Carl Ganz

News Alert From the Washington Post Biden administration says Israel may have violated humanitarian law using U.S. weapons but that conclusive evidence is lacking "The Biden administration said it was “reasonable to assess” that Israel violated international law using U.S. weapons in its military campaign in Gaza but it found that it did not have enough information to draw a conclusion in any specific instances, meaning U.S. military aid could continue to flow to the country." Now there is an interesting precedent. I have never in my life heard of the U.S. government deciding to withhold munitions from an ally during a war where the U.S. accused its own ally of human rights violations. Can you imagine FDR telling Stalin that the U.S. was going to withhold military aid to them because the Soviets were killing too many German civilians? I have to say that this is just typical Biden. He is trying to figure out how to find a middle ground political solution. He doesn't want to completely abandon Israel since that would turn off Jewish voters and donors, while also playing to his radical left-wing that wants to abandon Israel and make it a pariah state. But, by siding with Hamas propaganda that Israel is committing human rights violations against the Palestinian people, it makes it more likely that the International Criminal Court will have the moral authority to issue a warrant for the arrest of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. This seems designed to undermine Netanyahu in Israel and lead to regime change. It has been clear for some time that Biden would like Israel to have a more dovish Prime Minister. Apparently it is insufficient for Biden to interfere in America's election politics, he needs to do it to Israel as well. As a Republican and a Jew, I hope Israel sends Biden the message that they do not appreciate his machinations. I also hope that Donald J. Trump comes out strongly condemning Biden's duplicity to our ally Israel. Frankly, I would say that my level of disgust with the Washington Post report is understated compared to how I actually feel. This is the proverbial "stab in the back" by Biden against a loyal ally. And I hope that if Biden loses in November, the reason can be traced back to this despicable announcement.

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If Jerusalem is the Holiest Place for Jews why is not mentioned in the Torah? The topic of Jerusalem’s ownership often stirs debate, particularly in the context of peace in the Middle East. While the Hebrew Bible mentions Jerusalem extensively, the Torah itself does not explicitly name the city. Instead, it alludes to it as "the place that the L-rd will choose." This omission raises questions about why the Torah does not directly name Jerusalem, despite its profound significance to the Jewish people. Various explanations from Maimonides and the Rebbe offer insights, suggesting that the omission serves to protect the city from conflict and to encourage a deeper, more personal connection to the sacredness of Jerusalem. Ultimately, the true essence of Jerusalem is revealed through the mitzvot performed wherever Jews are, transforming every place into a spiritual sanctuary in anticipation of the coming of the Third Temple. Takeaways: Jerusalem's Omission: The Torah does not explicitly name Jerusalem, although it is hinted at through phrases like "the place that the L-rd will choose." Historical Context: The city’s holy status was recognized from early Biblical times, yet its explicit mention is absent in the Torah to prevent potential conflicts. Maimonides' Insights: Jerusalem's omission could prevent conflict among nations and within the Jewish tribes themselves. Spiritual Connection: The Rebbe and Baal Shem Tov teach that every place where Jews practice mitzvot can become a spiritual Jerusalem, reflecting the city’s deeper, universal significance. Preparation for Redemption: By transforming our current locations into spiritual sanctuaries, we prepare ourselves and the world for the eventual coming of the Third Temple in Jerusalem. #Israel #Judaism #Jewish #IsraelWar #IsraelHamas #Torah #TorahPortion #Rebbe #chabad #Faith #BringThemHome #jewishculture #Rabbi #Spiritual #Spirituality #Jerusalem #Maimonides #Rebbe 

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Torah corner with Rabbi B. E. Silbert: A different perspective on Chizuk.. (Chizuk means emotional or spiritual support or encouragement.) In times of despair, the divine presence functions as the belief in the possibility of hope. Its function is not to solve the crisis, but to sustain the capacity to face the crisis. The assurance that despair will not go unanswered and that loneliness in the human world will not go ignored is very comforting. Ultimately, the task of exploring the concept of chizuk leads us to ask questions that stem from a root theological mystery, recognizing that even when G-d appears to be absent, G-d is involved in our lives, and particularly, how and why G-d sees to it that we never find ourselves truly alone and abandoned in corridors of uncertainty, In determining how one actualizes chizuk, one may ultimately take a number of varied approaches. A number of commentaries view the underlying goal of man's relationship with G-d as the attainment of chizuk. This involves drawing down G-d's guiding presence into the world. In some way, all of our actions in some way contribute to this essential human goal. #jewishlivesmatter #middot #Chizuk #kabbalah #judaism #Rabbi

