The Power of One Push-Up

.the atlantic

There are the vital signs: heart and respiratory rates and body temperature. Sometimes blood pressure. These are critical in emergencies. If you’ve been stabbed in the chest, paramedics want to know no numbers more than these.

But in day-to-day life, the normalcy of those numbers is expected. It doesn’t so much grant you a clean bill of health as indicate that you are not in acute danger. What if you just generally want to know whether you’re on pace to live an average life or longer?

The most common numbers are age and body weight. The U.S. health-care system places tremendous value on the latter, in the form of body-mass index, or BMI, a simple ratio of weight over height. BMI is used to define obesity and “overweight,” and so to stratify risks in insurance and health-care industries. This number has come to be massively consequential in the lives of millions of people, and to influence the movement of billions of dollars.

FORMER INTELLIGENCE DIRECTOR CLAPPER DENIES TRUMP CLAIM OBAMA 'BEGGED' FOR MEETING WITH NORTH KOREA'S KIM JONG-UN

newsweek

James Clapper, the former Director of National Intelligence under President Barack Obama laughed off President Donald Trump's claim on Sunday that the Obama administration had repeatedly "begged" for a meeting with North Korean leader Kim Jong-Un.

While meeting with Kim Sunday in the demilitarized zone along the border of North Korea and South Korea, Trump told reporters that his predecessor in the Oval Office had sought such a face-to-face with Kim, but had been rebuffed.

"President Obama wanted to meet and Chairman Kim would not meet him," declared Trump. "The Obama administration was begging for a meeting — they were begging for meetings, constantly and Chairman Kim would not meet with him, and for some reason we have a certain chemistry or whatever."

Appearing on CNN's State of the Union Sunday morning, Clapper could barely keep a straight face as the clip of Trump making that claim played.

https://time.com/5617952/trump-lying-obama-kim-jong-un/

Sex convict rabbi claims he can revive the dead – for $5,000 fee

https://www.timesofisrael.com/sex-convict-rabbi-claims-he-can-revive-the-dead-for-5000-fee/

Sex convict rabbi Eliezer Berland promises he can revive people who were officially declared brain dead, if family members pony up some NIS 20,000 ($5,400), according to a television report on Thursday that exposed the working of the miracles-for-cash services offered by the shadowy leader of the Shuvu Bonim community.

Berland has long been known to offer “pidyonim,” or kabbalistic benedictions, to the ill, whereby they receive a blessing after donating money. In late-night visits, and surrounded by dozens of followers, Berland frequently shows up at Israeli hospitals across the country, unattended by staff, to bless the sick, according to footage uploaded by his followers.

Rabbi Berland recorded confessing to rape

https://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4834011,00.html

Channel 2 News revealed on Tuesday recordings where Rabbi Eliezer Berland, who was extradited to Israel last week on charges of sex crimes, confesses to sexually assaulting a woman, explicitly stating that he committed the act against her will.

The recordings include a conversation between Berland and several of his followers, in which he referred to "the first time I raped her," explaining that she was not obligated to divorce her husband, since she did not consent to the act.

Trump's Jewish alter ego

https://www.jpost.com/Israel-News/Berland-convicted-in-plea-bargain-of-indecent-assault-to-serve-18-months-in-prison-472933

Its a forgery. Rav Sternbuch and the others never signed it.

