The Last Word with Lawrence O'Donnell MSNBC | August 14, 2020 | Hana Reaction

Unprecedented

Michael Cohen Releases Forward To New Memoir, ‘Disloyal’ | All In | MSNBC

Michael Cohen offers a glimpse of upcoming Trump book

 https://edition.cnn.com/2020/08/13/politics/michael-cohen-book-cover/index.html

 Michael Cohen released the foreword of his upcoming book on Thursday, teasing what he claims is a behind-the-scenes exposé of his acts as President Donald Trump's fixer -- from stiffing contractors on a business deal to lying about extra-marital affairs to the President's attempts to "insinuate himself into the world of President Vladimir Putin."

"I know where the skeletons are buried because I was the one who buried them," Cohen wrote in the foreword, which was published Thursday on a website for his tell-all book "Disloyal: A Memoir. The true story of the former personal attorney to President Donald J. Trump."

"In some ways, I knew him better than even his family did because I bore witness to the real man, in strip clubs, shady business meetings, and in the unguarded moments when he revealed who he really was: a cheat, a liar, a fraud, a bully, a racist, a predator, a con man," Cohen wrote in the 3,700-word release.

 

 

'Soulmates': Michael Cohen describes his life as Trump's fixer in new book

 https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2020/aug/13/michael-cohen-book-donald-trump-disloyal

A teaser for Michael Cohen’s book about his time as Donald Trump’s lawyer and fixer and his fall from grace was released on Thursday, after the US justice department had issued a gag order to stop the book’s publication that was later dropped.

The book, entitled Disloyal: The True Story of the Former Personal Attorney to President Donald J Trump, is slated to be released sometime in September, ahead of the presidential election in November.

Cohen ginned up pre-sales and tweeted about it on Thursday.

Upending traditional views on peacemaking, Israel-UAE deal truly heralds new era

https://www.timesofisrael.com/upending-traditional-views-on-peacemaking-israel-uae-deal-truly-heralds-new-era/ 

Netanyahu proves wrong all those who argued normalization with Arab world is impossible without a solution to the Palestinian conflict — without giving anything tangible in return

Trump: West Bank annexation 'off the table', Christianity part of UAE deal

 https://www.jpost.com/middle-east/trump-christianity-part-of-uae-deal-west-bank-annexation-off-the-table-638639

 Annexation of the West Bank is "off the table" and Israel has agreed not to do it, President Donald Trump said late Thursday night, breaking with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu who had earlier said that the peace deal with the UAE only temporarily delayed application of Israeli sovereignty.

 

 

Trump stokes 'birther' theory about Kamala Harris

 https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-53774289

 What do other constitutional experts say?

Another constitutional law expert told CBS News, the BBC's US partner, that Prof Eastman's argument about Ms Harris' eligibility was "truly silly".

Erwin Chemerinsky, the dean of Berkeley Law School, wrote in an email: "Under section 1 of the 14th Amendment, anyone born in the United States is a United States citizen.

"The Supreme Court has held this since the 1890s. Kamala Harris was born in the United States."

Laurence Tribe, a constitutional law professor at Harvard University and frequent critic of President Trump, called Prof Eastman's argument "garbage" and "racist birtherism redux".

Jessica Levinson, a professor at Loyola Law School, told the Associated Press news agency: "Let's just be honest about what it is: It's just a racist trope we trot out when we have a candidate of colour whose parents were not citizens."

 

 

Judge orders Trump campaign to produce evidence of voter fraud in Pennsylvania

 https://edition.cnn.com/2020/08/13/politics/trump-campaign-voter-fraud-lawsuit-pennsylvania/index.html

 A federal judge in Pennsylvania told the Trump campaign and the Republican Party that they must produce evidence they have of vote-by-mail fraud in the state by Friday.

The judge's order, in a high-profile case about vote-by-mail in the battleground state, essentially forces the Trump campaign to try to back up President Donald Trump's false claims about massive voter fraud in postal voting.

