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Utah Valley University puts out statement on Charlie Kirk shooting

[See updated story HERE.] [Graphic video below.] Charlie Kirk, a prominent conservative figure, close Trump ally, and head of Turning Point USA (TPUSA), was shot on Wednesday while appearing at an event in Utah.

Clips shared across social media showed Kirk being hit while addressing attendees under a tent in the courtyard of Utah Valley University. The event was part of The American Comeback Tour organized by the school’s TPUSA chapter. Other videos captured students scrambling for safety as the sound of gunfire echoed through campus.

TPUSA confirmed to Fox News that Kirk had been struck by gunfire, though details of his condition were not immediately available.

Senator Mike Lee of Utah quickly posted on X after the incident, writing that he is “tracking the situation at Utah Valley University closely. Please join me in praying for Charlie Kirk and the students gathered there.”

Another Utah senator, Ashley Moody, also commented online, noting, “my office is monitoring the situation at Utah Valley University. I pray for Charlie Kirk, the students, and this nation.”

Officials from Utah Valley University’s police department confirmed to the Guardian that shots had indeed been fired on the grounds of the school.

President Trump addressed the shooting on his social media site, Truth Social.

“We must all pray for Charlie Kirk, who has been shot,” Trump wrote. “A great guy from top to bottom. GOD BLESS HIM!”

Vice President JD Vance wrote on social media: “Say a prayer for Charlie Kirk, a genuinely good guy and a young father.” Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth added his support, saying, “Prayers for Charlie Kirk. An incredible Christian, American, and human being. May the healing hand of Jesus Christ be upon him.”

FBI Director Kash Patel said the bureau is “closely monitoring reports of the tragic shooting involving Charlie Kirk at Utah Valley University … Agents will be on the scene quickly and the FBI stands in full support of the ongoing response and investigation.”

California Governor Gavin Newsom also denounced the attack, calling it “disgusting, vile, and reprehensible. In the United States of America, we must reject political violence in EVERY form.”

Just prior to the gunfire, Kirk himself had shared a message on X, posting: “WE. ARE. SO. BACK. Utah Valley University is FIRED UP and READY for the first stop back on the American Comeback Tour.”

GRAPHIC VIDEO: The moment Charlie Kirk was shot:

{Matzav.com}

Trump appeals order blocking him from firing Fed Governor Lisa Cook • President Donald Trump appealed a federal judge’s order blocking him from firing Federal Reserve Governor Lisa Cook while a lawsuit challenging his removal of her continues. • The appeal came a day after U.S. District Court Judge Jia Cobb, in her decision, said, “The public interest in Federal Reserve independence weighs in favor of Cook’s reinstatement.” • The president claimed he was doing so because of allegations by Federal Housing Finance Agency Director Bill Pulte that she committed mortgage fraud.  

Lyme disease can cause serious harm, but so can bogus tests and treatments. The complexity of diagnosing the tick-borne disease has given rise to an entire industry of unapproved tests and unproven alternative treatments that experts say should be avoided, including lasers, herbal remedies and electromagnets “It really is a buyer-beware situation,” said Dr. Robert Smith, a Lyme specialist at MaineHealth Institute for Research. There is no one-size-fits-all approach to diagnosing Lyme. Doctors use a combination of visual clues, information reported by their patients and the standard medical test, which has a number of limitations. When patients show the classic symptoms — including a bull’s eye rash, fever and fatigue — a short course of antibiotics usually resolves them. But a subset of patients will go on to experience months or even years of arthritis, pain and fatigue — poorly understood symptoms that overlap with a number of other medical conditions. That has left an opening for so-called “nonstandard” Lyme tests and treatments. Interest in those products has been amplified by influencers and a growing list of celebrities attributing various health problems to the disease. That might lead patients to spend hundreds or thousands of dollars on bogus tests, which aren’t covered by insurance, followed by unapproved treatments that may do more harm than good. And it’s possible some of them may not have had Lyme at all. In a recent consensus report from the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine, Smith and other experts called for more funding and research into the chronic symptoms experienced by some Lyme patients. “The key thing is that these people are suffering and we need to come up with strategies to alleviate that suffering, whatever the trigger was,” Smith said. At the same time, Smith and his colleagues warn that “profiteering entities” are pushing Lyme products that are “costly, may not work and may cause harm.” Here’s a look at the established approach for testing and treating Lyme and how to spot unproven alternatives. The standard Lyme test comes with limits First identified 50 years ago, Lyme disease takes its name from the Connecticut town where the earliest cases were diagnosed. The challenge of diagnosing it begins with the standard laboratory test, which comes with a number of caveats that must be carefully weighed. The bacteria that causes Lyme, carried by certain ticks in the Northeast and Midwest, doesn’t circulate throughout the body. Often it stays in the skin near the tick bite, making it hard to detect. Instead, Lyme tests look for antibodies, proteins that help fight off foreign invaders, which usually only appear in the blood several weeks after an infection. That’s the best approach available, but experts acknowledge its shortcomings: If the test is given too early it will come back negative because antibodies haven’t yet appeared. “That’s one of the problems,” Smith says. “We can’t say for sure in the first couple of weeks that it’s Lyme disease or not based on these tests.” Also, these antibodies continue to circulate in the blood long after the infection. That means the test can return a positive result years or even decades later — making it difficult to distinguish between a new case and an old one. Medical guidelines deal with this ambiguity by recommending doctors diagnose and start antibiotics in all patients who have […]