NETZIV KORACH'S REBELLION REASON

העמק דבר פרשת קרח

(א) ויקח קרח וגו' ודתן ואבירם וגו'. מלשון ולוקח נפשות חכם [משלי י"א ל'], שלקח לב ונפש בני אדם עד שהגיע שקמו המה ואנשים מבני ישראל חמשים ומאתים לחלוק על משה ואהרן. והנה לפי לשון הכתוב ודתן ואבירם וגו' מוכח שגם המה היו בלוקחי נפשות ולא בין הנפתים, ואם כן ויקחו מיבעי, אבל יש לדעת ולהתבונן מכל ענין הפרשה, מהליכות המחלוקת, ומעונש שהגיע להם, כי לא נשתוו בערכם ובכוונת מחלוקתם קרח, ודתן ואבירם, ור"ן איש, שהרי אנו רואים שלא היו בכלל לוקחי המחתות אלא קרח ור"ן איש, ולא דתן ואבירם, וגם הנהיג המקום ית"ש כבוד בר"ן איש ולא בקרח ודתן ואבירם כאשר יבואר, על כן יש להבין שר"ן איש היו באמת גדולי ישראל בכל פרט גם ביראת ה', והיה מניעת הכהונה שהוא גורם דבקות ואהבת ה' כאש בוער בקרבם, לא לשם שררה וכבוד המדומה כי אם להתקדש ולהשיג מעלה זו על ידי עבודה, וגם המה ידעו אשר דבר ה' אמת בפי משה, ואין להרהר אחריו ח"ו, רק הרהרו בלבם אחר רצון ה', ומסרו עצמם למסירת נפש ולמות על אהבת ה' כי עזה כמות אהבה. וכל זה מבואר במדרש שהביא רש"י מה ראה קרח לשטות זה, הר"ן איש כבר כתיב את מחתות החטאים האלה בנפשותם, אבל קרח שפקח היה מה ראה כו', ולכאורה אינו מבואר מה זה ישוב על ר"ן איש במש"כ את מחתות החטאים וגו'. [וידעתי שיש מקום לפרש על פי דאיתא בסנהדרין פרק ד"מ [נ"ב א'] שפירוש בנפשותם על עסקי נפשותם שאכלו ושתו בבית קרח ועל ידי זה נפתו, אבל מכל מקום נראה שבעלי המדרש כיונו באופן אחר]. אלא משמעות זה הכתוב הוא כעין פירוש הכתוב בנזיר שנטמא וכפר עליו מאשר חטא על הנפש, וביארנו שמה שנצטער מיין והוא כדי להשיג מעלת רוח הקודש ולהיות קדוש לה', וזה אינו לפי ערכו, והבחינה על זה שהרי נטמא, ואמר הכתוב דמי שציער את נפשו להשיג מעלה שאינו בר יכולת להשיגה, מיקרי חוטא על נפשו, והכי נמי המה בקשו להשיג מעלת אהבת ה' על ידי עבודה, אף על גב שידעו שלא ינקו ובודאי יקוים דבר משה, וזה מיקרי החטאים האלה בנפשותם, שביקשו לאבד את נפשותם רק להשיג מעלת האהבה וחסידות באופן שאינו לפי הרצון ממנו ית"ש. ומשום הכי סמך ענין הלז לפרשת ציצית, שהוזהרו חסידי עליון בחוט של תכלת, שבכל חסידותם לא יסורו ממצות ה' כמו שביארנו באזהרה ולא תתורו וגו', והר"ן איש סירבו על זה והגיע להם מה שהגיע. והנה לא היה אפשר להם לקחת מחתות וכדומה ולהקריב במשכן, שהרי הלוים שמרו שלא יקרב זר, משום הכי היו מוכרחים לעשות מחלוקת על משה ואהרן ולפרוץ גדר, כל זה היה הליכות ר"ן איש, ובשביל שמכל מקום כיונו לשם שמים משום הכי נענשו בשריפה באש שיצא מק"ק, והיה בזה ענין כבוד גם כן כמו שיבואר, וישראל נצטערו הרבה על מותם כמבואר להלן י"ז ו', לא כן דתן ואבירם המה היו רחוקים מתאוה עליונה זו, כי אם שהיו בטבע בעלי מחלוקת ושונאי משה עוד במצרים, כדאיתא בנדרים דף ס"ד א', ומכש"כ עתה כאשר נגזר עליהם למות במדבר ולא ליכנס לארץ זבת חלב ודבש, משום הכי נענשו בבליעה בארץ כרוח הבהמה, וישראל שמחו על מותם כמו שיבואר שם. אמנם קרח באמת היה אדם גדול וראוי לתאות הר"ן איש, וכה היה נראה לפני בני אדם שזהו מבקש גם הוא, אבל באמת תוכו לא כן היה וקנאת השררה אכלתהו, על כן עשה מעשה הר"ן איש ונענש כדתן ואבירם, והיינו שתמה המדרש אבל קרח שפיקח היה לא נכנס לשטות לבקש חסידות באופן שאין כן רצון הקדוש ברוך הוא, וע"כ כסבור להשיג תאות הכבוד, והיה נכון לבו בטוח שיצא לחיים, אם כן מה ראה לבטוח לחלוק על משה. וכל דברים אלו מבואר במקרא בפרשת פינחס, הוא דתן ואבירם קריאי העדה אשר הצו על משה ועל אהרן בעדת קרח בהצתם על ה', מבואר שהר"ן איש הצו על ה', והמה הצו על משה ועל אהרן, ויבואר עוד שמה, זהו כלל הענין. והנה ידוע אשר יראי ה' ועמוסים בפרישות אינם יכולים להצית מחלוקת, שנדרש לזה לגבב דברי נרגן ולשון הרע וכדומה, וגם כי באמת בלבבם האמינו במשה ותורתו, רק שהיה קשה לקבל זה הדין, ואם כן לא מצאו ידים לעשות מחלוקת, וכן דתן ואבירם שהיו ידועים לבעלי ריב ומדון ושונאי משה ומוכשרים לכך, אבל לא היה בכחם להמשיך הקהל אחריהם, ומי פתי יסיר דעתו אחר אנשים שהולכים אחר לבבם, אבל קרח שהיה גדול הדור הוא היה בכחו להמשיך אחריו רבים וכן שלמים, ובאשר גם הוא לאו אורחיה לדבר עם בני אדם ולפתות ברוב דברים, על כן לקח אליו את דתן ואבירם ומסר להם דברים כפי דעתו הרחבה, והמה הלכו בשליחות קרח ולקחו לבב ר"ן איש להמשך אחר קרח, נמצא כל הענין נקרא על שם קרח והוא העיקר, ודתן ואבירם האמצעים אשר על ידם הרחיב הפרצה, משום הכי כתיב ויקח קרח והם אחריו, ואחריהם נמשכו ר"ן איש חסידי הדור, ועליהם נאמר (משלי כ"א) אדם תועה מדרך השכל בקהל רפאים ינוח, פירוש רפאים הוא כמו פראים, אלא פראים הוא בלי עול דרך ארץ ורפאים הוא בלי עול מלכות שמים ויראת ה', ואמר הכתוב כי מי שהוא ירא אלקים באמת אלא שתועה מדרך השכל, הרי סופו לנוח בקהל רפאים, ולהיות אפיקורוס ולבזות חכמים כמו אפיקורוס ממש, וע' דברים ב' י"א, וכן היה בר"ן איש הללו, שתעו מדרך השכל, ונמשכו אחרי פרעות דתן ואבירם ובזו את משה ואהרן:

