Gordon Sondland Revises Impeachment Testimony to Acknowledge Ukraine Quid Pro Quo

https://time.com/5719007/gordon-sondland-revises-testimony-ukraine-quid-pro-quo/

In a striking reversal, a top diplomat revised his testimony in the House impeachment inquiry to acknowledge that U.S. military aid to Ukraine was being withheld until the foreign ally promised to investigate corruption as President Donald Trump wanted.

The three-page update from U.S. Ambassador Gordon Sondland, tucked beneath hundreds of pages of sworn testimony released Tuesday, provides new insight into Trump’s push for Ukraine to investigate Democrats and Joe Biden in what the Democrats call a quid pro quo at the center of the House inquiry.

Specifically, Sondland said he now recalls telling a top aide to Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskiy, on the sidelines of a Warsaw meeting with U.S. Vice President Mike Pence, that military aid to the country “would likely not occur” until Ukraine had provided a public anti-corruption statement “as we have been discussing for many weeks.”

Jewish group slams Democrats' calls to condition aid to Israel

http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/271177

An umbrella group of more than 50 Jewish organizations from across the ideological spectrum condemned calls by Democratic presidential candidates to condition military aid to Israel on its approach to reaching a final status agreement with the Palestinian Authority.

“We are deeply troubled by recent statements that would place conditions, limitations, or restrictions on the U.S. security assistance provided to Israel, so vital for the defense and security of the country, the protection of essential U.S. interests, and stability in the region,” Arthur Stark, chairman, and Malcolm Hoenlein, executive vice chairman/CEO, of the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations said in a statement issued Friday. “This approach would harm American objectives in the Middle East and would undermine the ability of our key ally to defend itself against the threats it faces on all its borders.”

Sens. Bernie Sanders of Vermont and Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts, along with Mayor Pete Buttigieg of South Bend, Indiana, recently have indicated a willingness to use American aid to force policy changes by Israel, including halting settlement construction. The United States gives Israel $3.8 billion annually in military assistance.

“

Voting for the Dems threatens to embolden the Antireligious Attacks on Religious Education וויכטיגע ידיעה על סכנת בחירת נציגים משחיתים די דעמוקראטיק פארטי אין די בחירות היום באמעריקא‎

BS"D

Nov.5, 19

Warning:

Voting for the Democratic candidates threatens to embolden the Anti-religious Attacks against Religious Education.

DO NOT BE FOOLED, AND DO NOT BE A FOOL:

PRACTICALLY EVERY ROCKLAND COUNTY ELECTION SEES THE SAME PROPAGANDA URGING VOTING "STRAIGHT" (sic) down DEMOCRATIC LINE (euphemism: "Row A"). It is only the pretexts and rationalizations that vary.

In Rockland County:

Vote for (Judge) Thomas Walsh for DA, but NOT on the Democratic Line.

Do not even vote for ANY °INDIVIDUAL° Democratic candidate - unless you know for a fact that that specific candidate is necessary to vote for.

We recommend voting for Richard Freehold for State Supreme Court, and a protest vote for all other Judges (write in William Barr (current US Attorney General)).

