Ruth Was Right

To encounter Ruth Wisse is to learn from her, and I was blessed to be her student for the first time a decade ago. She, an eminent scholar of literature at Harvard, spent a weekend with us, a group of Jewish students in the Tikvah Fund’s then-nascent Collegiate Summer Honors program, doing what comes most naturally to her: teaching. She did so in her inimitable way. One of my friends described it precisely, remarking that Wisse was three-quarters Harvard professor, raising novel interpretations of the texts before us with erudition and articulateness, and one-quarter your bubbe at the Shabbat table speaking plain truths about the world. That persona made her all the more endearing and perhaps even more effective; from among her students that weekend I now count multiple brilliant young litigators, several professors and teachers, and a prolific member of the Wall Street Journal’s editorial board. The post Ruth Was Right appeared first on .

Pentagon ignores widow after dropping husband’s name from soldier casualty list

A bereaved new widow could not gather the will to respond to news that the Pentagon had still not replaced the names of her husband and three other soldiers to the public casualty count of soldiers killed during President Donald Trump’s Iran war last weekend.The Pentagon’s official online list of service member casualties did not include the four soldiers despite the fact that their names were included in a Pentagon press release on the formal transfer of their remains back to the United States on Wednesday. CNN anchor Erin Burnett reported on Friday that a day after the Pentagon suddenly changed its casualty count in the Iraq war, the websites that tracks war casualties still had the wrong number posted with just 14 fatalities listed, despite 18 service members being killed in the Iraq war since Operation Epic. Fury began.Jamiah Gonzalez-Swinton, wife of Sgt. Michael Swinton, could barely offer reactions to the news, however, on CNN’s “Erin Burnett Out Front.”“Now, the Pentagon does say it's a glitch,” Burnett told Swinton. “Has anyone spoken to you about this or told you anything about it?”After a long pause while gathering her nerve, Swinton replied: Um, nobody. Nobody has reached out yet.”“Um. Wow. Um. I kind of don't have words for that,” Swinton added after another visible effort.Earlier in the interview, before collapsing into emotion, Swinton described Sgt. Michael Swinton as “a big mush ball” for his new daughter. “It was beautiful to see their bond. Their bond was so strong,” she said, adding that her last video with her husband was three days before his death, but that the conference “felt different.”“He just sounded different,” she told Burnett. “Like, I don't want to say he sounded scared, but the way he spoke, he, you know, he said that he loved me. He wanted to talk to our daughter, and he was asking me if I was okay. And the conversation didn't even last a minute. And I just I was like, man, even the time of day that he called was really early in the morning for him. And it wasn't like him to call at that time. So, it just, the whole thing just felt off.”“I know that you said in those final days he sounded exhausted. Do you think that that he knew that things really had just become so much more dangerous in these past days,” Burnett pressed.“Um, I didn't share this yet, but he had sent me a message and he said, ‘you know, if I die, just make sure that my kids know that I love them.’ And that was maybe a month before this happened. So, I think we all knew that things were getting pretty serious. I just didn't think this would be the outcome. I don't think any of us did,” Swinton said.Trump, who unilaterally started the war with Iran, has himself ducked the draft and military combat during the Vietnam War through numerous educational and then medical deferments. After graduation in 1968, he avoided military service with a 1-Y medical deferment, which he said was due to a problem with his foot, earning him the name “Captain Bone Spurs” among critics. - YouTube youtu.be

GOP lawmakers bracing for a rough summer recess: Politico

Republican lawmakers heading home for summer recess faced a messaging crisis after accomplishing little despite holding majorities in both chambers, according to Politico. GOP members were aware they will confront voters' frustration over issues dominating national attention: rising gas prices, inflation, and healthcare costs. House Majority Leader Steve Scalise attempted to project confidence Thursday."Cost of living comes up. Safety and security, border security comes up. All of them come up, you know, and that's why it's important to remind people that we're addressing those issues," he said. Yet his claims are contradicted by the Iran war consistently draining resources, driving fuel prices and souring the economy for working families. The timing of the war powers vote coincides with members leaving town and four Republican defections. In addition, Vulnerable Michigan incumbent Rep. Tom Barrett claims GOP lawmakers are already worried about Democratic takeover prospects in 2027, Politico wrote. “We have a hell of a lot of work to do, that’s clear,” one House Republican who was granted anonymity told the outlet.Watch the video below. Your browser does not support the video tag.

GOP lawmaker demands answers after Smithsonian chief urged moving beyond 'America First mentality'

Rep. Mike Carey grilled Smithsonian leadership on why the National Museum of American History dropped "American history" from its mission statement.

Could you lose your right to vote if you bet on an election?

Could you accidentally gamble away your right to vote? If you live in Wisconsin, and you bought contracts on a prediction market like Kalshi about who would win elections there, you’ve done just that, according to state election officials. And they think that if you vote anyway, you could be prosecuted. “We want voters to […]

Former MSNBC Analyst Admits Republicans Were Right About This Regarding Our Elections

Trump explains what Barack Obama got right when he hosted WHCD

President Donald Trump took some time to compliment former President Barack Obama during his WHCD dinner remarks. The rescheduled White House Correspondents’ Association Dinner went off without […]

Trump says Saudi nuclear agreement won't move forward without Abraham Accords: 'They have to be a member'

Trump says Saudi Arabia must join the Abraham Accords before any civilian nuclear energy deal moves forward, insisting the condition was always understood.