(ב) נשיאי עדה. מנהיגי הדור:

קריאי מועד. שישבו עד כה עם משה ואהרן בכל מועד שנדרש לעצה ותושיה:

אנשי שם. משמעו בשני אופנים, א' מפורסמים בשם לאנשי מעלה, ב' אנשי מעשה טוב, ועל זה כתיב [קהלת ז'] טוב שם משמן טוב, ובמשנה אבות פרק ד' וכתר שם טוב עולה על גביהן. [ואולי בא זה הלשון ממש"כ בפרשת נח ויהיו בני נח שם וגו', וביארנו שם מלשון ויהיו, דמי שנהג במצות ומעשים טובים נקרא ע"ש שם, וזהו אנשי שם]. והודיע הכתוב עד כמה הגיע כח דברי נרגן של קרח דתן ואבירם, עד שלקחו לב אנשי מעלה הללו, שמצד הסברא לא היו ראוים לבא לידי מדה זו לומר למשה ואהרן למה תתנשאו על קהל ה'. אם מצד שהיו נשיאי עדה, וכל מנהיג יודע שאי אפשר להנהיג את הדור בלי איזה התנשאות, ואם כן לא היה להם לשפוט את משה ואהרן למתנשאים שלא לשם שמים ח"ו. אם מצד שהיו קריאי מועד, וישבו יחדיו עמם, וראו רוב ענותנותם והליכות דרך ארץ שלהם שלא בהתנשאות יתירה ח"ו. אם מצד שהיו אנשי שם, ואין איש אפרתי מוצא פה ולשון להגיד למי שגדול ממנו מדוע תתנשאו אפילו אם היה כן ח"ו, וזהו מדת פחותי ערך וכל הפגום פוגם. אם מצד יראת ה' ודאי לא היה ראוי להרהר אחר רבן של ישראל להוכיח אותם, אם לא בעבירה ברורה כשמש אשר על זה מצוה להוכיח אפילו תלמיד לרב, אבל כל כך גבר פתוי אנשי נרגן אלו, עד שנשקע המון המניעות בתוך ים דבריהם. והיינו שנמשל נזק מחלוקת לנזק אש כמש"כ להלן כ"א כ"ח, וכידוע הלשון אש המחלוקת, ללמד כי כמו שנזק אש איתא בב"ק דף י' שמועד לאכול בין שראוי לה בין שאין ראוי לה, כך מחלוקת עושה דברים שאינו ראוי מצד השכל, וקולט אנשים יקרים שאינם ראוים לכך:

REPUBLICANS APPEAR TO NOT UNDERSTAND THE HATCH ACT IN DEFENDING KELLYANNE CONWAY

https://www.newsweek.com/hatch-act-kellyanne-conway-republican-hearing-1446110

Republicans appeared to repeatedly misinterpret or misunderstand the law in which Conway is accused of continuously violating when questioning Henry Kerner, head of the Office of Special Counsel (OSC) and the Trump-appointee who issued a recent Hatch Act violation report and suggested that she be fired.

"Ms. Conway's egregious and repeated Hatch Act violations, combined with her unrepentant attitude, are unacceptable from any federal employee, let alone one in such a prominent position," Kerner told lawmakers. "Her conduct hurts both federal employees, who may believe that senior officials can act with complete disregard for the Hatch Act, and the American people, who may question the nonpartisan operation of their government."


https://www.newsweek.com/kellyanne-conway-subpoena-hatch-act-1446085

The House Committee on Oversight and Reform voted 25-16, largely along party lines, to issue a subpoena for Counselor to the President Kellyanne Conway after she failed to appear for a hearing Wednesday on charges she violated the Hatch Act dozens of times.

During the hearing, Special Counsel Henry Kerner, who recommended that Conway be removed from federal service, said that the Office of Special Counsel (OSC) had "never issued two reports on the same person" in the 30 years it has been independent, before Conway. No one before Conway had repeated violations of the law prohibiting executive branch employees from using their official position to influence an election, Kerner said.

