Emunas Chochomim

 Just received a disturbing email from a lawyer. 

He claims that a godol asked him to do legal work and promised to pay him. There was no written contract

The godol refuses to respond to requests for payment.

This brings up the issue of whether you are allowed to question the trustworthiness of a godol?

This applies to many fields. 

A woman goes to a rav for marriage advice. He does inappropriate things in the name of Torah. Should she submit?

The same applies when a parent or rebbe molests a child

We had the case of Rabbi Greenblatt giving a heter based on claims said in the name of a godol - without checking whether they were true

Bottom line a godol should not be given leniencies such as an oral contract or allowed to do disgusting things in the name of Torah

Trump Pretends He Never Called for Hillary to Be Locked Up

 https://www.thedailybeast.com/trump-pretends-he-never-called-for-hillary-to-be-locked-up?ref=home?ref=home

Three months later, he told a North Carolina crowd that “for what she’s done, they should lock her up” and a Pennsylvania audience that “‘lock her up’ is right.”

He deployed the infamous phrase as recently as 2020. On the same January night the Justice Department closed its two-year probe into Clinton’s emails, Ohio fans chanted “lock her up” at a Trump rally. “You should lock her up, I’ll tell you,” he agreed.

“You should lock them up,” Trump added that October in Georgia. “Lock up the Bidens, lock up Hillary.”

"Trump derangement syndrome" is real — but it's not what they say it is

 https://www.salon.com/2023/12/10/trump-derangement-syndrome-is-real--but-its-not-what-they-say-it-is/

We can apply the diagnosis of TDS to the man-child himself or his followers, but not those of us over here in the reality-based community. If we react reflexively to Trump, it's because he lies reflexively, claiming that he's got good ideas and is the man for the job. He’s proven, time and again, that he’s not the man for any job. Now he increasingly speaks of himself in divine terms, which as many experts agree is terrifying, whether it represents genuine delusion or just another cunning maneuver to draw his cult members in even deeper.

Applied to those who see him for who he is, TDS was always a psychological projection. But it is real — and it's a clear and present danger.

5 takeaways from Jim Jordan’s NYC hearing into Alvin Bragg and crime

 https://thehill.com/homenews/state-watch/3955513-5-takeaways-from-jim-jordans-nyc-hearing-into-alvin-bragg-and-crime/

The centrality of the former president to the proceedings was obvious from the opening moments.

Jordan, in the process of making the broader argument that Bragg was too lenient on criminals, asserted that “the scales of justice are weighed down by politics” in Manhattan.

The GOP aimed to hit Bragg with a combination punch — arguing that the DA and his party are soft on crime, while also suggesting Bragg is wrongfully focused on Trump’s alleged wrongdoing for partisan reasons.

Trump ally complaints aside, crime is down in Manhattan

 Trump ally complaints aside, crime is down in Manhattan

 In a statement, Trump’s campaign claimed that “[r]ather than stopping the unprecedented crime wave taking over New York City, [Bragg] is doing Joe Biden’s dirty work.” Again: Crime in New York is not “unprecedented” and is, in fact, on the decline.

‘Now he’s seen as a symbol’: Republicans rally around Trump

 https://www.politico.com/news/2024/06/01/republicans-rally-around-trump-while-dems-chant-lock-him-up-00161154

House Speaker Mike Johnson intensified his defense of Donald Trump before headlining a party fundraiser in Illinois on Saturday, as even this deep blue state’s Republicans seized on a Manhattan jury’s guilty verdict as a rallying cry for the former president.

Johnson, who like many one-time critics of Trump has long since come to his defense — and who said immediately after the verdict in Trump’s hush money case that the Supreme Court should “step in” — told reporters here Saturday that if he was Trump’s attorney, “I think I would make an appeal to the Supreme Court.”

How a Mysterious Tip Led to Trump Conviction

 https://www.wsj.com/politics/policy/trump-hush-money-stormy-daniels-707fa959?mod=hp_lead_pos7

When The Wall Street Journal uncovered an illicit payment to porn star Stormy Daniels, the now-former president tried to brush it aside. It didn’t work.

Trump’s post-conviction monologue was filled with false claims

 https://edition.cnn.com/2024/05/31/politics/fact-check-trump-post-conviction-speech/index.html

Trump repeated a claim he has made before about “the Congo” and migration, again without specifying whether he was referring to the Democratic Republic of Congo or the neighboring Republic of Congo. He said: “The Congo has just released a lot of people from jail – Congo, Africa – just released a lot of people, a lot of people, from their prisons and jails, and brought them into the United States of America.”

