Marco Rubio Fires Warning to Biden Over Trump Mar-a-Lago Raid

 https://www.newsweek.com/marco-rubio-trump-fbi-raid-biden-florida-1732005

The FBI conducted the raid and searched for documents at Mar-a-Lago as part of an ongoing investigation into Trump's potentially unlawful removal and destruction of White House records after he left office in January 2021.

Trump said the search at his home amounted to "prosecutorial misconduct," that "such an assault could only take place in broken, Third-World Countries" and the U.S. is now "corrupt at a level not seen before."

FBI executes search warrant at Trump's Mar-a-Lago in document investigation

 https://edition.cnn.com/2022/08/08/politics/mar-a-lago-search-warrant-fbi-donald-trump/index.html

Trump's son, Eric, told Fox host Sean Hannity that "the purpose of the raid, from what they said, was because the National Archives wanted to, you know, corroborate whether or not Donald Trump had any documents in his possession."

Can Trump Can Be Indicted In 2022? Yes, History Shows How

Classified Documents At Heart Of FBI Search Of Trump's Mar-a-Lago

Trump says Mar-a-Lago home in Florida 'under siege' by FBI agents

 https://www.foxnews.com/politics/trump-says-mar-a-lago-home-florida-siege-fbi-agents

Multiple sources tell Fox News the FBI's raid of Mar-a-Lago is related to the materials Trump allegedly brought to his private residence after his presidency concluded. That matter was referred to the Justice Department by the National Archives and Records Administration, which said it found classified material in 15 boxes at the residence.

Trump House Raid Rocks MAGA World: 'Smash the FBl Into a Million Pieces'

 https://www.newsweek.com/trump-house-raid-rocks-maga-world-smash-fbl-million-pieces-1731977

The raid comes after months of pressure on Garland to prosecute Trump for his actions regarding the attempt to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election. But the reason for the raid may be for a lower-profile issue.

The National Archives and Records Administration earlier this year requested assistance from the FBI in recovering boxes of classified documents that Trump allegedly took to his resort in violation of the Presidential Records Act, according to a report from The Washington Post.

Conspiracy Theories and the Problem of Disappearing Knowledge | Quassim Cassam | TEDxWarwic

Suspicious binds: Conspiracy thinking and tenuous perceptions of causal connections between co‐occurring and spuriously correlated events

 https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6282862/

Previous research indicates that conspiracy thinking is informed by the psychological imposition of order and meaning on the environment, including the perception of causal relations between random events. Four studies indicate that conspiracy belief is driven by readiness to draw implausible causal connections even when events are not random, but instead conform to an objective pattern. Study 1 (N = 195) showed that conspiracy belief was related to the causal interpretation of real‐life, spurious correlations (e.g., between chocolate consumption and Nobel prizes). In Study 2 (N = 216), this effect held adjusting for correlates including magical and non‐analytical thinking. Study 3 (N = 214) showed that preference for conspiracy explanations was associated with the perception that a focal event (e.g., the death of a journalist) was causally connected to similar, recent events. Study 4 (N = 211) showed that conspiracy explanations for human tragedies were favored when they comprised part of a cluster of similar events (vs. occurring in isolation); crucially, they were independently increased by a manipulation of causal perception. We discuss the implications of these findings for previous, mixed findings in the literature and for the relation between conspiracy thinking and other cognitive processes.

Litzman gets minor fine, no jail for shielding alleged pedophile Leifer from justice

 https://www.timesofisrael.com/litzman-gets-minor-fine-no-jail-for-shielding-alleged-pedophile-leifer-from-justice/

A Jerusalem court handed down an extremely light sentence to former minister Yaakov Litzman on Monday, as part of a plea deal that allowed him to avoid jail time. In exchange, Litzman admitted to abusing his powers in a failed bid to thwart the extradition of a suspected pedophile wanted in Australia.

Under the deal, the former United Torah Judaism party leader pleaded guilty to breach of trust, but prosecutors dropped an obstruction of justice charge, allowing him to avoid a moral turpitude enhancement that would have banned him from politics for several years.

The ex-health minister was accused of using his position to protect Malka Leifer, a former principal of an Orthodox girls’ school in Melbourne, who fled to Israel when accused of sexually assaulting minors.

AR-15s to Be Stored in County Schools to Protect Against Mass Shootings

 https://www.newsweek.com/ar-15s-stored-county-schools-protect-against-mass-shootings-1731535

"What problem are these North Carolina sheriffs solving?" Watts wrote. "The hundreds of officers in Uvalde had access to AR-15s but chose not to engage a gunman with an assault rifle and a death wish. 'MORE GUNS' is not a solution - keeping guns away from kids/teens is."

Amnesty International Assessment That Ukraine ‘Put Civilians in Harm’s Way’ Stirs Outrage

 https://www.nytimes.com/2022/08/07/world/europe/amnesty-international-ukraine-russia-war-crimes.html

President Volodymyr Zelensky of Ukraine accused the organization of trying to “amnesty the terrorist state and shift the responsibility from the aggressor to the victim.”

Israeli messaging on deadly Jabaliya explosion makes inroads on international media

 https://www.timesofisrael.com/israeli-messaging-on-deadly-jabaliya-explosion-makes-inroads-on-international-media/

Israeli officials have been working hard since Saturday evening to convey the truth that an explosion in the Gaza Strip that killed multiple people, including several children, was the work of a failed rocket launch by Palestinian terrorists rather than an IDF strike.

When it comes to global media coverage of the incident, the effort appears to have paid off.

Initial reports from Gaza claimed an Israeli strike in the Jabaliya refugee camp in northern Gaza had killed seven civilians, including four children. Photos circulating on social media showed seven body bags. But the IDF stated unequivocally on Saturday and again on Sunday that it had not struck anywhere in the area at the time of the blast, and that it had video and radar proof that the explosion was caused by a rocket misfired by Palestinian terror operatives.

Alex Jones ordered to pay $49.3M total over Sandy Hook lies

 https://www.politico.com/news/2022/08/05/alex-jones-sandy-hook-damages-00050186

Punitive damages are meant to punish defendants for particularly egregious conduct, beyond monetary compensation awarded to the individuals they hurt. A high punitive award is also seen as a chance for jurors to send a wider societal message and a way to deter others from the same abhorrent conduct in the future.

Spiritual abuse - is religion inherently abusive?

https://mishpacha.com/shattered/

As a community rav, this dynamic is one that Rabbi Ron Yitzchok Eisenman of Passaic is all too familiar with. He sees this abuse play out in both parenting and marriage relationships. “It has nothing to do with Hashem,” he says firmly. “These abusers hide behind Hashem, to dominate people, to abuse people — all in the name of G-d.”

And while the abusers may cite halachah and maamarei Chazal, their actions are not rooted in any form of holiness. “You have parents who are abusive to their kids, so they jump on the kibbud av v’eim bandwagon,” Rabbi Eisenman says. “But their actions have nothing to do with halachah and everything to do with their world view and what they think is right, regardless of halachah.”