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Musicians, actors, and performers—they’re here to entertain us, dazzle us, and occasionally make us wonder why they own more cars than IQ points. Their job is simple: make us laugh, cry, or sing along, all without convincing us they have insights into, say, nuclear policy. Let’s be clear: when it comes to big decisions that shape our future, the stage is no place to set policy. Sure, they play heroes, villains, and even presidents, but the real world isn’t Hollywood (though it can sometimes feel like it with all the drama). Our lives and futures deserve serious decision-making, not a red carpet gala. So let’s leave the spotlight to the pros—just the kind that know the difference between a microphone and a microphone drop.

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When it comes to hypocrisy, no one beats the left. The latest example of this is the attacks on Justice Sam Alito for political opinions his wife holds. Based on reports that Alito's wife, like Clarence Thomas's wife, believed that the 2020 election was stolen from Trump. The left is demanding that these two justices recuse themselves from any cases that come before the Supreme Court involving Trump. The WSJ has this topic as one of its editorials today. I will quote the opening sentence. "The political left will never forgive Justice Samuel Alito for writing the opinion that overturned Roe v. Wade, and so like Justice Thomas he will be attacked to the end of his days." The hypocrisy in this vendetta against these two men because their wives hold strong political opinions is evident from the complete lack of concern the left has for the judge in the Alvin Bragg case having a politically active daughter who is Democrat operative actually raising money and making money from her father's case. No one in the New York Times or the Washington Post thought this should disqualify Judge Merchan. Likewise, the WSJ points out in its editorial that Ruth Bader Ginsburg had scathing opinions concerning Donald Trump and his presidency, which she apologized for expressing publicly. No one suggested that she should recuse herself in any cases coming before the court that might involve Trump or his administration. This latest flap over Alito because of his wife is just the usual "heads I win, tails you lose" way the left engages in things. The is never wrong. The right is never right. And, if you suggest this is a two-tiered system of justice, they will just tell you that its "apples and oranges." As if that explains everything. All it really explains is that the left never sleeps. Never stops militating for their point of view. And no amount of logic or facts can change it. It is all about power and control, and as the WSJ states they will never stop.

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By Rabbi Belinda Silbert. The KaBaD tree diagram: This is a map of the Sefirot that stands for Keter, an abbreviation of the next three Sefirot. It was created in the early 17th century by Isaac Luria, the father of contemporary Kabbalah. Kabbalists meditate on the Omer while focusing on this map. This is a very intricate and advanced practice but can provide the inspired learner with much insight into the workings of the Sefirot and the Omer. The day is seen as a meditation where one considers what aspects of one's personality or emotional state need to be corrected or improved. The Omer, in this system, becomes a spiritual voyage through the human experience and a process for the tikkun (healing or rectification) of the soul. Scholars and mystics throughout the ages have paired each day with traits based on their association with the Sefirot. For a comprehensive understanding of the pairs for each day, one may search for a chart outlining these traits. The most prominent form of spiritual practice based on the association of the Omer with the Sefirot is the examination of each day in relation to the corresponding pair of Sefirot.

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Looks like we're ending 2024 the same way it began. The biggest enemies of #populist cannabis #policy in Connecticut are the so-called advocates who "can't stop, won't stop" shooting themselves in the foot. The #Connecticut #Cannabis Small Business Alliance was rightly mocked and rebuked during this year's legislative session for having flooded state lawmakers with a raft of AI-generated testimony, effectively rendering their concerns moot. Some of this testimony didn't even have a real name attached to it. I personally heard from lawmakers who said that they won't even skim over these documents, much less take them seriously. Now it seems the alliance is doubling down on this non-starter approach to shaping policy. Instead of going back to the drawing board and authoring in their own words, they are discussing tactics for circumventing the automated detection of AI-generated testimony. The saddest part about all of this is that their actions will harm the initiatives underway for next year's session, from people who can actually string a few words together to form a sentence without help. The baby will get thrown out with the bath water, and the 2025 legislative proposals that our ombudsperson worked on so diligently will be the victim of collateral damage. With advocates like these, the cartel oligopoly has absolutely nothing to worry about. -- “Instead of solving for the root causes of our state’s ailing cannabis industry, we continue to pull the wrong levers,” Louis Rinaldi said. “On one side we have a group of advocates whose net impact on cannabis policy has been regressive, after flaunting their exploitation of the gifting loophole and forcing state legislators to close it. On the other side, we have elected officials who instead of serving the people, serve as enforcers of market share protectionism for the state’s four incumbent licensed producers. All while frustrated patients and consumers continue to source from outside Connecticut’s regulated market due to ongoing quality, pricing and trust concerns.”

