Thursday, January 7, 2021
Graham calls Biden 'lawfully' elected, says 'enough is enough' following breach of Capitol
https://www.foxnews.com/politics/lindsey-graham-calls-biden-lawfully-elected-enough-is-enough
Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., called President-elect Joe Biden "lawfully" elected and urged his Senate colleagues "Enough is enough" regarding election fraud allegations.
Graham, at times, has been a critic of President Trump but he has often been a close ally during his presidency.
The senator's remarks came as the Senate voted on certifying the Electoral College votes hours after a group of Trump supporters breached the Capitol, forcing an evacuation.
He said while he supported his colleagues' right to object to the election results, he wouldn’t support it and felt it is a "uniquely bad idea to delay this election."
Trump has been a "consequential" president, Graham said he believes, "but today…count me out. Enough is enough."
James Mattis denounces Trump, says he will be 'left a man without a country'
https://www.foxnews.com/politics/james-mattis-statement-trump-capitol-protests
Former Defense Secretary James Mattis rebuked President Trump on Wednesday, accusing him of fomenting violence at the U.S. Capitol and poisoning Americans' respect for fellow citizens.
Trump’s legacy ‘in tatters’ after supporters riot at Capitol
https://www.foxnews.com/media/jonathan-turley-trump-legacy-in-tatters-capitol-riot
President Trump left his legacy "in tatters" Wednesday after his supporters rampaged through the U.S. Capitol and disrupted Congress' formal tallying of the Electoral College votes, Fox News contributor Jonathan Turley said.
Wednesday, January 6, 2021
Parents listening to the singing of their young daughters
Igros Moshe (O.C. 01:026):Listening to a young girl singing. This that you write that it is impossible to protest that parents should not come to listen to their children singing without causing great controversy, therefore you want to know my view regarding what the halacha regarding listening to children singing? Beis Shmuel( E.H. 21.4) explicitly states that the voice of an unmarried woman is permitted except during prayer and the Magen Avraham (E.H. 75.6) states that only the singing of a married woman is always prohibited. This that an unmarried female is permitted is only if she is not a nida. This is stated by the Pre Magadim and it seems that nida is viewed as erva. The Be’er Heitiv (E.H. 21.4) cites the Be’er Sheva saying that unmarried females or a widow is prohibited and only the voice of a man’s wife is permitted except during prayer. That seems to mean that even an unmarried female who is not a nida and thus disagrees with the Beis Shmuel. Thus the halacha is in accord with the greater number of those that permit and furthermore the Be’er Heitiv does not note that the Be’er Sheva disagrees which indicates he has no concern that that view is halacha.In addition the Mishna Bereura (75.17) also permits an unmarried female who is not a nida when it is not during Shema. What needs to be a point of concern is that which the Mishna Berura writes that the singing of an unmarried girl is permitted as long as there is no intent for pleasure so that it doesn’t lead to lustful thoughts. So possibly there are some who come with the intent to listen and have lustful thoughts which is prohibited. But it seems that the Misha Berura means someone who listens for lustful rasons.and we can assume here also that people are not coming to listen for lustful reasons and we don’t need to be concerned that lustful thoughts will be produced by listening to girls singing. Thus the prohibition only applies to females that are prohibited to him inherently to get any pleasure from them which excludes unmarried girls who are not nida. So even if there is concern that listening will result in lustful thoughts, this is relevant only for older girls who might become nida and not young girls. In addition there is normally no lust for sex with children and consequently looking or listening to children does not produce lustful thoughts even when done for the sake of pleasure. This is true even for girls older than 9 years. In conclusion you asked for the actual halacha and that is that it is permissible for girls singing as long as they are not more than 11 ears old. More than 11, even if it is known that they are not nida and according to the straight halacha it is possible to be lenient as I have explained, nevertheless you should be strict since it is possible for some to be nida, If there is no pressing need you should always prohibit because in these matters all who take the strict view are called holy.
NJ LGBT bills scheduled for MONDAY
(Thu, Dec 31, 2020)
° 10Teves Alert: Making LGBT Exploitation Legal [Again]
http://daattorah.blogspot.com/
(Fri, Dec 25, '20)
° S2545: https://www.njleg.state.nj.us/
° Educational Indoctrination:
A4454 2R
https://www.njleg.state.nj.us/
° https://
° Also: https://www.
Advice to Rav Reuven Feinstein
Igros Moshe (Y.D. 03:96.9): You will soon reach the age of 20 which is also the age for being liable to punishment also at the hand of heaven and you are asking how you should conduct yourself during your lifetime? Obviously the primary thing is being engaged in Torah study as Rashi notes in Bechukosi if a person doesn’t learn it is possible to make mistakes and our Sages state that the mistakes of a talmid chachom are considered intentional because he should know better by learning everything to know the truth and then G-d will help that you grow in Torah and come to know everything clearly which will also lead to deed. As they say “Great is study since it brings about deed.” Thus your entire purpose in the world should be that all your life should be devoted to Torah and then I am sure that G-d will help you and also send you a generous livelihood and bountiful blessing because they are only gifts from G-d as our Sages(Kiddushin 82b) note that poverty or riches are not the result of a specific job but everything is from Heaven according to our merit. G-d forbid that you accept this through an oath or promises which is prohibited but rather you need to be determined in your thoughts and mind and do it. You also need to work on having good personality traits especially to distance yourself from anger. Because pride and anger are things needed to be avoided to an extreme degree. And when a person wants to do this in a determined manner then G-d will help you but G-d forbid that this should be done by promises and oaths as we mentioned before. You also need to be careful in honoring your mother. This is typically very difficult for people since they are habituated from their childhood, therefore you have to be very careful because even if she is forgiving G-d forbid to rely on that. And this that you ask about the need to fast for various reasons? It is not appropriate for you and others who are engaged in Torah study because G-d forbid it can cause bitul Torah (time loss from Torah study) even if not in quantity - in quality. Our Sages (Taanis 11a) say a person who regular fasts is a sinner. So instead of afflicting yourself you should increase your Torah study. My words should always be before you and G-d will always help you.
