Trump Can't Quit Us

Cornered by the coronavirus, Trump returns to a familiar strategy: Attack Obama

https://edition.cnn.com/2020/05/16/politics/trump-coronavirus-strategy-attack-obama/index.html

 With the death count from the coronavirus rising and its economic fallout deepening, President Donald Trump is trying to fire up his base and divert the national conversation by promoting a baseless conspiracy that casts his predecessor, Barack Obama, as the architect of a plot to subvert his presidency.

The ginned up scandal, or "Obamagate" as Trump has branded it, turns on alleged requests made by members of the Obama administration to "unmask" an individual, who turned out to be Michael Flynn, mentioned in classified intelligence reports. A common and legal process, it has been employed more often under Trump than during Obama's time in office.

This week the Trump administration and Republican senators made the decision to declassify and release the names of Obama officials who made requests that might have resulted in Flynn's "unmasking." The officials would not have known the name of the individual until after their ask was answered. Flynn would go on to become Trump's national security adviser before being fired -- by the President -- for lying to White House officials about his Russia contacts.

Doctors are contradiction to bitachon?

אמת ליעקב ויקרא פרק כו פסוק יא

(יא) ונתתי משכני בתוככם.

עיין רמב"ן כאן שהאריך בענין מדת הבטחון, ודעתו היא שעל פי האמת אסור לו לאדם לשאול ברופאים אלא ישליך על ד' יהבו, וסיים כי ברצות ה' דרכי איש אין לו עסק ברופאים, ועיי"ש שביאר באריכות. והנה החובת הלבבות [עיין שער הבטחון פרק ד'] סובר שעל האדם להשתדל עד כמה שיכול להרפא בדרך הטבע, ועיי"ש. והנה נדמה בעינינו כי לדעת חובת הלבבות צריך הוא האדם לסייע כביכול להקב"ה - שעל ידי הסיבה הזאת יוכל לפרנסו, וכן מבינים רוב בני העולם ודומים הם כי הרמב"ן הוא המחמיר בנדון זה. אבל המעיין בחובת הלבבות יראה כי הוא הנהו המחמיר בזה, אלא שהוא סובר כי כל ענין ההתעסקות הוא מפני יישוב העולם1 והרי זו מצוה ככל מצות שבתורה, ולפיכך כותב הוא שהאדם לא ישנה את מלאכתו ואף שרואה הוא שאינו מצליח במלאכתו זאת. אבל לדעת הרמב"ן אדרבה - אם האדם אינו בתכלית השלימות נמסר הוא למערכות הטבע ואז צריך הוא לעבוד באמת כדי להתפרנס על ידי זה, כי כן כתב לענין רפואה שאחרי שבא אל הרופא הרי הרופא צריך להזדקק לו כי הוא נמסר להנהגה הטבעית, וכדמצינו בשלהי ברכות [דף ס' ע"א] דהמתפלל אחר מ' יום שיהא זכר ה"ז תפלת שוא, ואעפ"כ האמהות התפללו2 מפני שלפי הנהגתם הנס היה אצלם לטבע ונשתנה דינם, ודו"ק3.

והנה לפי דברי רמב"ן אלו יש לפרש מה דמצינו בגמרא במסכת יומא [דף פ"ה ע"ב] שנחלקו כמה תנאים מנא לן שפקוח נפש דוחה את השבת, וכל א' הביא מקור אחר לזה, וכגון מעבודה וממילה וכדומה, ועיי"ש. ולעיל בפרשת כי תשא [ל"א פט"ז] ביארתי מדוע בכלל צריך פסוק מיוחד לזה - הא קי"ל וחי בהם ולא שימות בהם, ועיין מש"כ שם להלכה. אבל בדרך הדרוש י"ל לדעת הרמב"ן דעל פי האמת לא היה האדם צריך להתעסק ברפואות כלל, ולפיכך היה עולה על הדעת שמצות שבת תחייבנו להעמיד את הענין על אמיתו ולא נדחה את השבת, וע"ז באו התנאים האלו ולימדו שאין זה דחיית איסור בלבד אלא מצוה ממש וכמו מילה ועבודה שדוחין את השבת, ודו"ק.

A third of hospital patients develop dangerous blood clots

https://www.bbc.com/news/health-52662065

Up to 30% of patients who are seriously ill with coronavirus are developing dangerous blood clots, according to medical experts.

The professor's blood sciences team in the hospital has been analysing samples from patients showing how coronavirus is changing their blood making it much more sticky. And sticky blood can lead to blood clots.

Steve Linick: Trump fires state department inspector general

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-52688658

Mr Trump said Mr Linick no longer had his full confidence and that he would be removed in 30 days.

Mr Linick had begun investigating Secretary of State Mike Pompeo for suspected abuse of office, reports say.

Democrats say Mr Trump is retaliating against public servants who want to hold his administration to account.

 

President Trump Ousts State Department Watchdog, Marking Another Inspector General Fired During the Pandemic

https://time.com/5837818/trump-fires-steve-linick-state-department-watchdog/

(Washington D.C.) — President Donald Trump has fired the State Department’s inspector general, an Obama administration appointee whose office was critical of alleged political bias in the agency’s management. The ouster is the latest in a series of moves against independent executive branch watchdogs who have found fault with the Trump administration.

Are We Still Pro-Life?

https://mishpacha.com/inscrutable-by-design/

The current crisis provides an example of this danger. We are comrades-in-arms with the pro-life movement, aren’t we? And, when years ago, Republicans railed against the so-called “death panels” that were purportedly a part of Obamacare’s vision for the American healthcare system, we Orthodox Jews felt they were kindred spirits, didn’t we?

