After the first presidential debate, on June 27, movers and shakers in the Democratic Party began pushing Joe Biden to abandon his run for president, because of his apparent age-related medical issues. This past Sunday, the 81-year-old finally caved to the pressure and announced online that he would be stepping back from the campaign and focusing on finishing out his term. In an announcement that almost immediately followed on his first one, Biden endorsed his vice president and running mate, Kamala Harris, as the next presidential nominee. This was not a fait accompli. In the weeks since the ..read more

When Hamas attacked Israel on October 7, Vice President Kamala Harris denounced the terrorists as “barbaric” and “heinous,” and she said she wholeheartedly supported Israel’s right to fight back. Within months, however, Harris was sharply criticizing Israel and demanding that it cease firing at Hamas. What changed? And what can Israel and American Jews expect if Harris becomes the Democratic nominee and goes on to win the presidential election in November? Kamala Devi Harris, 59, was born in Oakland, California. After her parents divorced, she moved to Montreal with her mother, a medical res ..read more

Sometimes hobbies pay off. Yehuda Nathan loved woodworking and even built a small woodworking shop in a dorm room when he was in yeshivah. Fast forward a few years, and Yehuda runs YN Design, a premier millwork company in Florida that specializes in high-end woodworking and provides a full spectrum of solutions and installations, including kitchens, bathrooms, closets and everything in between. Although he is young, Yehuda has years of experience. His company has become known for its quality work, and more importantly, for standing behind their products until the job is done. Yehuda has also ..read more

It’s hard to believe that the Democratic Socialists of America, the famous national progressive political group, was once an unabashed supporter of Israel. When the United Nations passed a resolution in 1975 calling Zionism a form of racism, the DSA’s chairman at the time perceptively called it a “preposterous charge” that “drain[ed] the concept of racism of any serious meaning.” Ah, but that was yesterday, and yesterday’s gone. The DSA’s current stance on Israel is, to put it delicately, considerably less supportive. The group proudly declares its “solidarity” with “Palestine,” demands “an e ..read more

For parents whose children are having difficulties in school, a diagnosis of ADHD might be a relief. It gives them an idea of what is going wrong and suggests that their child will be able to get help. But not everyone agrees that ADHD is a valid or helpful diagnosis. To hear two sides of this debate, we spoke with clinical psychologist Dr. Yaakov Ophir, author of ADHD is Not an Illness and Ritalin Is Not a Cure: A Comprehensive Rebuttal of the (alleged) Scientific Consensus; and Dr. Ronen Hizami, a psychiatrist in private practice and public educator. I understand that you’ve ruffled a lot o ..read more

Shots ring out. Donald Trump reaches for his ear, then crouches, trying to get under the line of fire. Secret Service agents seem to hesitate, then rush the stage, as rifle shots are returned by agents on a roof nearby. “The shooter is down,” an agent says, as Trump is telling the agents trying to move him away that he needs his shoes. Then, as they get him to the edge of the platform, Trump stops the agents. He stands, his fist in the air. “Fight, fight, fight!” he tells the crowd, which yells back: “USA! USA! USA!” That Donald Trump was nearly assassinated at a campaign rally over the weeke ..read more

“Senator J.D. Vance has one of the most compelling stories in American politics, overcoming so much adversity in life.”” —Senator Lindsey Graham (R-SC), commenting on the choice by former President Donald Trump to choose the Ohio senator as his running mate. Mr. Vance doesn’t have all the answers. But he’s advancing the conversation.” Those were the last lines of The New York Times’ review of J.D. Vance’s 2016 non-fiction bestseller Hillbilly Elegy: A Memoir of a Family and Culture in Crisis. They would have been surprised to find out that just a few years later, the author they were praisin ..read more

I’m in the admittedly small and shrinking minority of people who aren’t convinced that President Biden is cognitively impaired. At least not in the way he is commonly described, as someone with dementia, incapable of serving in public office. I don’t mean to say that he is the better Democratic presidential candidate for the November election; I don’t take public positions on electoral matters. (Well, okay, I hope no one in Michigan’s 12th congressional district votes for Rashida Tlaib. But I don’t generally offer voting advice.) In any event, the issue of Mr. Biden’s mental acuity is likely ..read more

The 30th yahrtzeit of the Klausenberger Rebbe on 9 Tamuz is an auspicious moment to remember the impact this singular chasidic master had on countless people, particularly on Holocaust survivors, as well as on the world of medicine in Eretz Yisrael. The Rebbe suffered through the Holocaust, first with the loss of his wife and 11 children to Auschwitz, then with his own enslavement in a forced labor camp and the travails of a death march to Dachau. After the war, he brought hope to many in the DP camps. Later, he was able to rebuild his chasidus in America and Eretz Yisrael. As the fulfillment ..read more

“Mélenchon’s victory is a terrible signal of impunity sent to the anti-Jewish Islamo-Fascists.” —French-Jewish journalist Yohann Taieb, in a tweet about the results of the French election and the triumph of the left-wing coalition, which includes France Unbowed, headed by Jean-Luc Mélenchon, who has made a variety of anti-Semitic statements for years. In two elections over the past week, two of Europe’s most powerful countries have experienced the tumultuous nature of politics. In the UK, a 14-year stretch of control by the Conservatives ended after a colossal win by the Labour Party. The wi ..read more