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A group of federal judges is lashing out at the Supreme Court, accusing the justices of abandoning the lower courts by repeatedly siding with President Donald Trump’s administration through unexplained emergency rulings. In interviews with NBC News, 12 sitting federal judges—appointed by presidents of both parties, including Trump himself—described a deepening crisis in the judiciary. They point to a growing pattern: when lower courts block controversial administration policies, Trump or his aides publicly denounce the judges, and soon after, the Supreme Court steps in to overturn those rulings, often without issuing a full opinion. “It is inexcusable,” one judge said. “They don’t have our backs.” Judges told NBC they have faced threats to their safety for rulings that cross the White House. After Judge James Boasberg blocked deportation flights to El Salvador, Trump demanded on social media that he be “IMPEACHED.” When federal courts struck down parts of Trump’s tariff agenda in March, White House deputy chief of staff Stephen Miller branded it a “judicial coup.” The rhetoric, some judges warned, is dangerous. One predicted that if attacks on the judiciary continue unchecked, “somebody is going to die.” Another said the high court’s behavior makes it appear that “lower courts are being thrown under the bus.” A third told NBC the pattern of rulings suggests that “it’s almost like the Supreme Court is saying it is a ‘judicial coup.’” Ten of the 12 judges NBC interviewed argued the Supreme Court should provide more explanation when overturning decisions on its so-called “shadow docket.” Emergency rulings without reasoning, they said, give the impression that district judges are incompetent or politically motivated. Still, not all judges agreed. One Obama appointee acknowledged that some colleagues have let their disdain for Trump influence their rulings. “The whole ‘Trump derangement syndrome’ is a real issue,” the judge said. “Judges are mad at what Trump is doing or the manner he is going about things; they are sometimes forgetting to stay in their lane.” But even that judge conceded there is a “strong sense in the judiciary” that the Supreme Court has left lower courts to take the brunt of political and public backlash. “They are partially right to feel the way they feel,” the judge said. (YWN World Headquarters – NYC)

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President Donald Trump plans to sign an executive order Friday to rebrand the Department of Defense as the Department of War, his latest effort to project an image of toughness for America’s military. The Republican president can’t formally change the name without legislation, which his administration would request from Congress. In the meantime, Trump will authorize the Pentagon to use “secondary titles” so the department can go by its original name. The plans were disclosed by a White House official, who requested anonymity ahead of the public announcement, and detailed in a White House fact sheet. The Department of War was created in 1789, the same year that the U.S. Constitution took effect. It was renamed by law in 1947, two years after the end of World War II. Pentagon chief Pete Hegseth posted “DEPARTMENT OF WAR” on social media after the executive order was initially reported by Fox News. Trump and Hegseth have long talked about changing the name, and Hegseth even created a social media poll on the topic in March. Since then, he has hinted that his title as defense secretary may not be permanent at multiple public events, including a speech at Fort Benning, Georgia, on Thursday. He told an auditorium full of soldiers that it “may be a slightly different title tomorrow.” In August, Trump told reporters that “everybody likes that we had an unbelievable history of victory when it was Department of War. Then we changed it to Department of Defense.” When confronted with the possibility that making the name change would require an act of Congress, Trump told reporters that “we’re just going to do it.” “I’m sure Congress will go along if we need that,” he added. The move is just the latest in a long line of cultural changes Hegseth has made to the Pentagon since taking office at the beginning of the year. Early in his tenure, Hegseth pushed hard to eliminate what he saw as the impacts of “woke culture” on the military by not only ridding the department of diversity programs but scrubbing libraries and websites of material deemed to be divisive. The result was the removal and review of hundreds of books in the military academies, which ended up including titles on the Holocaust and a Maya Angelou memoir. It also resulted in the removal off thousands of websites honoring contributions by women and minority groups. “I think the president and the secretary have been very clear on this — that anybody that says in the Department of Defense that diversity is our strength is, is frankly, incorrect,” Pentagon spokesman Sean Parnell told reporters in March. Hegseth has also presided over the removal of all transgender troops from the military following an executive order from Trump through a process that some have described as “dehumanizing” or “open cruelty.” (AP)  

A federal appeals court on Thursday blocked a lower court decision that had ordered Florida and the Trump administration to begin dismantling parts of “Alligator Alcatraz,” the disputed detention facility in the Everglades.

The ruling, decided 2-1 by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 11th Circuit, means the facility will remain in operation while litigation over its environmental impact proceeds.