Yet, it has been so very unsettling to now see longtime ostensible proponents of the pro-life position suddenly begin to speak a different language, to find people who’ve advocated cherishing life at both its beginning and end suddenly downplaying preservation of life as a supreme value and attaching an economic price tag to the healthcare and longevity of people in their sixties and seventies.

As I noted above, the questions of when and how much and how quickly to begin easing up on the lockdown are complex ones given the human toll on both sides of the equation. If poskim were to be consulted by government in this decision-making process, I have no idea how they would rule on those questions.

But I do know this: Every posek in the world has clearly ruled during this crisis that preservation of life is paramount. They have instructed repeatedly that we must closely heed the directives of the very “majority of scientists, especially health officials, doctors, and epidemiologists” whom Prager sneeringly dismisses, and that not only that Orthodox writer’s missed trips to museums and zoos must yield, but when necessary, the kol Torah and tefillah of Klal Yisrael too.

 

White House ramps up PR campaign to improve Trump's image

https://us.cnn.com/2020/05/16/politics/trump-coronavirus-vaccine-image/index.html

CNN's election poll released this week showed former Vice President Joe Biden leading Trump 51% to 46% nationally among registered voters. But in an encouraging sign for Trump, 52% of those voters in key battleground states favored the President compared to 45% who backed Biden.

 

Sweden Stayed Open. A Deadly Month Shows the Risks.

https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2020/05/15/world/europe/sweden-coronavirus-deaths.html?action=click&module=Top%20Stories&pgtype=Homepage

No two countries are exactly alike, making comparisons inexact. Luck, travel patterns and personal actions play a role, not just government policy. 

Swedish officials chose not to implement a nationwide lockdown, trusting that people would do their part to stay safe. Schools, restaurants, gyms and bars remained open, with social distancing rules enforced, while gatherings were restricted to 50 people. 

Two months later, it has not been the worst-case scenario many envisioned. Covid-19 deaths have disproportionately hit the elderly and those in nursing homes, as is the case in most countries, but hospitals have not been overwhelmed. As with the rest of the world, it will be months, or even years, before the full picture of mortality emerges.

“It is clear that mortality in Stockholm has been a lot higher than you would expect from a normal year,” said Martin Kolk, a demographer at Stockholm University. “But we will have to wait and see what happens. It’s a very big difference if we continue to see excess mortality for six more months, or if it will be back to normal levels in a few weeks.”

There Are Sensible Ways to Reopen a Country. Then There's America's Approach

https://time.com/5836607/reopening-risks-coronavirus/

Much of the blame for that disarray falls on Trump himself. The President has repeatedly undermined the guidance of his own public-health officials, fomented antiquarantine protests on Twitter and politicized cautious positions taken by some governors. On May 7, the AP reported that the Administration had “buried” more detailed CDC advice to states on how to safely reopen.

Trump’s erratic political response to the public-health crisis reflects his own leadership style, but also the larger challenge of America’s cultural idiosyncrasies. Americans are uniquely attached to our civil liberties. It’s difficult to imagine South Korea’s contact-tracing program—a massive, state-run surveillance system that tracks and records the movements of every citizen—flying on U.S. soil. The same is true of Chinese officials’ reopening of Shanghai Disneyland. While the first day back at the Happiest Place on Earth was successful, attendees willingly scanned QR codes on their phones, allowing the government to monitor their exact where-abouts in case of future outbreaks.

 

US church sues after bible study 'Zoombombed' by child abuse

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-52668124

A California church is suing video chat company Zoom after a hacker allegedly hijacked a virtual Bible study class to post graphic images of child abuse.

The company pointed to its "recently updated security features", adding that Zoom users should not widely share meeting access and passwords "as appeared to be the case" with the church group.

Americans' Trust in Mass Media Edges Down to 41%

https://news.gallup.com/poll/267047/americans-trust-mass-media-edges-down.aspx

 Although trust in the media has edged down this year, it is well above the record low of 32% in 2016 when Republicans' trust dropped precipitously and drove the overall trust reading down during the divisive presidential campaign. Republicans' trust is still at a very low level and a wide gap in views of the media among partisans persists as 69% of Democrats say they have trust and confidence in it, while 15% of Republicans and 36% of independents agree.

Former federal judge who brought down the 'Teflon Don' steps into Flynn case

https://edition.cnn.com/2020/05/14/politics/john-gleeson-profile/index.html

An esteemed former federal judge himself, Gleeson, 66, entered the discourse around the Flynn case on Monday, when he and two other former Justice Department officials wrote in The Washington Post that among the steps US District Judge Emmet Sullivan could take would be to "appoint an independent attorney to act as a 'friend of the court,' ensuring a full, adversarial inquiry."

Saying the case "reeks of improper political influence," they wrote that "if prosecutors attempt to dismiss a well-founded prosecution for impermissible or corrupt reasons, the people would be ill-served if a court blindly approved their dismissal request. The independence of the court protects us all when executive-branch decisions smack of impropriety; it also protects the judiciary itself from becoming a party to corruption."

 

Why Donald Trump's idea that he saved millions of lives is laughable

https://edition.cnn.com/2020/05/11/politics/donald-trump-coronavirus-quarantine/index.html

It's obvious what he is doing. Cherry-picking a jaw-dropping number -- 2.2 million! -- to frame the deaths of more than 100,000 Americans as not all that bad, all things considered. (Worth noting: On April 21, Trump said this: "Now we're going toward 50 -- I'm hearing, or 60,000 people. One is too many. I always say it. One is too many, but we're going toward 50 or 60,000 people. That's at the lower -- as you know the lower (end of the projections) was supposed to be 100,000 people.")