Indeed, if Netanyahu does not succeed in forming a government, another candidate should be given a chance to do so before the Knesset is dissolved. Kahol Lavan chairman Benny Gantz was correct when he said, “Since Netanyahu has not succeeded in forming a government, it would be appropriate to transfer the mandate to us.” But Netanyahu, as usual, uses democracy to empty it of content.

Benny Gantz is the most likely candidate and he would have a month to work on it. But the numbers just don’t add up unless he can prise Lieberman, Kulanu and one of the ultra-orthodox parties away, or somehow kick off a palace coup in Likud and entice a senior Likud leader to work towards a national unity Government without Netanyahu as leader.

In the 28 days that Gantz tries unsuccessfully to form a government, Netanyahu can finalize deals between the Likud and the other 65 coalition partners. When Gantz announces his failure, this coalition will have another 21 days to inform the president that they want to re-establish the government… All in all, a bit more time to form a government and close all corners, without wasting billions on elections. (translated by the Jewish Journal)

Selling weapons without congressional approval to a human rights-violating nation, which has yet to demonstrate full accountability for Khashoggi’s death or for its part in a bloody and unwinnable war in Yemen, isn’t a policy — it’s a travesty.

If the new gift to the crown prince is allowed to stand, Mr. Trump will have established a new precedent: Presidents may sell arms anywhere in the world without congressional review simply by claiming an unspecified emergency. Even supporters of Mr. Trump and of arms sales to Saudi Arabia ought to be troubled by this.

Mr. Trump is working with America’s allies—however problematic they are—to avert a war with Iran through deterrence. The more these allies can defend themselves, the less chance that Americans will have to join the fight.

The lack of progress on Yucca Mountain has become a roadblock for nuclear power in America. Eight states have passed laws against building new nuclear plants until the federal government demonstrates it will dispose of spent nuclear fuel. This shouldn’t be a partisan issue. Nuclear power is vital to the nation’s power supply—and to addressing climate change.

After more than three decades of study that revealed the flaws in Yucca Mountain and all of the proposed engineering fixes to get around or overcome them, it is clear that hope and lots of money will not assure safety. So the only other choice is to promote Yucca Mountain as a site where failure is acceptable and safe enough.

Yucca Mountain has turned into a political football and a litmus test for many politicians. Parties have dug their trenches deep: “Yucca or bust” on one side, and “over my dead body” on the other.

The result: gridlock… By making nuclear power companies responsible for managing their own waste, Congress could let government regulators be simply that — regulators playing the role of referee for public health and safety.

This leads to a meta-halachic point, which distinguishes Judaism from Christianity. Paul saw the Law as creating sin, for the Law is impossible to fulfill. Salvation, therefore, must be found outside the Law, in Christ. Orthodox and classical Judaism, in contrast, affirms that the Law indeed can and therefore must be fulfilled. Salvation is to be found within the Law. But by having a group of people – gay Jews – who cannot keep the laws surrounding homosexuality, Orthodoxy drives itself to an untenable reality.

And that, folks, is the essence of the plan the left has in store for Orthodox Jews. It’s not a conspiracy, it’s a natural progressive dialectics, assimilating our values in the values of the culture at large. This assertion on Landes’ part, which puts in question the validity of appointing any prison chaplain who hasn’t stabbed anybody, is not only un-Orthodox (pun intended), it is un-Jewish… It appears that Rabbi Landes removed himself from the boundaries of Orthodox Judaism with his defiant “ordination.”

…it started with a painful dismissal from a progressive orthodox yeshiva, which then inspired a crowdfunding campaign to bring him to Israel to finish his studies.

Beautiful. Incredible. And a sign of hope for our community.

Putting the image of Tubman – a black woman who became an important American historical figure – isn’t politically correct. It’s logical, it’s timely and it would be recognition of the role this woman played in our very complicated past.

Trump’s attempts at subtle racism grow less subtle by the day, and his continued defense of Jackson should concern all Americans. Not only was Jackson an unabashed racist, but he notoriously flouted the law to implement his racist terror. However, following his presidency, conservative Southerners waged a whitewashing spin campaign to elevate Jackson to hero status and minimize his genocidal lawlessness.

President Trump made the absolute correct decision to keep Andrew Jackson on our $20 bill. Abolitionist and women’s suffrage activist Harriet Tubman was a fine lady, but she’s less deserving of the honor than President Jackson.

Yet even if there is a perfectly reasonable explanation for such sightings — which, let’s be clear, is most likely the case — the fact that they are apparently frequent enough to prompt the Navy to update guidelines about how to report them, doesn’t exactly strike confidence in the hearts of even the most skeptical Americans.

What appears to be happening is that official organs of the state are now acknowledging that UFOs exist, even if they are not literally using the term…

(a) Acknowledge that UFOs exist; and (b) Consider that the UFOs might be ETs.

In recent years, the U.S. national security bureaucracy has met the first criterion. What happens to our understanding of the universe if great powers meet that second one?

Given that the government currently has no explanation to what has been observed, by releasing the information that exists, they can enable researchers and scientists to study the possible explanations.

More information increases the chances of an intelligent and productive discussion of these strange occurrences, rather than confining such conversations to supermarket tabloids.