A New Jersey appeals court has dismissed a constitutional challenge to the state’s school funding system, ruling this week that Lakewood’s public schools are not failing because of the formula itself, but due to other problems within the district.

The three-judge panel concluded that financial missteps, a reluctance to increase taxes, and disproportionately high spending on busing and special education for more than 50,000 private school students—who are not factored into the formula—were the real reasons public school students were not receiving the “thorough and efficient” education guaranteed by the state constitution.

“Petitioners, in effect, ask us to declare the [funding formula] unconstitutional because it doesn’t yield enough state aid to cover the shortfalls caused by Lakewood’s budget and spending choices, particularly in the areas of transportation and special education,” the judges wrote. “These choices, the record shows, have drained resources away from Lakewood’s public school students.”

This ruling is the latest chapter in a legal battle that has stretched more than a decade, testing whether Lakewood’s children are receiving adequate education under the state constitution. The township, one of New Jersey’s fastest growing communities with a large Orthodox Jewish population, has most of its children enrolled in private religious schools rather than the public system.

Arthur Lang, an attorney for the parents and a former teacher in Lakewood’s public schools, said the court was wrong and that the case would be appealed to the New Jersey Supreme Court.

“You can’t provide mandated services such as transportation and special education for 50,000 kids on a budget designed for 5,000 kids,” Lang argued. “There is no way in the world that mismanagement can be the reason for the hundreds of millions of dollars of debt.”

Another lawyer for the plaintiffs, Paul Tractenberg, faulted the ruling for appearing to “accept uncritically” the state’s arguments while shifting blame for funding gaps away from Trenton and onto Lakewood’s school district.

Although Lakewood is New Jersey’s fifth most populous municipality and had a property tax base of over $11.2 billion in 2024, state data show 445 school districts levied higher tax rates. Lakewood’s school property tax rate of 1.032% was well below the statewide average of 1.376%.

The proposed 2025-26 school budget includes borrowing more than $100 million from the state, on top of a $144.2 million loan the year before and $50 million the year before that. Total spending for the coming year is projected at about $413.4 million.

As of October 2024, fewer than 5,000 students were enrolled in the public schools, including 1,072 in full-time special education programs. At the same time, more than 50,000 students attended private schools in Lakewood, with over 10,000 of them residing in nearby towns.

By law, New Jersey districts must provide transportation for students who live beyond 2 miles from elementary schools or 2.5 miles from high schools. Federal law also obligates districts to supply special education services for both public and private school students.

Lakewood is set to receive $17.9 million in state transportation aid for the 2025-26 year, but expects to spend more than $48 million. In certain years, over half of the district’s entire budget has gone toward transportation and special education—costs that usually account for a much smaller portion in other districts.

Lang rejected claims that higher local taxes would close the gap.

“Even if they taxed to the maximum based on the wealth, it’s still not enough money,” he said.

The litigation began in 2014, when parents of public school students challenged the adequacy of Lakewood’s school aid award, claiming the formula itself prevented the delivery of the constitutionally required level of education.

In 2021, an administrative law judge ruled that while Lakewood students were indeed being denied a thorough and efficient education, the funding formula was not the primary cause.

A final ruling by Education Commissioner Angelica Allen-McMillan in 2024 echoed that reasoning, blaming low taxes, mismanagement, and massive costs for transportation and special education as the leading factors in Lakewood’s financial distress.

