Vigilante behaviour?

Mishlei (26:17) מַחֲזִ֥יק בְּאׇזְנֵי־כָ֑לֶב עֹבֵ֥ר מִ֝תְעַבֵּ֗ר עַל־רִ֥יב לֹּא־לֽוֹ׃  

 A passerby who gets embroiled in someone else’s quarrel
Is like one who seizes a dog by its ears.

Fox News to interview Kyle Rittenhouse amid protests over not guilty verdict

 https://www.theguardian.com/media/2021/nov/20/fox-news-tucker-carlson-interview-kyle-rittenhouse

 Mark Richards, an attorney for Rittenhouse, told CNN’s Chris Cuomo that a Fox film crew was embedded with the defense team for the duration of the trial, which Richards did not approve of. “I threw them out of the room several times,” Richards said. “I don’t think a film crew is appropriate for something like this.”

In the aftermath of the Rittenhouse verdict and the success of his self-defense argument, some experts have raised concerns that Rittenhouse’s verdict will empower extremist movements and provoke violence in the name of vigilantism.

“It has never taken more than a whisper of approval to fan the flames of militant right action, and the Kenosha acquittal is a shout,” wrote Kathleen Belew, a historian who studies the white power movement, on Twitter.

Jeri Bonavia, executive director of the Wave Educational Fund, an organization in Wisconsin that aims to prevent gun violence, told NBC News that the trial is “feeding this idea that individual citizens need to be out there, not as part of a functioning society, but as these rogue dispensers of justice”.

 

Here's what legal experts say helped acquit Kyle Rittenhouse

 https://edition.cnn.com/2021/11/19/us/legal-experts-what-helped-rittenhouse-acquittal/index.html

 Wisconsin law allows the use of deadly force only if "necessary to prevent imminent death or great bodily harm." And because Rittenhouse's attorneys claimed self-defense, state law meant the burden fell on prosecutors to disprove Rittenhouse was acting in self-defense beyond a reasonable doubt.

And it was an uphill battle to climb from the start, because of the facts in this case, experts said.

"(Prosecutors) weren't able to show that his response to each of these men, to each of these sets of threats was unreasonable," criminal defense attorney Sara Azari told CNN's Pamela Brown.

 

"The prosecution ... has to disprove self-defense beyond a reasonable doubt to all 12 jurors. How do you do that when you saw no real provocation going on?" Bianchi said. "There wasn't a real trial lawyer ... that didn't sit here and say this is an amazingly good self-defense case."

Kyle Rittenhouse's case was always going to be an uphill battle

 https://us.cnn.com/2021/11/20/opinions/kyle-rittenhouse-acquitted-rodgers/index.html

 Public sentiment after an episode that is viewed as unfair -- and there are plenty of people who are incensed that Rittenhouse went free because of a self-defense claim when he placed himself in the situation in the first place -- can spark change. For example, in Georgia, after the shooting of Ahmaud Arbery, the legislature repealed the citizen's arrest law that Arbery's alleged killer and his co-defendants are relying on for their defense (although the defendants in the Arbery killing are still able to assert it).

Steve Bannon tries to shield himself with 'podcaster privilege'

 https://edition.cnn.com/2021/11/18/opinions/steve-bannon-criminal-contempt-eisen-lydgate-perry/index.html

 Bannon's own words have been even more damaging than his lawyer's. When he surrendered himself to the FBI on Monday, Bannon brazenly outlined his intent, "I don't want anybody to take their eye off the ball...We're taking down the Biden regime." 

 

Third, Bannon can't hide behind his lawyer any more than he can hide behind Trump. Schoen claims that Bannon was merely acting on the advice of his lawyer, who told him to honor Trump's privilege invocation. But the majority of federal courts hold that reliance on a lawyer's advice isn't a defense to criminal contempt. The Godfather's Vito Corleone didn't get to break the law with impunity because Tom Hagen told him it was OK.

The Conversion Psak: Some Comments and One Observation

 https://cross-currents.com/2008/05/16/the-conversion-psak-some-comments-and-one-observation/

If and when the dust settles, one consequence will remain. The status of every convert over the last decades is potentially in jeopardy. No one can change this – not after the passing of Rav Moshe zt”l and Rav Shlomo Zalman Auerbach zt”l, when we lost the last figures whose piskei halacha would be accepted by all parts of the Torah world. Today, what one authority says will be rejected by another. This is what makes gerus different from a psak in hilchos muktzah or giving a hechsher on a restaurant. If someone disagrees with the muktzah psak or finds the resturant’s standards wanting, he doesn’t have to move the object or patronize the eatery. If the decision is objectionable, the consequences are mostly local and circumscribed. Gerus is different. Its effects are felt for all time, and in a plethora of applications. It doesn’t matter if objections are valid or not. If there is room to question a gerus, it will be questioned, and there is no objective way to quiet the questioners. Some – many – people will treat the conversion with suspicion. 

 The only way to safeguard against this is to operate conversion courts according to standards acceptable to all. Many will strain against this. It is not fair, they say, to limit the discretion of the rav who follows some different standard. Perhaps. But it is less fair and exceedingly cruel to imply to a conversion candidate that his/her gerus is in order, knowing that many people will question it. It is foolish and naïve to think that a court employing the standard of some daas yachid will somehow “get away with it” unnoticed.

