'Willful Ignorance.' Inside President Trump's Troubled Intelligence Briefings

http://time.com/5518947/donald-trump-intelligence-briefings-national-security/

In the wake of President Donald Trump’s renewed attacks on the U.S. intelligence community this week, senior intelligence briefers are breaking two years of silence to warn that the President is endangering American security with what they say is a stubborn disregard for their assessments.

Citing multiple in-person episodes, these intelligence officials say Trump displays what one called “willful ignorance” when presented with analyses generated by America’s $81 billion-a-year intelligence services. The officials, who include analysts who prepare Trump’s briefs and the briefers themselves, describe futile attempts to keep his attention by using visual aids, confining some briefing points to two or three sentences, and repeating his name and title as frequently as possible.

FACT CHECK Fact-Checking President Trump’s Interview With The New York Times

5 Takeaways From The Times’s Interview With President Trump

https://www.nytimes.com/2019/01/31/us/politics/donald-trump-interview-takeaways.html

WASHINGTON — President Trump wanted to talk. He initially invited A. G. Sulzberger, the publisher of The New York Times, to an off-the-record dinner. Mr. Sulzberger countered with a request for an on-the-record interview that included Times reporters. The White House accepted.

Trump Says He Summoned Intel Chiefs After Hearing They Contradicted Him | The Last Word | MSNBC

Fact-checking Trump's claim on cost of illegal immigration, number of immigrants here illegally

https://www.politifact.com/truth-o-meter/statements/2019/jan/28/donald-trump/fact-checking-donald-trumps-claim-cost-illegal-imm/

Our ruling

Trump said, "We are not even into February and the cost of illegal immigration so far this year is $18,959,495,168. Cost Friday was $603,331,392. There are at least 25,772,342 illegal aliens, not the 11,000,000 that have been reported for years, in our Country."

The source of Trump’s claim is unclear. We asked DHS and the White House to back Trump’s statement, but neither provided studies or any other data to support it.

Trump previously falsely claimed that the cost of illegal immigration was $250 billion a year. Even the highest annual estimates we found were significantly lower than that amount ($116 billion, after factoring in tax contributions).

Most estimates say there are around 11 million immigrants in the country illegally. A recent study from Yale University researchers said a mean number was 22.1 million, but several demographers have pointed flaws in the assumptions and findings of that study.

Without evidence from Trump or his administration to back this statement, we rate it False.

Rabbis: New York Reproductive Health Act 'declares war on life'

israelnationalnews

A prominent rabbinic organization has denounced New York State's newly-passed Reproductive Health Act. The law not only declares that abortion is a "fundamental right," but entirely removes illegal abortion, whether by a practitioner or malicious assailant, from the New York Penal Law. The Coalition for Jewish Values (CJV), representing over 1000 traditional rabbis in matters of public policy, called the law "indefensible" from a moral and humanitarian perspective.

"According to this law," said Rabbi Avrohom Gordimer, Chairman of the Rabbinic Circle of the CJV, "late-term abortions may be performed literally until right before birth, even by non-doctors, and not only in order to save the mother’s life but also 'to protect a patient’s health' — and even decriminalized illegal abortions. New York State has asserted that a woman’s convenience and whim are more important than the life of another."

Rabbi Gordimer, who has written extensively on this topic, also pointed to numerous cases where women were attacked specifically due to their pregnancy, with intent to harm or kill her fetus. "The same legislators who have defined entirely new 'protected classes' have stripped expectant mothers — and their unborn children — of protection. This is morally indefensible. That they imagine this better for humanity simply boggles the mind."

The state of Trump's presidency is, well, pretty feeble

nbcnews

As President Donald Trump begins his third year in office — after the longest shutdown in U.S. history and after another adviser was indicted — our new NBC News/Wall Street Journal pollprovides a check-up on his presidency.

The conclusion: He’s in pretty weak shape.

According to the poll, which was conducted before Friday’s deal to reopen the government, Trump’s job-approval rating stands at 43 percent among all adults — which is unchanged from December, and which is higher than other polls finding a slight drop in his approval since the shutdown’s start.

That’s some of the good news for Trump in poll. The bad news is that just a third of Americans (33 percent) are “extremely” or “quite” confident that he has the right set of goals and policies to be president, and slightly more than a quarter (28 percent) have high confidence that he has the right set of personal characteristics to be president.

Half of Americans (50 percent) say they are “not at all” confident in his personal characteristics.

What’s more, Trump gets poor marks on many key presidential qualities.

Notably, Trump is below 50 percent on all eight of these qualities. And the numbers for knowledge/experience, honesty and ethics are absolutely brutal.

Abortion Dr Steinberg

Trump hits Ann Coulter over recent criticism: 'Maybe I didn’t return her phone call or something

the hill

President Trump on Sunday took a shot at conservative commentator Ann Coulter, a longtime supporter of his, after she criticized him for agreeing to reopen the government without a deal on his long-promised border wall.

“I hear she’s become very hostile,” Trump said in a new interview with The Wall Street Journal. “Maybe I didn’t return her phone call or something.”

His jab comes shortly after Coulter blasted Trump repeatedly for not securing funding for a wall along the southern U.S. border, his signature campaign promise.

