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It’s a feeling permeating the heavily Jewish neighborhood — and one that has affected how the swing-state community has processed the 2024 election. Amid a somber anniversary and with Election Day on the horizon, concerns about rising antisemitism are at the forefront of many voters’ minds. “I don’t believe a word Trump says, period, much less how he is trying to court Jewish voters. Republicans are aiming to make inroads with Jewish voters and chip away at the margins, with groups including the Republican Jewish Coalition spending big on ads like one featuring three Jewish women discussing antisemitism at an iconic Jewish deli in the Philadelphia suburbs. He says the Jewish community has felt a “political awakening” after the terror attacks on Oct. 7, and if that does not manifest in the presidential race, there could be signs of it in down-ballot races.

Persons: Seth Adelson, ” Adelson, ”, Rona Kaufman, John Kerry’s, Barack Obama’s, Hillary Clinton, Donald Trump, Kamala Harris, I’m, Harris, ” Kaufman, Kaufman, Lynda Wrenn, Trump, Wrenn, Trump’s, John Kelly, Adolf Hitler, ” Harris, David, Joe Biden, “, Jackie Orlanksy, Barbara Walko, ” Walko, Orlasnky, Doug Emhoff, ” Orlanksy, Walko, Summer Lee, Democratic Sen, Bob Casey, Lee, Lee’s, Jeremy Kazzaz Organizations: PITTSBURGH, Beth Shalom Synagogue, Democratic, Democratic Party, Republican, NBC News, The New York Times, Trump, Brandeis University, Jewish, Republican Jewish Coalition, Democratic Rep, Beacon Coalition, Jewish American Locations: Beth, Israel, Gaza, Squirrel Hill, Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh

Read previewVice President Kamala Harris and former President Donald Trump met for their first debate on Tuesday night. Kamala Harris made a point to shake hands with TrumpFor the first time since 2016, the two presidential candidates shook hands on the debate stage. "Kamala Harris, good to debate with you," the vice president could be heard saying. AdvertisementThat's a choice, given the performative aspects of a high-stakes presidential debate. AdvertisementFormer President Donald Trump and Vice President Kamala Harris during the ABC News presidential debate.

Persons: —, Kamala Harris, Donald Trump, Harris, didn't, Trump, Roe, Wade, Sen, JD Vance, Thomas Matthew Crooks, Joe Biden, Biden Trump, Biden, Putin, Vladimir Putin Organizations: Service, National Constitution Center, Business, Trump, ABC, ABC News Trump, Washington Post, United Locations: Philadelphia, Butler , Pennsylvania, Atlanta, United States, Ukraine, Poland, Pennsylvania

☆ Opinion | The Radical Message of ‘Sweet Valley High’
▼ + stars: | 2024-08-03 | by ( Sally Franson | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

When news broke that Francine Pascal, creator of the “Sweet Valley High” universe, died last weekend at the age of 92, appreciations began rolling across the internet like a certain red Spider through a high school parking lot. Nostalgic and bereaved, I drove to the library to check out a few, only to discover they had been removed from the catalog. “But I loved them.”This backhanded praise would have been familiar to Ms. Pascal, whose literary talents were either sneered at or dismissed for decades. Even as her franchise blanketed best-seller lists — 200 million books and counting, thanks to teenage readers like me — she, and they, received astonishingly little media coverage. For those affected by the blackout, the Sweet Valley universe comprises hundreds of novels and numerous spinoffs, all set in the eponymous Southern California town and starring Jessica and Elizabeth Wakefield, identical twins with blue-green eyes, shining blond hair and sky-high ambitions — Elizabeth’s literary, Jessica’s social.

Persons: Francine Pascal, appreciations, Pascal, Jessica, Elizabeth Wakefield, — Organizations: Guardian, Playboy Locations: Sweet, Southern California

☆ From hunter to guardian: How the ‘Snakeman of India’ found his way into wildlife conservation
▼ + stars: | 2024-05-16 | by ( Michelle Cohan | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +8 min

Whitaker would go on to earn the nickname “Snakeman of India,” and spend more than six decades dedicated to reptile research and conservation. His field work with snakes and crocodiles ultimately led his conservation efforts to help save India’s rainforests. We tell people when they’re working in the field, when they’re doing agriculture, use a stick. Romulus Whitaker teaches the next generation about reptiles at his conservation organization, Agumbe Rainforest Research Station, in southern India. And it’s wonderful to realize that dozens, if not hundreds, of young people have continued to do wonderful work with reptiles.

