Councilman Ari Kagan who ditched Democrats punished by NYC Council speaker

 

The Democratic leader of the City Council is punishing Brooklyn Councilman Ari Kagan for switching to the Republican Party — stripping him of his committee chairmanship and relegating him to a smaller office, The Post has learned.

Kagan said Council Speaker Adrienne Adams was behind the decision to remove him as chair of the panel on resiliency and waterfront after he announced in December he’d ditched the Democrats over their far left, soft-on-crime policies despised by many of his pro-law and order constituents in southern Brooklyn.

“It shows pettiness! Nothing is happening in the New York City Council without permission from the Speaker. It’s the Speaker’s decision of course,” Kagan told The Post.

Kagan said he was also removed from the committees on land use, finance, housing and buildings — and that a resiliency and waterfront panel he headed was disbanded and merged with the environmental protection committee.

He was reassigned to other committees: fire prevention & management, technology and veterans affairs. 

Frum Father, 2 Young Sons Killed in Phoenix Home Fire

 

A frum father and two of his sons were tragically taken from us in a late-night residential home fire near 35th and Northern avenues in Phoenix on Wednesday night.

The victims were identified as Shimon Boyer z”l, 7-year-old Dov Ber z”l, and 8-year-old Nachman z”l.

Firefighters arrived at the scene to find the townhome filled with smoke and flames emanating from the windows. After extinguishing the fire, they discovered Shimon and four children during their search of the condo.

Shimon z”l was declared deceased at the scene, and three boys and one girl found by firefighters were rushed to a nearby children’s hospital in critical condition. Sadly, Dov Ber and Nachman passed away at the hospital, while the other two remain in critical condition, aged between 5 and 12.

Firefighters found no indication that the fire was intentionally set, and the Phoenix Police Department has taken over the investigation.

Please daven for Tamar Tzadika bas Yael Miriam and Shevach Tzion Yisroel ben Yael Miriam b’soch she’ar cholei Yisroel.

Listen to the Eulogy by parents of the murdered Elan Ganeles

 

🕯Funeral of #Elan Ganeles.🕯
The world lost a beautiful soul this week to a senseless act of #Palestinian #terrorism.

May Elan's memory forever be a blessing.🕯 pic.twitter.com/FRg1TISghx

— StandWithUs (@StandWithUs) March 2, 2023

The demonstrators are a minority, even if they bring their children with them.You lost the election, come to terms with it

 

Curiouser and curiouser. The vocal media is concentrating on photos of the losing side of the election in Tel Aviv. Such a display is similar to that in Washington when Trump lost, and how they marched on the elected symbol of power.

But this is Israel. We don’t see the northern and southern cities and towns turned upside down in protest as in America. In fact they are the ones who voted the current government in. They have years of frustration to settle and settle it they did – in the ballot box.

So what if a few hundred thousand demonstrate and keep on clogging up the streets in Tel Aviv, then bus to Jerusalem to continue their protest. The statistics show that millions, not hundreds of thousands voted right.

The demonstrators are a minority, even if they bring their children with them.

A young man was asked what he was doing in the middle of the demonstration as he obviously belonged to what is called the Second Israel (you know, those religious and the Sephardic Jews, second rate all). “Selling them bagels” was his reply. Good for him!

The past has gone, that past wherein people in power in the highest echelons of the army, the top judiciary, the academia, media, public service and wherever one needed to get anywhere : these people gave preferential treatment to their own. They are the ones standing up and leading the mob who are in the streets.

The disenfranchised, three generations after being disadvantaged now are well-educated, financially stable, have representation in the Knesset and do not live in tents or huts as they did in the old days when they were treated badly. They are equals in a democracy, voting as is their right and now, even with all of the big words and the allegations that this is not going to be a democracy, they can and will change the face of the nation to be a fairer and more Jewish nation.

What is the real fear of the Left? It is called demographics. The numbers are stacked up against them.

Whoever is not Leftist belongs to the future majority of Israel. Mothers who have six children together with mothers who have three or four are either religious of some stripe or Mizrachi. The Leftists were more interested in other pursuits, ending up with less children per family. To put it simply, the Left (generally) does not aspire to the values of the Right. That Right, secular or religious, respects Judaism, Shabbat observance, study of Torah, belief in G-d, ownership of the Land of Israel and a lot more.

The Leftists are terrified that in the near future their numbers will never be able to be represented as a majority in the Knesset. That is what all of this noise is all about.

