Free Republic

During 1940, three of the most significant Zionist leaders in the world – Chaim Weizmann, Vladimir Jabotinsky, and David Ben Gurion , all visited the United States , hoping to gain a measure of American Jewish support or US government support for the creation of a Jewish army to help fight the Nazis. Rick Richman's new book, Racing Against History, provides an interesting and very carefully researched history of these visits, the leaders' goals, what they accomplished, and what prevented greater success. Richman's book is a fascinating look at a moment in time, different seemingly from our own, but with...

REUTERS A lawsuit charges hedge-funder Ezra Merkin "knew or should have known" that Madoff was a fraud, and seeks $500M from Merkin's funds. Merkin's Gabriel Capital Corp. received $tens of millions in fees from deals with Madoff. Stanley Chais of California was charged last Friday. Microsoft's wholly owned affiliate, Microsoft Licensing GP, one of the pioneers in the field of computerized stock trading, joined the Bankruptcy Court case against Madoff, but declined to discuss its claims against the swindler.

Weizmann Institute researchers have finally discovered why the saying "there's no accounting for taste" is true. A team headed by Prof. Doron Lancet of the molecular genetics department at the Rehovot institute found that some of the 1,000 genes responsible for the nose's odor-detecting receptors can be optional, causing some ethnic groups to smell what others cannot. And since the sense of smell is largely responsible for the sense of taste, this can affect flavor perception as well. It has been known for some time that the human genome comprises 1,000 genes that code for the nose's odor-detecting receptors. Of...