Persons: Romulus Whitaker, ”, Whitaker, Doris Norden Whitaker, Rama Chattopadhyay, Bill Haast, Heyward Clamp Whitaker, I’ve, cobras, we’ve, Arun Sankar, there’s, Cedric Bregnard, You’re Organizations: CNN, Miami Serpentarium, Miami, cobras, Cooperative, Getty Images CNN, Global Health Research, University of Toronto, Research, Cedric Bregnard CNN Locations: America, India, cobras, Mysore, Hoosick , New York, New York, Bombay, Western Ghats, Madras, South India, An, Chennai

☆ Fresh Off Defeat in Speaker Fight, Greene Is ‘Thrilled’ With the Chaos She Wrought
▼ + stars: | 2024-05-09 | by ( Annie Karni | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

As Republicans and Democrats booed her loudly Wednesday when she called a snap vote on the House floor to oust Speaker Mike Johnson, Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene, Republican of Georgia, paused briefly to narrate the drama to viewers back home. “This is the uniparty, for the American people watching,” Ms. Greene sneered, peering over her glasses at her colleagues like a disappointed schoolteacher. Ms. Greene went on to take her shot at Mr. Johnson and miss, an outcome that she knew was a certainty. The move buoyed Mr. Johnson, confirming his status as the leader of an unlikely bipartisan governing coalition in the House that Ms. Greene considers the ultimate enemy. And it isolated Ms. Greene on Capitol Hill, putting her back where she was when she arrived in Washington three years ago: a provocateur and subject of derision who appears to revel in causing huge headaches for her colleagues.

Persons: Mike Johnson, Marjorie Taylor Greene, Ms, Greene sneered, Greene, Johnson, revel Organizations: Democrats, Republican, Republicans, Capitol Locations: Georgia, Washington

The Week in Cartoons Jan 8-12 View All 21 ImagesBut without that assurance from Trump’s lawyers, Engoron said he would not be allowed to speak. Yet on Thursday, Trump’s lawyer Chris Kise asked Engoron if Trump could have permission to address the court anyway. Engoron, turning to Trump, asked, “Do you promise to just comment on the facts and the law?” But Trump dove right in, without even responding to the judge’s question. “What’s happened here, sir, is a fraud on me. They want to make sure that I don't win again, and this is partially election interference.”“I know this is boring to you.”“You have your own agenda,” Trump sneered at Engoron, before the judge shut him down and at which point Trump turned and walked out of the courtroom.

Persons: Donald Trump’s, wasn’t, Judge Arthur Engoron, Engoron, Trump’s, Chris Kise, Trump, Letitia James, Kise, They're, I’ve, ”, James, “, ” Trump Organizations: Trump, New York Locations: Engoron

That sort of approach resonated in conservative strongholds like Alabama long before Trump. Alabama Democrats, especially, cite deep historical roots involving racism, class and urban-rural divides when explaining Wallace, Trump and the decades between them. Moderate to progressive “national Democrats” were concentrated in north Alabama, Baxley explained, while reactionary “states-rights Dixiecrats” cohered in south Alabama. Wallace won four Deep South states as an independent in 1968. Wallace won his fourth term as governor in 1982 after disavowing segregation and winning over enough Black voters.

Persons: George Wallace, Wallace, Donald Trump, Trump, “ Alabamians, ”, Terry Lathan, ” Trump, Barack Obama, Brent Buchanan, Wayne Flynt, “, Lathan, Ron DeSantis, Reagan, Trump's, ” Wallace, Lyndon Johnson, Bill Baxley, Baxley, Lincoln ”, ” Baxley, Franklin Roosevelt’s, “ Wallace, Johnson, Barry Goldwater, Flynt, Alabama “, Richard Nixon, Ronald Reagan, Wallace’s, Jimmy Carter, Carter, Alabama's, Democratic pollster Zac McCrary, Hillary Clinton’s, Joe Biden’s, ” McCrary, Sen, Richard Shelby's, Shelby, Newt Gingrich, Dan Carter, Jeff Sessions, Trump’s, John McCain, Mitt Romney, Mike Huckabee, Rick Santorum, Tommy Tuberville, Katie Britt, dealmaker, Britt, Buchanan, Republican pollster, Donald Trump’s, Kim Chandler Organizations: ATLANTA, — Republican, University of Alabama, Civil Rights Movement, Republicans, Party of Lincoln, Party of Trump, Trump, America, GOP, Alabama Republicans, Democratic, Alabama Democrats, “ Party, Democrats ”, Politics, National Democrats, Franklin Roosevelt’s New, Civil, Act, Republican, Reconstruction, Klux Klan, Birmingham's, Baptist Church, Washington, Democrat, “, Democrats, U.S, Senate, Sessions, Alabama, Alabama Legislature, Southern Democrats, Capitol, Shelby, Associated Press Locations: Tuscaloosa, Washington, Alabama, lockstep, Florida, Southern, U.S, Texas, New York, Trump, Jan, Montgomery , Alabama

