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TRUMP: Gasoline has plunged from over $4 a gallon depending on where you are… I was in Iowa, and they had $1.85 gasoline… When energy goes down, everything else goes down.

TRUMP: “Just yesterday, the S&P 500 hit 7,000 for the first time ever… Biden’s inflation cost the typical family $34,000, but after one year, growth in real incomes is outpacing inflation by more than $3,000 under Trump.”

TRUMP: “We have the major oil companies going to Venezuela now, scouting it out, and picking their locations—and they’ll be bringing back tremendous wealth for Venezuela and for the United States.”

Hakeem Jeffries on Sec. Kristi Noem: “She’s got to be put on ice permanently.”

U.S. Sen. Amy Klobuchar said Thursday she is running for governor of Minnesota, promising to take on President Donald Trump while unifying a state that has endured a series of challenges even before the federal government’s immigration crackdown. Klobuchar’s decision gives Democrats a high-profile candidate and proven statewide winner as their party tries to hold onto the […]

TRUMP: “Hopefully we won’t have a shutdown. We’re working on that right now. I think we’re getting close. The Democrats I don’t believe want to see it either. So, we’ll work in a very bipartisan way, I believe, not to have a shutdown. We don’t want to have a shutdown.”

TRUMP: This has been the most successful year of any administration in American history… it was just announced that the murder rate in our country saw the biggest drop ever recorded… We had zero illegal aliens being admitted into our country for the last 8 months.

Samsung said fourth-quarter operating profit rose more than threefold to a record high, but cautioned that the chip shortage is likely to worsen this year as AI demand accelerates.

Tom Homan: “President Trump wants this fixed, and I’m going to fix it, with your help.”

TRUMP: I had a very productive telephone conversation with President Claudia Sheinbaum, of Mexico. It went extremely well for both countries. Much of it was focused on the border, stopping drug trafficking, and trade. We will be speaking again, soon, and ultimately, setting up meetings in our respective countries.

Iran’s armed forces have added 1,000 strategic drones across multiple branches, according to the semi-official Tasnim news agency, as tensions with the U.S. and Israel escalate.

A Norwegian parliamentarian has nominated Israel’s Yad Vashem Holocaust Remembrance Center for the Nobel Peace Prize.

The Jerusalem memorial center is “one of the world’s most significant institutions in the fight against antisemitism, hate ideologies and historical distortion,” Joel Ystebø of Norway’s Christian Democratic Party wrote in a letter addressed to the Norwegian Nobel Committee on Tuesday.

“I believe that the Nobel committee should take a stand on antisemitism by issuing this award to Yad Vashem even though I understand it might be difficult because of all the politics involved,” Ystebø told JNS on Thursday.

The 24-year-old lawmaker, who was elected last year to the unicameral parliament for the conservative opposition party, noted that every Norwegian lawmaker had the right to nominate a candidate for the prize.

“There are many people in Norway who, like myself, are embarrassed by our own government after October 7 for being too soft on Hamas, and this nomination is also to show the people of Israel and the Jewish community that they have many friends in Norway,” he said in the interview.

He wrote in his letter that antisemitism has proven throughout history to be “one of the most persistent and destructive forms of hatred,” citing the rise in anti-Jewish violence around the globe following the Hamas-led Oct. 7, 2023, attack on southern Israel, which triggered the two-year war in Gaza.

“Today, Yad Vashem serves as a global anchor in the fight against antisemitism and other forms of hatred,” the letter states. “In a time when antisemitism is once again gaining a foothold in public discourse, Yad Vashem reminds us of what is at stake if hatred and lies are allowed to pervade.

“The Nobel Peace Prize has historically honored those who stand against hatred, oppression and injustice,” it continues. “Yad Vashem does precisely this by being at the forefront of the fight against antisemitism, one of the most serious threats to peaceful coexistence in our time. Awarding the Nobel Peace Prize to Yad Vashem would be a clear recognition that the struggle against antisemitism is a struggle for peace, democracy and human dignity.”

Tel Aviv University Professor Dina Porat, a Yad Vashem senior academic adviser, told JNS, “We are witness today to how hatred caused by antisemitism is again ever so relevant to our very time. By its documentation and commemoration, Yad Vashem offers a clear historical picture and warning about the past and the present.”

Founded in 1953 on Jerusalem’s Mount of Remembrance, on the western slope of Mount Herzl, to commemorate the six million Jews murdered during the Holocaust, Yad Vashem has emerged as a top global tourist site for visitors and educators. JNS

{Matzav.com}

Sanctuary policies protect criminals and put communities at risk, President Donald Trump’s border czar Tom Homan said Thursday during his first press conference since arriving in Minneapolis, arguing that public safety must come before politics.

Homan explained that he was sent to Minnesota earlier in the week to help restore order and to target dangerous criminal illegal aliens living in local communities, stressing that his mission is focused on safety rather than publicity.