The House Oversight Committee hearing continued more than two hours after the subpoena vote, with Democrats calling for consequences for Conway and Republicans challenging Kerner on the OSC's assessment and claiming it is a distraction from issues that really matter to Americans.

"We have one standard for Kellyanne Conway and another standard for everyone else," Republican Senator Mark Meadows said, adding that the committee should subpoena former U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Samantha Power for apparently going after President Donald Trump while working for the government.

Father, daughter drowning fuels anger at Trump migration policies

https://www.timesofisrael.com/father-daughter-drowning-fuels-anger-at-trump-migration-policies/

A shocking photograph of a Salvadoran man and his baby daughter drowned in the Rio Grande fueled a surge of emotion around the world Wednesday — as US Democrats furiously denounced Donald Trump’s immigration policies.

“Trump is responsible for these deaths,” said Beto O’Rourke, one of several Democratic White House hopefuls who took to Twitter to lash out at the president.

Trump retaliated by seeking to pin the blame on Democrats in Congress, saying “if we had the right laws, that the Democrats are not letting us have, those people wouldn’t be coming up, they wouldn’t be trying.

“They want to have open borders and open borders mean crime, and open borders mean people drowning in the rivers,” Trump told reporters.

The intertwined bodies in the viral photo are those of asylum-seeker Oscar Alberto Martinez, 25, and his 23-month-old daughter, Valeria. They drowned Sunday while trying to cross the Rio Grande from Mexico into Texas, while the child’s mother watched helplessly from the river bank.

Trump aide may talk himself into prison after Mueller arrest

FREED PALESTINIAN SUSPECTED OF RAPING ISRAELI GIRL: MY LIFE HAS BEEN RUINED

https://www.jpost.com/Israel-News/Palestinian-suspected-of-raping-Israeli-girl-My-life-has-been-ruined-593645

Mahmoud Nazmi Katusa, the Palestinian man from the town of Deir Qaddis near Ramallah, who was suspected of raping a 7-year-old Israeli girl, said upon his release Tuesday that the authorities wasted their time by holding an “innocent” man. 

Katusa received a hero’s welcome in his town after IDF Military Advocate-General Maj.-Gen. Sharon Afek announced his decision to withdraw the indictment against him. 

http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/265063

Prosecutors dropped the indictment against a Palestinian Authority resident accused of abducting and raping a seven-year-old in a haredi town near Modi’in.

According to a statement released Tuesday by prosecutors, the suspect, Mahmoud Katusa, will be freed, and the indictment filed against him last Sunday dropped.

“After additional examinations of the material in the investigation, the chief army prosecutor…found that the evidentiary basis for the indictment does not satisfy the requirement of having a ‘reasonable chance of leading to a conviction’. As such, in keeping with the court’s instructions, the criminal proceedings cannot be continued, and the indictment must be withdrawn, and Katusa released from arrest.”

Despite the decision to release Katusa and withdraw the indictment, investigators said the probe would continue, focusing both on Katusa and “other directions”.

Trump’s Repeated Falsehood on Auto Plants

https://www.factcheck.org/2019/06/trumps-repeated-falsehood-on-auto-plants/

In launching his reelection campaign, President Donald Trump repeated a claim about new auto plants that he made a year-and-a-half ago. It’s still not true, and it fits a pattern of Trump falsely boasting of unexpected or unusual gains in the auto industry.

Trump said of the U.S. auto industry in his June 18 rally in Orlando: “Many, many plants are now under construction in Michigan and Ohio, Pennsylvania, North Carolina, South Carolina, Florida. They hadn’t built one in decades and now they’re all over the place.” It’s not true that the auto industry hasn’t built a new plant “in decades.” As for the “many, many plants … now under construction,” Bernard Swiecki, director of the Automotive Communities Partnership at the Center for Automotive Research, told us he knew of only two new assembly plants under construction or newly announced —  a Toyota/Mazda joint venture plant in Alabama (announced in January 2018) and a Fiat Chrysler Automobiles (FCA) plant in Michigan (announced in February).

Swiecki sent us a list of the 12 assembly plants that have been announced in North America since 2009. Four of those were in the U.S., while eight went to Mexico and none to Canada.

PANTS ON FIRE: Trump’s latest California voter fraud claim as baseless as past allegations

.politifac

In his recent interview on "Meet the Press", President Donald Trump claimed there’s proof to support his repeatedly debunkedclaim that "serious voter fraud" took place in California during the 2016 presidential election. 

Trump alleged California "admitted" there were "a million" illegal votes in the 2016 presidential election. 

"Take a look at Judicial Watch. Take a look at their settlement. California admitted to a million votes. They admitted to a million votes," Trump told Chuck Todd, the show’s host, in an interview that aired June 23, 2019. 

Election officials and fact checkers have previously called out Trump’s baseless claims on the subject. In November 2016, PolitiFact National rated Pants on Fire his contention that he lost the popular vote because "millions of people voted illegally." PolitiFact California handed out the same rating for his claim of "serious voter fraud" in California.

Hillary Clinton won the state by more than 4 million votes and she won the national popular vote by about 2.8 million. Trump won the decisive Electoral College tally. 

