Tag: office

While we share the belief of most Americans that candidates for office should run on a level playing field, we are not naïve enough to believe incumbency doesn't matter. There are perks that come with political office, particularly the highest political office in the land. For example, presidents running for reelection are allowed to use Air For One, with all its attendant trappings of power, when traveling to and from campaign events – though their campaigns are required to reimburse the public treasury for expenses incurred.

Few people I have met have been more committed to social unity and bringing people together than Cory Booker. Which other African-American Christian Rhodes scholar would have agreed to become President of an orthodox Jewish student organization that was run by a Hassidic Rabbi?

Last week we called attention to the extraordinary reports that the Obama administration had taken to scrubbing references in official documents to Jerusalem as part of Israel.

Brooklyn’s district attorney has inflated the results of a program for combating child sexual abuse in the Haredi Orthodox community, a New York Times...

I was lucky enough to have met and interviewed many Hall of Famers including Joe DiMaggio, Hank Greenberg, Ted Williams and Stan Musial. I also had the chance to meet and gab with many of the stars from the old Negro Leagues who went on to play in the major leagues after Jackie Robinson broke the color barrier – Hank Aaron, Ernie Banks, Larry Doby, Monte Irvin and Satchel Paige. But I never had the chance to meet Jackie Robinson.

Turkey blocked the participation of Israel in next month's NATO Summit in Chicago, a Turkish newspaper reported. Turkey's Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu vetoed Israel's participation...

The website Shalom Toronto reports that Canada's foreign office will close down the International Centre for Human Rights and Democratic development, which two years...

The 2012 baseball season should be a most interesting one. Every game is important. No longer can a team just play for the Wild Card spot and have an equal shot with the three division winners at participating in the World Series (as St. Louis did last year).

It has largely passed under the radar screen, but Stephanie Rose, who was the deputy chief of the criminal division in the U.S. attorney’s office in northern Iowa at the time of the Agriprocessors immigration and Rubashkin prosecutions, has been nominated by President Obama to be a federal judge.

The college of yesteryear is not the college of today. Students with disabilities comprise the most rapidly growing student population on many campuses.

Israel's Army Radio cited a report in the Turkish daily newspaper Zaman as saying that Turkey has warned Iran against perpetrating acts of terrorism against Israelis...

Reuters reports that on Saturday the U S drone attacks killed at least 25 al-Qaida fighters, including one commander, while a Yemeni air force...

They didn't want marriage at age 95, but their parents insisted…It's a very old joke which I kept thinking about while watching this video. You absolutely have to, also, or you'll hate yourself afterwards. Seriously, they look so CUTE together, short, wrinkled, with 190 years between them and such sweet love. After their two-minute ceremony in a small room in the county office, the couple ate lunch at a nearby International House of Pancakes and returned to their Palm Springs condominium…

There’s nothing like a holiday where one is required to be happy to bring out the grouch in all of us. But we should all be excited to greet Purim. Not only because of the beautiful miracle that occurred, the lessons of emunah and the role of the Jewish woman that Megillas Esther teaches us, but also because it’s the only twenty-four hour holiday that we celebrate here in Chutz L’Aretz, and it has merely four mitzvot! How simple is that?

The Boston Globe wrote Saturday that Holocaust survivor and Nobel Prize laureate Elie Wiesel wants Mitt Romney to speak out against the Mormon practice...

According to a statement released by the president's office, Sarkozy saluted Shalit for his exemplary courage.

Americans never seem to tire of Richard Nixon, the man who strode the nation’s political stage for three decades, as congressman, senator, vice president and president, only to see his career come crashing down when his involvement in the Watergate scandal led to his resignation – the only U.S. president to so step down – in order to avoid certain impeachment.

Israeli national elections are scheduled for November 2013.

A Burning Question? ‘If Said In The Concerned Person’s Presence It’s Not Evil Speech’ (Arachin 15b)

Who doesn’t want to save money? The siren call of sales lures us all, and few are able to resist stocking up.

Republic congressman from Michigan lobbied for a terror sponsor.

Craig Breslow and Jason Marquis will be wearing different uniforms this season. The two pitchers also share a unique trait among those labeled “Jewish players” by the media: Breslow and Marquis both have two Jewish parents.

Lingua Franca ‘The Jordan Is Only From Jericho And Below’ (Bechoros 55a)

New measures to enforce driving rules announced by the Israel Police Traffic Division, the Knesset, and the State Prosecutor’s office this week will mean severe punishments for driving infractions, and a significantly increased likelihood of being caught committing them.

An Eventual Resolution ‘May The Likes Of You Increase Manifold In Israel’ (Bechoros 45b)

In one respect, the current, very public, controversy over gender separation in Israel is a no-brainer.

A scandal has led to the investigation of the Saudi Ministry of Commerce by Saudi authorities, who discovered a well-known Saudi discount store selling...

Ahh, the mornings. A time of peace and serenity, for sipping a cup of coffee while catching up on the morning news. Or perhaps you use the time to bake fresh healthy cookies for the family’s midday snack. However, if your mornings are better described as rush hour compounded by nagging warnings, here are a few handy steps to create a stress free routine.

As I was saying… With apologies to the late Jack Paar, who uttered those words his first night back as host of the old “Tonight Show” after a three-week absence in 1960, the Monitor returns this week after its own little hiatus.

US President Barack Obama has issued the traditional presidential pardons this Thanksgiving, but did not add Jonathan Pollard to his list.