"The Court finds that instances of voter fraud are relevant to the claims and defenses in this case," District Judge J. Nicholas Ranjan wrote on Thursday, telling Republicans that they need to provide evidence of fraud to the Democratic Party and the Sierra Club, which are part of the lawsuit.

Donald Trump just straight-up admitted he is working to meddle in the election

 https://edition.cnn.com/2020/08/13/politics/donald-trump-mail-in-ballots-2020/index.html

 Sometimes -- OK, a lot of times -- Donald Trump says the quiet part out loud.

Like during an interview on Fox Business with Maria Bartiromo on Thursday morning when Trump flatly admitted the real reason why he is blocking the inclusion of any money for the United States Postal Service in a coronavirus relief bill in Congress.

Here's exactly what he said:

"They want $3.5 billion for something that will turn out to be fraudulent, that's election money basically. They want $3.5 trillion -- billion dollars for the mail-in votes, OK, universal mail-in ballots, $3.5 trillion. They want $25 billion, billion, for the Post Office. Now they need that money in order to have the Post Office work so it can take all of these millions and millions of ballots...

 

" ... Now, if we don't make a deal, that means they don't get the money. That means they can't have universal mail-in voting, they just can't have it. So, you know, sort of a crazy thing. Very interesting."

Let's be very, very clear about what Trump is saying here.

IDF Female Draft Updates

 BS"D 

https://firstamendmentactivist.blogspot.com/2020/08/making-saving-souls-great-again.html

Making Saving Souls ("Hatzolas Nefashos") Great Again

22 Av, 5780 °°  Aug. 12, '20  (parshas Re'aih)

By Binyomin Feinberg

The latest breaking news from Israel regarding the female military draft is mixed.

1.  Firstly, multiple girls encountering serious problems with the Israeli Army Draft Office are, B"H (thank G-d), currently being assisted by "Chomosaich" volunteers. This group includes girls whose scheduled draft-dates are rapidly approaching.  It must be emphasized that these are girls whom volunteers have encountered prior to any arrest. However, tragically, there are numerous girls languishing in Israeli military prisons to whom we lack access, and about whom we have little if any information at the moment. That situation must change if these girls are to obtain the guidance they need to secure their rights and their freedom. If non-Jews would be mistreating our sisters even one thousandth as much as Jews are doing so in the Israeli military, and to a lesser extent in the military prison system, there would be an international uproar.

2.  One girl currently receiving guidance, Cheiyn A., an 18 year-old from a national-religious background, initially applied properly for a religious exemption.  However, subsequently, in the midst of the uncertainty pervasive during Coronavirus shutdown, she was duped into enlisting into the Army.  Thus, on Sunday, May 24, '20 (1 Sivan), between about 12 and 1pm, she signed up to enlist in the Army at the Be'er Sheva Draft Office, thinking that she would be able to serve on an ostensibly all-female base. The Army officer who took her signature, to whom we'll refer as "A.," waited until after Cheiyn signed. After Cheiyn signed, A. notified her, post facto, that she just signed away her own right to secure a religious exemption from military service in the future. Cheiyn claims she had been previously unaware of that  important fact. Thus, her volunteer spirit was met "in kind" with a rude awakening as to whom she was dealing with. [The officer involved, A., was reportedly a female approximately 21 years of age, of a height of approximately 160 cm, with slightly dark complexion and long black hair, and apparently of Yemenite lineage.]  

It should also be noted that even girls in ostensibly "all-female" military environments are by no means totally protected from inappropriate behavior and interaction of the genders.

3.  Subsequently, B"H, Cheiyn did reapply for her religious exemption, obtaining another religiosity verification affidavit and sending it in to Maitav. However, as of our most recent information, her efforts have not yet borne fruit. Her draft-date R"L has been set for August 18, next Tuesday, at which point arrest and incarceration in military prison is a spectre many such girls face.  However, awareness of her plight in the Diaspora plays very much in her favor.

4.  Secondly, the Chareidi publication "HaPeles" recently publicized a report by Chagai Amit in the "Di Marker" regarding a recent Israeli Army initiative to expand National, Civilian ("Sheirut Ezrachi"), and Military Service to include every Israeli boy and girl, including religious and Chareidi girls and women - for a service period of between one and three years. Government "benefits," of course, would be provided. Those benefits would apparently help reduce the intensity of opposition from certain sectors.

