Yeshiva World News

Q: “Do you plan to speak with Russia’s President Putin in the near future?” TRUMP: “I will be, yeah. I will be. We’re having a very good dialogue.”  

POTUS: “I’d prefer not to have a Communist mayor of New York City.” “I would like to see two people drop out & have it be one-on-one & I think that’s a race that can be won.”

Democrats and Republicans pressed US Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. on his recent vaccine policies and their stark contrast to Trump’s first-term pandemic effort to speed vaccine development during a combative Senate hearing

TONIGHT: President Trump hosting major tech executives at the White House. Mark Zuckerberg, Bill Gates, Sam Altman and Tim Cook among those in attendance.  

Internal emails obtained by The New York Post reveal frantic debate inside the Biden White House over one of the largest clemency actions in American history — raising new questions about whether the outgoing president personally approved thousands of commutations before aides affixed his autopen signature. On Jan. 11, 2025, President Biden reportedly gave oral approval to commute sentences for inmates convicted of crack cocaine offenses. But his mechanical signature was not added to three sweeping clemency warrants covering roughly 2,500 inmates until the early hours of Jan. 17 — just three days before he left office. White House staff scrambled late into the night of Jan. 16 to finalize the documents. Staff Secretary Stef Feldman, a key gatekeeper of the autopen, demanded written proof that Biden had actually signed off before she authorized one of the most consequential acts of clemency in U.S. history. “I’m going to need email… confirming P[resident] signs off on the specific documents when they are ready,” Feldman wrote to colleagues at 9:16 p.m. Minutes later, Deputy White House Counsel Tyeesha Dixon forwarded the concern to her chief of staff: “He doesn’t review the warrants.” Emails show aides leaning on Deputy Assistant Rosa Po’s earlier statement that Biden had expressed his “intention” to grant the commutations days earlier. Counsel’s office staff scrambled to draft language confirming that the documents reflected the president’s wishes — even though Biden himself did not directly review the final warrants. The clemency order was issued at 4:59 a.m. the next morning. The sudden announcement blindsided Justice Department officials, who had not yet received the list of affected inmates. When the files finally arrived, DOJ lawyers balked at vague wording in one warrant that referred to “offenses described to the Department of Justice” without specifying crimes. “We do not know how to interpret this,” one DOJ official wrote in an email that night. Another senior official warned that because “no offenses have been described… the commutations do not take effect.” While many beneficiaries were low-level offenders, the warrants also covered violent criminals — including Russell McIntosh, convicted of murdering a North Carolina woman and her two-year-old child in 1999. Some inmates had their sentences merely reduced, not eliminated, leaving ambiguity over how the commutations should be enforced. Biden had previously defended the use of autopen, telling The New York Times it was necessary because “there were a lot of them.” But critics say the new emails suggest staff, not the president, effectively controlled the process. “‘Weekend at Bernie’s’ might be a funny movie, but the president not being in control of the White House is a horror,” a Trump official told The Post. Biden allies insist he made the decisions himself and accuse Republicans of a double standard, noting GOP acceptance of President Trump’s broad clemency for January 6 rioters. Legal experts say autopen signatures carry full legal authority — but only if they accurately reflect presidential orders. The emails suggest aides were working furiously to create a paper trail that proved just that. (YWN World Headquarters – NYC)