The Department of Homeland Security had already started transferring detainees away from the site last month, but Florida officials have indicated the center will ramp back up if the original court order is struck down.

In August, U.S. District Judge Kathleen Williams instructed Florida and federal authorities to halt expansion of the compound and to start removing fences, lighting, and power equipment within 60 days. Her decision backed environmental organizations and a Native American tribe who argued the detention camp, built in the fragile Everglades, should have gone through federal environmental review.

On Thursday, however, the appeals court suspended that directive. The panel determined that Florida and federal officials have a strong chance of proving the site does not fall under the National Environmental Policy Act, since it is operated by the state and no federal funds have yet been reimbursed for its costs.

Judge Barbara Lagoa authored the majority opinion, which was joined by Judge Elizabeth Branch. Both were nominated during Trump’s first term. Judge Adalberto Jordan, who was appointed by President Obama, dissented.

The Department of Homeland Security praised the decision, calling it a “win for the American people, the rule of law and common sense.”

“This lawsuit was never about the environmental impacts of turning a developed airport into a detention facility,” the department wrote on X. “It has and will always be about open-borders activists and judges trying to keep law enforcement from removing dangerous criminal aliens from our communities, full stop.”

Florida Governor Ron DeSantis also reacted on X, saying the facility remains “open for business.” He added, “The mission continues and we’re going to continue leading the way when it comes to immigration enforcement.”

Built on an abandoned runway, Alligator Alcatraz is part of a broader strategy by the Trump administration to expand detention capacity in response to a surge in ICE arrests. In several cases, Washington has worked with Florida and other Republican-led states to increase space.

Supporters argue the site provides an efficient and cost-effective way to house detainees and deters illegal immigration, while critics have raised concerns about harsh conditions inside the center.

Multiple lawsuits remain pending against Alligator Alcatraz, including one claiming detainees have limited access to legal counsel, and another challenging whether Florida has the authority to operate an immigration detention center at all.

{Matzav.com}

The Trump administration must release billions of dollars in foreign aid approved by Congress, including money that President Donald Trump said last week he would not spend, a federal judge has ordered. U.S. District Judge Amir Ali in Washington ruled Wednesday that the Republican administration’s decision to withhold the funding was likely illegal. He issued a preliminary injunction ordering the release of $11.5 billion that is set to expire at the end of the month. “To be clear, no one disputes that Defendants have significant discretion in how to spend the funds at issue, and the Court is not directing Defendants to make payments to any particular recipients,” wrote Ali, who was nominated by Democratic President Joe Biden. “But Defendants do not have any discretion as to whether to spend the funds.” Messages to the White House and State Department were not immediately returned. The administration filed a notice of appeal on Thursday. Trump told House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., in a letter on Aug. 28 that he would not spend $4.9 billion in congressionally approved foreign aid, effectively cutting the budget without going through the legislative branch. He used what’s known as a pocket rescission. That is when a president submits a request to Congress toward the end of a current budget year to not spend the approved money. The late notice means Congress cannot act on the request in the required 45-day window and the money goes unspent. It’s the first time in nearly 50 years that a president has used the tactic. The fiscal year draws to a close at the end of September. Ali said Congress would have to approve the rescission proposal for the administration to withhold the money. The law is “explicit that it is congressional action—not the President’s transmission of a special message—that triggers rescission of the earlier appropriations,” he wrote. The money at issue includes nearly $4 billion for the U.S. Agency for International Development, or USAID, to spend on global health programs and more than $6 billion for HIV and AIDS programs. Trump has portrayed the funding as wasteful spending that does not align with his foreign policy goals, and in January, he issued an executive order directing the State Department and USAID to freeze spending on foreign aid. Nonprofit organizations that sued the government have said the funding freeze breaks federal law and has shut down funding for even the most urgent lifesaving programs abroad. A divided panel of appeals court judges ruled last month that the administration could suspend the money. The judges later revised that opinion, reviving the lawsuit before Ali. In his ruling, Ali said he understood that his decision would not be the final word in the case, adding that “definitive higher court guidance now will be instructive.” “This case raises questions of immense legal and practical importance, including whether there is any avenue to test the executive branch’s decision not to spend congressionally appropriated funds,” he wrote. (AP)

BREAKING: Biden undergoes skin cancer surgery, months after prostate cancer diagnosis Former President Joe Biden recently underwent surgery to remove cancerous cells from his skin, his spokesperson said on Thursday. Biden’s personal office said he is recovering well from the procedure known as Mohs surgery, which is often used to treat the most common forms of skin cancer. The procedure removes layers of cancerous skin tissue until no more cancerous cells remain. It’s unclear exactly when Biden underwent the surgery. He was pictured leaving a church in Greenville, Delaware, late last month with a large, visible incision in his head.

