New York City's Zohran Mamdani's Pick For Chief Council

 Nadene Goldfoot                                            

Mahmoud Khalil is a Palestinian activist and Columbia University student facing potential deportation, whose legal defense is a large team of prominent civil rights lawyers and organizations, including Amy Greer (Dratel & Lewis), the ACLU, NYCLU, Center for Constitutional Rights, CLEAR (CUNY), and Alina Das (NYU), fighting his case in immigration and federal courts. 

He was detained by ICE in early 2025 for his role as a Gaza solidarity encampment negotiator, with the government alleging ties to foreign terrorist groups, while his lawyers argue his detention violates First Amendment rights and stems from his political speech. 

Ramzi Kassem, a former senior immigration policy adviser in the Biden administration who represented pro-Palestinian and anti-Gaza war activists detained under the Trump administration, will serve as Chief Counsel, guiding Zohran Mamdani's legal strategy. Zohran is now New York City's new mayor.  Ramzi was Zohran's top legal advisor.  

Ramzi Kassem has now been appointed by Zohran Mamdani is NYC's chief counsel.  Kassem, whose past legal work includes representing Ahmed al ..-Darbi in an al–Qaeda–related terrorism case, will assume his new position. They declare it's a new era.  Kassem previously served as lead counsel for Ahmed al-Darbi, ..who in 2014 pleaded guilty before US military commission, to conspiracy to an al -Qaeda plot to bomb the French oil tanker MV Lindberg off the coast of Yemen.  Al-Qaeda was formed in 1988 by Osama bin Laden and other Arab veterans of the anti-Soviet insurgency in Afghanistan. Its primary goal is the establishment of a pan-Islamic caliphate and the elimination of Western, particularly U.S., influence in Muslim countries. The group declared a holy war (jihad) against the United States in the late 1990s.

He was arrested by ICE officers on March 8 in the lobby of his university-owned apartment in front of his wife, an American citizen who is eight months pregnant. Upon his arrest, authorities told him that his student visa had been canceled. But Khalil isn’t a visa holder. Khalil, who is a Syrian national of Palestinian descent, is a lawful permanent U.S. resident. In court documents, his lawyer, Amy Greer, said that authorities had revoked his green card.

The U.S. government officially designated al-Qaeda as a Foreign Terrorist Organization (FTO) in 1999. 

Resource:

https://www.nyclu.org/commentary/what-you-need-to-know-about-mahmoud-khalils-legal-case

Read more at:
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/articleshow/126275112.cms?utm_source=contentofinterest&utm_medium=text&utm_campaign=cppst

Which Of The Religions Today Is Acting As The Finger Of G-d?

 Nadene Goldfoot                                                

An image taken from video released by the US Department of Defense showing the strike on alleged Islamic State targets in northwest Nigeria on December 25. 

Dept. of Defense.  

The U.S. military said it attacked Islamic State militants with the approval of Nigerian authorities. The number of casualties is unknown.

1. Christianity and Islam are running a race as to who is the most populated religion.  As of late 2024/early 2025, there are over 2.3 to 2.6 billion Christians globally, making Christianity the world's largest religion, representing about a third 33% of the world's population, with numbers projected to grow to over 3 billion by 2050, especially in the Global South. Major denominations include Catholics (around 1.3 billion), Protestants, and Orthodox Christians, with significant growth in Africa and Asia. Christianity: Over 2.5 billion followers, centered on Jesus Christ. 

2. Islam,  according to Pew estimates, as of 2020,  made up about 25.6% one fourth  of the global population, or roughly 2 billion people (Muslims).Islam: Around 1.9 billion followers, followers of the Prophet Muhammad.

3. Hindus, There are approximately 1.2 billion Hindus in the world today, representing about 15% of the global population. Hinduism is the world's third-largest religion, after Christianity and Islam. Hinduism: Over 1 billion followers, with concepts like Samsara and Karma.

4a. Buddhists Today, there are roughly 320 to 535 million Buddhists worldwide, depending on the source and definition, making it the fourth-largest religion, with the majority living in Asia, particularly China, Thailand, Japan, and Myanmar, though recent trends show a slight decline in numbers in some regions like East Asia. Buddhism: Over 500 million followers, focused on achieving enlightenment (Buddha).  Chinese Folk Religions: Hundreds of millions, blending traditions like Taoism, Confucianism, and ancestor worship.