Leonie Ben-Simon

What Happened With the "Re-Opened Case" of the Murdered Chaim Weiss ?

 

The above video, reporting the re-opening of the case was 10 years ago!

Within the last 48 hours I have been in touch with people who have some knowledge with this case. And they believe that it was an inside job. 

Many suspect that the killer was known to Chaim a"h  and may be living in Israel. He should be in his 50s. Some suggested that the killer has since married and divorced. If that is in fact true then he has an ex-wife, who may know something. So if there is divorced lady out there that was married to a Long Beach alumnus that is in his 50s please contact us.  If he did move to Israel and made Aliyah, then he could have changed his name at that time, making it harder to track him down, but his ex would have his updated information.

The people who got in touch with me actually named an individual that they suspect is the killer, who was a student there at the time. This individual in fact did marry and did get divorced and did move to Israel.

I am asking former classmates, especially former campers or staff members to contact me at 

dusiznies@aol.com

The parents are getting older and need closure.

I also need more information on the principal Rabbi Avram Cooper who moved to Lakewood, and is retired, he for sure knows a lot but refused to talk to a reporter in 2017.

Here is a link for more interesting tidbits about this tragic case:

 

Exclusive: Dad of 15-year-old killed in LI Yeshiva dorm haunted by mysterious events leading up to 1986 murder | PIX11

Someone did blog about the case, read the very hair-raising comments on that post 

33 years ago, Chaim Weiss was found murdered in his dormitory bedroom. : UnresolvedMysteries (reddit.com)

Below find video explaining why the killer must have been a frum Jew and maybe even a student. 

 

Just in Time for Purim 2,500-year-old potshard bearing name of King Ahasuerus' father found in central Israel.

 

In December 2022, Eylon Levy, international media advisor to the President of the State of Israel Isaac Herzog, and his friend Yakov Ashkenazi, visited the Tel Lachish National Park and chanced on a small potsherd with some inscribed letters.

When they reported it to the Israel Antiquities Authority, the ostracon was examined in the advanced Analytical Laboratory and studied by Saar Ganor of the Israel Antiquities Authority and Dr. Haggai Misgav of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem.

To their astonishment, it turned out to be a rare find furnishing evidence for the Persian royal administration at Lachish in the Achaemenid period, at the turn of the fifth century BCE.

The Aramaic inscription on the fired potsherd reads “Year 24 of Darius,” dating it to 498 BCE. The short text thus records the name of the Persian king Darius the Great (Darius I), the father of Ahasuerus—also known as the biblical Achashverosh from the Book of Esther, which is read annually on the Jewish festival of Purim.

This is the first discovery of an inscription bearing Darius the Great's name anywhere in the Land of Israel.

The "Healthy Jew" Opens Whatsapp group

 

The Healthy Jew has opened a Whastapp group! See below for more info and the links

You Are How Much You Eat

In his code of Jewish law and thought, Maimonides devoted an entire chapter of The Laws of Character Traits to healthy lifestyle instructions. Choosing health, he began, “is from the ways of God - because when one is sick it’s impossible to understand or know anything about the Creator.” “The ways of God” isn’t a generic Maimonidean stamp of approval; the term refers to the biblical commandment to balance every character trait according to the mind’s guidance. In The Healthy Jew’s debut column, we learned how entering humanity requires employing the mind to guide the body toward health - so healthy choices obviously play a critical role in emulating God’s ways. This central principle deserves careful contemplation. (I’m currently working on a deep-dive series on the topic. Stay tuned.) Today, however, I want to jump straight into Maimonides’ instructions. Let’s be Walkers, not just Talkers. This is Maimonides’ first principle of healthy living: A person should never eat unless he’s hungry and shouldn’t drink unless he’s thirsty. Several lines later, he begins advising on diet in detail: A person shouldn’t eat until his stomach is filled but should withhold at around a quarter from fullness. Later on, concluding his advice on nutrition and exercise: Another principle of physical health: if a person exerts himself a lot and isn’t satiated and his bowels are loose, sickness won’t fall on him and his strength will increase, even if he eats bad foods. After adding that overeating is “like poison and is the primary source of all disease,” Maimonides concludes by expounding on Proverbs (21:23): Solomon said in his wisdom, “One who guards his mouth and tongue has guarded himself from troubles.” This refers to guarding his mouth from eating bad foods or satiation, and his tongue from talking more than necessary. Food quantity, Maimonides tells us, is a critical component of healthy living - even more than food quality. (Important caveat: eating disorders like anorexia are possibly far more prevalent today than in the Middle Ages. So it’s particularly vital to take this advice with balance.)

