- https://PayPal.Me/lukeisback
"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:
- Jim Goad (1961-2026)
- Moira Greyland
- 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
- Strange Bedfellows in the Academy: Alliance Theory and the Straussian Schism
- Tournier on Desmond Ford
- The Fence and the Blessing: How Jews Have Thought About Gentiles
- Tournier on Luke Ford
- Tournier on The Nostradamus Kid
- An Alliance Theory of Antisemitism
- Tournier on Cinema Paradiso and Desmond Ford
- The Self-Hating Jew
- The Alliance Theory in the Academy
- The Borrowed Robe: How Antisemitism Dresses in Each Age’s Virtue
- A Place For You
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)
* The City of Private Rooms (5-25-26)
Category Archives: Agriprocessors
Rubashkin Acquitted in Iowa Child Labor Trial
The Des Moines Register reports: Waterloo, Ia. – Former Agriprocessors Inc. executive Sholom Rubashkin was found not guilty Monday of all 67 misdemeanor child labor charges against him… State prosecutors alleged Rubashkin allowed minors to labor up to 90 hours … Continue reading
Posted in Agriprocessors, Immigration, Kashrut, New York Times, Yisroel Pensack
Tagged acquitted, child labor, des moines register, false documents, Guatemalans, Iowa, kosher slaughterhouse, Mexicans, minors, misdemeanor charges, not guilty, Quentin Hart, Sholom Rubashkin, under-age laborers, Waterloo
Comments Off on Rubashkin Acquitted in Iowa Child Labor Trial
Yisroel Pensack: Some Thoughts on the Sentencing Hearing of Sholom Rubashkin
A sentencing hearing in the financial fraud case of former Agriprocessors kosher slaughterhouse manager and Lubavitcher chassid Sholom Rubashkin is scheduled to begin tomorrow (Wednesday) in federal court in Iowa. There is a concept in Judaism that each Shabbat “blesses,” … Continue reading
Posted in Agriprocessors, Chabad, Ethics, Fraud, Judaism, Kashrut, Torah, Truth, Yisroel Pensack
Tagged animal slaughter, chillul Hashem, conduit for blessing, confession, egypt, federal court, Iowa, lubavitcher, lubavitcher rebbe, Pesach sheni, Rashi, sacrificing animals, second Passover, sentencing hearing, shabbat, Sholom Rubashkin, wages, weights and measures, yom kippur
Comments Off on Yisroel Pensack: Some Thoughts on the Sentencing Hearing of Sholom Rubashkin
Judge Denies Rubashkin Bail Bid
The Des Moines Register reports: A federal judge has denied Sholom Rubashkin’s request to be released on bail until he is sentenced on 86 financial fraud convictions. Chief Judge Linda Reade ruled that Rubashkin, the former vice president of Agriprocessors, … Continue reading
Posted in Agriprocessors, Orthodoxy, Yisroel Pensack
Tagged 86 financial fraud convictions, bail, des moines register, escape risk, flee the country, Hosam Amara, Judge Linda Reade, kosher slaughterhouse, Linn County Correctional Facility, northeast iowa, postville, sentencing, Sholom Rubashkin
Comments Off on Judge Denies Rubashkin Bail Bid
Feds Dismiss Immigration Charges Against Sholom Rubashkin
The Des Moines Register reports: Federal prosecutors dismissed all immigration charges against former Postville [Iowa] meat plant manager Sholom Rubashkin today, one week after a South Dakota jury convicted him of 86 business-fraud charges. The decision spares Rubashkin a second … Continue reading
Posted in Agriprocessors, Yisroel Pensack
Tagged bail hearing, business fraud charges, Cedar Rapids, convicted, des moines register, Guy Cook, immigration charges, Iowa, Judge Linda Reade, meat plant, Peter Deegan Jr., postville, Sholom Rubashkin, South Dakota
Comments Off on Feds Dismiss Immigration Charges Against Sholom Rubashkin
U.S. Attorney Nominee for Northern Iowa Criticized Over Agriprocessors Immigration Raid
