Latest news with #G-d
Toronto Sun
27-06-2025
- Politics
- Toronto Sun
ELDER: Foreseeing Iran as a ticking nuclear bomb
This satellite image provided by Maxar Technologies shows the Isfahan nuclear technology center in Iran after U.S. strikes, Sunday, June 22, 2025. (Maxar Technologies via AP) AP I wrote this in January 2006. Here is an excerpt: This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. THIS CONTENT IS RESERVED FOR SUBSCRIBERS ONLY Subscribe now to read the latest news in your city and across Canada. Unlimited online access to articles from across Canada with one account. Get exclusive access to the Toronto Sun ePaper, an electronic replica of the print edition that you can share, download and comment on. Enjoy insights and behind-the-scenes analysis from our award-winning journalists. Support local journalists and the next generation of journalists. Daily puzzles including the New York Times Crossword. SUBSCRIBE TO UNLOCK MORE ARTICLES Subscribe now to read the latest news in your city and across Canada. Unlimited online access to articles from across Canada with one account. Get exclusive access to the Toronto Sun ePaper, an electronic replica of the print edition that you can share, download and comment on. Enjoy insights and behind-the-scenes analysis from our award-winning journalists. Support local journalists and the next generation of journalists. Daily puzzles including the New York Times Crossword. REGISTER / SIGN IN TO UNLOCK MORE ARTICLES Create an account or sign in to continue with your reading experience. Access articles from across Canada with one account. Share your thoughts and join the conversation in the comments. Enjoy additional articles per month. Get email updates from your favourite authors. THIS ARTICLE IS FREE TO READ REGISTER TO UNLOCK. Create an account or sign in to continue with your reading experience. Access articles from across Canada with one account Share your thoughts and join the conversation in the comments Enjoy additional articles per month Get email updates from your favourite authors Don't have an account? Create Account Iranian President Mahmoud 'the-Holocaust-is-a-myth' Ahmadinejad does not deny his intentions. He stated that Israel should be 'wiped off the map.' And 'G-d willing, with the force of G-d behind it, we shall soon experience a world without the United States and Zionism.' The part about wiping Israel off the map received widespread attention. But our mainstream news media seemed less interested in the other part of Ahmadinejad's speech, in which he looked forward to a 'world without the United States.' Bellicose statements from Iran are certainly nothing new. 'The non-Muslims are (like) those animals that graze, chew their cud and cause corruption,' said Guardian Council Secretary Ayatollah Ahmad Jannati. (The non-elected Guardian Council is the most influential body in Iran, with six clerics capable of blocking any legislation they deem inconsistent with Islam.) Your noon-hour look at what's happening in Toronto and beyond. By signing up you consent to receive the above newsletter from Postmedia Network Inc. Please try again This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. And, in the state-run Iranian reformist daily newspaper, Sharq, Assembly of Experts Head Ayatollah Ali Meshkini said, 'The Iranian people must know that America and England are two cancerous growths, and (they) will destroy any country if they enter its body.' On state-run Iranian television early this year, political analyst Dr. Majid Goudarzi stated, 'The (Zionists) claimed that they had to be the rulers of the world. … They wrote instructions how to gain control of the global media, and how to control the world's natural resources. … They want to write history as they wish, and in light of their unparalleled power in the media … they have managed to impose the (Holocaust) issue, and to depict themselves as oppressed.' This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. Recall that President George Bush, amid much criticism, called Iran part of the 'axis of evil.' In the president's 2002 State of the Union speech, he said, 'States like (North Korea, Iran, Iraq), and their terrorist allies, constitute an axis of evil, arming to threaten the peace of the world.' His critics called it war-mongering. The New York Times editorialized, 'The application of power and intimidation has returned to the forefront of American foreign policy. That was the unmistakable message delivered by president Bush in his State of the Union address when he labelled Iran, Iraq and North Korea an 'axis of evil.'' Former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright said using the label 'axis of evil' was 'a big mistake,' and that 'the international community thinks we have lost our mind.' This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. 'It was reckless rhetoric,' said Rep. James Moran, D-Va., 'to lump all three countries together.' And Warren Christopher, secretary of state under President Bill Clinton, said, 'It was a speechwriter's dream and a policy-maker's nightmare.' The Iranians claim they intend to pursue a nuclear capability for peaceful reasons. The Iranian parliament, however, provides little comfort, given that its meetings frequently include chants of 'Death to America.' During military parades, the Iranians show off enormous missiles, painted with charming phrases: 'We will crush America under our feet,' and 'Israel must be wiped off the map.' Experts disagree on how long it would take before Iran develops a bomb, but the disagreement stands on when, not whether. Given cries of 'Bush lied, people died,' expect much of America to discount any statement by the president. After all, goes the line, we got Iraq wrong, how do we know the truth about Iran? Even French President Jacques Chirac now seems to get it. He recently warned, 'Leaders of any state that uses terrorist means against us, as well as any that may be envisaging, in one way or another, using weapons of mass destruction, must understand that they would be exposing themselves to a firm and appropriate response on our behalf. 'That response could be conventional, it could also be of another nature,' said Chirac, clearly referring to France's nuclear weapons. What would Israel do? What would the Europeans do? In the end, however, expect America, as usual, to do the heavy lifting — no matter the criticism. The question remains: Will the worldwide hostility toward president Bush and the desire to interpret everything he says as 'a lie' prevent rational people from doing rational things to prevent the irrational people from committing mass murder? As of a week ago, President Donald Trump answered this question. Canada Toronto Maple Leafs Music Toronto Raptors Toronto Raptors
