Saturday, June 17, 2023

Berlin rabbi fired amid mounting allegations he preyed on young women

 https://www.jpost.com/diaspora/article-746543

In Orthodox communities, “we are trained from an early age to do what the rabbi says,” Aaronson said. A predator’s “first step is an overstepping of boundaries, involving themselves in aspects of the person’s life that do not fall into the rabbi’s role: ‘Let me guide you and advise you on this, that and the other thing not related to their spiritual observance.”

Trump’s legal defenses draw derision — even from some conservatives

 https://thehill.com/homenews/campaign/4054253-newsoms-media-blitz-fuels-presidential-talk/

“It seems clear to everyone — besides Trump’s lawyers, diehard supporters and those who have never read the act — that the Presidential Records Act does not allow what Trump did,” said Mark Zaid, an attorney who regularly handles national security issues and has represented clients across the political spectrum.

Friday, June 16, 2023

Thursday, June 15, 2023

Senior Reform rabbi warns of 'devastating' rift because of anti-Israel sentiment

 https://www.israelhayom.com/2023/06/06/senior-reform-rabbi-warns-of-devastating-rift-because-of-anti-israel-sentiment/

Rabbi Ammiel Hirsch, the senior rabbi of Stephen Wise Free Synagogue in New York City, delivered the keynote address at the Re-CHARGING Reform Judaism Conference in late May. The conference convened "thought leaders, Jewish scholars, philanthropists, and committed lay leaders from throughout the US and Canada for an extraordinary opportunity to assess this crossroads moment and offer a call for a bright future." In part, this was designed to address "the growing distance between North American liberal Jews and Israel, and their fraying connection with the concept of Jewish peoplehood."

Fox News stirs outrage after labeling Biden a ‘wannabe dictator.’ The network says it ‘addressed’ the situation

 https://edition.cnn.com/2023/06/14/media/fox-chyron-trump-biden/index.html

“WANNABE DICTATOR SPEAKS AT THE WHITE HOUSE AFTER HAVING HIS POLITICAL RIVAL ARRESTED,” the onscreen text read.

The chyron, which aired during the 8 p.m. hour hosted by Brian Kilmeade, was shockingly dishonest, even by the standard set by Tucker Carlson, who occupied the prime-time slot before his abrupt firing in April.

Biden and his White House have repeatedly stressed that he does not involve himself in Justice Department investigations and have said that the DOJ works independently of the White House’s influence.

Fox Cuts Away From WH Press Briefing After ‘Dictator’ Chyron Mentioned

 https://www.thedailybeast.com/fox-cuts-away-from-wh-press-briefing-after-dictator-chyron-mentioned?ref=home

During its midday show, America Reports, the channel went live to the White House where Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre was taking questions, one of which was if the White House would like to comment on the blatantly partisan chyron.

“There are probably about 787 million things that I can say about this,” Jean-Pierre said, referring to Fox having to pay Dominion Voting Systems $787.5 million in a settlement after the voting machine company sued the right-wing network for defamation.

“That was wrong, what we saw last night, but I don’t think I’m going to get into it,” Jean-Pierre said as her audio levels were lowered in the Fox broadcast.

Why is Adam being prohibited to marry his daughter called chesed?

 Sanhedrin (58b) If God had not specially permitted Cain to marry his sister, she would have been forbidden to him. This is difficult according to the opinion of Rabbi Akiva, who deems it permitted for a gentile to marry his sister. The Gemara rejects this proof: Once it was permitted for Cain to marry his sister, it was permitted for all descendants of Noah to do so, and it was forbidden only to Jews. Rav Huna says: A gentile is permitted to marry his daughter. And if you say, for what reason did Adam not marry his daughter? It was so that Cain would marry his sister, because it is stated: “The world shall be built on kindness.” And there are those who say that Rav Huna did not say this; rather, Rav Huna says: A gentile is prohibited from marrying his daughter. Know that this is the halakha, as Adam did not marry his daughter. The Gemara rejects this statement: But that is not so, as there, this is the reason Adam did not marry his daughter: So that Cain would marry his sister, because it is stated: “The world shall be built on kindness.” §


Trump ‘winced’ at ‘Happy Birthday’ serenade because he hates calling attention to turning 77

 https://nypost.com/2023/06/14/real-reason-trump-winced-at-happy-birthday-serenade/

“Insiders say he feels even more so this year as he doesn’t want to call attention to the fact he’s turning 77,” said the source, noting how the aging presidential candidate “winced” at the tribute.


Tucker Carlson Says Trump Indicted Because He Opposes 'Neocon War Agenda'

 https://www.newsweek.com/tucker-carlson-says-trump-indicted-because-he-opposes-neocon-war-agenda-1806452

Carlson denounced former Trump allies including former Vice President Mike Pence, ex-Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, former Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley, and Senator Lindsey Graham for "slobbering over" the ex-president "as if they were addressing a monarch or a god" before turning on him.

"They all called Trump a visionary genius up until the moment he lost power," said Carlson. "And then they unsheathed their real agenda—as always, the neocon war agenda. And they piled on with maximum force."

Carlson reserved his harshest criticism for Pompeo, denouncing him for undermining "Trump's often stated commitment to peace and non-intervention abroad" after playing a clip of the former secretary of state saying that it was "wrong" for Trump to retain sensitive documents during a Fox News appearance earlier in the day.

Tucker Carlson: Trump’s sins ‘are minor compared to those of his persecutors’

 https://thehill.com/homenews/4048613-tucker-carlson-trumps-sins-are-minor-compared-to-those-of-his-persecutors/

“Whatever else you say about him, Trump is the one guy with an actual shot at becoming president who descends from Washington’s long standing pointless war agenda,” he said. “And for that one fact, they are trying to take Trump out before you can vote for him. And that should upset you more than anything that’s happened in American politics in your lifetime.”

“In this life, we don’t get to choose our martyrs,” Carlson concluded his latest video. “We can only choose our principles. And America’s are at stake.”


Trump’s Distortions of Federal Indictment

 https://www.factcheck.org/2023/06/trumps-distortions-of-federal-indictment/

Trump and Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham have misleadingly objected to Trump being charged under the Espionage Act, saying he wasn’t a “spy.” He was charged under a section of the act concerning willful retention of national defense documents.

Trump’s main 2024 election goal is now to save himself

 https://edition.cnn.com/2023/06/14/politics/donald-trump-indictment-2024-campaign/index.html

As his court battles grind on, his biggest aim appears to be recapturing the presidential authority that might give him the power to make his potential criminal liability – and even the threat of jail time, if convicted – go away.

HITLER COMES TO POWER

 https://encyclopedia.ushmm.org/content/en/article/hitler-comes-to-power

Adolf Hitler and the Nazis won followers by promising to create a strong Germany. The Nazis promised to

fix the economy and put people back to work; 

return Germany to the status of a great European, and even world, power;

regain territory Germany had lost in World War I;

create a strong authoritarian German government; 

and unite all Germans along racial and ethnic lines.   

The Nazis played on people’s hopes, fears, and prejudices. They also offered scapegoats. They falsely claimed that Jews and Communists were to blame for Germany’s problems. This claim was part of the Nazis’ antisemitic and racist ideology.