We wanted to know the veracity of Trump’s new claim. So, we examined the settlement that he said is evidence of massive voter fraud in California.

Here’s the exchange between Trump and Chuck Todd: 

Todd: "You didn't like the fact that you lost the popular vote. That bothered you, didn't it?"

Trump: "Well, I think it was a -- I mean, I'll say something that, again, is controversial. There were a lot of votes cast that I don't believe. I look at California."

Todd: "Mr. President." 

Trump: "Excuse me."

Todd: "But that’s a …" 

Trump: "Take a look at Judicial Watch. Take a look at their settlement. California admitted to a million votes. They admitted to a million votes." 

Our ruling

President Trump recently claimed California "admitted" there were "a million" illegal votes in the 2016 presidential election, in an effort to support his widely debunked claim of massive voter fraud in the state. 

Trump cited a January settlement between the state and Judicial Watch. 

But that agreement says nothing about voter fraud or illegal voting. Instead, it requires Los Angeles County election officials to begin the process of removing inactive registrations, for people who have gone years without voting often because they’ve moved or died, to comply with federal law. 

It says all parties agreed there was no admission of liability or wrongdoing by the state or county.

State and county elections officials strongly rejected the president's statement.

We found Trump's new voter fraud claim as baseless as his past allegations.

We rate it Pants on Fire. 

---

PANTS ON FIRE – The statement is not accurate and makes a ridiculous claim.

Rav Weintraub - chassidic rebbes

korach and meraglim

כתיב בפרשת ציצית לתקן חטא מרגלים , ולא תתורו פי׳ רש״י לבא ועינא ב׳ מרגלים, והי׳ חטא, שהגם שעשרה נשיאים עיני העדה אמרו כן, הי׳ ראוי לבני ישרא ל שלא לתור אחריהם, והוא ללמד לכללו ת ישראל, שהגם שיהי׳ נביאי שקר או מנהיגי ם כירבעם ושאר גדולים, ויראו שנוטים מדר ך השי״ת לפי פשוט, לא ישמעו להם כלל , ואפשר יהי׳ עוד נסיונות כאלו קודם הגאולה ,

I just received the following email

Attached please see the Chidushei Harim in this weeks parsha asks and answers a very fundamental question.  What was the sin of klal yisroel with the Meraglim that they deserved to die in the Midbar? Afterall the Meraglim were the "Gedolei Yisroel" The Einei Hoeda and therefore were justified to listen to them as they were the leaders of klal yisroel?  His answer is paramount and fundamental to all of us. We must remember that even our leaders, when they speak against a simple and obvious Torah law, we must not obey them but treat them as neviei Hasheker. After hashem proclaimed Eretz Yisroel as a superb land, they had no business speaking against the land and its like speaking against the Torah!! Klal Yisoel had no business believing them or listening to them!!! The last part of the CHIDUSHEI HARIM is even more frightening as he states that "In the end of the days" we  "will have similar Nisyonos, meaning that our leaders will also say things against the Torah and we will be tested if we remain silent and agree with them, or do we protest. We must diffrentiate between the phony rabbis and the ones that speak the truth!!!

Why 2020 Democrats Aren't Highlighting the Rape Allegation Against Trump

https://time.com/5613446/trump-rape-democrats-2020/

It’s been three days days since the writer E. Jean Carroll accused President Donald Trump of rape, but the allegation has caused barely a ripple in the 2020 campaign.

The nearly two dozen Democrats vying to unseat Trump have issued statementsexpressing the usual sentiments: shock, disgust, calls for investigations. Senator Elizabeth Warren may have captured the reaction best: “We know Donald Trump’s character. And it’s revealed every single day,” she told reporters last week. “There aren’t any real surprises. Just the details.”

In a cover story in New York Magazine, the longtime advice columnist wrote that she remembered Trump “forcing his fingers around my private area,” and recalled that he thrust “his penis halfway — or completely, I’m not certain — inside me.” She told two friends about the incident immediately afterwards, and both confirmed the incident to New York, although TIME could not independently confirm the allegations.

Trump has repeatedly denied the charges. He said in a statement that he “never met” Carroll, even though the author published a picture of them together at a party. On Monday, Trump again denied the allegation in an interview with The Hill. “I’ll say it with great respect: Number one, she’s not my type,” he said. “Number two, it never happened. It never happened, OK?

FEWER MILLENNIALS ACCEPTING OF LGBTQ PEOPLE, STUDY FINDS

newsweek

Young people are often assumed to be progressive, especially when it comes to gay rights. But a new study reveals that acceptance of the LGBTQ community by adults 18 to 34 is falling.

A new Harris Poll commissioned by GLAAD found that 36 percent of respondents in that demographic reported they'd be "very" or "somewhat" uncomfortable learning a family member was LGBTQ. That's up from 29 percent who said the same in 2018.

