Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates are lobbying Trump to stick with the war until Iran is sufficiently weakened that it won’t pose a threat.

Iran dismisses US ceasefire proposal

 https://thehill.com/policy/international/5799701-iran-dismissal-us-ceasefire-proposal-pakistan/

Iran has dismissed an initial 15-point ceasefire proposal from the United States, according to the state-run Fars news agency.

“Iran does not accept a ceasefire,” an “informed person” told the outlet. “Basically, it is not logical to enter into such a process with those who violate the agreement.”

Even amid the alleged talks, the Pentagon is preparing to deploy roughly 2,000 soldiers from the U.S. Army’s 82nd Airborne Division to the Middle East, a source familiar with the matter told The Hill on Tuesday.

Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, the speaker of the Iranian parliament, earlier this week denied that negotiations between Tehran and Washington were taking place.

“No negotiations have been held with the US, and [fake news] is used to manipulate the financial and oil markets and escape the quagmire in which the US and Israel are trapped,” he wrote on the social platform X. 

Negotiations deadlock: Iran rejects US '15 Point' plan

 https://www.israelnationalnews.com/news/424559

Despite the heavy blows it has sustained, Iran signaled this morning (Wednesday) that it rejects the “15-point plan" proposed by the U.S. administration as a basis for ending the war.

According to reports by Reuters and The Wall Street Journal, Tehran has returned to insisting on baseline conditions that Washington had previously rejected outright, even before the outbreak of the war.

Trump says talks with Iran progressing, as Israel said to fear premature ceasefire

 https://www.timesofisrael.com/trump-says-talks-with-iran-progressing-as-israel-said-to-fear-premature-ceasefire/?utm_source=The+Daily+Edition&utm_campaign=daily-edition-2026-03-25&utm_medium=email

US President Donald Trump claimed Tuesday that his administration was “talking to the right people” in Iran, adding that the Islamic Republic “wants to make a deal so badly” to end the ongoing war.

Israel’s Channel 12 news reported Tuesday that the Trump administration has conveyed 15 conditions to Iran as its terms for ending the current war, which an Israeli official familiar with the matter later confirmed the details of to The Times of Israel, while expressing skepticism that Iran will agree to such a framework. The official also confirmed that Washington informed Jerusalem ahead of its negotiations with Tehran on ending hostilities, which began on Sunday, without specifying how far ahead of time.

Nonetheless, it said, Jerusalem is concerned that Trump and his team want to push quickly for “a framework agreement, an agreement in principle” with Iran, rather than insisting on these demands as a condition for halting the war.