We also recommend following the lead of prolife Catholics in writing in Dennis Lynch for Sheriff.

~~~~

The concerns herein stand in addition to the known prohibitions against voting for anti-Torah candidates.

By blindly following misguided advice, and voting for Democratic Establishment props - in the midst of the greatest threat to menace the Jewish community - i.e. the assault of the anti-religious Democratic Party Establishment against Religious Education (currently in the form of proposed NYS Educational Equivalency Regulations) - we commit communal suicide, G-d forbid -- by emboldening our enemies to ensure the NYS Board of Regents votes for the aforementioned Educational Equivalency Regulations, as early as next month. By showing how we can be duped by a few activists into voting for the candidates preferred by antireligious Democrats, we remove fear from those who seek to attack our religious Education. And we provide fuel to those who seek to rally many of our non-Jewish neighbors against Orthodox Jews as blindly following corrupt leadership.

And to those who insist on following corrupt leadership: You have yourselves to blame for whipping up the already burning flames of Jew-hatred in Rockland County. And you provide the animus to embolden those who don't like Orthodox Jews to rally behind anti-Education crusaders like Mike Diederich.

Rabbi Noson Shmuel Leiter,

Executive Director,

Help Rescue Our Children

TorahJewsForDecency@gmail.com

845.642.1679

וויכטיגע ידיעה על סכנת בחירת נציגים משחיתים - די דעמוקראטיק פארטי - אין די בחירות היום באמעריקא

-------- Original message --------

From: על החינוך ארה''ב

Date:11/05/2019 12:39 PM (GMT-05:00)

To:

Subject: [01-11] וויכטיגע ידיעה על סכנת בחירת נציגים משחיתים די דעמוקראטיק פארטי אין די בחירות היום באמעריקא

HEALTH CHARITY CONCERT CANCELED AFTER REFUSING TO INCLUDE FEMALE ARTISTS

https://www.jpost.com/Israel-News/Culture/Health-charity-concert-canceled-after-refusing-to-include-female-artists-606872

The tribute concert planned for celebrated Israeli singer and music artist Shlomo Artzi has been canceled by the organization planning it because of demands to include female singers.

The proceeds of the event were to be donated to the Ezra LeMarpe medical support organization NGO which is managed by Rabbi Avraham Elimelech Firer, who was supposed to attend the event.

Deputy Mayor of Jerusalem Hagit Moshe denounced the decision as “one of the darkest hours of feminism in Israel,” and said that the furore over the concert had “turned the welcome idea of women’s independence into a spade designed to destroy the wall of unity and mutual respect of the Jewish people.”

The religiously hardline National Union Party, part of the Bayit Yehudi Knesset faction, also denounced the decision, saying “liberal terrorism has won.”

“The cancellation of the tribute concert to the amazing benevolent work of Rabbi Firer is a low point in Israeli society,” said the party, which is headed by Transportation Minister Bezalel Smotrich.

“All citizens of the country should feel ashamed at the humiliation of a great doer of charitable work, who has saved hundreds of thousands of lives without discrimination, and whose only sin was the lifestyle of a religious person who acts in accordance with Jewish law.”

AMERICA IS IN 'SERIOUSLY DARK TIMES' WHEN TRUMP CLAIMS THERE'S NOTHING WRONG WITH UKRAINE QUID PRO QUO: EX-WHITE HOUSE ETHICS CHIEF

https://www.newsweek.com/america-seriously-dark-times-when-trump-claims-theres-nothing-wrong-ukraine-quid-pro-quo-1469512

Ahead of another week of closed-door depositions on the Hill, the president launched fresh attacks on the probe into his July phone call with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy, which he has dismissed as another "witch hunt."

The president's Sunday evening tirade branded the Chairman of the House Intelligence Committee, Rep. Adam Schiff, "a corrupt politician." Trump speculated that Schiff might amend records of closed-door testimony to incriminate him and "suit the Dems purposes."

Trump suggested that Republicans involved in the hearings "should give their own transcripts of the interviews to contrast with Schiff's manipulated propaganda," adding that Schiff is "a proven liar, leaker & freak who is really the one who should be impeached!"

The president then said that any suggestion of a proposed quid pro quo with Zelenskiy "doesn't matter" and claimed "there is nothing wrong with that, it is not an impeachable event."

Fact-checking Eric Trump's claim The Trump Organization has no business ties overseas

https://edition.cnn.com/2019/11/03/politics/trump-kids-international-deals-fact-check/index.html

President Donald Trump's business is back in the spotlight. Less than a week after the President reversed course on his plan to host next year's G-7 at his Trump National Doral Miami in Florida, reports surfaced that his company plans to sell its DC Hotel, which has been the subject of several lawsuits alleging the President is profiting from it in violation of the Constitution.

Trump's defense is that he says he's put his business "stuff" in a trust and that his family runs it. As of 2018, the President held more than $130 million in foreign assets in this trust, according to an analysis compiled by Open Secrets.

As a trustee, Trump's eldest son Donald Trump Jr., who is also executive vice president of The Trump Organization, is responsible for looking after the beneficiary (the President) and the business's bottom line. This arrangement has raised concerns that Trump and his family could use the presidency to profit personally.

Since the 2016 election, Trump and his family members have defended the decision, claiming there is nothing improper about their business operations.

The recent controversy surrounding former Vice President Joe Biden's son Hunter and his international business ties has added a new layer to conversations about the ethics around business done by the families of powerful politicians while they're in office. It's also spurred the President's family to attempt to defend their own holdings.

In a recent Fox News interview, Eric, discussing Hunter's dealings, noted that "the difference between us and Hunter is when my father became commander-in-chief of this country, we got out of all international business, right?"

Not quite. Jordan Libowitz, communications director for Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, a non-profit government watchdog group, told CNN that Eric's claim was the "worst lie I've heard in a while."

Judge Andrew Napolitano: Proof of Trump’s impeachable offenses plain to see

https://www.foxnews.com/opinion/judge-andrew-napolitano-hiding-plain-sight

With the process soon to be as Republicans have demanded, and with the proof of impeachable offenses plain to see, to what will the president's allies resort as a defense? They will claim that that the federal crimes of soliciting campaign assistance from foreign governments and bribery aren't impeachable offenses and that Trump was misunderstood because he exaggerates all the time and often doesn't mean what he says.

And then the American public will decide if all this is skim milk or cream.

Election Spotlight, NJ: Gary Schaer: A Most Un-Orthodox Choice

BS"D

2 Mar-Cheshvan, 5780 °° 31 Oct., '19

Election Spotlight, NJ: Gary Schaer: A Most Un-Orthodox Choice

By Binyomin Feinberg, Contributor to The Jewish Press*

feinbergbinyomin@gmail.com

* The perspectives and opinions expressed herein do not necessarily reflect those of the ownership or management of The Jewish Press.