“The causes are well-documented, and quite frankly, hard to miss,” the appeals judges wrote. “The consistent pattern of neglect and misfeasance by various elected and appointed Lakewood school leaders with respect to critical governance, finance, curriculum, transportation, and special education recommendations made by respondents over the years lends an aura of deliberate indifference to these proceedings.”

{Matzav.com}

Two senior Hamas officials were wounded in Israel’s unprecedented airstrike on the group’s political headquarters in Qatar, according to a report published Thursday by the Saudi daily Asharq Al-Awsat. The newspaper, citing regional sources, said both men were members of Hamas’s political bureau — the organization’s top decision-making body — and are now hospitalized in a private Qatari hospital under tight security. One of the officials was described as being in serious condition. The revelations, if confirmed, would mark the most direct hit yet to Hamas’s leadership since Israel expanded its war against the group beyond Gaza’s borders. The report detailed how Israel’s strike pummeled a section of the Hamas headquarters in Doha, with four bombs concentrated on the office of Khalil al-Hayya, Hamas’s leader in Gaza and its chief negotiator in ongoing ceasefire talks. According to Asharq Al-Awsat, Hamas officials had gathered in the former office of Ismail Haniyeh, the longtime Hamas political chief assassinated by Israel in Tehran in 2024. One of the bombs landed inside Haniyeh’s office itself. Officials seated in a corner of the room survived but suffered injuries from the blast. The account suggests that a combination of Israeli precision and Hamas countermeasures may explain why the strike did not decapitate the group’s leadership entirely. The paper reported that Israel relied on phone geolocation to target the meeting. But Hamas officials, aware of the risk, have adopted the practice of leaving their phones outside during high-level gatherings — either with advisers or in their offices — making real-time tracking unreliable. Israel has not confirmed the identities of those wounded, but Defense Minister Yisrael Katz said Wednesday’s strike dealt “a painful blow” to Hamas’s senior ranks. “We promised to pursue Hamas leadership wherever it hides — in Gaza, Tehran, Beirut or Doha. That is exactly what we are doing,” Katz said. Still, the survival of key figures highlights the challenge Israel faces in eliminating Hamas’s top tier. The group has proven resilient in dispersing its leadership and adapting to Israeli surveillance tactics. (YWN World Headquarters – NYC)

Troops from the United States, Egypt, the United Kingdom, Cyprus, Greece, India, Italy, Jordan, Kyrgyzstan, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, and Yemen took part in a Military Free Fall event over the Great Pyramids of Giza during BRIGHT STAR 25 in Egypt.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu issued one of his most uncompromising warnings yet on Wednesday, declaring that any nation sheltering Hamas leaders — Qatar included — risks direct Israeli retaliation if it fails to act. Speaking on the eve of the September 11th anniversary, Netanyahu invoked America’s war on terror as a model for Israel’s campaign against Hamas, framing the group’s October 7, 2023, assault as Israel’s own 9/11 moment. “Tomorrow is September 11th. We remember September 11th,” Netanyahu said in a televised address. “On that day, Islamist terrorists committed the worst savagery on American soil since the founding of the United States. We also have a September 11th. We remember October 7th. On that day, Islamist terrorists committed the worst savagery against the Jewish people since the Holocaust.” Netanyahu compared Israel’s strike this week on a Hamas compound in Doha to America’s post-9/11 pursuit of al-Qaida and the raid that killed Osama bin Laden in Pakistan. “Yesterday, we acted along those lines,” he said. “We went after the terrorist masterminds who committed the October 7th massacre. And we did so in Qatar which gives safe haven, it harbors terrorists, it finances Hamas.” Netanyahu left little ambiguity about his message to Qatar and other nations hosting Hamas officials. “I say to Qatar and all nations who harbor terrorists, you either expel them or you bring them to justice. Because if you don’t, we will,” Netanyahu warned. The remarks come a day after Israel’s airstrike on a villa in Doha’s Katara district, a rare extension of the Gaza war into the territory of a close U.S. ally. Qatar has hosted Hamas’s political bureau since 2012 with Washington’s tacit blessing, positioning itself as a mediator in past ceasefire talks and hostage negotiations. Qatar’s government has condemned the Israeli strike as a violation of its sovereignty and international law. But Netanyahu dismissed the backlash, blasting world leaders who criticized Israel’s action. “Now, the various countries of the world condemn Israel. They should be ashamed of themselves,” he said. “What did they do after America took out Osama bin Laden? Did they say, ‘Oh, what a terrible thing was done to Afghanistan or to Pakistan?’ No, they applauded. They should applaud Israel for standing up to the same principles.” (YWN World Headquarters – NYC)

After Israel’s dramatic strike in Qatar that killed senior Hamas leaders, Arab social media accounts belonging to Iranian regime opponents erupted with ridicule toward Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi, branding him the country’s “national jinx.” Critics claim that a string of major upheavals has followed soon after his diplomatic visits.