The incremental steps the Army has taken over the past several years to draft increasing numbers of girls, especially religious ones, indicate that such a broad initiative would place many more religious girls in grave danger of mandatory military and "semi-military" service, in the long and intermediate term, if not in the short term.

Furthermore, a universally applicable public-service law that would include girls would also reveal one of the fundamental flaws in the approach of allowing more vulnerable youth to be drafted without resistance from the religious political parties - in order to secure protection for their own cliques ("our own girls") from the Draft Office. That approach has been taken by some in the Chareidi political milieu in recent years, facilitating this radical expansion. That's because capitulation to Maitav incrementalism is tantamount to handing the Army a blank check, albeit via a post-dated one.  By broadcasting that some lives don't matter as much as others, it's just a matter of time before the Divide & Conquer approach runs its course. Simply put, it's ultimately self-destruction, albeit in comfortable installments. Silencing the ongoing incremental encroachment of the Army in drafting "easy targets" - including "periphery" girls - ultimately enabled the Israeli government to get to this point.  Even if the various religious communities would somehow figuratively dodge the bullet this time, religious Jewry has been communally put on defense, making it far harder to shift the battle lines to fending off an ever-encroaching Draft Office.

5.  This ominous policy shift bears an eerie resemblance to a similar but more constrained movement in the US, spearheaded by an 11- member "Heck Commission," to promote a similar, three-track national /civilian /military service initiative for American youth - starting, however, on a volunteer basis. Is there a coordinated transatlantic effort afoot?

For those interested in further research, the Center for Military Readiness (www.cmrlink.org) is one American organization that follows these issues, with an eye towards the moral degradation of the US military, including the misapplication of women's equality to the military milieu.

5.  Thirdly, over the past several weeks, many religious girls have been ordered to appear for religiosity interviews/ interrogations, just because they studied in non-religious schools, for whatever reasons (including lack of religious venues that meet their specifications).

6.  According to Chomosaich volunteers, and an attorney working with some of these girls,  the Draft Office is now rejecting the entreaties of these girls even when accompanied with documentation establishing their religiosity, including letters of known Rabbis, and even if formally submitted via legal counsel. This documentation is being sent on top of the "Tatzhir Dat" affidavit these girls normally submit, after attesting to meeting legal religiosity requirements on penalty of purgery (generally before a Rabbanut court).

7.  As we've reported previously, once the Army Draft Office (operating under "Maitav") receives the Tatzhir Dat, the girl is legally entitled to an automatic military service exemption - unless the Army has legitimate basis to question her religiosity. Merely studying in a non-religious school fails to meet that criteria; many religious girls study in nonreligious schools (although that's increasingly hazardous, for multiple reasons, one demonstrated by this recent Army trend). Thus, Army policy is inconsistent with it's own regulations in summoning these girls for a Rayon Dat, and holding their exemptions hostage to compel them to comply. 

8.  Moreover, this legally- and ethically-compromised manipulation of girls is not a means of objective fact-finding. Rather, the Rayon Dat often serves as a means of duping, convincing, intimidating or terrorizing girls (usually teenagers below 18) into enlisting in the Army. Again, these girls, sometimes not even 17, are expected to withstand - while alone and unable to communicate with the outside world - honed interrogation techniques, employed by trained military officers, seeking to draft every suitable girl possible.

9. This latest Army effort to enlist even more religious girls also raises the question: why is it that antireligious elements vocally complain about religious Israelis failing to pursue quality secular education - but tolerate [and perhaps encourage] Draft Office discrimination against religious girls who do exactly that? That inconsistency conveys the impression that the Draft Office is  exploiting secular educational institutions, seeking a pretext to rob religious girls - by all means feasible - of their legal rights to avoid the exploitive, morally corrosive military environment.