☆ Shane MacGowan, Pogues Frontman and Punk Bard of the Irish Diaspora, Dead at 65
▼ + stars: | 2023-11-30 | by ( Rob Curran | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

Shane MacGowan sneered at the audience, baring his distinctive snaggled teeth. With his doughy face and plug ears, he looked like a heavyweight swaying in his corner as the bell for the 15th round sounded for the last time. Fumbling for the bottle of spirits at his feet, he eventually gave up the job and headed backstage to fetch another. From an outdoor stage in Thurles, Tipperary, MacGowan then launched into Ewan MacColl’s “Dirty Old Town,” his wise, raspy baritone sounding every bit as full as on the record. The entire stadium sang as one, slightly slurred voice.

Persons: Shane MacGowan sneered, baring, MacGowan, Ewan MacColl’s “, ” Organizations: Tipperary Locations: Thurles, Ireland

☆ Takeaways from the DeSantis-Newsom debate
▼ + stars: | 2023-11-30 | by ( Eric Bradner | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +8 min

Ron DeSantis opened a debate Thursday night on Fox News, Newsom told DeSantis the two had one thing in common. By the way, you’re down 41 points in your own state,” Newsom said. Hannity the ‘hall monitor’Hannity, the long-time conservative Fox host, opened the debate pledging to play a neutral role Thursday night. “It should be up to the mother and the doctor and her conscience.”What’s the value of a debate like this? Mostly, the more than 90-minute debate was DeSantis and Newsom accusing each other of lying and mischaracterizing the other’s records.

Persons: Gavin Newsom, Ron DeSantis, Newsom, DeSantis, ”, Sean Hannity, Joe Biden, Donald Trump, Hannity, Biden, Biden won’t, ” DeSantis, ” Newsom, “, Trump, Ron, Newsom sneered, Kamala Harris ’, It’s Madame, Anthony Fauci, “ Donald Trump, ” “, “ Joe Biden, Sean, he’ll, ’ Hannity, didn’t, —, “ Ron DeSantis, Newsom’s, “ It’d, I’m, ” Hannity Organizations: CNN, California, Florida Gov, Fox News, Red State, Democrat, Fox, Trump Trump, mispronouncing, Trump, DeSantis, Biden, Republican Party Locations: Florida, Red, Iowa, Mexico, Texas, DeSantis, California, United States

Making the witness stand at his New York civil trial his podium, the former president laid into the presiding judge and the state attorney general who sued him. “He ruled against me without knowing anything about me,” Trump testified. Trump testified that he typically kept $300 million to $400 million in the bank, saying: “I’ve had a lot of cash for a long time." “They were not really documents that the banks paid much attention to,” Trump testified. “It was a sad, very sad thing," Trump testified.

Persons: — Donald Trump, Letitia James ’, ” —, Arthur Engoron, ” Trump, “, Engoron, “ I’m, ” Engoron, Trump, should've, “ I’ve, Allen Weisselberg, You’ve, Weisselberg, he’d, General James, sneered, James “, Kevin Wallace, James ’, ” James, James, ” Organizations: Republican, Trump, Trump Organization, “, New York Locations: York, China, Russia, United States, Manhattan

REUTERS/Andrew Kelly Acquire Licensing RightsMOSCOW, Nov 1 (Reuters) - Former Russian president Dmitry Medvedev sneered at the Danish brewer Carlsberg (CARLb.CO) on Wednesday for having thought it could quit Russia without penalty after the West sanctioned Moscow for its invasion of Ukraine. Carlsberg CEO Jacob Aarup-Andersen on Tuesday said Russia had stolen its business when President Vladimir Putin in July granted temporary control of its majority stake in the Russian brewer Baltika to the federal government. "Like their brethren in the Western menagerie, they abandoned everything in Russia for political reasons ..., refused to fulfil their obligations to Russian contractors. Carlsberg had eight breweries and about 8,400 employees in Russia, and took a 9.9 billion Danish crown ($1.4 billion) write-down on Baltika last year. ($1 = 7.0694 Danish crowns)Reporting by Reuters in Moscow and Alexander Marrow in LondonOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

Persons: Andrew Kelly, Dmitry Medvedev sneered, Jacob Aarup, Andersen, Vladimir Putin, Baltika, Carlsberg, Medvedev, they'd, Alexander Marrow Organizations: Carlsberg, REUTERS, Rights, West, Russia's Security, Reuters, Thomson Locations: Copenhagen, Denmark, Russian, Danish, Moscow, Ukraine, Russia, London