Just last Thursday, Hamas reported that a delegation of its senior officials, led by Khalil al-Hayya, met with Araghchi and his entourage in Doha. Also present from Hamas were Mousa Abu Marzouk, Suhail al-Hindi, and Taher al-Nounou. According to Hamas, the meeting “reviewed the political developments and the latest events of the ongoing aggression in Gaza,” and addressed “the dangers threatening the Palestinian cause, including attempts to eliminate it, annex the West Bank, and divide the Al-Aqsa Mosque.”

Commentators on Arab networks pointed out that this was only the latest in a pattern. In December 2024, barely two months after Araghchi’s visit to Damascus, the Assad regime collapsed. “Connected to the visit? Who knows,” mocked users online.

Similarly, in October 2024 Araghchi joined several foreign ministers in a meeting with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan. Just days later, massive protests broke out across Turkey. Notably, reporters mentioned that during the gathering, Araghchi was seated far from Erdoğan — yet the supposed “bad luck” still stuck.

On May 24 of this year, the Iranian diplomat met with Pope Francis in Rome. Less than a month later, the Pope passed away. Again, critics asked rhetorically: “Coincidence? Who knows.”

And now, following his meeting in Doha with Hamas leaders — the outcome was Israel’s strike, eliminating key figures of the terror group. On Arab social media, the mocking refrain was clear: wherever Araghchi goes, misfortune soon follows.

{Matzav.com}

Three high-ranking FBI officials were fired last month in a “campaign of retribution” carried out by a director who knew better but caved to political pressure from the Trump administration so he could keep his own position, according to a federal lawsuit filed Wednesday that seeks reinstatement of the agents. The complaint asserts that Director Kash Patel indicated directly to one of the ousted agents, Brian Driscoll, that he knew the firings were “likely illegal” but was powerless to stop them because the White House and the Justice Department were determined to remove all agents who helped investigate President Donald Trump. It quotes Patel as having told Driscoll in a conversation last month “the FBI tried to put the president in jail and he hasn’t forgotten it.” The lawsuit was filed on behalf of Driscoll, Steve Jensen and Spencer Evans, three of five agents known to have been fired last month in a purge that current and former officials say has unnerved the workforce. It represents a legal challenge from the top rungs of the FBI’s leadership ladder to a flood of departures under Trump’s Republican administration that has wiped out decades of experience. Fired agents have leveled unflattering allegations of a law enforcement agency whose personnel moves are shaped by the White House and guided more by politics than by public safety. “Patel not only acted unlawfully but deliberately chose to prioritize politicizing the FBI over protecting the American people,” the suit says. It adds that “his decision to do so degraded the country’s national security by firing three of the FBI’s most experienced operational leaders, each of them experts in preventing terrorism and reducing violent crime.” Spokespeople for the FBI had declined to comment after the agents were ousted. Concerns of reputational damage The suit was filed in federal court in Washington, where judges and grand juries have pushed back against Trump administration initiatives and charging decisions. It names as defendants Patel and Attorney General Pam Bondi, as well as the FBI, the Justice Department and the Executive Office of the President. Besides reinstatement, the suit seeks, among other remedies, the awarding of back pay, an order declaring the firings illegal and even a forum for them to clear their names. It notes that Patel, in a Fox News Channel interview two weeks after the terminations, said “every single person” found to have weaponized the FBI had been removed from leadership positions even though the suit says there’s no indication any of the three had done so. “This false and defamatory public smear impugned the professional reputation of each of the Plaintiffs, suggesting they were something other than faithful and apolitical law enforcement officials, and has caused not only the loss of the Plaintiffs’ present government employment but further harmed their future employment prospects,” the suit states. Unnerving requests from leadership The three fired officials, according to the lawsuit, had participated in and supervised some of the FBI’s most complex work, including international terrorism investigations. “They were pinnacles of what the rank-and-file aspired to, and now the FBI has been deprived not only of that example but has been deprived of very important operational competence,” said Chris Mattei, one of the agents’ lawyers. “Their firing from the FBI, taken together, has put every American at greater risk than when Brian Driscoll, Steve Jensen and […]

El Al Airlines announced the appointment of Moshe Morgenstern, a Gerrer chassid with over two decades of leadership experience in finance and insurance, as the new CEO of its Frequent Flyer Club.