   4bTaoism/Daoism: Estimating Taoist followers worldwide is difficult, with figures ranging widely from around 12 million to potentially over 170 million, largely due to overlapping beliefs with Chinese folk religions, but most sources point to tens of millions, primarily in China, Taiwan, Hong Kong, and Southeast Asia. Some estimates suggest about 20 million active followers, while the China Daoist Association claims up to 170 million, reflecting the broad spectrum of people who practice Taoist traditions alongside other faiths. Millions follow, focusing on living in harmony with the Tao.

  4c Confucianism;, It's difficult to get an exact number for Confucianism followers because it's often intertwined with Chinese folk religions and ethics, but estimates generally range from around 6 million to over 300 million, depending on how it's counted; direct followers are fewer (about 6 million), while cultural adherence to Confucian ethics (morality, family, social harmony) impacts hundreds of millions, primarily in East Asia (China, Korea, Vietnam, Japan). Confucianism: Millions follow, focusing on ethics and social harmony (Confucius).

  4d Shintoism: Shinto has a complex following, with figures ranging from around 3 million (Pew 2015) to estimates of over 100 million (Sakuraco, ChartsBin), though most adherents live in Japan, where many Japanese people participate in Shinto rituals without formally identifying as members, leading to inflated survey numbers (around 88-189 million in Japanese government surveys) because they combine Shinto with Buddhist practices for life events like births, marriages, and funerals. Shinto: Millions of followers, Japan's indigenous faith. 

5. Sikhism,  There are approximately 25 to 30 million Sikhs worldwide, making Sikhism the world's fifth-largest religion, with the vast majority (over 90%) living in India, particularly in the state of Punjab. Significant Sikh communities also exist in Canada, the UK, the US, and other countries, forming a vibrant global diaspora.  Sikhism: Around 29 million followers, founded by Guru Nanak.

6. Jews'  global Jewish population is around 15.7 to 15.8 million people, making up roughly 0.2% of the world's total population, with the largest communities in Israel (around 7.4 million) and the United States (around 6.3-7.5 million), according to recent 2023-2025 data from sources like the American Jewish Committee and the Jewish Agency for Israel. While still below pre-Holocaust numbers, the population has seen slow growth, with major populations also in France, Canada, and the UK. Judaism: About 15 million followers, a monotheistic faith with the Torah.

7. Baháʼí Faith: There are an estimated 5 to 8 million Baha'i followers worldwide, with official Baha'i sources often citing figures around 5 million and other estimates reaching up to 8 million or more, though precise numbers are hard to track due to varying reporting methods and diverse global presence in over 200 countries and territories, making it the second most geographically widespread religion after Christianity. Around 9 million followers, emphasizing unity. 

8. Jainism:  The global Jain population is estimated to be between 4 to 6 million, with the vast majority residing in India, which holds the largest community (around 4.45 million according to the 2011 census). Significant diaspora communities exist in North America, the UK, Kenya, and East Asia, contributing to a worldwide total of roughly 6.3 million Jains, making it a small but influential global religious minority, notes World Population Review. Jainism: Over 6 million followers, emphasizing non-violence.

President Donald Trump of the USA on Thursday said he ordered “numerous” strikes on Islamic State terrorists in Nigeria, Africa  he had accused of killing Christians.  This is what he may have learned: 

