NEW: A story about how rare books became a bona fide asset class for Orthodox Jews and the upstart auction house that made it happen
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🧵NEW: The CEOs of & -- two of the largest Jewish umbrella bodies in the US-- secretly met with Finance Min Bezalel Smotrich during his March visit to the US, which was boycotted by much of the organized Jewish community (1/12)
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1. So, Turning Point USA, headed by Charlie Kirk, has pivoted to faith outreach — and, critics say, embracing Christian nationalism.
In doing so, they're urging pastors to embrace right-wing politics as a *church growth strategy.*
It may be working.
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As part of the 9️⃣-month Deforestation Inc. investigation, 140 journalists in 27 countries made freedom of information requests & gathered information on environmental violations by companies.
Go behind-the-scenes of this process:
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Big update on ’s nonprofit explorer:
🔵 More than 900,000 Form 990s were added, primarily covering fiscal years between 2020 and 2022.
🔵 More than 400,000 older tax records (2016-2017) that had been missing from our database were also added.
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Southern Nevada's plan to grow even as it faces a hotter, drier climate relies in no small part on saving water by banning useless grass — like the strips of turf lining roads or office parks.
But we found that those savings were wildly overestimated.
projects.propublica.org/turf-wars/
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NEW: The judge overseeing George Santos's criminal case ordered to UNSEAL the identities of the three people responsible for his $500,000 bail.
BUT he has until Friday to appeal the decision.
I would love to write about this for Insider if I wasn't on strike with !
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I read some transcripts and talked to some people to figure out how Yeezy Day came together, what it means for Adidas, and whether Jerry Lorenzo might be able to fill Ye's, um, socks? Leggings? You know, those things he's wearing instead of shoes lately.
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Nonprofit won't let kids see the pediatrician if their parents have unpaid medical bills.
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A 3-year-old wasn't allowed to go to the pediatrician's office. Why?
They had too much medical debt.
nytimes.com/2023/06/01/bus
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Compensation of charity executives is much higher than I realized and I spend a lot more time than the average person looking at IRS filings. The ADL's Jonathan Greenblatt is in the top 15 with $1.25 million in 2021. See a list of top earners here: charitywatch.org/nonprofit-comp
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The latest from the docket of Wikipedia's "Supreme Court" - Wikipedia disciplines editors in Holocaust distortion dispute but sidesteps debate over Polish complicity
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Jollof. Pho. Paella. Pulao.
Climate change has come for rice (which is also sake and summer rolls).
Our story, long in the making, with and Thanh Nguyen in Vietnam and in Arkansas.
Free link here 🍚
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Newsom has hinted at permitting and CEQA reform for the last week. Today, he'll unveil a package of legislation and sign an executive order to make it easier to build transportation, clean energy, water and other infrastructure across CA. w/
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will be hard to top today's entry in the "Sir, this is a Wendy's" category
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Russian oligarch Roman Abramovich found a path to Portuguese citizenship through his Sephardic heritage—even amid sanctions. The country’s well-intended policy may now be history as a result.
reports:
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And if Pamela doesn’t like you she might…negate your participation? She might nullify you? She might cross you off the list? She might…what’s the word I’m looking for here…
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I asked ChatGPT (4 / web browsing) to summarize ProPublica's first Clarence Thomas story as a colloquial, slangy conversation between two people, only one of whom has read it.
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Today, Columbia Journalism School announced the launch of a Loan Repayment Assistance Program. The first of its kind for graduate journalism schools, this pilot program will support recent graduates in nonprofit news media organizations. Learn more: journalism.columbia.edu/columbia-journ
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Writing is so bleak rn but for I got to follow young and “unpublishable” Angelenos staging DIY readings on roofs and street corners, creating a new lit scene in their image, and I’ve never been more excited/hopeful for LA letters:
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"Moses returns Bible to Jewish People"
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Buyer revealed as ANU - Museum of the Jewish People Museum in Tel Aviv with a donation from Alfred Moses and his family. twitter.com/AsafShaloo/sta…
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Alfred Moses was certainly not on my radar. Here's how he made his money as far as I can tell:
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The buyer notably didn't turned out to be Greens/Museum of the Bible or Jay Schottenstein as some speculated. My guess was an Emirati buyer making an Abraham Accords gesture.
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Buyer revealed as ANU - Museum of the Jewish People Museum in Tel Aviv with a donation from Alfred Moses and his family.
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Codex Sassoon sold for $33.5 million at Sothebys, the highest price for a book sold at auction ever
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Codex Sassoon sold for $33.5 million at Sothebys, the highest price for a book sold at auction ever
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New: The IRS has built an e-filing prototype that could compete with Intuit and other tax-prep giants. Pilot program coming in January, as reports:
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California is almost entirely out of drought, but officials here are planning for the inevitable next dry spell: refilling underground aquifers, building new water-capture infrastructure, asking residents to continue conserving. More from
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According to the latest available tax filings, cofounder Larry Page’s #philanthropy reached new heights in 2021, putting it in league with some of the nation’s largest. The foundation’s giving remains almost entirely opaque.
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Fascinating new book: "The history of U.S. philanthropy in the past five decades has largely been a history of tax-exempt entities. But this is changing, and our most elite donors are increasingly practicing philanthropy outside the tax-exempt sphere."
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Our Thomas stories? Just the product of good old fashioned reporting and research. Great rundown by and -
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Really fascinating insights, by The historian who uncovered the ADL’s secret plot against the far-right John Birch Society - Jewish Telegraphic Agency jta.org/2023/05/11/uni via
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Earlier this year, historian Matthew Dallek published a book on the influence of the extremist John Birch Society on today's politics, unveiling his discovery of a sophisticated spying operation against the group by the ADL. My interview with :
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It's out:
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Climate action is incredibly popular among American Jews but American Jewish organizations were doing close to nothing on the issue. That appears to be changing, with talk of fossil fuel divestment and lobbying for legislation. My latest:
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Just learned that Meir Kahane was a member of the John Birch Society from . Excited to share more from the fascinating interview I did with him about his new book.
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“You will be able to type in the name of a victim and discover who was accused of betraying them."
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NEW -- Supreme Court Justice Neil Gorsuch sold a 40-acre tract of property he co-owned in rural Granby, Colorado to the chief executive of Greenberg Traurig, a major law firm with business before the court.
Major scoop from
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