10.  Interestingly, in an interview in Misphacha Magazine (of the week of Va'Eschanon), outgoing Israeli United Nations Ambassador Danny Dannon indicated that Israel would benefit by adopting the American Jewish approach to Jewish Education, in teaching "Jewish traditions," "traditions" which - he acknowledged - Israeli schools - outside of religious schools - fail to teach. This acknowledgement by a high level Netanyahu official stands in contrast to the actual Israeli government policy of robbing successive generations of Israeli children of our priceless and timeless Torah heritage. In regards to our topic, this intentionally dumbing down of millions of Jewish children hands Maitav a yearly yield of thousands of more conscripts - teenage girls "not religious enough" to merit protection from being forced into the institution whose leadership unfortunately grants it the distinction of being the largest open human-trafficking network in the Middle East.

~~~

May we merit to transform the multitude of challenges we face into fruitful opportunities to advance the true benefit of all, including nonreligious girls as well, whose ongoing mistreatment in the Army should never be ignored or forgotten.

~~~
"... And if someone, like Pinchos, is one among a multitude, and every man is against him when he dares to speak out for truth and to fight for the Law -- the more lonely his stand, the greater the number of his adversaries, the more powerful is his word, the mightier his deed."

--  Rav Shamshon Raphael Hirsch OB"M (1808-1888), (in "Judaism Eternal," vol. 2, p. 293)


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Update link for the month of 
Menachem Av to check in case we post during the week between our regular Wednesday/ Thursday posts:


https://docs.google.com/document/d/1KrmOMCITmo6QiE6r1n1jvniVpx6WiZVvyfMDXo_hJN8/edit?usp=sharing

Fox News’ Best COVID-19 Truthers Unite to Promote Trump’s Favorite Drug

 https://www.rollingstone.com/culture/culture-news/americas-frontline-doctors-hydroxychloroquine-breitbart-donald-trump-1034927/

 On Monday, a video falsely promoting hydroxychloroquine as a cure for COVID-19 and downplaying the efficacy of masks went viral on various platforms, including Facebook (where it racked up nearly 20 million views) and Twitter. The video footage captured by Breitbart News was boosted by various members of anti-vaccine groups, as well as Donald Trump Jr. and the President himself. It was later removed by Facebook for promoting misinformation, according to a spokesperson, who said it was removed “for sharing false information about cures and treatments for COVID-19.” It was also flagged by Twitter, prompting Donald Trump, Jr. to be temporarily suspended from the platform and sparking outcry among the far right for alleged social media censorship.

The 43-minute video featured a group known as America’s Frontline Doctors, staging a sparsely attended press conference in front of the Supreme Court in Washington, D.C. In the video, physicians in white lab coats — in between nodding ponderously and awkwardly shifting their weight between both feet — aggressively promote hydroxychloroquine as a “cure” for COVID-19, despite the fact that the World Health Organization has discontinued its recommendation of the drug, saying it was “unlikely to be beneficial for hospitalized patients.”

 But who are America’s Frontline Doctors, and what are their credentials for speaking publicly about hydroxychloroquine or the effects of COVID-19? As it turns out, none of the physicians featured in the video are epidemiologists or immunologists (i.e., those best qualified to speak on infectious diseases), and many have a history of aligning with right-wing interest groups and propagating COVID-19 conspiracy theories. Below, a guide to the Sassy Six, the starring cast of America’s Frontline Doctors.

No Evidence That Doctor Group in Viral Video Got Near COVID 'Front Lines'

 https://www.medpagetoday.com/infectiousdisease/covid19/87797

 The latest viral video promoting COVID-19 misinformation features a newly formed group called America's Frontline Doctors. About 10 physicians, dressed in white coats with an embroidered America's Frontline Doctors logo, spoke for 45 minutes in front of the Supreme Court on Monday on a range of COVID-19 talking points, from hydroxychloroquine (HCQ) being curative to the mental health effects of lockdown outweighing the toll of the virus itself.

But none of the most vocal members have practices that would place them on the actual front lines of the COVID-19 pandemic. Some don't currently practice at all.

Two of those appearing at the Monday event are ophthalmologists, one of whom is no longer licensed.

Trump Says U.S. Is Nearing An End On Pandemic | Morning Joe | MSNBC