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"Luke Ford reports all of the 'juicy' quotes, and has been doing it for years." (Marc B. Shapiro)
"This guy knows all the gossip, the ins and outs, the lashon hara of the Orthodox world. He’s an [expert] in... all the inner workings of the Orthodox world." (Rabbi Aaron Rakeffet-Rothkoff) LATEST POSTS:
- Robert Putnam: The Man Who Counted What America Lost
- W. Bradford Wilcox: The Sociologist Who Tells America to Get Married
- Peter Moskos: The Cop Who Talks to People
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- Emily Oster: The Economist in the Delivery Room
- The Most Ridiculous Story Ever Told
- Tanner Greer
- Economist Tyler Cowen
- Richard Reeves: A Life in Institutions
- Jake Adelstein: The Reporter Who Became His Story
- Jim Goad (1961-2026)
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- Robert Oscar Lopez: The Inconvenient Witness
- Two Ledgers: Decoding the Gurus and the Price of Talk
- The Pervert’s Progress: Costin Vlad Alamariu and the Making of Bronze Age Pervert
- Curtis Yarvin: A Life Against Democracy
- Mark Helprin: Against the Current
- Mark Brandt: The Man Who Asked Who Else Is Prejudiced
- John T. Jost: The Psychologist of Acquiescence
BEST POSTS:
- * The Enlightenment Wasn’t Enlightened (6-23-26)
* Mr. Burge Draws The Line (6-23-26)
* 'Improving on Democracy' (6-17-26)
* People Leak To People Who Are Fun (6-11-26)
* Why Does Australia Produce So Many Great Journalists? (6-11-26)
* Steve Wynn and the Press: Power, Litigation, and the Contest Over Las Vegas (6-3-26)
* Sheldon Adelson and the Journalists (6-3-26)
* The Vigilant Animal: Thinkers Who Reject the Myth of Human Gullibility (6-2-26)
* The Cost of Refusing the Misunderstanding Myth (6-2-26)
* Show Me How It Travels (6-2-26)
* The Norm Explainers (6-2-26)
* Centering Marginalized Voices (6-1-26)
* What would it look like if the Washington Post put its reader first? (6-1-26)
* What would it look like if the Financial Times put its reader first? (6-1-26)
* What It Would Mean for the Los Angeles Times to Put the Reader First? (6-1-26)
* What It Would Mean for The New York Times to Put the Reader First? (6-1-26)
* Why Wembanyama Lives on the Perimeter (5-31-26)
* The Emotional Palettes Of San Diego, Los Angeles, San Francisco & Sacramento (5-27-26)
* The Administrative Capital: Sacramento Legal Culture (5-27-26)
* San Diego - The Quiet Republic (5-27-26)
* The Quiet Bar: San Diego Legal Culture (5-27-26)
* SF v LA Legal Culture (5-27-26)
* Why Talent Travels Poorly Between San Francisco and Los Angeles (5-27-26)
* San Francisco and Los Angeles as Rival Models of Urban Access (5-27-26)
* Social Cliques in New York, 2026 (5-25-26)
* Social Cliques in San Francisco, 2026 (5-25-26)
* The Rival Courts of Washington (5-25-26)
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Category Archives: Germany
Did The Nazis Ban IQ Tests?
Not exactly, but the Nazis did not hold with IQ tests. German Jews scored about ten points higher on average than German non-Jews. According to Wikipedia: Adolf Hitler banned IQ testing for being “Jewish” as did Joseph Stalin for being … Continue reading
Yisroel Pensack: New York City Board of Health Vote Scheduled Today on Requiring Informed Consent for Direct Oral-Genital Suction During Infant Circumcision
The New York Times reports: …part of the circumcision ritual, known in Hebrew as metzitzah b’peh [direct oral-genital suction], … is still commonplace in parts of the ultra-Orthodox Jewish community but is rare in other branches of Judaism. The city estimates … Continue reading
Posted in Chabad, Circumcision, Conservative Judaism, Germany, Health, Modern Orthodox, New York, New York Times, Yisroel Pensack
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Yisroel Pensack: Germany Bans Turkey-Based Gaza Flotilla “Charity”
Buried deep down in a story headlined, “Sponsor of Flotilla Tied to Elite of Turkey,” The New York Times reports: The Humanitarian Relief Foundation was founded in the early 1990s, first as a charity for the poor in Istanbul, and … Continue reading
Posted in Charity, Germany, Islam, Israel, Turkey, Yisroel Pensack
Tagged al qaeda, banned, flotilla, Gaza, hamas, Humanitarian Relief Foundation, I.H.H., terrorist organization
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Yisroel Pensack: Nazi-era Luftwaffe Nurse, Founder of Chile-based Anti-Semitic Religious Sect and Convicted Child Abuser, Dies In Prison; Was Under Investigation in 1985 Disappearance of Jewish Penn State University Math Professor
The New York Times reports: A former Nazi-era German soldier who founded a secretive German cult in southern Chile, where he sexually abused about 25 children, died of heart failure at a prison hospital early Saturday, Chilean officials said. He … Continue reading
Posted in Abuse, Anti-Semitism, Crime, Cults, Germany, Nazi, Predators, Yisroel Pensack
Tagged 20-year sentence, Boris Weisfeiler, Chile, Colonia Dignidad, died in prison, disappearance, drowned, executed, German cult, held captive, kidnapped, luftwaffe, mystery, Nazi-era German soldier, never charged, Paul Schaefer, Pennsylvania State University, Russian-born Jew, sexual abuse of minors, tortured, Villa Baviera
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Eternal Judaism
Joe emails: I seriously find major fault with Bnai David. The use of time and money to feed the local homeless population, which are mostly psychotics (any sane homeless person lives by the beach in Venice Santa Monica) is a … Continue reading
Posted in Bnai David-Judea, Germany, Haredi, Homeless, Modern Orthodox, Orthodoxy, Pico/Robertson
Tagged darth vader, free train rides, local private schools, rabbi samson raphael hirsch, samson raphael hirsch, worst case scenario
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Dull Books For Yom Kippur
I afflicted my soul on Yom Kippur by reading a couple of very dull, poorly written academic books on Judaism. The first one had the exciting title: Between Redemption and Doom: The Strains of German-Jewish Modernism. I gave up on … Continue reading
Posted in Book Reviews, Germany, Judaism
Tagged academic books, conversion to judaism, dull books, gideon klein, hebrew prayers, jewish modernism, jewish neighbors, jim zorn, orthodox rabbi, public identity, rabbi robert, reform rabbi, washington redskins, yom kippur
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German Rabbinic School About To Close
Report: Potsdam, Germany – The global financial firestorm unleashed by the meltdown in America’s risky mortgage business is starting to sweep through aspects of life which might have seemed immune to a shakeout in shares and the banking system. But … Continue reading
Posted in Germany, Reform Judaism
Tagged abraham geiger, deutsche presse agentur, market turmoil, potsdam germany, rabbinic school, university of potsdam
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