https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/biden-documents/
Comparisons between the two cases ran rampant. Among the alleged differences, according to some social media users, was that Biden, in his position as vice president, did not have the authority to declassify government documents, while Trump, as president, did.
"[Trump] as President had the unlimited power to declassify whereas VP Biden didn't," journalist Glenn Greenwald tweeted, for example.
“As we heard the president say before, the president has the authority to declassify documents. The question is whether or not the president actually declassified the documents. The vice president does not have the authority to declassify—”
But Comer was cut off by Tapper, who rightly said the vice president did hold the power to declassify documents. That was instated by a 2009 executive order signed by President Barack Obama, which included the vice president among those with “original classification authority.” Those with that designation, according to the order, could start the declassification process.
https://www.newsweek.com/petitions-george-santos-leave-congress-garner-over-130k-signatures-1773811
Petitions calling on Representative George Santos of New York to resign received more than 130,000 signatures by Saturday morning.
Santos, a first-term Republican Congressman representing parts of Long Island and Queens, has faced accusations of lying about his personal, professional and academic background while campaigning. His scandal has sparked the ire of Democrats and some Republicans, who have demanded he step down.
However, Santos has so far declined to resign. He said during an appearance on Steve Bannon's War Room podcast this week that he would only resign if 142,000 people asked him to do so—a reference to the more than 142,000 people who elected him in November.
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-64279349
More than 80,000 Israeli protesters have rallied in Tel Aviv against plans by the new right-wing coalition government to overhaul the judiciary.
The reforms would make it easier for parliament to overturn Supreme Court rulings, among other things.
Protesters described Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's proposed changes as an attack on democratic rule.
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-64267983
A few things make criminal charges unlikely, according to Mr Weinstein.
First, to bring charges a prosecutor would have to prove intent - that the files were knowingly removed and held by Mr Biden or his team. And second, he said, is the justice department's standing policy not to pursue charges against a sitting president.
"It's a bigger problem politically for Mr Biden than it is in terms of criminal charges," Mr Weinstein said.
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-64004329
As Canada prepares to expand its euthanasia law to include those with mental illness, some Canadians - including many of the country's doctors - question whether the country's assisted death programme has already moved too far, too fast.
"Making death too ready a solution disadvantages the most vulnerable people, and actually lets society off the hook," Dr Li said. "I don't think death should be society's solution for its own failures."
https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/biden-documents/
the claim that federal law does not give vice presidents the power to declassify government documents, and reserves that authority for presidents, is false.
Under a 2009 Obama-era executive order titled "Classified National Security Information" the vice president does have the power to declassify documents while they're in office. The order states: "The authority to classify information originally may be exercised only by: (1) the President and the Vice President [...]," as well as "agency heads and officials designated by the President."
https://www.politico.com/news/2023/01/12/special-counsel-biden-classified-documents-00077734
Attorney General Merrick Garland announced on Thursday that he was appointing a special counsel, former U.S. attorney Robert Hur, to review the storage of sensitive documents discovered in spaces used by President Joe Biden during the years preceding his return to the White House.
“The extraordinary circumstances here require the appointment of a special counsel for this matter,” Garland said during a news conference at the Justice Department. “This appointment underscores for the public the department’s commitment to both independence and accountability in particularly sensitive matters, and to making decisions indisputably guided only by the facts and the law.”
The Legacy of Rabbi Feivel Cohen vis-à-vis the Agunah Problem – Part 2
As I wrote in my previous article at <http://daattorah.blogspot.
A recent audio recording (dated Oct. 26, 2018) demonstrates that my opinion is shared by R. J. David Bleich. Actually, Rabbi Bleich already contested Rabbi Willig’s prenup back in 1996 in his Be-Netivot ha-Halakhah Vol. 1 (which is elaborated in Section A of my prenup essay at <http://www.scribd.com/doc/
I also received supportive e-mail feedback (on Jan. 2, 2023) from Yechezkel Hirshman (a marriage counsellor and to‘en-in-training who has published an in-depth critique of many different prenups – including my own – at <https://achaslmaala.
“As per the situation with HRHG Rav Feivel Cohen ZTL, I agree with you that expressing agreement to a specific Halachic construct is not to be construed as an agreement on a compound Halachic innovation. I also agree with your distinction between a shtar chatzi zachar and a get. I think it is pretentious for anybody to claim a deceased gadol as a "closet supporter" of a very contentious issue.”
Accordingly, let us honour the legacy of Rabbi Cohen by politely praying that Ms. Epstein soon return with her true halakhic husband [Aharon Friedman] to Beth Din, and let us likewise politely encourage all couples that have signed Rabbi Willig’s prenup to sign a release form from that prenup [even if the latter concept contradicts Rabbi Cohen’s closet support]. Ultimately, as underscored by R. Joseph Ber Soloveitchik’s 1975 lecture recorded at <https://www.yutorah.org/
Rabbi Spira works as the Editor of Manuscripts and Grants at the Lady Davis Institute for Medical Research [a Pavillion of the Jewish General Hospital] in Montreal, Canada.
https://thehill.com/homenews/house/3809596-pressure-mounts-on-house-gop-to-punish-santos/
Tom Doherty, who served as an aide to former New York Gov. George Pataki (R), also said Santos shouldn’t be given any committee assignments. He did, however, acknowledge the difficult position McCarthy is in.
“At the same point, you got to stand up to somebody and say, ‘Look, this is a man of very low character, he lied, and I really don’t want him around me,’ ” Doherty added.
“But this was a whole litany of stuff. I mean, he made up an entire life, basically. You don’t get away with that. You certainly don’t, and you certainly don’t get away with that in a competitive district. He’s not getting away with this. No, not at all. This isn’t going away anytime soon.”
On Wednesday, about a half-dozen members of the Nassau County Republican Party publicly called on Santos to resign weeks after revelations the 34-year-old Congressman embellished almost every facet of his biography, including his academic background, his professional resume, and even claims his grandparents were survivors of the Holocaust.
"He deceived the voters of the Third Congressional District, he deceived the members of the Nassau County Republican Committee, elected officials, his colleagues, candidates, his opponents, and even some of the media," Nassau County Republican chairman Joseph Cairo said in a Wednesday press conference urging Santos to step down.
Biden and Trump’s classified documents involve two entirely different scenarios.
The documents discovered in Biden’s office had never been sought or requested by the National Archives or any other governmental entity; this was not true of the Mar-a-Lago documents. Trump attorney Christina Bobb signed an affidavit asserting, among other things, that “any and all responsive documents accompany this certification.”