With Trump sitting feet away, Trump’s one-time lawyer and fixer described how he manipulated Trump’s financial statements – “reverse-engineering” them to hit an arbitrary net worth. We’re not worried at all about his testimony,” Trump said during a lunch break. The tense questioning is going to continue into Wednesday, as Habba hadn’t even started on the substance of Cohen’s testimony in the civil fraud trial. In the July 2014 letter submitting a bid to buy the Bills, Trump claimed his net worth was $8 billion. Before Engoron’s ruling, the state attorneys and Trump’s lawyers clashed over Michael Cohen’s testimony about the letter.

Persons: CNN — Michael Cohen, Donald Trump, Trump, –, Cohen, Trump’s, he’d, Quickly, intently, “, ” “ It’s, We’re, ” Trump, “ Heck, ”, Allen Weisselberg, ” Cohen, Allen, Alina Habba, Chris Kise, Habba, ” Cohen sneered, ” Habba, ” Kise, hadn’t, “ Mr, you’re, ’ you’re, Michael Cohen, Eric Trump, Arthur Engoron, general’s, ” Engoron, overruling, Engoron’s, Michael Cohen’s, Kise, Mazars, Bill Kelly, Tom Emmer, Emmer, RINO Tom Emmer, he’s Organizations: CNN, Trump, Trump Organization, Mr, United Nations Plaza, Miss, New, Buffalo Bills, Bills, Minnesota GOP Locations: York, Seven Springs, New York, Washington ,

☆ My Delirious Trip to the Heart of Swiftiedom
▼ + stars: | 2023-10-12 | by ( Taffy Brodesser-Akner | More About Taffy Brodesser-Akner | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +3 min

Sometimes they told me about a lie they told an interviewer because they were scared or trying to misdirect the journalist. Not one person I ever interviewed seemed to understand why the public was so interested in them personally. I don’t know, maybe I’m just too in my earnestness era. Maybe I’m trying to call something a cultural shift when really it’s just a personal one. Far below us, Taylor Swift was singing about an affair.

Persons: they’ll, —, Taylor —, Taylor, Taylor Swift, “, Ezra, “ You’re, Jake Gyllenhaal’s, you’re, Clara Organizations: The Times

☆ Gaetz ousted McCarthy. Now other Republicans want to come after him.
▼ + stars: | 2023-10-04 | by ( Hannah Getahun | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +2 min

Rep. Don Bacon told reporters that he would "love" to remove Gaetz from the House GOP caucus. Many House GOP members were not happy about it, some going so far as to come after Gaetz's place in the party caucus. In an op-ed to the Post, former GOP Representative and Speaker Newt Gingrich also called on House Republicans to remove Gaetz. As for what Gaetz feels about it all, he told the Post that Republicans should let him know "when they have the votes" to expel him. This isn't the first time moderate House GOP members have found Gaetz and his Freedom Caucus a pain to the party.

Persons: Matt Gaetz, Gaetz, Kevin McCarthy, Don Bacon, —, Matt Gaetz's, McCarthy, Bacon, Newt Gingrich, Gingrich, Garret Graves, Tim Burchett Organizations: GOP, Service, Democrats, Republican, Washington Post, Republican Party, CNN, Post, House Republicans, Republicans, Caucus

NEW YORK (AP) — Donald Trump's court appearances are no longer distractions from his campaign to return to the White House. The appearance demonstrated how deftly Trump has used his legal woes to benefit his campaign. Trump spent the day seated at the defense table observing the proceedings, at times leaning to confer with his lawyers. Kevin Wallace, a lawyer in James’ office, promised to link the cited incidents to a more recent loan agreement. Plans for Trump to attend the New York trial's first days were first revealed in legal filings last week.

Persons: — Donald Trump's, Trump, “, ”, Ari Fleischer, Fleischer, Letitia James, Arthur Engoron, James, he’d, Kevin Wallace, James ’, I’ve, York trial's, Michael Cohen, E, Jean Carroll, “ I've, Michael R Organizations: GOP, Trump, White House, Justice Department, New York, York, Associated Press Locations: New York, Trump, Manhattan, it's, Iowa , New Hampshire, Washington, South Carolina, York, Georgia, Sisak

☆ Maslow’s hierarchy of needs: Examples and explanation
▼ + stars: | 2023-08-15 | by ( Aj Willingham | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +8 min

What is Maslow’s hierarchy of needs? “Human needs arrange themselves in hierarchies of pre-potency,” Maslow wrote in the 1943 paper “A Theory of Human Needs,” which first described the model. Level 2: Safety needsWith basic needs fulfilled, the next level of needs moves to safety. Examples of Maslow’s hierarchy of needsAside from its psychological application, countless disciplines have found Maslow’s model to be a useful teaching tool. Common challenges to Maslow’s model argue that it is too arbitrary, or that humans needs exist more as a cascading spectrum.