~~~~~~~~~~~

To check for updates throughout the week please visit ("Updates for Cheshvan" at: )

https://docs.google.com/document/d/11EUa2a_8OwXs7T1vMfek3MehHfC2Rd9mWt6NetNxLm0/edit?usp=sharing

~~~~~~~~~~

NJ Assemblyman Gary Schaer (purportedly representing Passaic) voted for all four of these deleterious bills listed below. (The LGBT propaganda bill he "only" voted for in Committee, but he strongly spoke in favor of it, even trying to make the bill worse.)

Additionally, he even voted to send the bill to legalize Assisted Suicide "to the floor" (i.e., for a vote by the full Assembly) - even though the Assembly had the votes to pass it if it would come to a floor vote.

~~~

Schaer voted for these lgbt bills:

1. a bill that requires public schools to put LGBT propaganda in every singe subject:

https://www.njleg.state.nj.us/2018/Bills/S2000/1569_R2.HTM

2. a bill that bans state travel to states that enact proper freedom-of-religion laws, refusing to subjugate Religious Liberty to LGBT "rights:"

https://www.njleg.state.nj.us/2016/Bills/A4000/3613_R1.HTM

3. makes it easier for transgenders to put the wrong sex on their birth certificate:

https://www.njleg.state.nj.us/2018/Bills/S0500/478_R2.HTM

4. makes a Transgender Equality Task Force:

https://www.njleg.state.nj.us/2018/Bills/S1000/705_I1.HTM

~~~

Schaer clearly does not deserve the vote of the Orthodox community. And the community voting for him would be a public Chillul HaShem. It would also broadcast the erroneous notion that we don't take our own Torah values seriously - when advised to put political concerns above what in fact are our core Torah principles.

NOT to wholehearted fight for our Torah values while our spiritual enemies wage war against them - and against us - is not just foolhardy, it's spiritually suicidal.

noaqch was a tzadik but not a chocham - Rav Kaminetsky

אמת ליעקב פרשת נח

פרק ו

(ט) נח איש צדיק תמים היה בדורותיו.

פירש"י וז"ל: יש מרבותינו דורשים אותו לשבח כל שכן שאלו היה בדור צדיקים היה צדיק יותר ויש שדורשים אותו לגנאי לפי דורו היה צדיק ואלו היה בדורו של אברהם לא היה נחשב לכלום עכ"ל. המפרשים תמהו על לשון רש"י, שהתחיל בדור של צדיקים וסיים בדורו של אברהם אבינו, ועיין במפרשים1 מה שכתבו בזה. והנ"ל כפשוטו, דבאמת אין כאן פלוגתא עד כמה הגיעה צדקותו של נח, דכולי עלמא מודים שאילו היה בדורם של צדיקים בודאי היה צדיק יותר, ואילו היה בדורו של אברהם אבינו, שהיו בני הדור כולם רשעים ואז לא היו נשארים רק אברהם ונח, ודאי שלא היה נחשב [כנגד אברהם], אלא דהפלוגתא היא בכוונת התורה שכתבה "בדורותיו" - האם כיוונה לספר בשבחו או בגנותו, ודו"ק2.

אלא שיש לתמוה למה להם לדרוש לגנאי בה בשעה שאפשר לדרוש לשבח. וצריך לומר משום דלא היה יכול להציל את בני דורו, דאילו היה צדיק גמור היה יכול להצילן3. וביאור הדברים הוא, דהנה מצינו במדרש [בראשית רבה פרשה ל"א אות ג'] שהיה מוכיח את בני דורו ואומר להם: ריקים אתם מניחים מי שקולו שובר ארזים ומשתחוים לעץ יבש עכ"ל, אבל לא ידע נח שבאמת גם הם ידעו שאין בעבודה זרה ממש, אלא שעבדו עבודה זרה רק בגלל שהתאוו לעריות4, וא"כ התוכחה שהוכיחם לא היתה לנקודת החטא, וזהו שהביא לרבותינו לדרוש אותו לגנאי, ומפני שלא ידע היאך להוכיחם5. ואף על פי שלכאורה אין זה פגם בצדקות אלא בחכמה, מכל מקום מוכח מזה דחסרון חכמה הוא פגם בצדקות, דאילו היה מבקש את האמת לאמיתה היה מוצא שצריך להוכיחם בדבר עריות ולא בדבר עבודה זרה, כי ז"הו היסוד בעבודת השם - לעמוד על הנקודה המרכזית ולשום כל מעיניו בה.

Court to compel alleged pedophile Leifer to undergo psychiatric evaluation

https://www.timesofisrael.com/court-to-compel-alleged-pedophile-leifer-to-undergo-psychiatric-evaluation/

The State Prosecutor’s Office also files a request to have all information from the trial passed along to the panel to give its members a full picture of Leifer’s mental state. Without it, Leifer would likely have to be hospitalized for three weeks in order to be re-evaluated from scratch. That would likely delay the panel’s decision, which the court ordered it make by December 10, a source with knowledge of the proceedings told The Times of Israel.

How Rudy Giuliani’s Pursuit of Money and Power May Cost Donald Trump Dearly

https://time.com/5714722/rudy-giuliani-transformation/

In the storied career of America’s most famous mayor, the last five weeks have been quite a chapter. During a shouting match on CNN on Sept. 19, Rudy Giuliani denied and then, 30 seconds later, admitted to playing a central role in President Donald Trump’s efforts to get a foreign country to investigate his top 2020 rival, Joe Biden. Five days later, Giuliani went nuclear on a radio host during a joint TV appearance, shouting, “Shut up, moron, shut up!” as he tried to drown out accusations that he was making things up. Trump’s personal lawyer capped it off on Oct. 16 by pocket–dialing a reporter for NBC News and inadvertently leaving a lengthy message as he talked to an unidentified partner about potentially lucrative business in Turkey and Bahrain.

Orthodox Rabbinic Statement On the Torah Imperative to Oppose All Forms of Assisted Suicide

Though Trump said Wednesday that "100%" of ISIS had been defeated, forces on the ground suggest otherwise. An August report by the Pentagon estimates that ISIS is “resurging” in Syria and has as many as 18,000 militants there and in Iraq. And although its threat had dissipated in recent times, it has not disappeared. On October 11, the group claimed responsibility for a car bomb attack on a popular restaurant in the Syrian-Kurdish city of Qamishli, which killed at least three civilians.

https://www.haaretz.com/middle-east-news/syria/.premium-trump-said-isis-defeated-forces-syria-iraq-tell-otherwise-1.8019763