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How Moab Saw The Battle II Kings 3:24-25 NKJV [24] So when they came to the camp of Israel, Israel rose up and attacked the Moabites, so that they fled before them; and they entered their land, killing the Moabites. [25] Then they destroyed the cities, and each man threw a stone on every good piece of land and filled it; and they stopped up all the springs of water and cut down all the good trees. But they left the stones of Kir Haraseth intact. However the slingers surrounded and attacked it. A Military strategy is an important determinant of military success. Jeffrey Meiser and colleagues in A Scandinavian Journal of Military studies explain what a good military strategy does. " Military strategy is likely to affect both skill and will factors. If strategy can place a military force in an advantageous position, it should act as a force multiplier enabling the successful employment of the modern system of tactics and operations, at the same time boosting the confidence of the troops". We are not sure of Moab's strategy. It does appear as if their perception of blood on the field overwhelmed their strategy. So everyone rushed out to the camp of Israel. It was a bad mistake. Your strategy is necessary to win. All over the Bible God gave different strategies to the people of Israel to win their battles. In Exo.23:27-28, God tells Israel of His strategy. " I will send my terror ahead of you and throw into confusion every nation you encounter. I will make all your enemies turn their backs and run. 28 I will send the hornet ahead of you to drive the Hivites, Canaanites and Hittites out of your way". God has not lost that power today. All you need is to ask God for a strategy to win every battle you encounter. Moab saw blood. Israel saw a people without organization. They whipped their enemy to shame. May all your enemies submit to the strategy of the Name and the blood of Jesus. May the enemy see the blood. May they be defeated as Moab was. Good morning.

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One of the frustrations of being a Trump supporter from January 6, 2021 till the present has been the inability to get Democrats attention on any issue that was viewed as "inconvenient" to their Party. If you mentioned things like "inflation, crime waves, immigration invasion, transgender extremism, or wars abroad enabled by Biden weakness" you would be ignored, ridiculed, or challenged to "prove" it. Of course the prove it part was where the frustration occurred. Because if you tried to "prove" any of these concerns were legitimate, you would have to go to venues where these issues were taken seriously. Venues like Fox News or the WSJ. And these, as anyone who has attempted to quote them, are immediately dismissed as right-wing propaganda. But, the fact is that everything that Fox News, the WSJ, and I have been saying for the past four years about why the Biden administration was an immense failure was true. The irony though is that it has taken the Democrats losing the election to suddenly wake up out of their coma and realize all the issues I mentioned above was what drove voters all races, ethnicities, and income levels to the polls to give Republicans control of every elective branch of government. But the media is too dishonest to admit they were wrong. And they certainly aren't going to admit they had intentionally misled their audience. But, it seems the viewers memories are better than those of Democrat operatives pretending to be journalists. MSNBC hosts, for example, like Joe Scarborough and Mika Brzezinski. Who are now pretending that they have been giving warnings to the Democrats on these issues all along. That perhaps is why viewership at MSNBC is cratering. The viewers are not buying this sudden conversion of talking heads to reality. But, don't take it from me. You want a "reliable" leftwing source for this critique, go watch the Youtube below of Ana Kasparian, a member of the Young Turks, who blasts the Morning Joe crew for their having been uncritical boosters for the Democrat Party for the past four years. Kasparian makes no bones about it, she calls Scarborough and Brzezinski "arms of the Democrat Party" who like the rest of the mainstream media downplayed any flaws in Democrat governance in the cause of defeating the "bigger threat" of Donald Trump. Kasparian, leftist ideologue she may be, seems to be saying that lying in defense of the Biden administration was not the way to beat Trump. And the proof is that the voting public didn't buy it. Her take is that these media stooges underestimation of the voting public's intelligence contributed to Trump's win. For example, she calls Scarborough's amazement that butter costs $7 a perfect example of how he missed the whole issue of why inflation was important. If he was even telling the truth, it still demonstrated how out of touch the elite were to the pain felt by ordinary people. https://lnkd.in/eUzC-M53