The New York Times reports: Eleventh-hour criticism is arising over President Obama’s nomination for United States attorney in northern Iowa of a prosecutor who had a leading role in the criminal cases against hundreds of illegal immigrants arrested in a … Continue reading
Posted in Agriprocessors, Immigration, New York Times, Yisroel Pensack
Tagged associated press, civil rights, criminal charges, Democrat, eleventh-hour, felony identity-theft charges, Iowa, kosher, meatpacking plant, nominee, northern Iowa, postville, President Obama, prosecutor, Senator Tom Harkin, Sioux Falls, South Dakota State Penitentiary, Stephanie Rose, Supreme Court, United States attorney, victims of exploitation, Woodbury County Jail
Comments Off on U.S. Attorney Nominee for Northern Iowa Criticized Over Agriprocessors Immigration Raid
Sholom Rubashkin Convicted of 86 Federal Charges in Fraud Scheme Involving Postville, Iowa, Kosher Meat Plant
The Des Moines Register reports: Sioux Falls, S.D. A jury has convicted Sholom Rubashkin of 86 federal charges for his part in a massive fraud scheme at his former meat plant, Agriprocessors Inc., in Postville. Jurors declared Rubashkin guilty … Continue reading
Posted in Agriprocessors, Chabad, Immigration, Yisroel Pensack
Tagged bank fraud, des moines register, federal, guilty, mail fraud, meat plant, money laundering, postville, Rabbi Shea Hecht, Sholom Rubashkin, Sioux Falls, wire fraud
Comments Off on Sholom Rubashkin Convicted of 86 Federal Charges in Fraud Scheme Involving Postville, Iowa, Kosher Meat Plant
Rabbi Hecht Says Rubashkin Will Be Vindicated
From Chabad.info: Activist and President of The National Committee for Furtherance of Jewish Education Rabbi Shea Hecht declared on the Dov Hikind show last night that embattled businessman Sholom Rubashkin will be vindicated. Rabbi Hecht strongly argued that the Rubashkin case … Continue reading
Posted in Agriprocessors, Chabad, Rabbis
Tagged community activist, dov, furtherance, hecht, jewish education, orthodox jews
Comments Off on Rabbi Hecht Says Rubashkin Will Be Vindicated
Does Sholom Rubashkin Deserve Freedom?
Washington D.C. lawyer for Agriprocessors Nat Lewin writes: Rarely does the Anti-Defamation League take up the cudgels for a Lubavitcher chassid. But in a recent letter to Attorney General Michael Mukasey, the ADL protested a federal magistrate’s ruling that Sholom … Continue reading
Posted in Agriprocessors
Tagged anti defamation league, born jew, federal criminal charges, federal magistrate, meatpacking plant, rubashkin
Comments Off on Does Sholom Rubashkin Deserve Freedom?
Agriprocessors Update
Shmarya Rosenberg writes: Since I last posted on Agriprocessors, shortly after the company was hit with more than 9,000 counts of child labor violations, the company’s "former" CEO (and still current VP) Rabbi Sholom M. Rubashkin was arrested on felony immigration and identity fraud charges. … Continue reading
Posted in Agriprocessors
Tagged Agriprocessors, bank fraud, dribs and drabs, fraud charges, rubashkin, secured creditors
Comments Off on Agriprocessors Update
OU Threatens To Withdraw Kosher Certification For Agriprocessors
Julia Preston writes for the New York Times: The leading Jewish authority in charge of certifying kosher food has threatened to withdraw its certification from the products of Agriprocessors Inc., the nation’s largest kosher meatpacker, after criminal charges for more … Continue reading
Posted in Agriprocessors
Tagged agriprocessors inc, criminal misdemeanor, jewish households, misdemeanor charges, postville iowa, rabbi menachem
Comments Off on OU Threatens To Withdraw Kosher Certification For Agriprocessors