“I didn’t come to Minnesota for photo ops or headlines,” Homan told reporters. “I came here to seek solutions.”

He pointed to what he described as the consequences of border failures under the Biden administration, saying that more than 10 million illegal aliens entered the United States during that period, including millions of “gotaways” who avoided apprehension.

According to Homan, many of those individuals present serious risks to both national security and public safety. He said President Trump pledged to voters that he would undo those policies and make protecting American communities the top priority.

Over the past several days, Homan said, he has held meetings with Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, Attorney General Keith Ellison, and Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey, along with law enforcement officials and other stakeholders, despite their political differences.

“We didn’t agree on everything. I didn’t expect to agree on everything,” Homan said. “But you can’t fix problems if you don’t have discussions.”

One point of consensus, he said, was recognition that Immigration and Customs Enforcement is a legitimate federal law enforcement agency charged with enforcing immigration laws.

Homan also said the administration is developing a plan to reduce ICE’s footprint in Minnesota if cooperation continues and violence declines.

“As we drill down on these great agreements [with Minnesota officials] we’ve got, this great understanding we have means less so we can draw down those resources,” he said.

“When the violence decreases, we can draw down those resources. But based on the discussions I’ve had with the governor and the AG, we can start drawing down those resources.”

He added that the reduction could happen even faster if inflammatory language targeting ICE ends.

Homan emphasized that federal officials are not asking local leaders to act as immigration agents, but rather to work with ICE when criminal illegal aliens are already in custody.

“Jurisdictions that refuse to cooperate with federal immigration authorities are sanctuaries for criminals,” Homan said. “Sanctuary cities are sanctuaries for criminals and endanger the residents of the community.”

He praised the Minnesota Department of Corrections for honoring ICE detainers, saying that such cooperation has improved safety for residents and law enforcement officers alike.

Homan also said progress has been made in discussions with Ellison, who clarified that county jails may inform ICE of scheduled release dates for criminal illegal aliens so agents can take custody in a lawful and controlled manner.

“That’s common sense,” Homan said, arguing that making arrests inside jails is safer than tracking suspects after they return to the community.

He rejected claims that cooperation with ICE deters victims or witnesses from reporting crimes.

“Victims and witnesses don’t want the bad guy back in their neighborhood either,” Homan said.

Homan concluded by saying that continued cooperation will lower crime, conserve resources, and carry out President Trump’s promise to put American safety first, particularly in cities he said have suffered the consequences of years of failed border policies.

{Matzav.com}

The Flatbush Shomrim Domestic Response team undergoing specialized training last night by leading professionals hosted by Ohel and led by Flatbush Shomrim Coordinator Tzvi Weil.

Tom Homan: “ICE is enforcing the laws enacted by Congress… No agency or organization is perfect, and the President and I, along with others in the Administration have recognized that certain improvements could and should be made. That is exactly what I’m doing here.”

Airbus’s Beluga ST5 made its final flight into Chester Hawarden Airport in Wales today, marking the retirement of the A300-600ST. The iconic “flying whale” may be preserved on display, as the newer Beluga XL continues transporting oversized aircraft components.

Stephen Colbert: “Do not compare ICE or Border Patrol agents to the Nazis. That’s an unfair comparison. The Nazis were willing to show their faces.”

A long-simmering and deeply contentious issue in the chareidi world burst into the open during a live Israeli radio broadcast, as noted maggid meisharim Rav Menachem Stein delivered sharp and emotional remarks about what he described as the unbearable state of wedding music today.

Rav Stein addressed the topic during his program Sichat HaYom on Kol Chai Radio. To add a professional and musical perspective, the renowned composer and musician Rav Chaim Banet joined the broadcast, leading to an extended, wide-ranging, and highly charged discussion. Listeners also called in, offering firsthand accounts from the “ground level” of wedding halls.

Opening the program the week of Shabbos Shirah, Rav Stein framed the conversation in stark terms. “This is the time when Klal Yisroel celebrates the power of niggun,” he said. “And yet this year, it has become a time for a painful reckoning in the world of weddings.” He asked pointedly when Jewish weddings had transformed from elevated celebrations of the heart into “deafening discotheques,” and whether authentic Jewish simcha had been lost along the way.

One of the most striking moments of the broadcast came from a deeply personal story shared by a caller identified as Daniel, an accomplished yeshiva bochur who described undergoing a severe spiritual crisis during his years in yeshiva gedolah. “I felt like a sealed wall, an iron barrier between me and the Gemara,” he said. At the time, Daniel was heavily immersed in modern, contemporary music for many hours a day, without realizing the connection between that habit and his spiritual decline.

The turning point came at a friend’s wedding, where the band played in an older, traditional style, using sacred niggunim with restrained, measured rhythms. “The next day,” Daniel recalled, “I felt as if a new soul had been planted within me. I dove into the Gemara like someone dying of thirst in the desert.” Rav Stein noted that the story echoed the well-known words of Rav Yissachar Meir zt”l, who would avoid loud weddings and famously said, “How can one attend such a wedding? The neshamos that come down from Gan Eden flee because of the foreign melodies.”