Morgenstern, the brother of Housing Ministry Director-General Yehuda Morgenstern, has held multiple senior positions over the years. He previously served as Deputy CEO of Migdal Insurance and Finance, where he also headed the Technologies and Services Division, and as Deputy CEO of Menorah Mivtachim, overseeing Information Systems, Technology, and Life Insurance.

Throughout his career, Morgenstern has spearheaded major strategic initiatives, advanced digital innovation, and led projects in the field of artificial intelligence.

El Al’s Chairman of the Board, Amikam Ben Zvi, welcomed the appointment, stating: “Moadon HaNose’a HaMamid is one of El Al’s most important growth assets. The appointment of Moshe Morgenstern reflects the importance we place on the club and our commitment to further strengthen its activities and the Fly Card, in order to provide advanced value to our customers. I am confident that his vast experience and proven management skills over the years will lead the club to new heights.”

{Matzav.com Israel}

Working structure fire in Jamaica, Queens at 95-12 Jamaica Ave. FDNY has reports of people trapped.

Footage from last night shows a Russian suicide drone being shot down over the village of Cześniki, Poland.

Additional footage of the “Block Everything” protest sweeping across France, leading to hundreds of arrests and thousands of officers deployed.

The IDF says it will intensify strikes in Gaza City to target Hamas’s terror infrastructure, disrupt operations, and protect Israeli forces, having already hit over 360 targets—including several high-rise towers—in preparation for a major ground offensive.

NEW: Newly released emails reveal Fauci instructed colleagues to “delete this after you read it,” dating back to 2020.

France is facing widespread protests from the “Bloquons Tout” (“Block Everything”) movement, calling for nationwide shutdowns, boycotts, work stoppages, and infrastructure blockades. Tens of thousands have joined actions in cities including Paris, Lyon, Marseille, and Rennes, causing major transport, education, and commerce disruptions. While largely peaceful, clashes with police have led to over 300 arrests, fires, and the deployment of 80,000 officers nationwide.

Dear Matzav Inbox,

There is something deeply disturbing with the way we, as a frum community, enforce “rules.” Everyone knows it. Some are just too afraid to say it out loud. I’m sorry if this letter hurts because it says the straight truth.

We live in a world where every move is scrutinized. Every family, every individual, every institution is judged by the unwritten codes of what’s acceptable. Heaven forbid you should step out of line in hashkafah, chinuch, or social standards. Break one of those “sacred” boundaries and the kannaim and askanim descend like vultures. The whispers start. The meetings are convened. Suddenly, you are an outcast.

And yet, when the topic changes to money—fundraising, tzedakah, business, some new “initiative”—suddenly all those sacred rules that we’re told cannot ever be bent, all the laws of propriety and “communal standards” that are supposedly ironclad, melt away like butter in the sun. What was “assur” yesterday is now “permitted.” What was unthinkable suddenly becomes a “kiddush Hashem.”

We are told constantly that there are red lines we cannot cross. That there are rules meant to “protect us.” Rules that, if broken, bring communal death sentences. But watch what happens when a wealthy man writes a check, or when an organization wants to launch a fundraising drive, or when a tzedakah fund needs to fill its coffers. Magically, the red lines shift. Magically, the rules vanish.

The hypocrisy is breathtaking. A boy can be rejected from a yeshiva because of the color of his father’s shirt, because his parents are divorced, or because his parents don’t fit the exact mold. Families are crushed by decisions that come down from on high in the name of “standards.” But when that same institution needs to raise a million dollars in forty-eight hours, suddenly they’ll parade singers, dancers, gimmicks, shtick—anything goes, so long as the money comes in.

We are lectured endlessly about modesty, about humility, about avoiding gaavah and excess. Yet when it’s time for a fundraising event — locally or across the ocean — nothing is too flashy, no display is too extravagant, no indulgence too out-of-place—as long as it “brings in money.” And the people who a week earlier were policing everyone else’s behavior now beam with pride, slap on the title of “kavod haTorah,” and call it holy.

Ask yourself: When did money become the ultimate heter? When did checks become the key that unlocks every locked door? How did we arrive at a place where breaking rules is unforgivable—unless you can pay for the privilege?

