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Copying Straight from the White House Website… (This Won’t Become a Habit!)

Today, I am announcing three steps that I am taking to end this failed approach.

First, I am announcing a pardon of all prior Federal offenses of simple possession of marijuana.  I have directed the Attorney General to develop an administrative process for the issuance of certificates of pardon to eligible individuals.  There are thousands of people who have prior Federal convictions for marijuana possession, who may be denied employment, housing, or educational opportunities as a result.  My action will help relieve the collateral consequences arising from these convictions.

Second, I am urging all Governors to do the same with regard to state offenses.  Just as no one should be in a Federal prison solely due to the possession of marijuana, no one should be in a local jail or state prison for that reason, either.

Third, I am asking the Secretary of Health and Human Services and the Attorney General to initiate the administrative process to review expeditiously how marijuana is scheduled under federal law.  Federal law currently classifies marijuana in Schedule I of the Controlled Substances Act, the classification meant for the most dangerous substances.  This is the same schedule as for heroin and LSD, and even higher than the classification of fentanyl and methamphetamine – the drugs that are driving our overdose epidemic.

Finally, even as federal and state regulation of marijuana changes, important limitations on trafficking, marketing, and under-age sales should stay in place.

Too many lives have been upended because of our failed approach to marijuana.  It’s time that we right these wrongs.

From WhiteHouse.Gov, here.

Real Clear Nuclear Lies

Biden’s Fearmongers About a Russian Nuclear Threat That No One Has Made

Moon of Alabama

October 10, 2022

Kaitlan Collins @kaitlancollins – 0:35 UTC · Oct 7, 2022Wow. Biden at a Dem fundraiser tonight: “We have not faced the prospect of Armageddon since Kennedy and the Cuban missile crisis.” He says Putin is “not joking when he talks about potential use of tactical,” nuclear or biological weapons because his military is underperforming.

Biden continued with the blunt warnings: “I don’t think there’s any such thing as the ability to easily (use) a tactical nuclear weapon and not end up with Armageddon.” (These 👀 quotes from pooler @tparti)

Biden going MUCH further than his officials have, from the National Security Council to the Pentagon. They have said they take Russia’s threats seriously, but haven’t seen any changes in its nuclear posture. Biden invokes Armageddon and says Putin should be taken seriously.

A copy of the pool report can be seen here. It quotes Biden as saying: “[Putin] is not joking when he talks about potential use of tactical nuclear weapons or biological or chemical weapons because his military is you might say is significantly underperforming.”

Fact is that Putin has not talked about the “potential use of tactical nuclear weapons or biological or chemical weapons.” Not. At. All.

On September 21 Putin announced a partial mobilization of reservists. In his TV speech he mentioned nuclear weapons only with regards to  ‘Western’ threats of using them:

They have even resorted to the nuclear blackmail. I am referring not only to the Western-encouraged shelling of the Zaporozhye Nuclear Power Plant, which poses a threat of a nuclear disaster, but also to the statements made by some high-ranking representatives of the leading NATO countries on the possibility and admissibility of using weapons of mass destruction – nuclear weapons – against Russia.I would like to remind those who make such statements regarding Russia that our country has different types of weapons as well, and some of them are more modern than the weapons NATO countries have. In the event of a threat to the territorial integrity of our country and to defend Russia and our people, we will certainly make use of all weapon systems available to us. This is not a bluff.

The citizens of Russia can rest assured that the territorial integrity of our Motherland, our independence and freedom will be defended – I repeat – by all the systems available to us. Those who are using nuclear blackmail against us should know that the wind rose can turn around.

Note that Putin does not mention Russia’s nuclear weapons. He instead empathizes that Russia has new ‘different’ weapons that are ‘more modern’ than those of the ‘West’. He means hypersonic missiles which can avoid ‘western’ air defenses and hit decision centers in Brussels, London and Washington even without nuclear warheads.

Also for the record: Russia has signed and ratified the Biological Weapons Convention which prohibits the development, production, acquisition, transfer, stockpiling and use of biological weapons. Russia has also signed and ratified the Chemical Weapons Convention. In November 2017 it destroyed its last (Soviet) chemical weapons as mandated by the convention. It is the U.S. that still has not destroyed its chemicial weapons.

Continue reading…

From LRC, here.

Eretz Yisrael Sukka Walls Have Ears

Continue reading…

From Myrtle Rising, here.

5782: Record Number of Jews Ascending the Temple Mount – 51,254

Summing up a Year on the Temple Mount: 51,254 Ascenders to the Mount

By Jewish Press Staff – 
Photo Credit: The Temple Institute
Look at all the beautiful ‘settlers storming the Temple Mount,’ July 21, 2022.

Beyadenu reports that an all-time record number of Jews ascended to the Temple Mount in 5782. A total of 51,254 Jews ascended the Temple Mount this year. For the sake of comparison, in 5779, a total of 29,420 Jews ascended the Temple Mount. In 5780 (corona year), there were 22,367, and in 5781, a total of 25,582 Jews ascended the Temple Mount.

Beyadenu also reports that this year the record number of ascenders to the Temple Mount was broken in one day, on Jerusalem Day 5782. 2,626 Jews ascended the Temple Mount, on a day when hundreds more remained outside the Temple Mount due to the authorities’ lack of preparation to receive the many ascenders to the Mount, and the failure to extend the hours of the pilgrimage and the gates of the pilgrimage to the Mount.

During the year 5782, about 30 pre-military preparatory schools went up to the Temple Mount, of which about 20 went up under the guidance and direction of Beyadenu. Over 1,000 ascenders to the Temple Mount received guidance from Beyadenu guides during the year.