Forbes
11-04-2025
- Sport
- Forbes
Yeshiva University And Lehman College Broke 141 Games Of Losing Streaks
On a blustery day earlier this week, on a baseball field at Fairleigh Dickinson University in Teaneck, New Jersey, history was made. Truth be told, before a single pitch was thrown, fans and looky-loos alike knew that they were about to witness something monumental. They simply didn't know in which direction. You see, taking the field for that day's double-header was Lehman College, based in the Bronx, living through a 42-game losing streak. On the other side of the diamond was Yeshiva University, based in Washington Heights, which had lost 99 games in a row. Barring some act of G-d, one team was going to break their streak and go home happy; and one team's futility would continue for at least another game. It should be noted that these two New York-based teams played these games in New Jersey, at a neutral site, not because of its historic nature; not because 'everything is legal in Jersey'; and not to avoid a Manhattan / Bronx border skirmish. Rather, it was because neither school's field was in playing condition after storms swept through New York last weekend. Yeshiva was the first to convince Fairleigh Dickinson to host the games at to the Naimoli Family Baseball Complex on its turf field, so they became the home team. In the first game, played under clear skies and at roughly 39 degrees in front of approximately 250 fans, the teams went back and forth. Yeshiva scored two in the bottom of the first, surrendered one in the top of the second, and then scored three more in the bottom of the second. Lehman struck back with three in the top of the third, but then surrendered one more in the bottom of the fifth. Going to the seventh (which would have been the last inning as double headers limit each game to seven innings), Yeshiva held a two-run lead and needed just three outs to break their 99-game streak. Since both of these of these schools are Division-III, they do not offer scholarships. These kids are playing for the love of the game. Most were not heavily recruited. In the case of Yeshiva, an Orthodox Jewish school, most of the students could not have played elsewhere, as college baseball is known for Friday nights and Saturday afternoons – said differently, during Shabbat – when they could not participate. As the game moved to the seventh, the players began to show what the pressure of two massive losing streaks can do to your psyche. The first Lehman batter of the seventh walked, and so did the second (after a pitching change). The third was hit by a pitch, which put the tying runs in scoring position and the lead run on base – all with no outs. After yet another pitching change, a double tied the game. Anyone in attendance at that moment could have sensed this game was over – Yeshiva had given up the lead, Lehman had two runners in scoring position and there were still no outs. But a comebacker to the mound, followed by a strikeout, and then a fly ball kept the game knotted at six. Yeshiva wasted a single in the bottom half of the seventh, and thus the game went to extra innings. In the top of the eighth, the first three Lehman hitters singled, loading the bases with no outs. [But, here too the stress shone through. Lehman's Argenis Sanchez dropped a bunt to move the runners up, but when the Yeshiva players converged to field the ball, no one covered first, allowing the batter to reach. It went down as a hit.] In the bottom half of the eighth, Yeshiva went strikeout, ground out, strikeout, giving Lehman their first win since their current head coach – Chris Delgado – was a player on the team in 2023. The loss pushed Yeshiva's record of futility into triple digits. Winning pitcher Justin Chamorro, a biology major who is going into a PA program after the season, threw a complete game, striking out a career-high thirteen. According to Michael Clair, who was in attendance for both games, Chamorro said the following after the game: And when asked about that winning feeling, Chamorro said it was 'a sense of relief, a sense of joy.' The second game of the double dip started about 20 minutes after the first. Maybe coming so close in time to an extra innings loss took all of Yeshiva's angst away; maybe actually hitting the century mark in consecutive defeats was a release valve; maybe having the sun beginning to set and the crowd thin to a reported 70 onlookers took the pressure off. Whatever it was, Yeshiva came out swinging, scoring thrice in the bottom of the first, and then four more times in the bottom of the third. When the Maccabees scored two insurance runs in the bottom of the fifth, they led 9-3, and looked well on their way to getting off their own schneid. A walk and a double in the top of the sixth made the score 9-4. And a wild pitch in the top of the seventh gave Lehman their final run. When Noah Steinmetz (whose older brother Jacob plays in the Arizona Diamondbacks' system as the only Orthodox Jewish player in the minor leagues, and whose father coaches Yeshiva's basketball team) struck out Sanchez, the streak was finally over. After fielding the errant strike three and tossing it to first to record the final out, catcher Jacob Canner hugged Steinmetz in front of home plate, and the team quietly celebrated their victory – as if it was old hat, and not something that hadn't happened since 2022. In some ways, the outcome on Tuesday afternoon was perfect. Both teams broke their streaks. Yeshiva ran theirs to a cool 100 before changing the tide. The Lightning Bug of Lehman gave their 26-year-old coach a boost of confidence as he continues to build his alma mater program, and the Maccabees of Yeshiva got to ride off into the desert of their Passover break on a winning note. When these two schools ventured to New Jersey on Tuesday afternoon, they were sporting a combined 141 consecutive losses. Dayenu!