Tuesday, January 5, 2021
Pence faces pressure from Trump to thwart Electoral College vote
https://edition.cnn.com/2021/01/05/politics/mike-pence-donald-trump-electoral-college/index.html
Vice President Mike Pence's four years of faithful service to his boss, President Donald Trump, will culminate this week in a ceremonial act he's under increasing pressure to thwart.
Yichud of brother and sister
Igros Moshe (E.H. 04:064.3): Yichud of brother and sister The gemora )Kiddushin 81b) says that a person can have yichud with his sister and live with his mother and daughter. Rashi explains he is allowed to have yichud with his sister occasionally but not live together with her constantly in a house. So what does occasionally mean? It is makes no sense to say to say it is once in 30 days we say for the beracha on seeing the ocean because the gemora only describes the time for berachos. Look at the brief rulings of the Rosh who says a person can live temporarily with his sister and permanently with his mother. In other words it needs to be clear that he comes to her house only occasionally as a guest and is ready to leave every day and not as one who comes to stay a fixed short time. Thus it is not the actual amount of time but rather that it transient and temporary. So even if he ends up staying for a year or two or more and then leaves it is not consider permanent. Consequently it needs to be clearly seen that he came to her house as a guest and not to live permanently which is prohibited even for a single night. As a guest he can sleep overnight even several nights. The same applies for his sister visiting him. Thus it is not a fixed time but the normal behavior of guests in that community. If there is any doubt it is forbidden and not like rabbinic doubts for which we are lenient. Regarding a brother and sister who are still living with their father and likely are very habituated and live closely together which was true even in Talmudic times and yet there were no concerns for yichud
Yichud between Father and adopted children?
Igros Moshe (E.H. 04:064.2): Yichud between Father and adopted children? It is a great mitzva for a person to raise an orphan. Also many people who didn’t have children adopt children and raise them and don’t inform the children that they are adopted until they grow up. Some don’t want to ever reveal this. But that is prohibited since it might result that they marry relatives that are prohibited to them. It is also prohibited to conceal from them the names of their biological parents unless the intent is merely to wait until they grow up. At some point it is required that they be informed not only the names of the father and mother but where she is. However in most cases this information is not known by the adoptive parents since the adoption was done through an agency which cannot be believed whether the mother was Jewish. Therefore we need to assume the child is not Jewish and there needs to be a conversion because of the doubt. Nevertheless when this is done properly we still have to be concerned about yichud even though this is often ignored until the age the adopted daughter reaches the age of 8 or 9 since she is being treated all these years as if she is the biological daughter. Yichud is a bigger problem then showing her affection by hugging and kissing which are not done from lust and are not prohibited (Shach Y.D. 157.10). It is possible to say there is not a problem of yichud for short periods of time because he is afraid his wife will find out. Therefore if his wife dies he needs to be careful not to have yichud with his daughter or his adopted daughter
Don't act surprised: Donald Trump was never going to accept the election results if he lost
Though the media took his denial of election reality as a shock, President Donald Trump was never going to accept the results of this year's election unless he was declared the winner. He said so himself years ago.
This is the elephant in the room, the undeniable fact that demolishes his credibility when he says he was actually reelected — and, incidentally, the reason why both he and the people backing his unprecedented post-election temper tantrum will be remembered by history as forever losers. Indeed, long before the 2020 election, Trump's go-to response to even the possibility of losing any election has been to accuse the other side of cheating.
At this point the president and his legal team have resorted to gish galloping, or attempting to win an argument by overwhelming an opponent with an excessive number of spurious claims — that all of these Republican and/or pro-Trump judges and officials are part of a giant conspiracy to steal the election from him, that large numbers of dead people voted, that Dominion voting machines changed results, and so on — in the hope that they will not be able to keep track of and thereby comprehensively debunk all of them. As my colleague Amanda Marcotte has written, there is evidence that many Trump supporters don't even sincerely believe that the election was stolen, but are making intentionally bad faith arguments out of a mixture of partisanship, wounded pride, a desire to delegitimize President-elect Joe Biden and the hope that they can perhaps help the president pull off a coup.
Trump's strategy: overturn result, cheat democracy
This week, Donald Trump will undermine democracy in the US by supporting the claim that Democrat Joe Biden did not fairly win last November’s presidential election. A peaceful handover of power in a democracy requires losing candidates and their followers to admit defeat. But Mr Trump has manufactured a controversy purely to maintain power and to overturn a legitimate election.
US courts have repeatedly thrown out Mr Trump’s evidence-free cases. This has not stopped the president’s accomplices in Congress. They, backed by Mr Trump’s vice-president, on Wednesday plan to challenge Mr Biden’s win to force a debate and votes in Congress. Some scholars point to a historical precedent as offering a slim, perhaps vanishing, chance that the nightmare will continue. Mr Trump will not let an opportunity pass to relitigate an election he lost.
For the good of America, he must fail. The alternative is ultimately the collapse of political norms and civil strife. A classic demagogue, Mr Trump is signalling to his supporters that they, like him, should refuse to respect the election’s outcome and reject Mr Biden’s presidency. There is a well-grounded fear that protests could erupt, some of them armed. Mr Trump might call out the national guard or send federal agents to deal with demonstrations. This chaos, Mr Trump no doubt hopes, will pave the way for an autocratic takeover.