New details on spy in Defense Minister's house

https://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/317190 

 Kan 11 reported that the cleaner and his wife worked at the Gantz residence twice a week on average. He and his wife managed their own cleaning company and Gantz paid them directly. Gantz's office stated that all payments to the cleaner were done legally and that all receipts were kept.

 The Shin Bet admitted on Thursday that there had been security failures and that the backgrounds of those who work in close proximity to senior officials would be re-examined. The current investigation has revealed that Goren has a lengthy criminal record, including five convictions and 14 police cases between 2002-2013, including two bank robberies, burglary, theft and more. He was sentenced to prison four times, and most recently served four years behind bars for robbery.

The Censure of Paul Gosar Matters

 https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2021/11/paul-gosar-censure-aoc-anime.html

 Gosar faced no immediate punishment for that, nor for speaking at the white nationalist conference in February. In April, he was linked with an effort to start an America First Caucus in the House that, according to a draft memo, sought to defend “a common respect for uniquely Anglo-Saxon political traditions” and, among other things, call for an infrastructure that “befits the progeny of European architecture.” While his colleague in that since-abandoned effort to start the caucus, Greene, had already been punished by a House vote to strip her of her committee assignments for her history of conspiracy theories and threatening statements, Gosar just kept sliding. He maintained his standing on the Natural Resources Committee, a valuable resume item for any member from Arizona.

Rabbi Shmuel Eliyahu removed all of Chaim Walder's books from his home

 https://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/317158

 Rabbi Shmuel Eliyahu, Chief Rabbi of the northern city of Tzfat and member of the Chief Rabbinate Council, on Wednesday said that he had removed all of Chaim Walder's books from his home - and called on others to do the same.

Walder, a haredi author and publicist, was recently accused of raping several women when they were teens. In response, a Brooklyn bookstore removed his books from their shelves and Israeli haredi media outlets suspended him. On Thursday morning it was announced that Walder has decided to take a break from public duties.

When asked many times what those who had purchased Walder's books should do with them. Rabbi Eliyahu said that there is no doubt of "a very heavy cloud of suspicion of rape."

 

Minutes After Being Censured, Gosar Retweets Offending Ocasio-Cortez Video

 https://www.newsweek.com/minutes-after-being-censured-rep-gosar-retweets-offending-aoc-video-1650542

Representative Paul Gosar (R-Ariz.) retweeted a doctored anime video depicting him killing Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) only minutes after the House censured him over the video.

Cleaner at Gantz's home attempted to contact Iran-linked hackers, officials say

 https://www.ynetnews.com/article/sypbenxoy

In its announcement, the Shin Bet said that while the suspect posed a potential danger to national security, he "was not exposed to classified material and subsequently none was passed on from him to the elements with whom he made contact".

He has a rich criminal record that includes five convictions and 14 charges between 2002-2013, including two bank robberies, burglary, theft and more. He also was sentenced to four prison terms, the last of which for robbery, was for four years.

Defense Minister's cleaner charged with spying for Iran

 https://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/317166

A cleaner who worked in the home of Defense Minister Benny Gantz has been arrested on suspicion of attempting to spy for Iran.

In the course of his interrogation, it emerged that the cleaner, one Omri Goren, used social media networks to reach out to an official associated with the Iranian regime, offering to assist him in various ways and explaining that he was able to do so due to his access to Defense Minister Gantz. Among the suggestions Goren made to his Iranian contact was that he could be provided with malware that he would introduce into Gantz’s personal computer.

“This plan was thwarted due to the swift arrest of Goren which prevented him from actualizing his plans,” the Shabak said in a statement. “During Goren’s interrogation, it also emerged that in order to prove his ability to do what he suggested and his serious intent, he photographed various items in various locations in the home of the Minister, which he sent to the aforementioned agent, including photographs of the Minister’s computers.” 

Cleaner at Gantz's house attempted to provide info to Black Shadow

 https://www.jpost.com/breaking-news/cleaner-at-gantzs-house-attempted-to-spy-for-iran-report-685347

A cleaning worker for Benny Gantz who allegedly contacted the hacker group Black Shadow and offered to them to spy on the Defense Minister had an indictment filed against him with the Lod District Court by the Central District Attorney's Office on Thursday.

The attempt was thwarted by the Shin Bet. Goren was not exposed to classified material due to information security protocols and equipment installed in Gantz's home, the Shin Bet said

The man, a 37-year-old named Oren Goren Gorochovsky from Lod, and his partner have been employed as domestic workers for a few years. He has a criminal record, including 14 arrests, five convictions and four separate stints in jail.  

No, the mRNA Vaccines Do Not Contain Graphene Oxide

 https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/graphene-oxide-mrna-vaccines/

 On July 28, 2021, internet personality Stew Peters landed what he described as an “exclusive” scoop: a video interview with what he billed as Pfizer insider Karen Kingston who, Peters claimed, produced “indisputable documentation” that proves mRNA COVID-19 vaccines (Pfizer and Moderna) contain a “poison” known as graphene oxide.

The video went viral, despite the fact that Kingston produced no such documentation, and despite the reality that her tenure at Pfizer, according to her LinkedIn profile, involved marketing cardiovascular therapies to healthcare providers in Manhattan from 1996 to 1998 — well over a decade before pharmaceutical companies had any interest in mRNA vaccines.