“I don’t speak because I have the power to speak; I speak because I don’t have the power to remain silent.” Rav Kook z"l

Friday, May 2, 2025

Trump terminates NPR, PBS federal funding with sweeping executive order



President Trump signed an executive order late Thursday night terminating federal funding for National Public Radio (NPR) and the Public Broadcasting Service (PBS).

NPR and PBS, which have long been targeted for cuts by conservatives, both receive partial funding through the Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB), which the president argued is unnecessary in the current media environment.

“Government funding of news media in this environment is not only outdated and unnecessary but corrosive to the appearance of journalistic independence,” Trump wrote in the order.

“The CPB Board shall cease direct funding to NPR and PBS, consistent with my Administration’s policy to ensure that Federal funding does not support biased and partisan news coverage,” he added. “The CPB Board shall cancel existing direct funding to the maximum extent allowed by law and shall decline to provide future funding.”

Trump further directed the CPB to end indirect funding to NPR and PBS, including by “ensuring that licensees and permittees of public radio and television stations, as well as any other recipients of CPB funds, do not use Federal funds for NPR and PBS.” 

The president gave the CPB until June 30 to effectuate his directive. 

NPR and PBS both have diverse revenue streams, including major foundation grants, advertising and voluntary viewer and listener donations, meaning that neither is likely to cease operations if they lose federal support.

The CPB is set to receive $535 million in congressionally appropriated funds annually to distribute to public broadcasters in 2025 and 2026. 

PBS and its member stations receive about 15% of their revenues from the CPB, while NPR stations get 10% of their funds from the corporation, according to NPR. 

NPR itself only receives 1% directly from CPB.

Trump had previously called for NPR and PBS to be defunded in a March Truth Social post. 

“NPR and PBS, two horrible and completely biased platforms … should be DEFUNDED by Congress, IMMEDIATELY,” he wrote on March 27.

In his late-night order, the president argued that “Americans have the right to expect that if their tax dollars fund public broadcasting at all, they fund only fair, accurate, unbiased, and nonpartisan news coverage.”   

“No media outlet has a constitutional right to taxpayer subsidies, and the Government is entitled to determine which categories of activities to subsidize.” 

A White House fact sheet on the order suggested that the left-leaning networks’ output acts as a “significant in-kind contributions to the Democrat party and its political cause,” therefore violating the CPB’s legal mandate to be “nonpolitical [in] nature.” 

“The CPB fails to abide by these principles to the extent it subsidizes NPR and PBS,” the order stated. “Which viewpoints NPR and PBS promote does not matter.  What does matter is that neither entity presents a fair, accurate, or unbiased portrayal of current events to taxpaying citizens.” 

In addition to eliminating CPB payments to NPR and PBS, Trump ordered all federal agencies to “identify and terminate” any taxpayer money going to the public broadcasters. 

Trump also tasked Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. with determining whether PBS and NPR “are complying with the statutory mandate that ‘no person shall be subjected to discrimination in employment . . . on the grounds of race, color, religion, national origin, or sex.’” 

“In the event of a finding of noncompliance, the Secretary of Health and Human Services shall take appropriate corrective action,” the order read.

 

Fox News has obtained video footage of Kilmar Abrego Garcia involved in human smuggling

 



This is the man Democrats decided to put their entire party behind

The incident happened during a traffic stop in Tennessee in 2022.

“He’s hauling these people for money,” a trooper could be heard saying.

The footage comes as yet another abuse report has been released where Abrego Garcia’s wife accused him of being physically and mentally abusive.

She has also edited photos of his knuckles which  symbolizes ‘MS-13.’


To the Charedi boys who interrupted our Yom Ha’atzmaut Tefillah tonight, yelling “Tziyonim

 


To the Haredi boys who interrupted our Yom Ha’atzmaut Tefillah tonight, yelling “Tziyonim - Zionists” while we recited the Shema…


Once upon a time, things were much simpler. In the early days of statehood, Yom Ha’atzmaut was celebrated by the broader religious community. Hallel was sung in Bnei Brak’s Great Synagogue and Hasidim, dressed in festive frocks and fur hats, danced in her streets, celebrating the miraculous birth of the State of Israel. Israeli flags flew proudly in fervently religious neighborhoods — the Agudath Israel even encouraged placing them in the window!

The day was marked in yeshivot, like Hebron and Ponevezh. To this day, the flag is flown over the Ponevezh Yeshiva out of deference to its founder, Rav Yosef Kahaneman, who began the practice. Rav Kahaneman’s positive feelings towards Yom Ha’atzmaut and the State of Israel also led him to omit Tachanun, traditionally omitted on festive occasions.

An editorial which appeared in the Haredi newspaper Hamodia, celebrated Israel’s third birthday and encouraged its readers to do the same. The piece, published on the 4th of Iyyar, 1951, begins:

“All over the country and throughout the Diaspora, we will celebrate the State of Israel’s third Independence Day with military demonstrations, stately ceremonies, and gatherings across the country and the Diaspora, together with tens and hundreds of displays and expressions of joy, where the masses will express their excitement for this major historical event.

This holiday is for all citizens of the State of Israel, and any Jew wherever he is who sees himself as part of the Jewish Nation. On this day, we forget our differences of views and stances. Conflicts and disputes that divide us are closed and buried, and the people will celebrate, united and undivided.