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This group went by different names, Illuminati, Freemasons, Cabal, Deep State, Shadow Government, Royals, etc. Now we have a definitive organization that we know has been pulling the strings all along in wars, banking, sociology, and human behavior. ZIONISTS are the deep state. ZIONISTS are the ruling elite. They control politics, war, economies, entertainment, and governments. We now know who these illusive rulers are. They are Jewish supremacists whose ideology is ZIONISM. They believe themselves living “gods” who are masters of the universe. We know who our enemy and oppressor is. Nothing is hidden anymore. All the wars of the last century, the false flags, the economic crashes, the social disorder, all this can be linked to one single group. They have revealed themselves and their seat of power is in Israel. God’s “chosen people” is in fact Satan’s children. Know them by their fruit and their dubious deeds. ZIONISTS want to rule the world using their proxies in the West and gullible Western leaders. ZIONISTS are the ones committing genocide in Gaza and causing death and suffering on hundreds of thousands of people. #Zionism #FreePalestine

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Israel has vowed to destroy Hamas, and it has promised death to the planners of Hamas's October 7th attack on Israeli civilians. In the latest chapter of this effort, I see that Israel may have succeeded in a long time goal of killing Hamas's top military leader, Mohammad Deif. Deif was hiding in a compound in southern Gaza. That compound was hit by eight 2000 pound bombs according to an article in today's WSJ. In the process of killing Deif, it is also reported that more than 90 Palestinians may have also died and 300 wounded in the raid. Reports are that the force of the explosions was such that "the area was vaporized." I imagine Israel considers killing Deif, second in command to Hamas's Yahya Sinwar, a success inasmuch as it is the eighth time Israel has tried to kill him. I also imagine the significant civilian death toll will again bring complaints that Israel is "indiscriminately" killing innocent Palestinian women and children. And increase the volume of those calling it "genocide." But, then you really have to wonder why Palestinians continue to harbor terrorists like Deif? It is one thing if Israel hits a civilian target by mistake. It is another when they hit a military target that is situated in the middle of an area that was supposed to be a safe space for civilians. Israel says that its attack on the compound was designed to limit civilian casualties, but given Hamas's stated desire to use civilian casualties as a propaganda tool, it makes that just that much more difficult. And as noted, the Palestinians themselves seem to be willing martyrs for the cause. No one is asking me how I feel about Israel's military tactics, but if they did I would not shrink from saying that I support what Israel is doing to destroy Hamas's leadership. I have no particular feelings about collateral deaths of civilians except to agree that they are regrettable but seeming unavoidable given both Hamas's military and terrorist tactics and the Palestinian peoples approval of same. As I understand it, the most popular post war leader among Palestinians is a man currently serving 20 years in an Israeli jail for the murder of five Israelis. His name is Marwan Barghouti and he is who Palestinians would like to lead their movement. This is what passes for "moderate" Palestinian leadership.

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When there are errors in the mainstream media, they always seem to err in the same direction. I happened to see a news report that CNN over the weekend said that the four Israelis who were rescued by the IDF were instead "released" by Hamas. There is a distinct difference between rescuing hostages or having the enemy voluntarily releasing them. The latter expression would give credit to Hamas for a humanitarian gesture. The facts on the ground suggest that was never the case. Why CNN decided to use the expression "released" instead of "rescued" is a mystery it seems. But, to someone like myself, this kind of "error" is typical of what I expect from CNN. They have their narrative that Israel's invasion of Gaza is a humanitarian crisis, and hence the news is always slanted in order to make the IDF look bad. The idea that the IDF pulled off a daring and successful raid that actually accomplished its mission ran counter to that narrative. Hence, as usual with the left, the English language was twisted to mean something different than normal. Yes, the Israeli hostages were "released" from Hamas' grasp, but that is not a tribute to Hamas' generosity. Just one more example of fake news from an industry that seems dedicated to misinforming the public for ideological reasons.

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