According to the 2019 Accelerating Acceptance Index, 39 percent would be unsettled by their child learning about LGBTQ history in school, compared to just 30 percent in 2018. And finding out their doctor was LGBTQ made a third (34 percent) uncomfortable—an uptick from 27 percent last year.

A lesson for New York from the Jussie Smollett case

https://nypost.com/2019/06/24/a-lesson-for-new-york-from-the-jussie-smollett-case/

In a huge slap at Cook County State’s Attorney Kim Foxx, an Illinois judge has ordered a special prosecutor to take up the Jussie Smollett case, thanks to the “unprecedented irregularities” in her office’s handling of the prosecution.

After word broke that Foxx had texted members of Smollett’s family, promising help, she announced she was recusing herself from the case. But it later turned out she’d only “informally” recused, leaving decisions to people she still supervised.

The office then dismissed 16 felony counts against Smollett for faking a hate crime. Chicago police devoted thousands of man-hours to the investigation, only to develop considerable evidence that Smollett had paid two acquaintances to stage an attack in hopes it would help the actor get a pay raise.

Her phony recusal “deviated from the statutory mandate requiring the appointment of a special prosecutor in cases where the state’s attorney is recused,” Judge Michael Toomin ruled.

So Smollett may not walk off scot-free, after all: The special prosecutor can refile charges and go to trial.

Take the Palestinians’ ‘No’ for an Answer

https://www.wsj.com/articles/take-the-palestinians-no-for-an-answer-11561316980

This week’s U.S.-led Peace to Prosperity conference in Bahrain on the Palestinian economy will likely be attended by seven Arab states—a clear rebuke to foreign-policy experts who said that recognizing Jerusalem as Israel’s capital and the Golan Heights as Israeli territory would alienate the Arab world. Sunni Arab states are lending legitimacy to the Trump administration’s plan, making it all the more notable that the Palestinian Authority itself refuses to participate.

The conference’s only agenda is improving the Palestinian economy. It isn’t tied to any diplomatic package, and the plan’s 40-page overview contains nothing at odds with the Palestinian’s purported diplomatic goals. Some aspects are even politically uncomfortable for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Given all that, the Palestinian Authority’s unwillingness to discuss economic opportunities for its own people, even with the Arab states, shows how far it is from discussing the concessions necessary for a diplomatic settlement. Instead it seeks to deepen Palestinian misfortune and use it as a cudgel against Israel in the theater of international opinion.

Why You Shouldn’t Love Your Kids More Than Your Partner

https://time.com/5586397/loving-your-spouse/

Parents’ love for their children can make them do peculiar things. Like staying up until 1 a.m. gluing glitter on a second-grade class project. Or driving 40 miles to deliver a single soccer cleat. Or, perhaps, bribing their teenagers’ way into a fancy college. But one of the weirdest things parents do is love their children more than their partners.

Before you call child services, let me be clear: Of course you have to love your kids. Of course you have to put their needs first. But doing so is also a no-brainer. Children, with their urgent and often tricky-to-ascertain needs, easily attract devotion. Spouses don’t need to be fed and dressed or have their tears dried and are nowhere near as cute. Loving your kids is like going to school–you don’t really have a choice. Loving your spouse is like going to college–it’s up to you to show up and participate

Jared Kushner’s Palestinian peace plan reads like a real estate developer’s brochure

https://qz.com/1650724/kushners-palestinian-peace-plan-resembles-real-estate-brochure/

The plan is premised on three tenets: “Unleashing economic potential, empowering the Palestinian people, and enhancing Palestinian governance.” It’s replete with buzzwords, charts, and tables. It promises investments in private enterprise, education, health care, and government in the Gaza Strip and West Bank. It features images of happy Palestinians, with minimal mention of Israel and no discussion of the state of Palestine.

Shockingly, it contains no political solution to the problem Kushner was tasked with solving. It doesn’t address the famously difficult questions that have doomed other peace proposals, like the status of the city of Jerusalem or Palestinians’ right of return. There’s no talk of what might be done with Israeli settlements in occupied territories, nor any discussion of borders at all. What it offers is a carrot and a warning:

Donald Trump, again, falsely says Obama had family separation policy

https://www.politifact.com/truth-o-meter/statements/2019/jun/21/donald-trump/donald-trump-again-falsely-says-obama-had-family-s/

Our ruling

Trump said, "When I became president, President Obama had a separation policy. I didn’t have it. He had it."

The Obama administration did not have a policy to separate families arriving illegally at the border. Family separations rarely happened under the Obama administration, which sought to keep families together in detention. Then, based on a court decision, it released families together out of detention.

Separations under Trump happened systematically as a result of his administration’s policy to prosecute all adults crossing the border illegally. After mounting public pressure and criticism, Trump signed an executive order to stop separating families. Around 2,800 children have been reunited with their families because a court ordered the Trump administration to do so.

Trump repeatedly attempts to change the narrative about family separations, but the facts remain the same. Obama did not pass down to Trump a policy to separate families.

Trump’s claim is inaccurate. We rate it False.