It is quite bothersome to watch how easily we excuse what should never be excused. If an individual dared to cross certain communal red lines in any other context, he’d be destroyed. But if he does it for a fundraising campaign, he’s praised as creative, innovative, even heroic. If a person defies accepted norms in daily life, he’s shunned. If an organization does it to raise dollars, it’s applauded.

The message is clear, and it is poisonous: money sanctifies everything. Hakesef yaaneh es hakol. Money cleanses every stain. Money excuses every breach. Rules are for the little people, for those who don’t have the means to buy themselves out of them.

And so, the very “guardians” of our community—the ones who claim to be safeguarding our hashkafah, protecting our standards, defending our values—become the enablers of the worst hypocrisy. They terrorize the weak while winking at the powerful. They police regular families with an iron fist while giving endless leeway to whoever can sign a check.

We like to pretend we are ruled by principle. But the truth is uglier. We are ruled by money. And the fact that so many people know this and still keep silent only deepens the rot.

It should make every thinking person’s stomach turn. Because once the standard becomes “rules don’t matter if the dollars add up,” then what’s left of the rules? What’s left of the integrity? What’s left of the emes?

A Fundraiser

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{Matzav.com}

Protesters blocked roads, lit blazes and were met with volleys of tear gas on Wednesday in Paris and elsewhere in France, heaping pressure on President Emmanuel Macron and making new Prime Minister Sébastien Lecornu ‘s first day in office a baptism of fire. The government’s interior ministry announced 295 arrests in the first hours of what was a planned day of nationwide demonstrations against Macron, budget cuts and other complaints. Although falling short of its self-declared intention to “Block Everything,” the protest movement that started online over the summer caused widespread hot spots of disruption, defying an exceptional deployment of 80,000 police who broke up barricades and swiftly made arrests. Interior Minister Bruno Retailleau said that a bus was set on fire in the western city of Rennes. In the southwest, fire damage to electrical cables stopped train services on one line and disrupted traffic on another, government transport authorities said. Spreading protests The protests appeared so far to be less intense than previous bouts of unrest that have sporadically rocked Macron in both his first and ongoing second term as president. They included months of nationwide so-called yellow vest demonstrations against economic injustice in 2018-2019. After his reelection in 2022, Macron faced firestorms of anger over unpopular pension reforms and nationwide unrest and rioting in 2023 after the deadly police shooting of a teenager on Paris’ outskirts. Nevertheless, demonstrations and sporadic clashes with riot police in Paris and elsewhere Wednesday added to a sense of crisis that has again gripped France following its latest government collapse on Monday, when Prime Minister François Bayrou lost a parliamentary confidence vote. Macron was installing Lecornu as prime minister on Tuesday, and the protests immediately presented him with a challenge. ‘Another from the right’ Groups of protesters who repeatedly tried to block Paris’ beltway during the morning rush hour were dispersed by police using tear gas. Elsewhere in the capital, protesters piled up trash cans and hurled objects at police officers. Firefighters were called to the downtown Châtelet neighborhood after a fire broke out in a restaurant, threatening to spread to an adjacent building. Parisian police reported 183 arrests by mid-afternoon, with more than 100 other people taken into police custody elsewhere in France, according to the interior ministry count. Road blockades, traffic slowdowns and other protests were widely spread — from the southern port city of Marseille to Lille and Caen in the north, and Nantes and Rennes in the west to Grenoble and Lyon in the southeast. Afternoon gatherings of thousands of people in central Paris were peaceful and good humored, with placards taking aim at Macron and his new prime minister. “Lecornu, you’re not welcome,” read a placard brandished by a group of graphic design students. Another read: “Macron explosion.” “One Prime minister has just been ousted and straight away we get another from the right,” said students Baptiste Sagot, 21. “They’re trying to make working people, young students, retirees, all people in difficulty, bear all the effort instead of taxing wealth.” A weary nation France’s prolonged cycle of political instability, with Macron’s minority governments lurching from crisis to crisis, has fueled widespread discontent that spilled onto the streets Wednesday. Paris protester Aglawen Vega, a nurse and union delegate in a public hospital, said she wanted to defend France’s public services from privatization. “We’re governed by robbers,” she said. “People are suffering, […]

BEAUTIFUL! Singer Beri Weber punched the wrong address into his GPS, fortuitously bringing him to a location where a ger and giyores happened to be getting married just then – and giving him the unexpected opportunity to enhance their simcha.