WATCH: Police officers rescued a woman, a dog, and a 6-year-old child from an overturned vehicle in dangerous floodwaters in southwest New Mexico.

HaRav Meilich Biederman at Selichos tonight at Yeshiva Ohr HaChayim in Yerushalyim.

Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker said it “appears” that ICE will begin ramped up operations over the weekend, but says the federal government has not communicated its plans to the state.

Tens of thousands of Sefardim reciting Selichos at the Kosel tonight.

President Trump will sign an executive order on Friday reverting the Department of Defense’s name to its original “Department of War”

Trump asks Supreme Court to let him fire FTC Commissioner Rebecca Slaughter • President Donald Trump asked the Supreme Court to allow him to fire Federal Trade Commission commissioner Rebecca Slaughter, who had been reinstated to that post after he had terminated her. • Trump in March removed two Democratic commissioners from their posts at the FTC — Slaughter and Alvaro Bedoya — as part of his sprawling effort to exert his influence over federal agencies.The question of “cause” for termination is also at the crux of Trump’s bid to remove Federal Reserve Board Governor Lisa Cook from her role.

President Joe Biden drew attention on Thursday after he was spotted with a noticeable wound on his head while mingling with locals in Delaware.

Video published by Inside Edition captured the 82-year-old leaving a church in Rehoboth, looking frail and wearing a bandage over the large cut.

According to a statement given to The NY Post, Biden had recently undergone Mohs surgery, a treatment typically used to remove skin cancer.

Back in May, doctors diagnosed the president with an aggressive form of prostate cancer after discovering a “small nodule” as well as cancer cells that had already spread into his bones during a medical exam.

He is now receiving ongoing treatment.

{Matzav.com}

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Zohran Mamdani, the leading contender in New York City’s mayoral race, has thrown down a challenge to President Trump, daring him to go head-to-head in a live debate. His callout came in response to the White House’s reported involvement in the contentious campaign.

The outspoken move followed ex-Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s demand that Mamdani square off with him five times — staging one debate in each borough — which Cuomo proposed at a Thursday press event.

“Let’s cut out the middle man,” Mamdani told The NY Post. “Why should I debate Donald Trump’s puppet when I could debate Donald Trump himself?”

Mamdani, who defeated Cuomo in the Democratic primary back in June, accused Trump of interfering in the election. He reiterated claims that he and Trump had spoken by phone about the mayoral race.

On Wednesday, insiders revealed that White House officials were weighing potential administration roles for both Mayor Eric Adams and Republican nominee Curtis Sliwa in hopes of persuading them to exit the contest.

Such maneuvering would leave Cuomo as Mamdani’s chief rival, potentially bolstering his chances against the progressive candidate in what is shaping up to be a crowded November election.

“If Donald Trump is serious about intervening in the mayoral race, he should come to New York City and debate me directly about why he’s cutting SNAP benefits for hungry New Yorkers to give tax breaks to his wealthy donors,” said the DSA-backed lawmaker.

Cuomo earlier in the day criticized Mamdani for declining to participate in debates being planned by PIX11 and CBS News.

“New Yorkers deserve answers. I challenge him to five debates, one in every borough where we speak about the issues in that borough,” Cuomo declared.

But Mamdani countered on Wednesday with a video message to supporters, saying he would only appear at the two debates mandated by the city’s Campaign Finance Board this October.

“In the meantime, I won’t be at this televised circus,” Mamdani said.

{Matzav.com}

The Torah community has been struck by devastating news with the passing of habochur Yosef Shia Friedman z”l, the cherished son of the well-known event planner R’ Eli Friedman.

Just three weeks ago, Yosef Shia suffered a horrific accident when he was electrocuted at his summer camp, sustaining critical injuries just days before his sister’s wedding.

In the aftermath, Yidden around the world joined together in tefillah and heartfelt kabbalos, pouring out their hearts in countless kappitlach Tehillim, adding in Torah and mitzvos.

Today, the crushing news came that Yosef Shia has passed away, leaving his family shattered and the entire community reeling from the loss.

Information regarding the levaya will be released as soon as it becomes available.

Umacha Hashem dimah me’al kol ponim.

