Barr’s prejudice is not a matter of opinion or debate. It is a matter of public record. In 2017, before he became attorney general, Barr told the New York Times there was a stronger basis to investigate the Clinton Foundation than “so-called ‘collusion.'” Barr barely concealed a sarcastic eye-roll — he even put quotation marks around “collusion.” This is rhetoric you’d expect from Trump’s personal counsel, Rudy Giuliani — not from the future attorney general.

Now, if you didn’t already think Barr was failing to fulfill his oath to enforce the laws as the people’s lawyer (not Trump’s lawyer), this latest episode might do it… What’s Congress to do? First, see what the redactions look like. Second, go to court if need be to obtain a subpoena (after waiting to see if Barr holds out). Third, bring Mueller in to testify, asking him details about the report but also about Barr’s letter and conduct.

…there is simply no doubt that the FBI wiretapped a Trump campaign figure. Is a wiretap “spying”? It is hard to imagine a practice, whether approved by a court or not, more associated with spying… despite the cries from outraged Democrats and the media analysts who simply can’t imagine what Barr might have been referring to, the attorney general’s words were demonstrably true.

…both Trump and Bibi worship only one thing — raw, naked power, and they are not afraid to exercise it… Four more years of Netanyahu and six more years of Trump won’t just change America and Israel. It will change the world — and not for the better.

Netanyahu’s survival will also have a wide impact on politics in Washington, where support for Israel has been almost universal and one of the few areas of genuine bipartisanship. But Trump’s embrace of the Likud Prime Minister in his march to the far right and his attempt to brand any criticism of Israel as anti-Semitic could have significant consequences in the US and even for the Israel itself in the long term.

Trump’s “deal of the century” could put him on a collision course with what is liable to be a government headed by Netanyahu, and parliamentarians who are even more nationalistic. If so, their respective constituencies could force the coalition’s hand, prompting angry reactions that quickly overshadow, and possibly undo, much of the good will.

The possible demise of the “bromance” between Netanyahu and Trump that plays out in the media would definitely harm the interests of both countries while empowering their enemies.

…this apparent victory could allow Netanyahu to continue his scorched-earth campaign to maintain power at all costs — up to and including doing serious harm to the foundations of Israeli democracy… The forces that have pushed Israel in this dark direction are deep and fundamental, the result of Israel’s particular historical traumas and political institutions. Even if Netanyahu’s remaining time in office proves to be short-lived, the threats to Israel’s democratic survival likely will not.

In the event that Netanyahu forms the next government, Israeli democracy will be just as messy, nasty, bitter and contentious as it has been for the last 70 years. But, as proved to be the case with Trump, democratic rule will not end. Israel’s voters will make their decision based on what they think is best for the country. Everyone else has a right to complain about the outcome, but that itself will exhibit an expression of democracy, not its downfall.

Election Day should be applauded as an example of Israel’s democracy and the long way it has come since the 1940s in establishing a robust system and institutions that support democracy. While many express concerns about various laws and mentalities in Israel that are accused of being “undemocratic,” the reality on the ground is that in turnout and diversity of parties, there is a very healthy democracy in Israel. The different parties express themselves in different languages and official campaign adverts were also in Arabic and Russian.

The only conceivable way to avoid a scenario in which the ultra-Orthodox wield so much power would be for Netanyahu’s Likud and Gantz’s Blue and White to form a national unity government. A unity government is highly unlikely given the vitriol both parties slung at one another during the election campaign. On top of that, it seems both factions will control the same number of Knesset seats, setting the stage for serious dispute over which party’s leader would take the reins as prime minister.

But, this is the land of miracles, so we’ll wait and see.

Just around half of Haredi men are employed, an issue long identified by economists as a drag on Israeli growth. At the same time, more than 70 percent of Haredi women work but their salaries are well below the average of non-Haredi women. The two parties, United Torah Judaism (UTJ) and Shas, pledge to try to keep or even build on the status quo, disregarding warnings from Israel’s central bank and groups like the International Monetary Fund of a future crisis without change.

With this kind of power, the Orthodox have a chance to move beyond defending narrow religious issues such as the IDF draft and keeping Shabbat around the country. Our leaders can now look at bringing to the fore Torah ideals such as no usury, legally protected gmachim (not-for-profit financial institutions), just labor conditions – there are 613 such great ideas (I know, it’s actually 248 do’s and 365 don’t’s). In fact, never before have Orthodox Jews been deposited with this much power and responsibility to do good and show secular Israeli Jews the power and beauty of our Torah.

Through Israeli Apartheid Week, the Palestine Solidarity Committee aims to raise the suppressed voice of Palestinians, share their pain, and connect it to other struggles against injustice… This is also why we stand unwaveringly in solidarity with our Jewish brothers and sisters in the face of anti-Semitism. We condemn anti-Semitism with the same conviction and moral clarity with which we condemn Israeli oppression.

It’s no secret that college campuses are often some of the most hostile environments these days for pro-Israel and Jewish students. From BDS resolutions to anti-Israel speakers, young adults are often on the defensive for openly supporting Israel on campus. However, for one week each year, many campuses across North America and around the world are transformed into hotbeds of anti-Israel programming and events known as “Israeli Apartheid Week”

Today, on some of America’s most prestigious campuses the admirable doctrine of “academic freedom” is being abused to indoctrinate students with “anti-Zionist,” anti-Semitic propaganda demonizing the Jewish state and encouraging campus activists to silence those who would speak up for Israel. Those manning Harvard’s soaring ivory tower should be ashamed for both its past and present sins and take action to protect Jewish-dare we utter-Zionist-students from today’s bullying wrapped in academic ivy.

Like most Americans, I was awestruck by the image and the staggering scientific work that went into producing it, and my first thought was… I would like to be “cast into” the black hole, consumed by the nothingness, awed by the curvature of space and time and the breakdown of all laws of physics.

It sounds refreshing, and decidedly less stupid than the world we currently inhabit. I volunteer as tribute. Because right now, here in America, the laws of physics remain intact, but little else makes sense.

What we’re seeing – fittingly, given what we know about black holes – is not so much a presence as an absence. A dark space defined by an asymmetrical outline, an “emission ring”. So perhaps there may be less cause for celebration than for humility, because at a fundamental level, the image is telling us more about what we still don’t know than what we do know.

Nevertheless, if seeing is believing, we have finally glimpsed the monster’s shadow, having heard its whimpers only recently. It appears that one of the weirdest constructs of the human mind exists for real. The transformation of the black hole from a mathematical oddity, emerging from Einstein’s theory of general relativity, to an observable fixture of the cosmos is a testament to humanity’s collective intellectual prowess, relentless curiosity and dogged perseverance.