https://www.theguardian.com/world/2017/sep/05/donald-trump-why-do-evangelicals-support-him Justified or not, white evangelical Christians increasingly believe they are the most persecuted demographic in the US today. But I don’t believe that evangelicals are interested in rectifying their status as a hated demographic, and would never protest for better treatment (or consciously demonize any racial minority the way the white supremacists do). For them, being despised by the world is a badge of honor that will ensure them a heavenly reward ..read more

 https://www.cato.org/commentary/no-russiagate-wasnt-hoax-team-trump-claims-it-was The bottom line is that, as Justice Department Inspector General Michael Horowitz concluded in his own 2019 probe—to Durham’s and Barr’s displeasure—the FBI investigation was amply justified. True, it ultimately found no evidence of acts that rose to the level of criminal conspiracy, and neither did the Mueller probe. But let’s not forget what did happen: Russian agents did conspire to influence the election, undermine Clinton and help Trump, and Trump as well as people close to him eagerly welcomed the hel ..read more

 https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2024/04/27/gaza-hamas-public-support-israel/  More than six months into the war in Gaza and with dimming hopes for a cease-fire deal, Palestinians there are growing more critical of Hamas, which some of them blame for the months-long conflict that has destroyed the territory — and their lives ..read more

 https://mishpacha.com/just-plain-chutzpah/ Perhaps a brief review of Chazal’s description of the role of the gadol hador of each generation is in order. The Ran in his derashos says that in every generation, Hashem puts His Shechinah on the gedolei hador. Just as the Shechinah was placed in the Beis Hamikdash and spread throughout Klal Yisrael, so too in every generation the Shechinah rests on the gadol hador and spreads from there to Klal Yisrael. Chazal in Masechta Bava Basra(12a) teach us that although nevuah was taken from the prophets when the Beis Hamikdash was destroyed, it was no ..read more

 https://www.axios.com/2024/04/26/state-department-reviewing-plans-sanction-idf-unit A senior U.S. official said Blinken's determination that the Netzah Yehuda Battalion committed gross violations of human rights in the West Bank has not changed, but a process of consultation with Israel on the issue is now underway to examine whether it is taking steps to address this. The U.S. official said that if these steps are not satisfactory in accordance with the Leahy law and if it appears Israel has not held soliders and officers accountable and corrected the conditions that led to the violatio ..read more

 https://www.israelhayom.com/2024/02/07/israel-is-not-a-banana-republic-official-says-amid-blinken-halevi-controversy/ On Tuesday Israel Hayom reported on Blinken making the unusual request to be briefed by Halevi one-on-one rather than as part of a meeting with the War Cabinet.  An official told Israel Hayom that a meeting between a foreign minister and a military official without a civilian official present was not common practice in international relations and therefore Netanyahu's office refused to approve a private meeting between Blinken and the chief of staff. "Israel is not a ..read more

 https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/biden-sanction-israeli-military-units-accused-human-rights/story?id=109651562 The Biden administration has determined that three military battalions with the Israel Defense Forces committed "gross human rights violations" against Palestinian civilians in the West Bank but will remain eligible for U.S. military aid regardless because of steps Israel says it's taking to address the problem, ABC News has learned. The administration assessment, which has not yet been made public, was outlined in an undated letter by Secretary of State Antony Blinken to House S ..read more

 https://www.israelnationalnews.com/news/389077 The Biden Administration has backtracked and will not impose sanctions on the IDF's Netzach Yehuda Battalion, ABC News reported this morning (Friday). According to the report, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken wrote a letter to House Speaker Mike Johnson explaining that the decision was made in light of Israel's commitment to addressing concerns over human rights violations by the IDF in Judea and Samaria. ..According to Blinken, the administration's concerns over alleged human rights violations by the Netzach Yehuda Battalion "will not d ..read more

 https://www.nad.com/news/charles-brenner-critiques-david-sinclairs-best-selling-book-on-aging Pointing out two questions on the back cover of Lifespan, Brenner answers them. The first is “is aging a disease?” Brenner’s answer is that aging is a risk factor for many diseases, but aging is not a disease itself. He follows by saying that the most powerful genetic mutations to extend lifespan in animal models have been in genes that control growth, establishing that growth and development are intricately linked with aging, suggesting that aging is inevitable.  “Is aging treatable?” Yes ..read more

 https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9669175/ Members of the general public and investment community have caught the longevity bug and appear to believe that major breakthroughs have been made in extending human lifespan Lifespan, a book by Harvard scientist David Sinclair, has become an influential source of misinformation on longevity, featuring counterfactual claims about longevity genes being conserved between yeast and humans, the existence of supposed activators of these genes, and claimed successful age reversal in mice based on partial reprogramming The book has populariz ..read more