New York Times: Justice Department secretly curtailed investigation into Trump's Russia ties

 https://edition.cnn.com/2020/08/30/politics/trump-russia-investigation-rod-rosenstein/index.html

The US Justice Department in 2017 took secret steps to curtail the special counsel investigation into Russian election interference and possible coordination with the Trump campaign, former law enforcement officials told The New York Times.

According to the newspaper, former Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein had ordered former special counsel Robert Mueller to examine "any links and/or coordination between the Russian government" and Trump's campaign, but former law enforcement officials said that privately, Rosenstein told Mueller to conduct only a criminal investigation.

 

 

Schiff vows to 'compel' intelligence on election security after DNI head Ratcliffe ends in-person briefings

 https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/elections/2020/08/30/adam-schiff-vows-compel-intel-after-john-ratcliffe-stops-briefings/5674373002/

 Rep. Adam Schiff, D-Calif., said Sunday that Democrats will consider a subpoena for National Intelligence Director John Ratcliffe after he announced the House and Senate intelligence committees would no longer receive in-person briefings on election security. 

In a letter to the heads of those committees Friday, the nation's top intelligence official said the move was intended to ensure intelligence regarding "elections security, foreign malign influence, and election interference is not misunderstood nor politicized." 

Ratcliffe said on Fox News' "Sunday Morning Futures" that he would "continue to keep Congress informed" through written updates. He explained the main reason for the change was to stop "a pandemic of information being leaked out of the intelligence community."

 "Congressional oversight of intelligence activities now faces a historic crisis," Senate Intelligence Committee Chairman Marco Rubio, R-Fla., said in a statement Saturday after Ratcliffe's announcement.

 Rubio bemoaned intelligence leaks, citing media reports that included information shared by National Counterintelligence and Security Center Director William Evanina in briefings this month. 

"Yet, this grotesque criminal misconduct does not release the intelligence community from fulfilling its legal requirements to respond to Congressional oversight committees," Rubio said. He said Ratcliffe "stated unequivocally that he will continue to fulfill these obligations" and "explicitly" said the Senate Intelligence Committee "will continue receiving briefings on all oversight topics, including election matters."

Office of the DNI to stop in-person briefings to Congress on election interference

DNI Ratcliffe Refuses to Brief House/Senate Intel Committees on Foreign Election Interference

So, What is Democracy Anyway? | Peter Emerson | TEDxVienna

In many instances, a majority vote identifies not the will of the people, not even the will of the majority of them, but the will of those who wrote the question. Most political problems are complex; to reduce them to a win-or-lose binary vote, or even a series of such dichotomies, often turns what should be a discussion into an argument. Preferential voting in contrast can be win-win: indeed, a points system can identify that option which, if not the most popular, is at least the most generally acceptable. Peter Emerson is the director of the de Borda Institute. He has written ten books on voting systems and published several articles on democracy in peer reviewed journals. A vocal critic of the Majority Rule, he has helped design an app for multi-option voting.

HALACHA, HASHKAFA AND DEMOCRACY sources Rabbi Manning

 https://rabbimanning.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/12/Democracy-in-Halacha-and-Hashkafa.pdf

 A] General Issues• how to define ‘democracy’? 

- appointment of the executive and legislature by popular vote• who gets to vote? 

• is separation of state and religion an important element of democracy? need it be? 

• note the political abuse of the term ‘democratic’ by left and right, especially in Israel

Judaism and Democracy (Part 2 of 2) Harav Aharon Lichtenstein

https://www.etzion.org.il/en/judaism-and-democracy-part-2-2 

 The relationship between Halakha and democracy must be examined not only in terms of reconciling the contradictions. There are certainly contradictions between Halakha and democracy – particularly in the sphere of the rights of individuals. We must rise above – but not ignore – these points of conflict. We may see Halakha not only as facilitating the existence of democracy, but also – in certain senses – promoting it, according with it, and going along with it in the same direction and in the same spirit.

 

 

Judaism and Democracy (part 1 of 2) Harav Aharon Lichtenstein

 https://www.etzion.org.il/en/judaism-and-democracy-part-1-2

 

This subject used to be a popular one in our circles. In essence it is immanent to the wider western society within which we live. The crown of democracy has traditionally been accorded a fair degree of prestige. There was a period when even fundamentally totalitarian states – such as East Germany or Communist China – called themselves “democratic” countries. The term “undemocratic” or “anti-democratic” was perceived as something to be ashamed of, as opposed to the stamp of democracy, which became a sought-after commodity. Thus, there are many who seek to grasp this crown, regardless of whether it suits their reality or not.

  The world of Torah, too, seeks inclusion within the sphere of democracy. This is understandable not only from the practical, pragmatic view – the public relations perspective. Fundamentally speaking, democratic perception and thinking include values that are very close to our hearts.

But can we wholeheartedly claim that we are democratic in the broad, secular sense of the term? Are we really able to abide by total democracy, in which this value is supreme? I believe that the answer to this question is in the negative.

Expert compares Trump's politics to fascism

Jerry Falwell Jr.'s fatal miscalculation

 https://edition.cnn.com/2020/08/30/us/jerry-falwell-jr-downfall/index.html

 Fallwell Jr., whose tenure as president and chancellor of Liberty University crashed to an inglorious end this week, always seemed closer in spirit to his defiant, bootlegging grandfather than his Bible-thumping namesake.

 Each time, Falwell would insist he is not a moral leader. His job was to grow Liberty's endowment, campus and student body. 

 "I have never been a minister," he told one critic on Twitter, pointing to his background as a lawyer and real estate developer.

"The faculty, students and campus pastor ... are the ones who keep LU strong spiritually as the best Christian univ in the world," he added. "While I am proud to be a conservative Christian, my job is to keep LU successful academically, financially and in athletics."

 

The spotlight on Falwell Jr. intensified when he became one of the first prominent evangelicals to back Trump in early 2016, surprising fellow Christian conservatives.

During a Trump campaign visit to Liberty, Falwell glowingly compared the candidate to his late father due to their shared propensity for eschewing political correctness.

Republican Convention Hatch Act Crime Spree, Kellyanne Conway, Mike Pompeo & other Serial Offenders

Story Hour: Episode 2

Story Hour: Episode 3

Trump continues to break the polling

 https://edition.cnn.com/2020/08/30/politics/trump-polling-analysis/index.html

 The result of the 2016 outcome for this cycle is that the general public doesn't buy the polling showing Biden clearly ahead. They think Trump is going to win.