Special report from Syrian-Iraq border: ‘For sure, the Islamic State will take this opportunity to come back,’ warns one Kurdish fighter, while U.S. coalition commander says: 'The mission against ISIS has been undermined

Though Trump said Wednesday that "100%" of ISIS had been defeated, forces on the ground suggest otherwise. An August report by the Pentagon estimates that ISIS is “resurging” in Syria and has as many as 18,000 militants there and in Iraq. And although its threat had dissipated in recent times, it has not disappeared. On October 11, the group claimed responsibility for a car bomb attack on a popular restaurant in the Syrian-Kurdish city of Qamishli, which killed at least three civilians.

Trump walks back claim of defeating ‘100% of the ISIS caliphate’

https://www.rollcall.com/news/whitehouse/in-another-reversal-trump-walks-back-claim-of-defeating-100-of-the-isis-caliphate

 the president told a different story on Monday during a speech to law enforcement officers in Chicago ahead of two fundraising events at a hotel he owns in the Windy City.

He told the officers that once the U.S. military — which had help from Kurdish forces Trump recently allowed to be attacked by Turkey’s military — had eliminated “70 percent” of the so-called caliphate, “I said, ’Let’s go home.’”

Killing Americans - "Mind, Body and Spirit:"

By Binyomin Feinberg, Contributor to The Jewish Press*

*  The perspectives and opinions expressed herein do not necessarily reflect those of the ownership or management of The Jewish Press.

Parshas Noach, 5780

29 Oct. '19

Elections in Focus: Assisted Suicide supporters running for re-election in NJ:

Previously, the Jewish Press published a psak Halacha regarding Assisted Suicide legislation, including a statement relevant to elections:

"Thus, when voting for any public official, this issue must be considered as top priority, certainly overriding financial considerations, government programs, etc. By voting for people who support these laws, we become accountable for their actions. This ruling would still apply even if these laws were to be passed, we would still be forbidden to vote for legislators who voted for these laws. This is the most important way to fulfill our obligation."

Some of the rabbanim who signed the psak are Rabbis

Eliyahu Ben-Haim, Aaron Rakeffet-Rothkoff, Yitzchok Cohen (Yeshiva University), Shmuel Kamenetsky (Talmudical Academy of Philadelphia), Benjamin Yudin (Shomrei Torah, Fair Lawn, NJ), Steven Pruzansky (Bnai Yeshurun, Teaneck), Simcha Bunim Cohen (Khal Ateres Yeshaya), Dovid Schustal (Bais Medrash Govoha),  Avrohom Yaakov Nelkenbaum (Mirrer Yeshiva).

Legislators who represent Orthodox districts in NJ, and who voted for assisted suicide - and are  thus included in the category of those candidates for whom it is forbidden to vote - include:

Lisa Swain, Christopher Tully  (Bergenfield, Fair Lawn, Paramus);

Gordon Johnson,  Valerie Vainieri Huttle (Englewood, Fort Lee, Teaneck, Tenafly);

Clinton Calabrese (Passaic):

Jamel Holley, Annette Quijano (Elizabeth, Union); 

Louis Greenwald,  Pamela Lampitt  (Cherry Hill);

Mila Jasey, John McKeon (Livingston, Maplewood, West Orange);

Annette Chaparro,  Raj Mukherji  (Jersey City, Union City);

Angela McKnight (Jersey City, Bayonne).

After years of deceptive campaigning, Assisted Suicide passed in NJ a number of months ago, by a single vote in each house of the Legislature. Thus, technically, each and every legislator is responsible for its passage.  By demonstrating what our values are, we help preserve them, especially in states where Assisted Suicide still poses a real and present danger, especially N.Y. By ignoring the Halacha, and voting for those who ostensibly throw government money at us to buy our votes, we not only perpetrate Chillul HaShem, but we aid and abet those who threaten the lives of some of our most vulnerable.

It should be mentioned that in that last vote, much of the Orthodox community was intentionally kept in the dark about the need to be extra vocal in our opposition to Assisted Suicide legislation in NJ. For example, one community leader, who had a detailed conversation with the lead activist of an Orthodox lobbying organization, had no idea of the need to reach out to a key legislator in his own district, even just a few hours before that fateful vote. That particular Assemblyman voted yes, technically providing the one vote needed to pass it in the Assembly, thus making it law.