The month in which the most Jews ascended the mountain in the past year was the month of Tishrei, in which a total of 6,102 Jews ascended the mountain, followed by the month of Av with 5,833 ascenders, followed by Iyar with 5,766 ascenders to the Mount in one month.

The Temple Mount is the Jewish people’s holiest site, it was the site of the first two Temples, and will be the site of the Third Temple.

From Jewish Press, here.

The Connection Between Rosh Hashonah and Tzom Gedaliah

Acknowledging the Divine Plan Through Obedience to the Law of the Land

OCTOBER 5, 2011

Jews around the world recently observed Rosh Hashonah––two days of prayer and feast, solemnity and celebration, in recognition of God’s creation of and dominion over the world. Immediately following Rosh Hashonah is Tzom Gedaliah, a day of fasting, the day that Gedaliah ben Achikam was murdered. Gedaliah was the leader of the Jewish remnant in Israel after the destruction of the first Beis Hamikdash (Holy Temple). His death extinguished the flicker of hope of continued Jewish autonomy in Israel.(1)

The mourning of Tzom Gedaliah stands in stark contrast to the joy of Rosh Hashonah. To some extent, it seems to be overshadowed by Rosh Hashonah preceding it and the Day of Atonement (Yom Kippur) which follows. In short, Tzom Gedaliah seems out-of-place. But perhaps there is a deeper connection between Tzom Gedaliah and the Yomim Noraim (Days of Awe).

Rabbi Samson Raphael Hirsch has a novel perspective on the Fast of Gedaliah. He explains as follows:

“Gedaliah understood well the task of Israel in their relationship to the nations into whose hands God had given them––to be naught but willingly obedient, showing by this attitude surrender to God and acknowledgement of the power which God used in chastisement––to yield readily to the Divine scheme which God had brought to fruition by means of the Galuth [exile]––to be good, loyal and useful subjects and compatriots of king and country and to leave it to God to incline the hearts of princes and peoples to lovingkindness so that they might be mindful that suffering man was their conquest, and might learn to heal the wounds which they themselves had inflicted . . . .

“But ‘the remnant of the people’ that stayed behind could not rise to this willing, ready yielding to the Divine scheme. Ishmael, son of Nethaniah, cursed be his memory, arose and, spurred on by jealousy and foreign influence, ignoring the will of his overlord, the King of Babylon, and in defiance of him, treacherously killed Gedaliah and all the Jews and Chaldeans that were around him. And yet those who remained, although not of such a wicked disposition, still shared a deep-rooted tendency not to submit to God’s guidance, and, although robbed of all outer independence, wanted to establish their affairs upon a basis of human independence. This became manifest again in the opposition . . . to God’s command, declared to them by the mouth of Jeremiah, to wait for the clemency of Nebuchadnezzar . . . and to remain in the land and be obedient, submissive subjects. The downfall of all of them . . . was the result of their folly which would recognize as God’s will only that which coincided with their own immediate wishes.”(2)

Rabbi Hirsch concludes by stating the lesson to be learned from Tzom Gedaliah:

“Throughout the many centuries it proclaims to the generations of Israel the warning: ‘Remain true to the land which has accepted you, to the Ruler Who protects you! It is God Who leads you everywhere and is with you everywhere. In this great trek through the wilderness, too, God goes before you unseen and points out to you where to stay and which places to avoid. Give yourselves up entirely to Him and show this surrender by loyal attachment to your protecting Ruler and Realm and in resigned obedience even to your oppressors. Thus will He incline the their hearts to lovingkindness and the length of your suffering will be eased.’” (3)

Of course, it is Hashem’s desire that we cleave to His Torah despite the hardships and temptations imposed upon us by the galus (exile). Nevertheless, we must do so in accordance with the laws of the countries in which we reside. That, as Rabbi Hirsch explained, is one of the purposes of exile: to recognize that it is God who placed us in the position we are currently in and that He alone can redeem us. Only by being obedient to the governments that rule over us do we show that we accept the All-Knowing’s scheme.

This idea applies no less to the Jewish communities of today than it did to the generation of Gedaliah. Practically speaking, we cannot disobey traffic laws in order to get to minyan on time. We cannot cheat on our taxes in order to have more money to support Torah learning. We cannot fool ourselves into thinking that we are furthering God’s will, when in fact we are disobeying His command.

When viewed in this light, the incongruity between Rosh Hashonah and Tzom Gedaliah disappears. In fact, the two complement each other. Rosh Hashonah is the day on which we declare God King of the Universe. We submit ourselves to His reign and pray that He soon finalizes the Divine plan of world history, that He will reveal His Kingship to all of His creations.(4) But on Tzom Gedaliah we acknowledge that, as a nation, we have actually failed to live up to our pledges. We have not, in fact, completely given ourselves over to Divine Providence; we have not yielded to the His scheme. Because exile, just like redemption, is the intricate work of God’s hand. Only if we accept it upon ourselves by abiding by the laws of the countries in which we dwell will Hashem lead us to the end of galus. May He do so speedily and in our days.

Footnotes:

(1) Rambam, Hilchos Ta’anios 5:2.

(2) R. Samson Raphael Hirsch, Horeb, ¶ 237 (Dayan Dr. I Grunfeld, trans., Soncino Press 1962).

(3) Id.

(4) “Let everything with a life’s breath in its nostrils proclaim: ‘Hashem, the God of Israel, is King, and his Kingship rules over everything.’” Mussaf for Rosh Hashonah (translation from the Artscroll Machzor).

From Jewish and American Law, here.