So Trump Was Right Once Again: FBI director accuses China of trying to 'thwart and obfuscate' Covid origin probe

 

FBI Director Chris Wray said Tuesday that Beijing has stymied efforts by the U.S. and others to investigate the origins of the coronavirus.

In an interview with Fox News, Wray said the FBI believes that Covid probably originated from a "potential lab incident" in Wuhan but that the Chinese government has essentially interfered with its ongoing probe.

"The FBI has for quite some time now assessed that the origins of the pandemic are most likely a potential lab incident in Wuhan,” Wray told Fox News host Bret Baier.

“I will just make the observation that the Chinese government, it seems to me, has been doing its best to try to thwart and obfuscate the work here, the work that we’re doing, the work that our U.S. government and close foreign partners are doing, and that's unfortunate for everybody,” he added.

The Chinese Embassy in Washington did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The U.S. Energy Department has concluded with “low confidence” that the Covid pandemic “likely” originated from a laboratory leak in Wuhan, according to a classified report delivered to key lawmakers on the House and Senate Intelligence committees.

The lawmakers were briefed on the report last month by the Office of the Director of National Intelligence, two sources said Sunday. The news was first reported by The Wall Street Journal.

Baier noted that the Energy Department had cited the FBI's earlier findings in its report.

A report on the origins of Covid, commissioned by President Joe Biden and released by the National Intelligence Director’s Office in August 2021, showed that one U.S. intelligence agency had assessed with moderate confidence that the virus infected humans after a lab-associated incident; four other agencies assessed with low confidence that the virus emerged naturally. The report did not name the agencies, but intelligence officials have said the FBI was the agency with moderate confidence.

Sources have said the CIA is one of two intelligence agencies that are undecided about the virus's origins.

A Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson, Mao Ning, said earlier Tuesday that China has “always been open and transparent” about Covid.

Mao previously criticized the Energy Department assessment, pointing to a 2021 report by a World Health Organization mission to Wuhan that found it “extremely unlikely” that the virus originated in a lab. The U.S. and other countries have criticized the report, saying China withheld data.

Wray touted the work of FBI investigators in the Fox News interview, noting that they include virologists and microbiologists.

Something good may come out of the rioting after all, and it is not deterring terrorists.

 

There is nothing unexpected in the shocking murder of the two brothers, our so dearly beloved Hillel and Yagel Yaniv. The handwriting was on the wall, written in black letters on the Arab homes in the hornet's nest of Huwara, the hostile Arab village through which thousands of Israelis drivers are forced to travel every single day on their way to Tel Aviv and Jerusalem and back again to their homes in Samaria.

US Ambassador Nidescrap takes swipe at Minister Chikli: "An Israeli official that I don’t know"

 

Hey Nides'crap if you don't know the Israeli official, you shouldn't be the ambassador!

US Ambassador to Israel Tom Nidescrap on Tuesday took a swipe at Diaspora Affairs Minister Amichai Chikli, who recently said that Nidescrap should stay out of Israel’s affairs when it comes to the judicial reform being promoted by the government.

“An Israeli official that I don’t know said I should stay out of Israel’s business. I think most Israelis don’t want the US to stay out of Israel’s business,” Nidescrap retorted in comments at the INSS conference.

“Don’t get me wrong,” he added. “We stand with Israel, and we work with Israel. The country is a beautiful democracy and it will continue to be this way.”

Nidesctap’ comments are a response to comments Chikli made in a recent radio interview, after the US Ambassador called on Israeli leaders to “pump the brakes” on the judicial reform.

“I say to the American ambassador, put on the brakes yourself and mind your own business,” Chikli said. “You aren’t sovereign here, to get involved in the matter of judicial reform. We will be happy to discuss foreign and security matters with you. But respect our democracy.”

US President Joe Biden recently weighed in on the judicial reform, in a statement he sent to Thomas Friedman of The New York Times.

“The genius of American democracy and Israeli democracy is that they are both built on strong institutions, on checks and balances, on an independent judiciary,” Biden wrote.

“Building consensus for fundamental changes is really important to ensure that the people buy into them so they can be sustained,” the President added.

Vice President Kamala Harris later commented on the judicial reform as well, telling Politico, “As the president has said, an independent judiciary is foundational for a democracy. And I think that there is no question that we need to make sure that that is supported in terms of what we talk about [and] in terms of our values.”