Yes, you read that right. And knowingly giving another person AIDS is no longer a felony in California!
The city of Santa Barbara has passed an ordinance that will allow restaurant employees to be punished with up to six months of jail time or a $1,000 fine for giving plastic straws to their customers.
The bill was passed unanimously last Tuesday, and covers bars, restaurants, and other food-service businesses. Establishments will still be allowed to hand out plastic stirrers, but only if customers request them.
Santa Barbara’s ordinance “is likely the most severe straw ban in the country,” according to Reason, but it’s far from the only straw ban. Seattle banned plastic straws earlier this month, mandating a a $250 fine for violators. Santa Barbara, however, has gone much further than Seattle — even aside from the harsher punishments its law imposes. Santa Barbara has banned not only plastic straws, but also compostable straws. Oh, and each individual straw counts as a separate infraction, meaning that if someone got busted handing out straws to a table of four people, he or she could end up facing years behind bars.
While news from the sky may have been eclipsed by political developments, Israelis should be over the moon to learn that on Friday, from 8:14 PM in the evening until 2:28 a.m. on Shabbat morning, they will be able to view a total lunar eclipse.
ABC News reported on Monday that this will be the lengthiest total lunar eclipse during this century, and it will make the moon appear to be red-orange in color – a “blood moon.” It will be visible from the Middle East, various areas in Asia and Africa, and India, but will not be seen from the United States.
In a total lunar eclipse, the Earth casts a shadow over the entire moon.
Another total lunar eclipse was visible from Israel this past January.
Time and Date AS, a Norwegian company that runs a popular website listing time zones and time-related events, wrote that the total eclipse – where the moon is “completely red” – will begin in Jerusalem at 10:30 p.m., and the maximum eclipse, where “[the] moon is closest to the center of the shadow [cast by the Earth]” begins at 11:21 p.m.
Some groups are using the cosmic event to run programming billed as being out-of-this-world. Bateva, a guiding center based in Mitzpe Ramon near the Ramon Crater, is hosting “The Moon in Love” event, which ties the blood moon to the romantic Jewish holiday of Tu B’Av (15th of Av), which takes place the previous evening. The event will feature observatories, live music, and camping areas.
In a statement on Bateva’s website, tour guide and observatory owner Nadav Silbert said: “No child or adult should miss this rare sight, taking place just once every few decades, at this perfect ideal place… This is a wonderful opportunity to experience the desert around Mitzpe Ramon in all its glory, view the wonders of creation and understand why the Machtesh [crater] was declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site.”
The fact that the eclipse is viewable from Israel didn’t escape the orbit of the astrology-minded on Twitter.
A search for ‘eclipse Israel’ on Twitter shows that while some are simply treating the event as a sky-high experience, others think it portends tension and trouble for Israel. “The longest ‘blood moon’ lunar #eclipse of the century will be on Friday and directly visible over Israel the entire time."
Others may be sitting shiva (mourning) over the eight Jewish self-haters who recently walked out of Birthright programs in Israel to offer support and comfort for those in the Arab Muslim world who oppose Israel. But I am fine with it.
It is long overdue for Israelis and the rest of American Jews to wake up to the calamity that Reform Judaism brought about in America.
They abandoned Torah. They abandoned Jewish tradition. They made a new religion out of the Democrat Party liberal platform with Bernie Sanders as one of their Chief Rabbis. And they have reaped exactly what they have sown. The non-Orthodox Jews (Reform Jews, Conservative Jews) now have a 72 percent intermarriage rate. Most intermarriages are between a Jewish male and a non-Jewish female, so most of their grandchildren are not Jewish. To be sure, the Reform grandparents are Jewish. The Reform halves of the intermarriage are Jewish. They always will be Jewish. But the grandchildren are not Jewish.
232 North Americans are arriving in Israel on Wednesday morning on a special Aliyah flight chartered by Nefesh B’Nefesh in cooperation with Israel’s Ministry of Aliyah and Integration, The Jewish Agency for Israel, Keren Kayemeth Le’Israel and JNF-USA.
The passengers include 127 children under age 17, representing more than half of the flight’s Olim.
This diverse group of newcomers to Israel also includes people from 20 U.S. states and one Canadian province, individuals ranging in age from 6 months to 80 years old, 34 families, 18 singles, three sets of twins, six future IDF soldiers, and 12 medical professionals.
An independent, Orthodox rabbinical court has voided the marriage of a woman whose husband refused to grant her a divorce for nine years. This is the second such case in the court in two months – of releasing women from long-term divorce refusers.
In this latest incident, Oshrat Ben-Haim had sought to divorce her husband for nine years, despite the marriage being over for all intents and purposes, and her estranged husband now living in the US.
An independent, Orthodox rabbinical court has voided the marriage of a woman whose husband refused to grant her a divorce for nine years. This is the second such case in the court in two months – of releasing women from long-term divorce refusers.
The OTD teenagers of Ramat Bet Shemesh are finally taking sweet revenge on the fanatical crazed Chareidim and the fanatics and the sympathetic residents don't like it one bit!
The teenagers are doing the same thing the fanatics did:
Harassing innocent children, pulling of head coverings from the heads of innocent married women, throwing stones and beating of Yeshiva bochurim – these are just some of the incidents described in "Bechadrei Chareidim" by chareidi residents who live near Rival Street in Ramat Bet Shemesh.
The extremist fanatical Chareidim, have decided to take matters into their own hands in the battle against the teenagers, referred to as ‘shabavnikim.’ But they have met their match!