Rav Chaim Banet, the veteran composer who has been involved in chassidic music for more than fifty years, spoke with visible pain about the changes he has witnessed. “I played at weddings for decades,” he said. “Once, the heart was happy. Today, a friend told me: ‘It seems only the feet are happy — the heart is no longer there.’” Rav Chaim recounted a conversation with a secular musician who plays both in Tel Aviv clubs and at weddings in Bnei Brak. “He told me in shock: ‘Rav Chaim, there’s no difference. It’s the same discotheque.’”

Rav Chaim also recalled a gathering convened decades ago by Rav Yigal Rosen, who warned musicians about the spiritual erosion that lay ahead. “The tragedy,” Rav Chaim said, “is that a generation has grown up that no longer knows what good music is. This music has destroyed the inner world of feeling.”

Another caller, Avraham, shared a powerful contrast he had experienced just days earlier. He attended a wedding of a prominent rabbinic family but found the volume and trance-style music unbearable. “I had to step outside; I couldn’t tolerate the decibels,” he said. Wandering into an adjacent hall, he discovered a different wedding altogether — a live orchestra with a choir, gentle melodies, and songs of earlier generations. “The entire hall was dancing. You could talk. There was real simcha,” he said. “I went home carrying the joy of a wedding I wasn’t even invited to.”

Throughout the broadcast, participants offered practical suggestions for restoring dignity and spiritual depth to wedding music. Some emphasized the responsibility of the families making the simcha, arguing that those paying for the music must clearly define expectations in advance rather than surrendering to pressure from outside “event coordinators.” Others urged musicians themselves to take a stand and refuse to play foreign or destructive rhythms, even when requested by the crowd. Several speakers stressed that music is only a symptom, and that deeper chinuch is needed to rebuild a sense of kedusha and refined emotion within the yeshiva world.

In concluding the discussion, Rav Stein returned to a broader perspective. Citing the teachings of the Vilna Gaon and his talmidim, he noted that Moshe Rabbeinu brought down ten distinct forms of song from Har Sinai, later used in the Beis Hamikdash to awaken teshuvah and dveikus. “If a person would hear those precise niggunim,” he said, “his soul would depart from sheer attachment to Hashem.”

As Shabbos Shirah approached, the message of the program was clear and urgent. The choice, Rav Stein said, lies with the community itself: the “boom-boom of the jungle,” or song that pierces the heavens. Rav Chaim summed it up simply and starkly: “This touches our very souls — literally our souls.”

{Matzav.com}

Dear Matzav Inbox,

I don’t know when this happened, but somehow fundraising in the frum world went from something difficult but dignified to something that looks like a bad Purim shpiel that never ends.

Open WhatsApp today and what do you see? Grown Yidden — not kids, not bachurim fooling around — but married people, fathers, mothers, people who are supposed to have some seichel — turning themselves into jokes on their statuses. Begging. Singing. Dancing. Making faces. Doing shtick. All for what? To squeeze out a few dollars.

It’s embarrassing.

Mamish embarrassing.

People are making absolute fools of themselves in public, and we’re supposed to clap and say, “Ah, gevaldig, what mesirus nefesh for tzedakah.” Since when is throwing away kavod habriyos considered a mitzvah?

This whole thing has turned into a clown show. One guy ups the other. If last week someone danced, this week someone has to dance harder. If someone cried, the next one has to cry louder. If someone embarrassed himself a little, the next one has to embarrass himself completely. A race to the bottom, live-streamed for everyone to see.

Hours of nonsense. Paid for with maximum bizayon. What a joke.

Once upon a time, fundraising meant knocking on doors, making phone calls, sitting with people, explaining a need, having some basic derech eretz. It wasn’t easy, but it was normal. It had a certain menschlichkeit to it. Today? Today it’s who can make the biggest spectacle of himself on a status.

And don’t tell me “this is the matzav” or “this is the new way.” That’s nonsense. This isn’t a new way. It’s a lazy way. A cheap way. A way that trades dignity for attention and calls it hishtadlus.

If goyim were doing this, we’d be laughing at them. If some other community was acting this way, we’d shake our heads and say they’ve lost all self-respect. But when it’s us, suddenly it’s holy?

No. It’s mi’us. Yidden should have some self respect. And no, the ends don’t justify the means.

It makes the entire frum world look like bafoons. Like we have no גבול, no shame, no sense of what’s normal anymore. Everything is fair game as long as it’s “for a good cause.”

There are good causes. There are real needs. But turning ourselves into walking jokes is not the solution. Tzedakah doesn’t require turning into an imbecile on WhatsApp.

We can help people without humiliating ourselves. We can raise money without degrading ourselves. And we can stop pretending that this circus is healthy, normal, or something to be proud of.

Because it isn’t.

A very fed-up observer

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