Mystery has finally been solved. Why is it that the Bnei-teira in Bnei Brak have been arrested for evading the draft, and their Teira isn't doing a thing to protect them?
What is going on?
It seems that the gemarra in Gittin 57b states that the grandchildren of Haman will be learning Torah in Bnei Brak!
Now it all makes sense!
"מבני בניו של המן למדו תורה בבני ברק"
Following the Democrats’ extraordinary rout in the midterm elections, it was inevitable that the Trump White House would react with finger-pointing and an off-with-their-heads approach to staff changes.
And so it has, and there is certainly more bloodletting to come. My only quibble is that the first person thrown overboard is the wrong person.
Instead of removing the capable and loyal Chief of Staff Susie Wiles and replacing her with the combative Stephen Miller, President Trump should have fired Vice President JD Vance.
Unfortunately, he can’t under the Constitution because Vance was elected and is not an appointed staff member or a Senate-confirmed Cabinet secretary.
Still, Vance’s decision to wave the white flag of surrender early Wednesday morning was a breathtaking breach of loyalty.
It was also political weakness writ large. For once, Trump has been too kind in his noncommittal response.
In a long statement on X, Vance shamefully tried to separate himself from the stalemate in Iran and the elections. He offered absolutely no defense of the Trump-Vance administration’s policies and decision-making.
He failed to mention what Trump repeatedly says about the war. To wit, that the goal was and is to prevent Iran from getting a nuclear weapon, which it had vowed to use against Israel and the United States.
Does Vance instead favor the approach that Dems Barack Obama and Joe Biden pursued for 12 years, which was to bribe the mad mullahs with cash and lift sanctions while accepting that the infusion of dollars would be shared with regional terror proxies such as Hamas and Hezbollah?
וַיֹּ֕אמֶר בּ֖וֹא בְּר֣וּךְ יְהֹוָ֑ה לָ֤מָּה תַעֲמֹד֙ בַּח֔וּץ
וַיַּ֨עַן לָבָ֤ן וּבְתוּאֵל֙ וַיֹּ֣אמְר֔וּ מֵיְהֹוָ֖ה יָצָ֣א הַדָּבָ֑ר לֹ֥א נוּכַ֛ל דַּבֵּ֥ר אֵלֶ֖יךָ רַ֥ע אוֹ־טֽוֹב
הִנֵּֽה־רִבְקָ֥ה לְפָנֶ֖יךָ קַ֣ח וָלֵ֑ךְ וּתְהִ֤י אִשָּׁה֙ לְבֶן־אֲדֹנֶ֔יךָ כַּאֲשֶׁ֖ר דִּבֶּ֥ר יְהֹוָֽה
Yisrael Beytenu chairman Avigdor Liberman has signaled a significant shift in his approach to coalition negotiations, making clear that he is prepared to compromise even on the military conscription law in order to establish a government that will bring Benjamin Netanyahu's tenure to an end.
In a post published Friday morning on X, Liberman warned against establishing a minority government that would rely on abstentions by Ra'am and the Joint List, declaring that Yisrael Beytenu would vote against such a government.
Under the headline "We Must Prevent the Destruction of the Third Temple," Liberman called on the leaders of the anti-Netanyahu bloc to reconsider their political strategy.
"The election results require all of us to recalculate our course and understand that we have no good alternatives or magic solutions," he wrote.
According to Liberman, the decisions made in the coming period must take the long-term consequences into account, while drawing lessons from previous political moves.
He warned that "a minority government will survive for a much shorter period, and when it comes to an end, we will get Netanyahu back with 70 Knesset seats for another four years. From there, the road to the destruction of the Third Temple will be short."
Liberman clarified that, from his perspective, there are three principles that must not be compromised.
"Ending the Netanyahu era, preventing another election, and opposing a government that would depend on abstentions by Ra'am and the Joint List."
Alongside these red lines, the Yisrael Beytenu chairman expressed a willingness to show flexibility on several issues that had previously been at the center of political disputes, foremost among them the military conscription law.
"On all other issues, it is permissible and desirable to show flexibility and compromise, and to understand that if you try to grasp too much, you end up with nothing," he wrote.
"This includes the issue of the conscription law. It pains me, and I know it pains many others as well. But in light of the many challenges we face today, the national interest of the State of Israel and the Jewish people must take precedence over every other consideration."
Later in the post, Liberman also addressed reports and speculation regarding the possibility of a rotational agreement for the premiership.
He denied having held discussions on the subject and expressed his fundamental opposition to an arrangement in which two leaders divide the prime minister's term between them.
"I haven't spoken to anyone about the subject, not even myself," he wrote.
"I believe that the rotation mechanism, from the days of Shamir and Peres until today, is a harmful mechanism that undermines the proper governance of the country and must become a thing of the past."
According to Liberman, "We must make every possible effort to establish a coalition of 61 Knesset members, without the Joint List and Ra'am."