• Although recent massacres in Burkina Faso, West Africa are almost as alarming, no place in sub-Sahara is more notorious for religious hostility against Christians than Nigeria, Africa’s most populous country and largest economy. Over the last decade, more Christians have been deliberately murdered for their faith by Islamic extremists in Nigeria’s northern and central belts than in all the Middle East combined.
• Over 20 Catholics and Protestants have been beheaded since Christmas in Nigeria, alone.
• Among those murdered for their faith over Christmas include a Catholic bride and all her bridesmaids, while traveling to the bride’s country home to prepare the wedding.
• In mid-January, Rev. Andimi, the director of a regional office of the Christian Association of Nigeria, was filmed by Isis’ affiliate pleading for his life and, in a later film, being beheaded by the terror group.  His executioner was identified as Emanuel, a man from his church who had been previously abducted and forcibly converted to Islam.
• Also, in mid-January, word came that the 14 -year-old Nigerian Christian girl Leah Sharibu, whose case of abduction and enslavement “for life” two years ago after courageously giving witness to her faith at gunpoint became internationally known, is now a mother and has been forcibly converted to Islam while captive in the Nigerian wilderness.
• In tiny Burkina Faso, three priests and two Protestant ministers have been murdered, along with their congregations during 2019. On 20 January 2020, a village of 195 homes was razed to the ground and the Christian inhabitants who could flee were eventually taken hostage or killed. Terrorists carefully choose and target teachers and priests with a view to crippling social services for a population who becomes homeless and poor through internal displacement. By the end of January 2020, there were at least 600,000 internally displaced persons (IDPs) under the care of the Catholic Church.
• A few months ago, all the residents of an entire Christian village were slaughtered in Mali, leaving no survivors.  There's lots more reported.  

“The United States launched a powerful and deadly strike against ISIS Terrorist Scum in Northwest Nigeria, who have been targeting and viciously killing, primarily, innocent Christians, at levels not seen for many years, and even Centuries!” Trump said in a post on Truth Social.  Trump said the “powerful and deadly” strikes were directed at militants in the northwest of Nigeria.  

These attacks remind me of all the attacks Jews have had against them by Christians !  I write and list them most of the time. Even today, all this anti-Semitism happening, so much like 1939 in Germany, is being done by Christians and I imagine, atheists, backed by Islamists.  

In essence, Trump was acting as the finger of G-d punishing the Islamic terrorists without his government's approval, but with their knowledge of how he felt about these Christians being slaughtered by terrorist Islam.  He feels his power.  This is the first time any leader of a government has gone ahead without any government approval to attack another religion for his own religion, or is it ?  Isn't that what was going on in Nigeria?  The writers on CNN say the attack by Trump was more nuanced.  Huh?  Is this about TERROR or THE PERSECUTION of Christians?

It's impossible to give an exact number of governments that have attacked one religion in the name of their own, as history is full of such conflicts, but modern data shows nearly all countries (192/198) experienced some form of religious harassment by governments or social actors in 2022, with 186 countries seeing government interference with religious beliefs, often targeting minorities for reasons that align with a dominant or state-favored belief system or for purely political control, exemplified by China's actions against Uyghurs and Tibetans or historical examples like the Crusades, Inquisition, (both Catholic Christianity against Jews )and conflicts involving state-sponsored churches.   

  

Resource

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Religious_violence#:~:text=Violence%20committed%20by%20secular%20governments,as%20being%20a%20secularized%20religion.

https://www.cnn.com/2025/12/25/africa/trump-nigeria-attacks-on-christians-explainer-intl-hnk

  https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/trump-administration/trump-says-ordered-strikes-isis-targets-nigeria-rcna250970

Time Is The Factor In How We Look At It

  Nadene Goldfoot                                                     

• It was Haman  of Persia;, the king's advisor,  who had started killingJews back in Queen Esther's day, before 330 BCE. In those days,  Persia  covered much land.   That was about 2,355 years ago.  

1492 was the date given for the Spanish Inquisition when King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella put out a statement that Jews had to leave their country or convert.  Actually, the government had been coming down on Jews even before that date.  

In 1492, during the reign of Pope Alexander VI (Rodrigo Borgia), the Spanish Inquisition was already well-established, having been authorized by Pope Sixtus IV in 1478 at the request of Spain's Catholic Monarchs, Ferdinand and Isabella, to enforce Catholic orthodoxy, especially after the conquest of Granada and the expulsion of Jews, with the Pope granting the monarchs power to appoint inquisitors to root out heresy and enforce religious uniformity. 

• Grand Inquisitor: Tomás de Torquemada(Oct 14, 1420-Sept 16, 1498), a Dominican, became the most famous, leading the charge against heresy.  Any hidden Jew was charged with heresy and tortured to death.   Tomás de Torquemada born in  Ávila, Castile) was the first grand inquisitor in Spain, whose name has become synonymous with the Christian Inquisition’s horror, religious bigotry, and cruel fanaticism.                                
  
