Viktor Orban Defeated!

New York Times:

Prime Minister Viktor Orban of Hungary, a lodestar for MAGA culture warriors and right-wing populists in Europe, conceded defeat on Sunday in a general election, breaking the momentum of a global nationalist revival promoted by President Trump.

Speaking to supporters Sunday evening in Budapest, Mr. Orban said the “election results, although not complete, are understandable and clear. They are painful for us but unequivocal.”

He congratulated the opposition, saying: “The responsibility and opportunity to govern were not given to us.”

Intifada in Ithaca, New York?

Intifada in Ithaca?

The "Queer Anarchy Collective" chalked some slogans on the Ithaca Commons today, including this one:

What does "intifada" mean to the Queer Anarchy Collective? Do they know that between the first and second intifadas about 4,500 Palestinians and 1,200 Israelis were killed? Do they want to bring that kind of violence to Ithaca, New York?

I lived in Israel during the first two years of the First Intifada, which lasted from 1987-1993. During those years, around 1200 Palestinians were killed by the Israeli army, while about 200 Israelis were killed by Palestinians. (Figures taken from the Wikipedia article on the First Intifada).

The Second Intifada began in September 2000, after the failure of peace talks between Israel and Palestinians in the summer, mediated by President Clinton in Camp David. 

From the Wikipedia article on the Second Intifada:

A prominent feature of the Second Intifada was a series of suicide bombings carried out by Palestinian militant groups. After March 2001, approximately 138 suicide bombings were conducted by these factions, primarily targeting Israeli civilians.[18][19][20][21][22] Israeli security forces engaged in gunfights, targeted killings, tank attacks, and airstrikes; Palestinians engaged in gunfights, stone-throwing, and rocket attacks.[23][24] With a combined casualty figure for combatants and civilians, the violence is estimated to have resulted in the deaths of approximately 3,000 Palestinians and 1,000 Israelis, as well as 64 foreign nationals.

Not all the Palestinian attacks were by suicide bombers. 

I knew a young man who was killed on July 31, 2002. His name was Ben Blutstein, and he was the son of friends of mine from Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, whom I met during the year I taught at Bucknell University. He, along with eight other people, was murdered by a terrorist who placed a bomb at a cafeteria at the Hebrew University campus on Mt. Scopus. 

A couple of days after his murder, I wrote this:

[8/2/02] I’m writing now after the bombing on Wednesday [7/31/02] in Jerusalem, at the Hebrew University, in which 5 Americans and 2 Israelis were killed. [Actually, nine people in all were killed, and 85 were injured]. Two of the Americans were students at Pardes, an institute for higher Jewish studies in Jerusalem, and one of them (Ben Blutstein) was the son of a family I knew last year when I taught at Bucknell University in Lewisburg, Pennsylvania, and frequently went to Harrisburg for Shabbat. I think I only met Benjamin once, but I spent some very pleasant Shabbats with his family, and I feel sick at his murder. Fragments of poetry keep going through my head – “they were lovely and pleasant in their lives, and in their deaths not divided.”[1] I've felt so numb and in shock today - a feeling I recall after the September 11 attacks last year. It seems there is no end to violence.

Names of all the victims from the memorial page at the Hebrew University website: https://en.huji.ac.il/remember-them-all.

Marla Bennett, 24, from San Diego, CA, was an M.A. student in Jewish Education at the Rothberg International School's Division of Graduate Studies, and was jointly enrolled in the Pardes Educators Program at the Pardes Institute for Jewish Studies. She received a B.A. in political science from the University of Berkeley at California in 2000. In 1998 she spent her junior year attending the Rothberg International School's One Year Program.

Benjamin Blutstein, 25, from Harrisburg, PA, was an M.A. student in Jewish Education at the Rothberg International School's Division of Graduate Studies, and was jointly enrolled in the Pardes Educators Program at the Pardes Institute for Jewish Studies. He earned a B.A. in religion and Judaic studies from Dickinson College in Carlisle, PA, in 2000. He was the president of Hillel at Dickinson College in 1998-1999. During the past year, Blutstein spent evenings playing in clubs as a disk jockey under the alias "Benny the B."

Dina Carter, 38, was employed at the Jewish National and University Library (JNUL) on the Edmond J. Safra Campus at Givat Ram as a librarian and archivist in the manuscripts department and archives. Born in North Carolina, she earned a BA from Duke University and an MSW degree from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Dina immigrated to Israel in 1990.