"After it is established, there is a high probability that another three or four Knesset members from Likud could be brought into the coalition," he concluded.
Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer is vowing that Democrats will not allow President Donald Trump to put “a right-winger” on the Supreme Court once they take power, raising the possibility that his party could block a presidential nominee if there is a vacancy in the next two years.
In an interview with The Associated Press on Thursday, Schumer would not say if he would hold a Supreme Court vacancy open until after the next presidential election, as former Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell did in 2016. But he said that Democrats are “not going to allow any crappy nominees” to be confirmed to the Supreme Court — or to the lower courts or Trump’s Cabinet, either.
“The bottom line is we’re not going to allow a right-winger on the court,” Schumer said.
Schumer’s pledge came two days after Democrats won a decisive Senate majority in the midterm elections — a feat few predicted a year ago, when Schumer was facing intense criticism from progressives within his party and Senate Republicans were betting that a favorable map and backing from Trump would help them keep power.
While there is still frustration with Schumer in some corners of the party, the New Yorker is expected to easily be reelected as leader by his caucus after leading them to wins in Republican-leaning states across the country. Democrats could have as many as 56 seats in the Senate if they win Mississippi and Alaska, which still have not been called — “a durable majority,” Schumer predicts, that has been 20 years in the making as he has been directly or indirectly in charge of his party’s Senate campaign operation.
With so many seats, Schumer is betting that “it’s not just a flip of the Senate once.” And the party will have the power not only to reject any of Trump’s nominees, forcing him to seek more moderate choices, but also to halt the Iran war and alter policies that they have been unable to counter in the minority.
Navigating divided government, Schumer says focus will be on costs
Schumer says the party’s agenda will center around lowering prices, along with five issues that they have focused on in the minority — healthcare, housing, Trump’s tariffs, childcare and lowering energy bills. He has said Democrats will try to ban federal elected officials from stock trades, and limit consumer costs from data center expansion.
Democrats also want to investigate Immigration and Customs Enforcement raids across the country and scrutinize the Trump administration, which he says is the “most corrupted administration by far in American history.”
But Schumer would not get into specifics, or how he plans to get around Trump — who posted a picture of a red hat with the word “veto” in large letters on election night.
Beyond Trump, Schumer will also have to navigate his own caucus, including progressives who have criticized him and incoming freshman who won red states and would not commit to supporting him for leader during their campaigns. And to pass any legislation, he will still have to win Republican support as well.
He predicts that Republicans will suffer more losses “and keep following Trump over the cliff” if they don’t work with Democrats in a bipartisan way.
But that will not be easy. Schumer would not say if he would try and eliminate the filibuster, which he tried and failed to do when he was majority leader during President Joe Biden’s term, to allow Democrats to pass legislation with a simple majority instead of 60 votes.
“The focus has got to be on getting things done,” he says. “That’s all I am saying.”
Asked if he would support a third Trump impeachment after Trump was impeached and acquitted twice during his first term, Schumer responds that he would support an impeachment of Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, an effort that House lawmakers have already launched.
And Trump? “That’s up to the House,” Schumer said.
Election wins two decades in the making
Schumer first led his party’s campaign arm in the 2006 cycle and has had a hand in every election since then, with mixed results.
He attributes this year’s wins to good candidates and a focus on local issues in Republican states — the effect of Trump’s tariffs on farms in Iowa, where Democrat Josh Turek won, Trump’s war with Canada in Maine, where Democrat Troy Jackson beat Republican Sen. Susan Collins, and data centers in Ohio, where former Sen. Sherrod Brown won after losing his seat two years ago to Republican Sen. Bernie Moreno.
Still, the party’s focus on lowering costs was “a message that resonated everywhere,” he says. “That’s a big difference than in the past.”
The Democrats who won were not all his recruits — in Michigan, Democrat Abdul El-Sayed represents the progressive wing of the party and beat Schumer’s original choice for the seat, Haley Stevens, in the primary. But Schumer poured $67 million into that race to help El-Sayed and the two “talk regularly,” he said.
Schumer’s future is unclear
Even with his winning record this year, it is still unclear how long he will stay in power — and how long the party will support him as some call for a new generation of leadership. He is up for reelection in 2028, and he won’t say if he’ll run again for a sixth term.
“I’m focused on 2027,” said Schumer, who became the party’s Senate leader in 2015.
Senators in his caucus are sticking by him, but many are also agitating for change as they enter a new era of power.
Maryland Sen. Chris Van Hollen, a potential contender for the 2028 presidential nomination who has not committed to supporting Schumer, said in an interview with the AP on Wednesday that Democrats need to have an “open and honest discussion” about the next leader.
Vermont Sen. Peter Welch said in a separate interview that Schumer “has to adjust and open things up and take into account the criticism of our efforts.”
Still, Welch said, there’s no indication of a leadership challenge. “Schumer did an incredible job on this campaign,” he said.