ANN COULTER CALLS DONALD TRUMP 'BIGGEST WIMP EVER TO SERVE AS PRESIDENT' AS CONSERVATIVE MEDIA BLASTS ‘CAVE’ OVER WALL

newsweek

Conservative media hammered President Donald Trump for his surprising announcement on Friday afternoon that he has agreed to reopen the federal government for three weeks while continuing to negotiate with Democrats to secure the southern border. The agreement came without funding for his border wall.

Conservative political commentator and author Ann Coulter roasted Trump on Twitter without explicitly naming him.

“Good news for George Herbert Walker Bush: As of today, he is no longer the biggest wimp ever to serve as President of the United States,” Coulter tweeted.

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.

Israeli journalists from Channel 12 news, seeking to unearth how it works and after encountering victims of Berland’s scheme, invented the case of a 35-year-old woman, “Yael,” who was declared brain dead.

5 ultra-Orthodox men jailed for defrauding state in fake yeshiva student scam

timesofisrael.

The Jerusalem District Court on Thursday sentenced five ultra-Orthodox men to jail terms following their conviction for swindling millions of shekels from the Education Ministry by inflating the number of students learning at seminaries using forged identity papers and masses of impostors to fool school inspectors.

One of the defendants was sentenced to five years behind bars, four others were given sentences of between 16 months to four years, and another four defendants were give six months each, to be served as community service.

DONALD TRUMP ENDORSES END TO GOVERNMENT SHUTDOWN WITH STOPGAP SPENDING BILL WITHOUT WALL FUNDING

newsweek

President Donald Trump announced Friday that on the 35th day of the partial government shutdown, he will support a three-week continuing resolution (CR) to reopen the shuttered portions of the government through February 15.

It will not provide money for his southern border wall, but it will provide federal employees with backpay. The temporary spending solution will allow lawmakers time to negotiate a long-term border security plan that the president will support, in addition to providing federal workers and agencies with funding. 

The president warned that if a deal is not struck during the three-week funding stretch, he is prepared to shut down the government for a second time. 

Trump Makes Rare Cave on State of the Union Speech

https://www.snopes.com/ap/2019/01/24/trump-makes-rare-cave-on-state-of-the-union-speech/

WASHINGTON (AP) — The counter-puncher caved.

President Donald Trump’s decision to postpone his State of the Union address under pressure from House Speaker Nancy Pelosi surprised allies, contradicted top aides who had been working on an alternative speech plan and left all of Washington trying to determine whether it signaled new willingness by Trump to make a deal to reopen the government.

“Well, it’s really her choice,” Trump said Thursday, acknowledging Pelosi had the upper hand when it came to scheduling the traditional presidential address to Congress. The speaker had made clear Trump could not deliver his speech from the House unless he waited until the government reopens.

So Trump, who is typically loath to show any sign of weakness, made a highly uncharacteristic about-face and one that highlighted the importance the president attaches to the type of symbolism and pageantry associated with a speech from the rostrum of the House.

The president concluded that there was no viable alternative that could match the gravitas of the traditional State of the Union address, in which all three branches of government come together under one roof, drawing the president’s largest television audience of the year. An alternative speech or rally also would have been a hard sell for television networks, which took heat earlier this month for airing the president’s prime-time Oval Office address in which he largely rehashed his case for a southern border wall.

https://www.chicagotribune.com/suburbs/skokie/community/chi-ugc-article-rep-kalish-attends-gov-pritzkers-45th-anni-2019-01-22-story.html

Rep. Kalish Attends Gov. Pritzker’s 45th Anniversary of Roe v. Wade Celebration

Community Contributor David Ormsby

[Chicago] - Newly appointed State Rep. Rabbi Yehiel "Mark" Kalish (D-Chicago) attended the 45th Anniversary of Roe v. Wade Celebration hosted by Governor J.B. Pritzker on Tuesday.

"Protecting access to safe and legal reproductive healthcare for women in Illinois is a priority for me because a woman's right to choose is under assault from Washington," said Kalish. "That's why I think that it's important for me to stand with Governor Pritzker and my legislative colleagues on the 45th anniversary of the Roe decision."

Pritzker headlined the Roe celebration at Planned Parenthood's Chicago office on January 22.

Kalish, who was sworn in on January 20 after being appointed to the Illinois House seat vacated by State Rep. Lou Lang (D-Skokie), was also an active advocate on winning approval for Illinois House Bill 40, sponsored by State. Rep. Sara Feigenholtz (D-Chicago), a measure that ensures that a woman's right to choose remains the law of the land in Illinois if the U.S. Supreme Court strikes down Roe.

"I'm proud to have been one of the foot soldiers in Rep. Feigenholtz's successful effort to protect a woman's right to choose in Illinois," said Kalish. "It's clear that Roe is at risk from Donald Trump's Supreme Court appointees."

In addition to protecting reproductive health care for women, Kalish also pledges to fight any attempts to roll back or chip away at marriage equality or undermine the civil rights of the LGBT community.

"Equality for all citizens is a fundamental constitutional and moral principle," said Kalish. "We are all equal under the eyes of the law and God, and marriage equality is no exception and that's why I support the law."