Janis Ruth Coulter, 37, a native of Boston, MA, graduated in history and Judaic studies from the University of Massachusetts at Amherst in 1991. In 1996, she converted to Judaism. As a master's candidate in Judaic studies at the University of Denver, she was a visiting graduate student at the Hebrew University in 1996-1997, during which time she also worked at the University's School of Education. In 1999 she moved to New York and began working for the Rothberg International School's Office of Academic Affairs. As assistant director, she was responsible for all Rothberg International School graduate programs and scholarships, liaising with American institutions of education and actively recruiting students. As a student, she received numerous scholarships, including a travel grant from the Dorot Foundation. She had arrived in Israel the day before the attack, after escorting a group of U.S. students to Jerusalem to begin their studies at the Hebrew University.

David Gritz, 24, from Paris, France, who had dual U.S.-French citizenship, was about to begin the Summer Ulpan at the Rothberg International School. He received his B.A. in philosophy from the University of Paris IV in July 2000 and had just completed his first year of studies for his master's degree in philosophy, at the University of Paris X, where he had received recognition as an outstanding student. He spent summers at his parent's house in Peru, MA, in the Berkshires.

David (Diego) Ladowski, 29, was born in Argentina and immigrated to Israel in 1992. He studied in the Prepartory Program-Mechina at the Rothberg School and completed his undergraduate studies in communications at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem in 1996. He served as an academic officer in the Israel Defense Forces. Following his discharge from the army in 1999, he held administrative positions at the Hebrew University and the Ministry of Communications. Ladowski joined the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in 2001 and was shortly due to assume his first diplomatic assignment at the Embassy of Israel in Lima, Peru.

Levina Shapira was the head of the student services department at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. Born in Jerusalem in 1949, she was a long-time employee of the university. After completing her army service she studied sociology and political science at the Hebrew University, earning her BA in 1972. She began working for the university as a student and became a member of staff after graduation. Her appointments included academic secretary at the Faculty of Science and associate dean of the Faculty of Humanities. During her tenure as head of the student services department, Levina introduced and upgraded a wide range of on-line and computerized services, the most advanced in Israel today, for students. Recently, she was involved in planning the new student information center at the Mount Scopus campus.

Dafna Spruch was born in Tel Aviv and, following her military service, enrolled at the Hebrew University where she completed a BA in psychology and sociology. After her studies, she worked as a systems analyst at the Ministry of Education's data processing unit and, then, as a senior analyst at the National Library. Some two years later she consented to a request from the Student Administration to join its staff, and remained there for most of her professional life. It is from there that she set out 26 years later for a lunch from which she was never to return. Dafna soon became the backbone of the department, acting as both deputy director and the historical memory of an indispensable rationale; yet she always shunned pivotal positions and refused all offers to head the system.

Her exceptional performance over the years not only singled her out but also earned her the commendation of superiors and colleagues alike. Praise ranged from the professional to the personal: "excellent worker," "talented and highly competent," "outstanding," "excellent and very intelligent" and - "a good friend." Colleagues say that there was always room in her heart; she always had a shoulder to offer, time to listen and offer sound advice.

Dafna reached high - new and innovative ideas, whether her own or others', always fell on receptive ears. At the same time, her feet were firmly planted on the ground, her common sense able to anchor the imaginative and translate it into practice. She could separate the wheat from the chaff and understood the intricacies involved in the Administration's large systems, finding simple solutions to make them work. Among other things, she and her staff initiated the full computerization of a variety of forms, including student schedules, grades and courses, as well as follow-up on teaching loads, and the implementation of ideas adopted by the system as a whole.

Dafna was a warm, loving and devoted wife and mother, who always put her family first.

Revital Barashi was the youngest of thirteen children in a Jerusalem family. She lived downtown, and about six months ago celebrated her 30th birthday. For the past seven years she worked with and trained young staff at the Hebrew University's Law Faculty.

Her conscientiousness and the responsibility she showed in the performance of her duties won her the university's Outstanding Employee award in 2000.

According to the commendation cited at the awards ceremony: "Revital excels in all she does. She may always have her hands full but she is nevertheless attentive to and patient with all who turn to her, her natural courtesy unimpaired by her diligence. She is intelligent and will try to execute every task as quickly as possible, drawing on all the help she is able to muster."

Colleagues describe her as "pretty, talented, warm and always ready to help. Revital did her work efficiently and meticulously and, at all times, with a smile."

