Rabbi says Notre Dame burned because the Talmud was burned

"Notre Dame Fire May Be Divine Punishment, Says Prominent Settler Rabbi Urging ‘God-fearing Jews’ to refrain from grieving.

"Leading religious-Zionist figure invokes 13th-century Talmud book burning as possible reason for the devastating blaze.

"The conflagration at Notre Dame de Paris that badly damaged the ancient cathedral on Monday was possibly divine punishment, an influential Israeli rabbi said on Wednesday April 17, invoking a 13th-century burning of Jewish scriptures.

"...when answering the question 'So it can’t be said that it was punishment?' the rabbi wrote, 'It is possible, after all. The first big Talmud burning was in Paris, there in the plaza of the Notre Dame Cathedral.'

"Aviner said it was a result of the Paris trial, 'In which Jewish sages in France of that generation were forced into confrontation with the Christian sages. The result was the burning of the Talmud. The Talmud books were brought to the Notre Dame square in 20 wagons...and were burned there, meaning, 1,200 Tamlud books.'

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Notre Dame Cathedral Destroyed by Fire, A Dark Day for Europeans

Macron Announces Wage Hikes, Tax Cuts Amid “Economic, Social State Of Emergency”

In his first public comments in more than a week, French President Emmanuel Macron said on Monday that his administration will show “no mercy” towards “Yellow Vest” protesters who have committed violence over the last four weeks of demonstrations across the country, while also announcing a series of economic measures in an attempt to restore calm.

“When violence is unleashed, freedom ends,” said Macron – while acknowledging that there is a “deep anger” at the French government that is justified – yet which should not devolve into violence. Macron added that he shares some responsibility for the situation – which began as a climate change-linked fuel tax and quickly transformed into a general anti-government protest.

To combat future violence, Macron will use “all means’ to restore calm, and has called for an “economic and social state of emergency,” according to AP.

Economic relief

Macron – whose approval rating is at an all time low, says he has asked his government to increase wages by 100 euros per month beginning in January as part of a series of new measures to be released in detail on Tuesday. He also announced that overtime hours won’t be subject to payroll tax, and that his administration will scrap a tax hike on poor and low-income retirees. Furthermore, Mcron asked companies to pay end-of-year bonuses which won’t be taxed, and will suspend a CSG levy on pensions below 2,000 euros per month.

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Europe Should Become an “Empire” Says French Finance Minister

France’s finance minister has called on Europe to become an “empire” so that it can better compete with the United States and China.

Asserting that “it takes courage to stand in the way of the government” of Donald Trump, Bruno Le Maire told Handelsblatt newspaper that, “Europe should no longer be afraid of using its power and [become] an empire of peace.”

“I’m talking about a peaceful empire which is a constitutional state,” he added.

Le Maire’s statement follows French President Macron’s call for a “real European army” to counter Russian threats and reduce dependence on the U.S.

During yesterday’s Armistice centenary in Paris, Macron also urged world leaders to reject nationalism, claiming it represented a “betrayal of patriotism”.

Given the internal situation in France, it might be advisable for Le Maire and Macron to focus on their own country’s problems.

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Washington forces its allies to accept a bipolar world

By firing missiles on Syria with its French and British allies, the strange President Donald Trump has managed to force the Western powers to accept the end of their unilateral domination of the world. The insignificant result of this demonstration of force drags NATO back to reality. Without having made use of its weapons, Russia now succeeds the Soviet Union in the balance of world power.

Over the last few weeks, and for the first time in their history, the United States and Russia have mutually threatened one another with a World War. The totally disproportionate character of the crisis in terms of the subject of the dispute demonstrates that what is at stake here today no longer has any connection with what has been happening in the Greater Middle East since 2001, but exclusively with an attempt to maintain the current World Order.

After the gigantic massacre of millions of people over seventeen years, from Afghanistan to Libya, the manner in which about fifty people in East Ghouta (Syria) are said to have died seems almost ridiculous. And yet on 14 April, this was the pretext chosen by Washington, Paris and London to launch a three-party aerial attack.

Let’s avoid getting distracted by the circumstances, and get straight to the heart of the matter – the Western powers are attempting to maintain their domination over the rest of the world, while Russia and China are breaking free of it.

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Is Macron the EU’s Last Best Hope—Or Is He One Of The Last Men Of Yesterday?

For the French establishment, Sunday’s presidential election came close to a near-death experience. As the Duke of Wellington said of Waterloo, it was a “damn near-run thing.”

Neither candidate of the two major parties that have ruled France since Charles De Gaulle even made it into the runoff, an astonishing repudiation of France’s national elite.

Marine Le Pen of the National Front ran second with 21.5 percent of the vote. Emmanuel Macron of the new party En Marche! won 23.8 percent.

Macron is a heavy favorite on May 7. The Republicans’ Francois Fillon, who got 20 percent, and the Socialists’ Benoit Hamon, who got less than 7 percent, both have urged their supporters to save France by backing Macron.

Ominously for U.S. ties, 61 percent of French voters chose Le Pen, Fillon or radical Socialist Jean-Luc Melenchon. All favor looser ties to America and repairing relations with Vladimir Putin’s Russia.

Le Pen has a mountain to climb to win, but she is clearly the favorite of the president of Russia, and perhaps of the president of the United States. Last week, Donald Trump volunteered:

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Why the French Election Is Critical and What We Learn from Emmanuel Macron’s Movement Versus Party