CHIMEN ABRAMSKY’S HOUSE OF TWENTY THOUSAND BOOKS

https://www.tabletmag.com/jewish-arts-and-culture/books/189017/chimen-abramsky

The narrative of the heretical son and the pious father engaged in a titanic patricidal clash on behalf of tradition and modernity is a stock cliché of Jewish storytelling. Yet the case of the Abramskys, the gap between the arch-conservative rabbi father and the eminent radical son was clearly in a league of its own. Chimen’s father Yehezkel Abramsky was a savant of Torah scholarship in his native Belarus. The scion of a grand rabbinical line, he was possessed of a photographic memory, incredible powers of memorization (which he bequeathed to his bibliographer son) and a genius for biblical exegesis. Groomed from childhood for a major career in the Litvak Orthodox world, he became a rabbi at the age of 17. Yehezkel, was also actively outspoken in his anti-Communism. For this crime he was prevented by the Soviet authorities from taking up a rabbinic post offered to him in late-1920s Palestine. Assuming the editorship of an anti-Communist journal got him arrested and sentenced to five years in a Siberian labor camp.

Trump: I didn't call Iran strike back, I just stopped it for now

http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/264952

On Thursday night, it was revealed that Trump had approved military strikes against Iran in retaliation for downing an American surveillance drone, but pulled back from launching them.

On Friday, the president tweeted that he was "cocked and loaded" to strike several targets in Iran but deemed the loss of life would be disproportionate to the downing of an unmanned US drone.

Earlier on Saturday, Trump announced that he would impose new sanctions on Iran on Monday.

White House Unveils $50 Billion Economic Plan for Palestine Amid Doubts

https://time.com/5612756/white-house-50-billion-palestinian-plan/

Palestinian leaders, angered by what they and their supporters see as blatant U.S. bias toward Israel, want nothing to do with the workshop and will not participate. The Palestinians have called for mass demonstrations against the conference on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday.

“The plan cannot pass because it ends the Palestinian cause,” Abbas said on Saturday. “We are not going to attend this workshop, the reason is that the economic situation should not be discussed before a political situation, so long as there is no political situation, we do not deal with any economic situation.”

Abbas spokesman Nabil Abu Rdeneh said a “political horizon” is essential for any Palestinian cooperation. “Our cause is a political one and should be dealt with as such. It is a strategic mistake and the American administration is committing daily mistakes against the Palestinian people. Without Palestinian approval, there is no value to any meeting, and without a political horizon, no one will deal with any effort. This conference was born dead just like the deal of the century.”

In Gaza, the rival Hamas militant group has also condemned the conference. “In one voice, we say no to the Manama workshop and the deal of the century,” Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh said. He appealed to Bahrain’s king to “take a brave, strong, authentic Arab decision not to host this workshop” and called on Arab countries to cancel their planned participation.

Complicating the Bahrain meeting is the fact that it coincides with a pledging conference in New York for the U.N. agency for Palestinian refugees, a 70-year-old institution that the Trump administration has defunded and wants to eliminate entirely. The U.N. Relief and Works Agency, or UNRWA, already provides health, education and other services to millions of Palestinians.

Its supporters suspect the administration purposely scheduled the Bahrain conference to conflict with its event, noting that Kushner’s peace plan partner Jason Greenblatt has publicly called for UNRWA’s dissolution. Greenblatt argued last month that the agency perpetuates Palestinian victimhood, abets anti-Israel sentiment and is an inefficient drain on funds that could be better directed.

Regardless of American intent, the dueling meetings are likely to leave donors, particularly European nations, in an awkward position: torn between supporting an established international organization or a mystery concept being put together by a U.S. administration that has in two years reversed a half-century of American Middle East policy.

Since Trump took office, he has recognized Jerusalem as Israel’s capital, moving the U.S. embassy there from Tel Aviv, downgraded the consulate devoted to Palestinian issues, shut down the Palestinian office in Washington and slashed hundreds of millions of dollars in assistance to the West Bank and Gaza.

Such steps have made Kushner’s prospects for success in Bahrain even slimmer, according to experts.

Two Fox News hosts question Trump's comments about Iran: 'This just doesn't add up'

https://edition.cnn.com/2019/06/22/media/fox-iran-chris-wallace-shep-smith/index.html

Trump has a cozy relationship with Fox News. He's hired a number of former employees from the network to posts within his administration.

The president also reportedly corresponds directly with Fox News hosts like Tucker Carlson and Sean Hannity, conservative firebrands who currently host evening programs that routinely praise the president.

Smith, who hosts daytime news coverage, and Wallace, the anchor of Fox News Sunday, have stood apart from Fox's opinion-oriented colleagues. Smith and Wallace have previously questioned or criticized actions by Trump or his administration.

A heinous rape case stuns the nation, but a hasty indictment is no shock to some

https://www.timesofisrael.com/a-heinous-rape-case-stuns-the-nation-but-a-hasty-indictment-is-no-shock-to-some/

Apathy for the devil

For Jewish Community Watch, an NGO that works to combat child sexual abuse, the ongoing rape investigation has been a point of particular frustration.