       A torture chamber where you must admit you are a Jew;  then death, possible at the stake by fire, or in the torture chamber itself
• As it happened, there were Jews with businesses or older relative who could not pick up and leave quickly.  They were not interested in becoming Catholics.  They had to go through baptism but practiced Judaism on the   sly.They became the Marranos, conversos or anusim. Jews were even trackeddown who had immigrated to Mexico much later.  

When did Protestant Christianity enter the picture?  Protestantism officially started on October 31, 1517, when German monk Martin Luther posted his "95 Theses" in Wittenberg, Germany, challenging Catholic practices like indulgences and sparking the Protestant Reformation, though its ideas grew from earlier reform movements and took time to develop into distinct denominations.

This was only 25 years after the Spanish Inquisition that was still in force.25 years is a long time.  Think of a baby girl  born in 1492. She can be awife and mother of 5 children by 1517.  

Martin Luther, a German monk and theologian, is credited with leading the Protestant Reformation starting in 1517 by challenging the Catholic Church's practices, particularly the sale of indulgences, with his 95 Theses, sparking a movement that reshaped Christianity and led to new Protestant denominations like Lutheranism. Other key figures like John Calvin also became crucial leaders, but Luther was the catalyst. 

Martin Luther's views on Jews shifted significantly over his lifetime, moving from an initial hope for their conversion to Christianity to later extreme hostility when this did not occur. His later writings are considered virulently antisemitic and have been widely condemned for their influence on German antisemitism and their use by the Nazi regime.   

• Early Period (until approximately 1536): Luther expressed a more favorable view, criticizing the mistreatment of Jews by the Catholic Church in his 1523 essay That Jesus Christ Was Born a Jew. He believed that presenting the "pure" Gospel could lead to their conversion.  This viewpoint is still being viewed by many. This viewpoint was introduced 31 years after the Inquisition.
• Later Period (after approximately 1537): Following the failure of his conversion efforts, Luther became increasingly hostile. This period is marked by harsh anti-Jewish treatises, most notably On the Jews and Their Lies (1543). This conclusion took place 51 years after the inquisition. He called  Jewis
• h  defense of the Old Testament, etc, lies, as they only accepted the New Testament.  51 years covers grandparents still alive after the Inquisition.  
• On the Jews and Their Lies is a significant work in which Luther proposed a plan of persecution. His suggestions to German princes included destroying synagogues and homes, confiscating religious texts, forbidding rabbis from teaching, and seizing their property. He also made statements advocating violence against Jews. In another work from the same year, he employed derogatory language and associated Jews with the Devil. 
  Legacy and Modern Condemnation
  Luther's anti-Jewish rhetoric is widely acknowledged by historians as a major factor in the rise of antisemitism in Germany. Centuries later, his writings were utilized by the Nazi Party to justify their ideology and actions, including the 1938 Kristallnacht pogrom. Time from 1492 is 446 years.  Anti-Semitism brought about by the Spanish Inquisition has been active for about 500 years up to Nazi period.  
• The United States will be  only 250 years old in 2026. A lot has taken place. 
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• We have been burdened with 500 years of anti-Semitism.  From Kristsalnacht to today has been 87 years.  
• So we can figure about 600 past years of dealing with anti-Semitism.  Today, the Nazis havebeen replaced by fundamental terrorists of the Middle East, who areaiming to kill all Jews.  
• Today we have several Christian groups backing Israelis.  CUFI is one.  CBN is another.  Also, so far, we have the American President on our side,Trump, who Netanyahu is trying to work with.  
• Addend:  I just watched Einstein's theory of time of the 4th dimension.  He said itwas hard for him to understand, but that we really don't die, which was nice to hearby this 91 year old who finds every day and moment precious;  and that seems tobe what we should be doing as it is.  

  

                                   Story of Elijah and Baal 
• I'm very aware of the present and the past; things in my memory bank (with my present getting foggier with names) but the future?  I haven't lived it yet.  Well, right now I am in a sense;  this is the future I read about when I existed inthe past, like Brave New World, and 1984, books that predicted life in the future.However, Einstein says his math equations prove that the future exists.  To me, this does sound so biblical!  No wonder prophets did their thing.  They were getting a picture of the future!  He mentioned we are made of stardust.     
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