LSD reduced symptoms of anxiety in a midstage study published Thursday, paving the way for additional testing and possible medical approval of a psychedelic drug that has been banned in the U.S. for more than a half century. The results from drugmaker Mindmed tested several doses of LSD in patients with moderate-to-severe generalized anxiety disorder, with the benefits lasting as long as three months. The company plans to conduct follow-up studies to confirm the results and then apply for Food and Drug Administration approval. Beginning in the 1950s, researchers published a flurry of papers exploring LSD’s therapeutic uses, though most of them don’t meet modern standards. “I see this paper as a clear step in the direction of reviving that old research, applying our modern standards and determining what are the real costs and benefits of these compounds,” said Frederick Barrett, who directs Johns Hopkins University’s psychedelic center and was not involved in the research. Psychedelic research is rebounding Psychedelics are in the midst of a popular and scientific comeback, with conferences, documentaries, books and medical journals exploring their potential for conditions like depression, anxiety and post-traumatic stress disorder. The FDA has designated psilocybin, MDMA and now LSD as potential “breakthrough” therapies based on early results. Still, the drugs have not had a glide path to the market. Last year, the FDA rejected MDMA — also known as ecstasy — as a treatment for PTSD, citing flawed study methods, potential research bias and other issues. The new LSD study, published by the Journal of the American Medical Association, addresses some of those problems. MDMA, like many other psychedelics, was tested in combination with hours of talk therapy by trained health professionals. That approach proved problematic for FDA reviewers, who said it was difficult to separate the benefits of the drug from those of therapy. The LSD study took a simpler approach: Patients got a single dose of LSD — under professional supervision, but without therapy — and then were followed for about three months. The paper does not detail how patients were prepared for the experience or what sort of follow-up they received, which is crucial to understanding the research, Barrett noted. “In many cases people can have such powerful, subjective experiences that they may need to talk to a therapist to help them make sense of it,” he said. Anxiety eased but questions remain For the study, researchers measured anxiety symptoms in nearly 200 patients who randomly received one of four doses of LSD or a placebo. The main aim was to find the optimal dose of the drug, which can cause intense visual hallucinations and occasionally feelings of panic or paranoia. At four weeks, patients receiving the two highest doses had significantly lower anxiety scores than those who received placebo or lower doses. After 12 weeks, 65% of patients taking the most effective LSD dose — 100 micrograms — continued to show benefits and nearly 50% were deemed to be in remission. The most common side effects included hallucinations, nausea and headaches. Patients who got dummy pills also improved — a common phenomenon in psychedelic and psychiatric studies — but their changes were less than half the size those getting the real drug. The research was not immune to problems seen in similar studies. Most patients were able to correctly guess whether they’d received LSD or a dummy pill, undercutting the “blinded” approach […]

Rep. Buddy Carter (R-Ga.) introduced a resolution to censure Rep. Rashida Tlaib (D-Mich.) for remarks she made at a controversial pro-Palestinian conference in Detroit, escalating Republican efforts to hold the progressive Democrat accountable for extremist and antisemitic rhetoric. Carter’s measure brands the People’s Conference for Palestine as “one of the most radical and antisemitic conferences in America” and denounces Tlaib for using the stage to attack members of both parties for supporting Israel. “Outside of the decaying halls of the empire in Washington, D.C., we are winning,” Tlaib told attendees. She added that her colleagues in Congress “are scared” of mounting anti-Israel protests: “They send me videos and messages of people protesting in front of their district offices, people showing up at their town halls.” In his resolution, Carter charged that Tlaib has “repeatedly displayed conduct entirely unbecoming of a member of the House of Representatives by calling for the destruction of the State of Israel and by dangerously promoting terrorism and extremism, while Israeli and American hostages remain in terrorist captivity.” Carter, who is also campaigning for the Georgia Senate seat currently held by Democrat Jon Ossoff, called the measure a moral necessity. “Tlaib’s vile, blatant antisemitism is a scourge on this Congress, and she must be held accountable,” he said. “Her conduct is beneath that of a civilized person, let alone a member of Congress.” Carter also cited other participants at the Detroit conference, including Aisha Nizar of the Palestinian Youth Movement, who urged activists to disrupt the U.S. F-35 fighter jet supply chain. The censure resolution adds to the mounting political fallout from the Detroit event, which has triggered calls from Republicans for investigations and disciplinary action. It remains to be seen whether Carter’s resolution will advance in the House, where Tlaib has previously faced censure efforts but retained strong support among progressives. (YWN World Headquarters – NYC)

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)  

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.

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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)