Who shot Alex Pretti? Now we know

From Doug Chandler on Facebook:

THANKS to ProPublica, we're no longer in the dark about the names and identities of the two federal agents who killed Alex Pretti. The two are Jesus Ochoa, 43, a Border Patrol agent, and Raymundo Gutierrez, 35, a Customs and Border Patrol agent, both of whom were assigned to Operation Metro Surge. ProPublica says the information came from government records.

In publishing those names, the outlet's editors say they believe "there are few investigations that deserve more sunlight and public scrutiny than this one, in which two masked agents fired 10 shots at Pretti as he lay on the ground after being pepper-sprayed.

 
"The Department of Justice said it is investigating the incident, but the names of the two agents have been withheld from Congress and from state and local law enforcement.

"The policy of shielding officers’ identities, particularly after a public shooting, is a stark departure from standard law enforcement protocols, according to lawmakers, state attorneys general and former federal officials. Such secrecy, in our view, deprives the public of the most fundamental tool for accountability."

ProPublica article: https://www.propublica.org/article/alex-pretti-shooting-cbp-agents-identified-jesus-ochoa-raymundo-gutierrez

The Trump administration once again "protects" Jews from antisemitism.

We're supposed to trust the Trump administration to protect us against antisemitism? In the latest proof that the call is coming from inside the house, the New York Times reports that Gregory Bovino, the Border Patrol "commander" who has just been demoted and sent back to his home base in southern California, mocked the Jewish prosecutor in Minneapolis.

A day before six career federal prosecutors resigned in protest over the Justice Department’s handling of the killing of Renee Good in Minneapolis, lawyers in the office had a conversation with Gregory Bovino, the Border Patrol field leader, that left them deeply unsettled.

According to several people with knowledge of the telephone conversation, which took place on Jan. 12, Mr. Bovino made derisive remarks about the faith of the U.S. attorney in Minnesota, Daniel N. Rosen. Mr. Rosen is an Orthodox Jew and observes Shabbat, a period of rest between Friday and Saturday nights that often includes refraining from using electronic devices.

Mr. Bovino, who has been the face of the Trump administration’s immigration crackdown, used the term “chosen people” in a mocking way, according to the people with knowledge of the call. He also asked, sarcastically, whether Mr. Rosen understood that Orthodox Jewish criminals don’t take weekends off, the people said.

Mr. Bovino had requested the meeting with Mr. Rosen to press the Minnesota office to work more aggressively to seek criminal charges against people Mr. Bovino believed were unlawfully impeding the work of his immigration agents.

Mr. Rosen delegated the call to a deputy. During the call, with a handful of prosecutors listening in, Mr. Bovino complained that Mr. Rosen had been unreachable for portions of the weekend because of Shabbat. Mr. Bovino’s remarks followed his complaints about having difficulty reaching Mr. Rosen.

Murder by the state - statement by the parents of Alex Pretti, murdered today by ICE

 

"One hundred million deportations" - DHS takes us back to the 1950s

First post of 2026 is on a racist (and ridiculous) post by the Department of Homeland Security. They appear to want to deport all people of foreign descent (whether here legally or illegally) plus about 50 million native born citizens. One guess as to who they would prefer to deport.

On Wednesday (December 31), they posted this message (from Raw Story via MSN):

DHS posted an image of a 1950s-style car on an idyllic beach under a caption reading, "America after 100 million deportations." The post also read, "The peace of a nation no longer besieged by the third world." It was posted at a time when courts are blocking the Trump administration from federalizing the National Guard as part of its operations.

 

The peace of a nation no longer besieged by the third world. pic.twitter.com/UrPiRA7X1C

— Homeland Security (@DHSgov) December 31, 2025

Notice the community note: "This post uses Hiroshi Nagai’s artwork without permission. Hiroshi Nagai himself has also posted that his illustrations are being used without authorization."

Some obvious criticisms (reported by Raw Story):

"The entire U.S. foreign-born population is only 45 million people, so this ridiculous edge-lord post by taxpayer-funded trolls is suggesting deporting 55 million native-born citizens," immigration attorney Aaron Reichlin-Melnick posted on X.

"NEWS: The Trump administration threatens to illegally deport tens of millions of American-born U.S. citizens," Jon Favreau, co-host of "Pod Save America," posted on X.

"This means they would want to deport all illegal immigrants, all legal immigrants, and ~50 million native-born Americans," Alex Nowrasteh, senior vice president of policy at the CATO Institute, posted on X.

"In order to deport 100 million people, tens of millions of U.S. Citizens would need to be deported. Is the social media team filled with idiots or white supremacists? My guess is both," ex-Air Force General Counsel Charles Blanchard posted on X. "Shame on Secretary Noem."