A video documenting a 16-year-old girl who ran for her life in Beit Shemesh was released a week ago and caused a great uproar in the Israeli media.
The documentation led to many condemnations, and Mayor Moshe Abutbul explained that the girl’s pursuers belonged to a small and radical chareidi extremists referred to as ‘Sikrikim’ that was embittering lives of residents.
In a conversation with Bechadrei, the residents accuse Mayor Abutbul of evading responsibility, and accuse him of favoring the teenagers, the residents interviewed, all sympathize with the crazed fanatical Chareidim.
Relating to the Sikirikim, the fanatical uncivilized barbarians, Abutbul said
“This is an extremist group whose actions even the police cannot anticipate and cannot control,” Abutbul said in an interview with Galei Tzahal (Army Radio) after the video of the chase after the girl was published. They mayor intensified his position, adding, “I do not need such residents.”
In an interview with Ayala Hasson on Radio 103, Abutbul reiterated, “It is the same faction that makes life difficult for us. This is a small, noisy group with whom we have no direct connection. The rabbis are also fighting this group because they are also causing them embarrassment – this is not the way of Torah.”
According to other residents, the city’s rabbis, Rabbi Nosson Kupshitz and Rabbi Rotenberg were in contact with the police, and last Thursday they reached an agreement that no more fanatic demonstrations would be held.
At the same time, they received a commitment from police to increase their presence to maintain order in the community. They add that last Wednesday, a planned protest was not held in keeping with their commitment to police.
It seems that the OTD teenagers did not get that memo.
And on Tisha B’Av, the youths gathered in the square.
Some 50 youths gathered on Rival and according to reports began throwing stones and chasing after passersby. People ran into the nearby shul for cover. They phoned police, but the police did not arrive for some time.
“An avreich from the Cheftziba neighborhood happened to pass by and was attacked and beaten badly.
DIN: There is no police report of that incident and I doubt that happened.
Another community resident, Moshe G. is quoted explaining “we have been abandoned despite keeping up our promise to police. The disturbances continue, and they have even gotten worse. I fear sending my daughter outside to the grocery store. I don’t know who will be waiting for her downstairs”.
DIN: When you start your fanatical demonstrations ... you get crap thrown back into your face, and you are not the ones to decide when the opposition will stop. Too bad .... when you sleep with fleas you get bitten.
Investigators said Tuesday there was no national security risk following the mass shooting that killed two people and wounded 13, as they continued to probe the life of the 29-year-old gunman for clues to what prompted the deadly rampage in a popular Toronto neighborhood.
The assailant, Faisal Hussain, died after an exchange of gunfire with police. His lying Muslim family said he suffered from lifelong “severe mental health challenges” but they never imagined he would do such a thing.
DIN:The Toronto Shooter's Neighbors are unaware of his mental illness
It was not immediately clear whether he took his own life or was killed by police during the attack Sunday night.
DIN:Who cares?
“At this stage, based on the state of the investigation, which is led by the Toronto police service, there is no connection between that individual and national security,” Public Safety Minister Ralph Goodale said.
DIN:If my grandmother had wheels she would be an Egged Bus!
Police Chief Mark Saunders said he would not speculate on the motive for Sunday’s attack. “We do not know why this has happened yet,” he said. “It’s going to take some time.”
DIN: How come I found out within minutes just by looking at his Facebook page and seeing his posts?
HaRav Reuven Feinstein and his Rebbitzen were injured in a car accident on Tuesday.
The Rebbitzen sustained internal bleeding and underwent surgery. Bechasdei Hashem, the procedure appears successful, and she remains hospitalized in Staten Island. The Rosh Yeshiva was badly bruised but x-rays came back negative. The Rosh Yeshiva was discharged from the hospital late Tuesday night.
Rav Reuven is the Rosh Yeshiva of Yeshiva of Staten Island, and the youngest son of Hagaon HaRav Moshe Feinstein ZATZAL. His older brother is Hagaon HaRav David Feinstein Shlita, the Rosh Yeshiva of Mesivta Tiferes Yerushalayim.
Their names for Tehillim are Shalom Reuven ben Shima and Chava Sarah bas Ita Devorah.
A recent Pew Research poll indicates an overwhelming divide between American Republicans and Democrats over perceptions of the importance of the US-Israel relationship. The poll primarily dealt with comparing American and German perceptions of one another, but also touched tangentially on American perceptions of other countries. According to the poll, 12% of Americans said that Israel was the “first or second most important partner for American foreign policy.” Israel tied in third place with Germany, also at 12%, coming behind China at 24% and chart topper Great Britain at 33%. Dividing responses to the same question along party lines, the poll found that 24% of Republicans found Israel to be a top foreign policy partner out of eight countries listed, in second place behind Great Britain at 42% and ahead of China at 18%. Russia closed the list for Republicans, at 5%. On the other hand, Israel did not make the eight-country list for Democrats, for whom Great Britain topped the list at 32%, China came in second at 26%, and Canada closed the list at 6%.
A Pew poll published at the beginning of the year indicated that 79% of Republicans defined themselves as pro-Israel while 6% said they were pro-Palestinian. In contrast, 27% of Democrats said they were pro-Israel and 25% pro-Palestinia
As part of the run-up to the opening of the express railroad between Jerusalem and Tel Aviv, a full train (locomotive and train) arrived for the first time on Monday to the nation's capital..
On its way to the city, the train passed on the new bridges built for it until it reached Ha'uma Station in Jerusalem, which is about 90 meters underground.