While she faulted police for bungling the probe, JCW director Shana Aaronson reserved much of her criticism for the broader Israeli public and their representatives, accusing them of only paying attention to violence against women when there is a possible nationalistic aspect.

“The reality is that no one would ever have heard or cared about this case [if the suspect had been Jewish] and it’s a very sick indictment of the community and the politicians in this country that they only care about child rape when the rapist is an Arab,” she said, clarifying that she did not intend to downplay the severity of the alleged case at hand.

How Donald Trump created one hell of a mess with Iran

.cnn

Trump seemed to take particular pleasure in killing deals negotiated by President Barack Obama's administration -- whether it was the Iran nuclear agreement, the Paris climate accord or the Trans-Pacific Partnership trade deal that was designed to contain China -- even if he didn't propose viable alternatives in their place.

After pulling out of the Iran deal, the Trump administration imposed tough new sanctions on Iran, while the Europeans stuck to the deal.

Trump's Iran strategy didn't seem like much of an alternative plan -- beyond trying to destroy the Iranian economy in order to foment protests against the regime, potentially leading to regime change, long a goal of Bolton's.

‘My Whole Life Is a Bet.’ Inside President Trump’s Gamble on an Untested Re-Election Strategy

https://time.com/longform/donald-trump-2020/

Once again, Trump is putting his own instincts at the center of his campaign. The political mercenaries who tried to discipline his impulses in 2016 have been shown the door. The 2020 campaign is unmistakably Trump’s show. “We all have our meetings,” the President says. “But I generally do my own thing.” Campaign staff have been hired to follow Trump’s lead, and the President has made it known that when he tweets a new policy or improvises an attack at a rally, everyone had better be ready to follow along. “He blows the hole and everyone runs into the breach,” says an aide.

Trump 2020 Looks A Lot Like Trump 2016

Minister: Police may have bungled investigation of 7-year-old’s rape

https://www.timesofisrael.com/minister-police-may-have-bungled-investigation-of-7-year-olds-rape/

Public Security Minister Gilad Erdan acknowledged on Thursday that police could well have botched their investigation into the alleged rape of a seven-year-old Israeli girl.

Erdan, the cabinet member responsible for overseeing the Israel Police, told Kan public radio that law enforcement failed to carry out the measures necessary for uncovering the truth.

“I wrote on Facebook that this indictment cannot stand with all these holes,” Erdan said.

Rav Nossan Kaminetsky describing what Making of a Gadol is

Kame Netsky 2 by on Scribd

kamenetsky4 (1) by yadmoshe on Scribd

Until the phony seruv of Rav Kaminetsky's beis din is removed - he and his beis din are in cherem

update: The correct term is nidoi - but I used the term cherem in the title as the general non-halachic term for ostracizing and thus the term is explained as being a form of cherem in the post below.

I confirmed with Aharon's law school classmate who spoke to R' Herschel Schachter and R' Sholom Kaminetsky in December 2010 (which I believe is before the Seruv was issued) that the two Rabbis were aware of the Baltimore Beis Din's involvement and they intentionally ignored the Beis Din's involvement". He said he is willing to discuss this with Rov who needs to know the information.


 Guest Post

Rabbis Aryeh Ralbag, Yisrael Belsky, Mordechai Wolmark, Shmuel Kamenetsky, Gavriel Stern and Hershel Schachter are in [nidui] [cherem] 

The issuance of a purported "seruv"[contempt] against Aharon Friedman was outrageous from the very beginning.  The Union of Orthodox Rabbis did not bother to issue even a single hazmana [summons} before purporting to issue the "seruv."  In addition, the parties had previously signed a shtar beirurin [binding arbitration agreement] with the Baltimore Beis Din.  Furthermore, as ,the Baltimore Beis Din recently noted even putting aside those two points, the Union of Orthodox Rabbis had no right to issue a "seruv" against Aharon because he lives in a different State than the location of the Union of Orthodox Rabbis.

It is hard to imagine that the signatories of the "seruv" were not very well aware of these points and deliberately signed the "seruv" knowing that the "seruv" was baseless.  If the signatories were not knowledgable about the rules for issuing a "seruv", they should have not been involved in issuing seruvim.

In any case, even if the signatories were not previously aware of these rules and had some excuse for nonetheless involving themselves in a matter concerning which they had woefully inadequate knowledge, it has been several days since the Baltimore BD issued its letter clarifying matters, so there can no longer be any confusion or the least bit of doubt about this matter. One who wrongfully issues a seruv, or signs in support of such seruv, himself has the status of being in [nidui][cherem] as pointed our by Rav Reuvain Feinstein's recent letter, and has been previously noted by others concerning this case.

 The refusal of the Union of Orthodox Rabbis, Rabbi Ralbag and the other signatories to retract the "seruv" is well beyond outrageous and makes a mockery of halacha, beis din and the Jewish community.  They must immediately retract the "seruv" - or they have the status under halacha [Jewish Law] of being in [nidui] [cherem].