Persons: Abraham Maslow, Maslow, ” Maslow, “, —, aren’t, wasn’t, isn’t, Scott Barry Kaufman, mindbodygreen, “ Maslow, Charlie Huntingon, ” Organizations: CNN, YWCA, Berkeley

☆ Despite Tensions, Salzburg Remains a Crammed Summer Stage
▼ + stars: | 2023-08-09 | by ( Zachary Woolfe | More About Zachary Woolfe | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: 1 min

Early in 1779, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart sulked back to Salzburg, Austria, having failed to land a permanent job abroad. In a letter to a family friend, he sneered at the city he was returning to. “Salzburg is no place for my talent,” he wrote, adding: “One hears nothing; there’s no theater; no opera! — and even if they wanted to stage one, who is there to sing?”If only Mozart could see his hometown now. Salzburg’s bounty of nearly 200 opera, concert and theater performances, continuing this year through Aug. 31, is so intoxicating that it can lead to some dizzying sprints.

Persons: Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, ”, Mozart Organizations: “, Salzburg Festival Locations: Salzburg, Austria, “ Salzburg

☆ Ex-Bon Appétit editor Marissa Ross says the wine world ruined her. Now she's back and ready to give it hell.
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-23 | by ( Anna Silman | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +40 min

Her rise was tied to a period of reinvention for the wine world during which natural wine conquered millennial taste buds and became ubiquitous on menus across the US. Marissa Ross, Bon Appétit's wine editor from 2016 to 2020, often posted pictures of herself chugging straight from the bottle — a technique she called "The Ross test." "Natural wine," a nebulous term that generally refers to wine made with minimal intervention and without additives like sulfites, was tentatively entering the American wine world. Many in the wine world took the idea that you didn't have to be educated to know about wine as a personal insult. When she first told BA that she planned to cover only natural wines, Ross said, Rapoport called to try to change her mind.

☆ The dark side of Bing’s new AI chatbot
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-16 | by ( Samantha Murphy Kelly | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +5 min

CNN —After asking Microsoft’s AI-powered Bing chatbot for help in coming up with activities for my kids while juggling work, the tool started by offering something unexpected: empathy. The chatbot said it “must be hard” to balance work and family and sympathized for my daily struggles with it. “The tone of the responses is unexpected but not surprising,” Lian Jye, a research director at ABI Research, told CNN. When I asked Bing’s AI chatbot to write a short essay about me, for example, it pulled tidbits of information from parts of the internet to provide an eerily similar but largely fabricated account of my life. “The inaccuracies are expected because it depends on the timeliness of the training data, which is often older,” Jye said.

Through the end of business hours on Friday, GOP Rep. Kevin McCarthy had lost 13 straight votes for speaker of the House. Vote after vote, hour after hour, the Democratic minority cast its ballots for the conference's leader, Rep. Hakeem Jeffries of New York. And as a result, Jeffries won vote after vote for speaker, though McCarthy finally pulled ahead on Friday. Democrats can vote as a block from now till this Congress is over, but they simply didn't have the numbers to elect Jeffries as speaker. With every vote in the House this week, they’ve shown that criticism to be overstated.

On the contrary, he’s fired Twitter employees who publicly disagreed with him about engineering issues at the company. Musk originally claimed he bought Twitter because he wanted to encourage more free speech on the platform. But no one should be surprised that “free speech” for Musk really means free speech for the powerful. But that doesn’t make him an avatar of free speech. But like other bosses, he’s got a genius for manufacturing unfreedom.

Trying to salvage his summit at Doral, Trump himself phoned the group at Camp David, and the moderates gave the president an earful as well. That fall, Bade and Demirjian write, House GOP Leader Kevin McCarthy and House GOP Whip Steve Scalise had desperately tried to hold the line and keep Republicans unified against Democrats' first impeachment probe into Trump. That weekend at Camp David, Bade and Demirjian write, moderate Republicans "charged the president’s chief of staff like a pack of wolves." Mulvaney had suggested to his boss inviting a group of wavering Republicans to Camp David. “We don’t want to have to defend you on this,” Wagner told him, suggesting that he host the G-7 at Camp David.

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