Commentators and political enemies jumped up crying nepotism the moment on January 9 that the President-elect announced his appointment of his son-in-law, Jared Kushner, as Senior Adviser to the President in the White House Office. Members of Congress and Mr. Kushner’s own lawyer immediately floated competing interpretations of the federal anti-nepotism law, which purports to…
The United States has been kind to the Jews. European physical features have helped them become recognized as white in the American racial caste system. The First Amendment’s promise of religious freedom has helped too. However, the whiteness, and in effect the general welfare of American Jewry may soon be a thing of the past,…
“News of disaster is the only narrative people need. The darker the news, the grander the narrative.” This observation, made by a character in Don DeLillo’s novel Mao II, has never seemed truer than today. Just ask the citizens of Tunisia, who are marking on January 14 the third anniversary of the overthrow of Zine…
Egyptian voters overwhelmingly approved a constitution drafted by President Mohamed Mursi’s allies, results announced on Tuesday showed, proving that liberals, leftists and Christians have been powerless to halt the march of Islamists in power. Final elections commission figures showed the constitution adopted with 63.8 percent of the vote in the referendum held over two days…
Egyptians voted narrowly in favour of a constitution shaped by Islamists and opposed by liberals in the first round of a two-stage vote, a member of the Muslim Brotherhood’s party that sought a “yes” vote said on Sunday, citing its unofficial tally. “The referendum was 56.5 percent for the ‘yes’ vote,” a senior official in…
Israel’s Justice Minister, Yaacov Neeman, has floated a proposal for what is known in Israel as a “Basic Law” that would streamline and codify the legislative process of the Israeli government. If it passes, by Independence Day next year Israeli kindergarteners will be chanting “How a Bill becomes a Law” — in Hebrew. Along with…
Invoking George Washington’s famous letter to the Jews of Newport, R.I., Rabbi Meir Soloveichik of New York’s Congregation Kehilath Jeshurun, one of the foremost Orthodox rabbis of his generation, told a congressional committee on February 16 that requiring health insurance plans to cover contraception threatened “the liberties of conscience” of fellow Americans and “redefined by…
Virginia’s Republican Governor Robert F. “Bob” McDonnell, not the sort to be outdone by a Democratic White House Passover seder, has raised the bar on honoring the Jewish festival of freedom: He’s declared the entire month of April to be “Confederate History Month.” Of course I’m kidding. Actually, the governor’s Confederate heritage proclamation doesn’t have…
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