{Matzav.com}

Northwestern University President Michael Schill said Thursday that he will resign, ending a three-year tenure marked by the freeze of hundreds of millions of dollars in federal funding by the Trump administration and heated criticism from House Republicans over the university’s response to campus protests. The funding freeze and uncertainty over its finances contributed to Northwestern’s decision to lay off around 200 people over the summer. In a statement announcing his resignation, Schill acknowledged the pressure from the White House. “It is critical that we continue to protect the University’s research mission and excellence while preserving academic freedom, integrity, and independence,” he said. Northwestern emerged as a prominent target of President Donald Trump’s campaign to reshape elite colleges he has derided as hotbeds of liberalism and antisemitism. In April, the administration froze $790 million in federal funding for the private school in Evanston, Illinois, one of dozens of colleges under investigation over claims they did not do enough to protect Jewish students. During the wave of pro-Palestinian protests in spring 2024, Northwestern drew ire from conservatives over an agreement it struck with demonstrators to take down their encampment. In exchange, Northwestern pledged to reestablish an advisory committee on university investments and made other commitments. Schill defended the arrangement during an appearance in May 2024 before a House committee investigating campus antisemitism. “We had to get the encampment down,” Schill said. “The police solution was not going to be available to us to keep people safe, and also may not be the wisest solution as we’ve seen at other campuses across the country.” Supporters of Israel and the administration officials have framed the protests at Northwestern and other schools as antisemitic and “pro-Hamas.” But people involved in the demonstrations reject that characterization. They say advocating for Palestinian human rights and territorial claims, or criticizing Israeli military action, is not antisemitic. Schill also navigated the fallout from a hazing scandal that broke not long after he was named Northwestern’s president in August 2022. Former football players filed lawsuits in 2023 alleging sexual abuse and racial discrimination on the team, and similar allegations then spread across several sports. Northwestern’s football coach, Pat Fitzgerald, was initially suspended then later fired after an investigation. The school concluded he had a responsibility to know that hazing was occurring and should have stopped it. Fitzgerald denied wrongdoing and filed a lawsuit that ended with a settlement last month. Schill will continue as president until an interim leader is chosen and will return from a sabbatical as a faculty member at Northwestern Pritzker School of Law, the school said. He also will work with the Board of Trustees on efforts to restore the university’s frozen federal funding, Northwestern said. (AP)

Critics are casting doubt on the validity of a new resolution by the International Association of Genocide Scholars (IAGS) that accuses Israel of committing genocide, after it was revealed that membership in the organization could be purchased for as little as $30. The revelation coincides with a notable surge in membership following October 2023.

Until this past Wednesday, anyone could sign up for IAGS by paying an annual fee that varied according to income.

The cost ranged between $30 and $125, granting participants access to the group’s activities, including the ability to vote electronically on resolutions—such as the one passed on Monday concerning Israel’s actions in Gaza.

Honest Reporting board member Salo Aizenberg and Middle East analyst Eitan Fischberger showcased on social media just how simple it was to become a member, sparking a flood of new sign-ups. Applicants even used names like Adolf Hitler and Star Wars’ Emperor Palpatine to mock the system.

“It turns out literally anyone can join this body and vote on matters that make international headlines – like the resolution claiming Israel is committing genocide,” Aizenberg wrote on X/Twitter.

He went on to say, “Yes, there are some legitimate academics who are members. But when an organization with no standards, no transparency, and no accountability makes sweeping pronouncements about ‘genocide,’ it isn’t scholarship – it’s politics masquerading as scholarship. And everyone deserves to know the difference.”

By Wednesday night, the group disabled its online membership application form. Those who had recently signed up, including Fischberger, were quickly placed into “inactive” status.

“I want my $30 back,” Fischberger told The Jerusalem Post.

While IAGS did not issue an immediate response regarding the controversy, critics pointed out that the ease of entry coincided with a dramatic jump in membership numbers since October 2023.

Internet archives showed that on October 2, 2023, the association’s roster contained around 150 members. By April 2024, that figure had grown to 280, and by the time of the latest resolution, it had climbed to 440.

Aizenberg raised questions online about how the vote was conducted. A press release dated September 1 stated that 28% of members participated in the ballot, with 86% voting in favor.

The resolution that passed declared that “Israel’s policies and actions in Gaza meet the legal definition of genocide and constitute war crimes and crimes against humanity.”