####

Part 2:

Educational "Crusader" running for D.A. in Rockland County:

In a high profile, three way race in Rockland County, NYS Supreme Court Judge Thomas Walsh, pro-LGBT, pro-abortion Assemblyman Kenneth Zebrowski, and Attorney Michael Dietrich are running for D.A.

Mr. Dietrich has made multiple public statements (on social and in print media) threatening to prosecute Orthodox Jewish individuals over our choices of how we educate our children. His posted statements, when objectively examined in context, would terrify any Biblically oriented parent, and deeply concern anyone concerned about safeguarding constitutional liberties - in the realms of religious, educational, and parental rights - from unconstitutional government intrusion, and,  ultimately, from the unrelenting LGBTQ indoctrination agenda permeating public education nowadays.

Tellingly, he also calls for leaving one's religion out of the voting booth, as if voting on antireligious values is somehow preferable to voting on the basis of one's religious values.

He claims that the lack of secular education in many ultra Orthodox institutions would be prosecutable as endangerment of the welfare of a child. He singles out several large orthodox communities for critique, including Lakewood NJ. Meanwhile, indisputable harm to children is being perpetrated in his own backyard. For example, the NYC school system, as reported in this column not long ago, has been subjected to new Guidelines, in the form of draconian transgender policies. If he is concerned about child welfare, where is his concern over that, which is being promulgated with the blessing of the NYS Democratic Establishment?  

He complains about indoctrination by Yeshivos that teach secular subjects in a manner consistent with the Torah, as if our religious values and perspective must be restricted to religious studies. 

 

As AG Barr wisely noted recently, the problem Americans face is not religious indoctrination, but antireligious indoctrination, especially in the arena of Education.

The very focus, on the part of Mr. Dietrich and his ilk, on the  prosecution of Yeshivas and Bais Yaakov girl schools - while ignoring the systemic pro-LGBTQ indoctrination of the public schools system - raises a red (or pink) flag.

It's crucial to clarify that, to an extent, the concerns Orthodox Jews have over outside influence over education extend to all segments of the Orthodox community (all of which would be branded "ultra-Orthodox by pro-immorality propagandists). Additionally, these threats to educational independence pose similar dangers to all children, particularly those in religious schools. Once religious schools are targeted for maintaining their educational independence, in this LGBTQ permeated societal milieu, no school, family, or child is safe.

Mr. Dietrich reveals his assimilationist missionary agenda darkly in another posted statement. He intones that if ultra-Orthodox students were educated on secular subjects and basic American values, he claims, we wouldn't be a separate community, as in Lakewood (and, we'd add: Monsey, Wesley Hills, and Flatbush...) - but rather "one unified community" in which "almost every child" would be in the Public School system. 

Mazel Tov. And every child would be entitled to the opportunity to be compelled to restrain himself from using the restrooms all day, to avoid the transgender bathroom incidents currently victimizing NYC Public School inmates. And every child could partake of the spectacle of being educated by teachers who (at least pretend to be) unaware of basic anatomical distinctions defining male and female, and who genuflect to 67 genders of the Equality Rainbow culture. Furthermore, the children would be taught from textbooks celebrating same gender "marriage," recognition of which, Chazal exhort us in Beraishis Rabba 26:5/10 on Ber. 6:2, and in VaYikra Rabba on ViYikra 18:3, triggered the Great Flood detailed in this week's parsha.

These people not only are bereft of authority to address our religious needs, they don't even begin to speak as authorities on Education altogether, because they clearly have no idea of what it is.