Miscellaneous

One of the disturbing facts of history is that so many civilizations collapse," warns anthropologist Jared Diamond in "Collapse: How Societies Choose to Fail or Succeed." Many "civilizations share a sharp curve of decline. Indeed, a society's demise may begin only a decade or two after it reaches its peak population, wealth and power."
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How many people live in your home? Are any of them Hispanic? Are the people who live in your home citizens? How big is your home? Do you have difficulty making decisions or climbing stairs? How much do you pay for your sewage system? Are you married? What's your rent or mortgage payment? Do...
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Yisrael Beiteinu MK defends conversion bill during Constitution, Law and Justice Committee session, says, 'Whoever blocks bill – I don't know what they will receive'. United Torah Judaism MK Moshe Gafni in response says, 'You are ruining the nation' Ronen Medzini
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The veteran United States-based Young Israel movement condemned U.S. Vice President Biden on Thursday, telling Biden to leave Jerusalem alone. The American vice president had condemned Israel's decision to allow Jews to build in historic Jerusalem, in an area that has been annexed by Israel but is claimed by the Palestinian Authority.
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The first woman to ever hold the title Speaker of the House is giving a bad name to her species-- Speaker of the House. Promising to clean the House (get it?) with transparency, she has instead presided over an institution that is getting dustier and grimier daily. This not so ditzy, just scary,...
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Third in a series on people and places fostering commitment to Judaism and the Jewish people. It's not easy for a teacher to communicate in an entirely foreign language, especially to pre-schoolers. But that is what happens in an extraordinary experiment in Hebrew-language immersion launched seven years ago at the Jacob Pressman Academy, a Conservative...
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U.S. Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts says the scene at this year's State of the Union address by President Obama was "very troubling," and he wonders if justices should attend in the future. Obama chided the court during his speech for its decision that corporations and unions could freely spend money to run...
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Turkish prime minister says Rachel's Tomb, Cave of Patriarchs will forever be Islamic sites Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan joined the Palestinians and various Arab states in criticizing Israel for its heritage plan, which includes sites located in the West Bank and Jerusalem.
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When Nisan and Gilan Gertz stepped off the plane at Ben-Gurion International Airport with their children last August, they were seven of almost 4,000 North Americans to make aliyah in 2009 - the largest number to do so in a single year since 1983. There were a lot of reasons that the Gertzes chose to...
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US President Barack Obama speaks in the East Room of the White House in Mar... The White House on Friday announced a "summit on entrepreneurship" to build economic ties with the Islamic world, part of President Barack Obama's outreach to Muslims. The White House said it has invited participants from more than 40 countries over...
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