{Matzav.com Israel}

The IDF on Wednesday disclosed that suicide drones have become the dominant weapon killing Hamas fighters in Gaza, marking a revolution in modern warfare. According to the IDF, the “Atalef” (bat) drone is now widely available across ground forces and no longer requires special air force support to deploy against Hamas. Military officials said the system has become central to combat operations, allowing small infantry units to carry out precision strikes that once required airpower. The military said each platoon — typically a couple dozen soldiers — now has its own surveillance and intelligence drones, a major shift from prewar doctrine when drones were controlled almost exclusively at the battalion level and above. Before the conflict, drones were primarily an air force capability, often reserved for missions involving 250 or more troops. Today, IDF platoons use small reconnaissance drones to enter buildings and search for booby traps or hidden tunnels, while others scan over hills or urban blocks to detect potential ambushes before soldiers advance. The IDF said it has established 14 dedicated drone schools and is training some 20,000 soldiers to operate the systems, reflecting the rapid expansion of drone warfare in the military’s ground operations. Officials said the development marks a turning point in how Israel fights Hamas, with lethal drones now as integral to small-unit tactics as rifles and armored vehicles. “The presence of suicide drones in the hands of ground forces is changing the battlefield in real time,” one officer said. (YWN World Headquarters – NYC)

The IDF released images on Thursday of Hamas Rafah Brigade commander Muhammad Shabana sharing a meal underground with other operatives in March, just weeks before he was killed in an Israeli strike in Khan Yunis.

According to the military, the photographs were discovered at the site of the May 13 airstrike that eliminated both Shabana and senior Hamas leader Mohammed Sinwar beneath Gaza’s European Hospital. The pictures show Shabana and fellow operatives partaking in a Ramadan iftar banquet inside a tunnel, surrounded by dishes of falafel, meats, fish, vegetables, flatbreads, and fried foods. Other images depict him dining with his family earlier in the year.

“Luxurious breakfast and lavish meals during the war: This is what the life of the terrorist commander of Hamas’ Rafah Brigade looked like over the past year,” wrote Col. Avichay Adraee, the IDF’s Arabic-language spokesperson, on X.

He further remarked that while “residents of the sector were forced to break their Ramadan fast with the scraps left by Hamas, the organization’s leaders were celebrating in the tunnels with a grand feast.”

Adraee also accused Hamas of spreading lies to the world. “With one hand, Hamas runs a media campaign about ‘starvation’ in the sector, and with the other, it plunders food to feed its leaders and their families. Time and again—the images, unlike Hamas and its mouthpieces in the media, do not lie,” he said.

Shabana assumed command of the Rafah Brigade in the 2014 Gaza war after three of its senior leaders were eliminated. He controlled four battalions, among them the elite Nukhba force that spearheaded the October 7 atrocities in southern Israel. He had survived several assassination attempts in the past, including during Israel’s ground incursion in Rafah.

His end came through a complex strike in which the air force dropped more than 50 precision bombs in under half a minute, engineered to demolish Hamas’s subterranean headquarters without harming the European Hospital above. Israel confirmed the elimination of Shabana and Sinwar three weeks later.

The IDF’s release of these photographs coincided with the publication of a study by Israeli scholars arguing that allegations of genocide against Israel are based on distorted data and weaken international law.

The paper, published by Bar-Ilan University’s Begin-Sadat Center for Strategic Studies, stated: “Those who accuse Israel of genocide erroneously suggest that most civilian casualties in Gaza were entirely unjustified from a military standpoint, portraying those cases in which deaths do seem unjustified not as outliers but as part of a broader, systematic, and deliberate policy of extermination by the IDF. The small number of instances involving persuasive supportive evidence of intentional killings by military personnel does not support this accusation.”

The authors also highlighted Hamas’s battlefield methods, contending that the group “consistently employs Gazan civilians as ‘human shields’ to deliberately increase casualties and, in turn, amplify international pressure on Israel.” They described Hamas’s underground system as “over 500 kilometers” long with “5,700 connective shafts, all integrated into the civilian infrastructure of the Gaza Strip.”

Reports have further indicated that Hamas and allied gangs seized control of about 85% of the aid trucks entering Gaza, which carried food, water, medicine, and other supplies. According to TPS-IL, Hamas distributed access to these convoys to gangs in exchange for cash, provisions, and vouchers. These gangs were paid $10,000 monthly to run checkpoints and secure Hamas’s control of aid.

On October 7, Hamas killed around 1,200 people and abducted 252 Israelis and foreigners from communities near the Gaza border. Of the 48 hostages still unaccounted for, it is believed that roughly 20 remain alive.

{Matzav.com Israel}