For together as one we went through the War of Independence, with all it entailed. We have all paid a heavy price, with our young sons. And together we share the burden, till today, of the realization of the in-gathering of the scattered of Israel, for whose sake the State was established…”

The State of Israel was born by religious and non-religious alike, as Jews of every stripe and political or religious affiliation fought for her independence. They did not have the luxury to sit back and be sectarian.

At a time when tensions are high in the State of Israel, the truths of history remind us that we have more in common than that which sets us apart. Would we only be able to get back to that simpler place in time, set aside our differences, and celebrate again, “united and undivided.”



The State of Israel was born by religious and non-religious alike, as Jews of every stripe and political or religious affiliation fought for her independence. They did not have the luxury to sit back and be sectarian.

At a time when tensions are high in the State of Israel, the truths of history remind us that we have more in common than that which sets us apart. Would we only be able to get back to that simpler place in time, set aside our differences, and celebrate again, “united and undivided”


Posek HaRav Asher Weiss Shlita Urges anyone who can To vote in WZO Elections

 


The radical progressive left is trying to seize Israel’s national institutions.
Millions of dollars are being poured into the World Zionist Congress elections to push an anti-Zionist agenda — undermining Israel, weakening the IDF, and attacking Jewish communities in Judea and Samaria.

This Sunday, May 4th, voting closes.
This is our last stand.

Prime Minister Netanyahu’s Emergency Call:

“I urge you to vote for the ZOA Coalition.
They defend the Jewish people and the State of Israel courageously, without hesitation and without apology.
They have stood proudly for our rights and our nation.
Vote ZOA!”


Every vote matters. The time is now.
Voting ends May 4th.
Vote here: www.votezoacoalition.org

Thursday, May 1, 2025

Song of Makkos

 


Chareidie Rabbanim of Ramat Beit Shemesh Outraged as Hundreds of Followers Dress up Cars with Israeli Flags in a Hundred Car Processon!




The tide, at least, in Ramat Beit Shemesh is slowly turning in the direction of sanity! Charedim decided to honor Yom Hatzmeot with a car procession proudly displaying the Jewish Flag! 

Rabbanim in Beit Shemesh are going literally insane with rage and responded with an entire post of Chareidie minhagim that all Chareidie Rabbanim  in the past "hated Zionists" ! It is of course, riddled with half-truths and whole lies! The Rabbanim made sure that their response be posted on the "tumedikeh" Social Media," of which they previously ruled "yeherag ve'al yaahrog" to be on social media! 

But these New Chareidim are not at all fazed and promised to continue their display of loyalty and Hakaras Hatoiv! They now also opened Shuls with their own Rabbanim in Ramat Beit Shemesh Dalet! 

Below, I translated from the Hebrew as best as I could the Charedie response! 

Israel The Most Alive Society in the World

by Scott Kahn 

As we celebrate Israel’s 77th year of independence, fires are burning throughout the country, likely set by arsonists. An intractable enemy, despite being militarily decimated, refuses to even consider laying down its arms, returning the hostages, and ending the war that it started. Hatred of Israel and Jews continues to rise; 53% of Americans - citizens of Israel’s greatest ally - express negative feelings about Israel. Despite almost a year of unprovoked Hezbollah bombardment of Israel’s north, displacing tens of thousands of residents, only one in five Europeans approved of Israel’s eventual military response in Lebanon; in almost all major Western European nations, about twice as many people have a negative view of Israel as those who express a positive opinion.

In Israel itself, the population is hopelessly divided. Whether with regard to the government’s conduct of the war, or the necessity of appointing a commission of inquiry to assign responsibility for the disaster of October 7th, or judicial reform, or a plethora of other issues, Israeli citizens are seeing eye to eye less and less. And of course, the continued refusal of the Chareidi political and religious leadership to even consider sharing the national military burden is a moral stain on the religious world that contributes mightily to the societal division.

Husband is missing but the wife couldn't care less!

 

Here’s how long it takes a hacker to figure out your passwords — and the safest to use

 


Having to come up with a password that matches the symbol requirements for every site can be a hassle, but there’s good reason for it.

Of course, the more your password has, the longer it takes for a hacker to figure it out.

But it’s even more specific than that in terms of how long it would take to guess, according to cybersecurity firm Hive Systems Password Table.

For example, a password with five characters using numbers, upper and lowercase letters would take a hacker just two hours to discover it. However, a password with 18 characters using numbers, symbols, upper and lowercase letters would take 463 quintillion years.

The password table was first designed in 2020 to show how fast a hacker can “brute-force” your password based on data from Howsecureismypassword.net.

They started by looking at the strength of a hashed password against a hacking attempt based on length, complexity, hashing algorithm used by the victim and hardware used by the attacker.

A “hashed” password is a scrambled version of text that can be reproduced if you know what hash software was used.

The experts at Hive Systems analyzed password data breaches from 2007 to now reported by HaveIBeenPwned.

The table focuses on the concept that the hacker is working in a “black box” situation, starting from scratch to hack the password.

This shows the “worst case” or “maximum time required” to do the hacking.

Most hackers, according to the blog post, prioritize the words and strings of characters that they’ll focus on first through previously stolen hashes, dictionary attacks and rainbow tables.

If your password was part of a previous data breach or uses words in the dictionary, then a hacker can figure out your password — no matter how many characters, symbols or numbers used — instantly.

They noted that these metrics go off the assumption that your password has not been part of a breach in the past.

Hackers will often try hashes of all common and breached passwords before even thinking about moving on to new ones.

AI Generated Herzl & Ben Gurion Singing "Am Yisrael Chai"