Facts First: Trump’s claim is baseless. Experts on the Democratic Republic of Congo and the Republic of Congo, plus both pro-immigration and anti-immigration organizations in the US, told CNN they have not seen any evidence of Congolese prisons being emptied, let alone evidence of either country somehow having “brought” ex-prisoners into the US. Trump’s presidential campaign and an allied super PAC did not respond to requests to provide any evidence. A CNN search of two media databases turned up no evidence. And federal figures show that there is no “very big” influx of Congolese migrants of any kind, let alone former prisoners in particular.

Rav Moshe and Rav Aharon

 https://mishpacha.com/standing-up-for-greatness/

Rav Aharon then picked up the phone and called Rav Moshe in what turned out to be a discussion that lasted close to 40 minutes. And for the duration of the entire phone call, Rav Aharon remained standing. Rav Elyashiv told me that he tried several times to push a chair closer to Rav Aharon so he could sit down, but he just ignored his overtures.

When the call finally ended and Rav Aharon shared Rav Moshe’s psak with him, Rav Elyashiv thanked the Rosh Yeshivah for his time, and then asked him why he would not sit down while on this long phone call.

Rav Aharon responded, “Is it possible to sit down while talking to Rav Moshe Feinstein?”

Conrad Black

 Garnel IronheartMay 31, 2024 at 8:01 PM

Conrad Black has written on the corrupt state of US justice because of his experiences, again being harshly punished for a minor crime because it was politically expedient to do so.

As I've told DT over and over, this isn't a team sport. The entire system is corrupt. Stop taking sides when each side is terrible.

Your proof of the corruption of the syatem is rather weak if you read the facts of his case instead of simply accepting everything he claims

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Conrad_Black

On 15 May 2019, US President Donald Trump granted Black a full pardon.[104][105] Trump noted "broad support from many high-profile individuals who have vigorously vouched for his exceptional character".[106] Black is a friend of Trump and has written flatteringly about him in opinion articles and in the 2018 book Donald J. Trump: A President Like No Other.[107][108] Many news sources linked Black's recent book and his long friendship with Trump to the pardon.[109] The Washington Post noted, "In addition to his book, Black frequently writes columns praising Trump and considers the president a friend".[3] Upon his release from prison, Black had been deported to Canada and was previously barred from entering the US for 30 years.[110] The pardon allows him to travel to the US.[111]

The world, too quick to blame Israel, should look at the facts

 https://www.jpost.com/opinion/article-804432

Certainly, Israel’s operation in the Gaza Strip has not been without its mistakes – far from it. But one thing is clear from even the shortest of closer looks into what happened on Sunday: Israel did not intentionally kill dozens of Palestinian civilians.

The compound where the Hamas leaders were located and ultimately targeted was a couple of hundred meters away from an unsanctioned civilian camp outside of the humanitarian zone. Shortly after Israel launched its attack, a loud boom was heard and then a fire broke out in said camp.

Trump Found Guilty in New York Trial. It's Not Enough |

 https://www.newsweek.com/trump-guilty-justice-system-tarred-tawdry-brush-opinion-1906588

Trump's conviction is something to be proud of because it affirms a fundamental American value—no one in this country is above the law. Trump seems to have lived his life thinking that the rules constraining ordinary mortals don't apply to him. His life has been soaked with scandals from which he, until recently, has walked away.

He has repeatedly been accused of cheating contractors, students at his unaccredited Trump University, donors to his charity, the Internal Revenue Service, and campaign donors. The public has watched as he made his way through serial failed enterprises to find genuine success on reality TV and to win the presidency. He was then accused of abusing that office in numerous ways ranging from subsidizing his hotels with government and foreign funds to advertising his wife's jewelry line on the White House website.

Founding Fathers would be ‘weeping and stunned’ over Trump guilty verdict

 https://thehill.com/regulation/court-battles/4695420-ty-cobb-founding-fathers-would-be-weeping-and-stunned-donald-trump-guilty-verdict/

“It’s a tragedy that we now have a former president who’s a convicted felon and the leading candidate to be the next president, who’s a convicted felon,” Cobb said during his Thursday appearance on CNN’s show “Erin Burnett OutFront.” 

“I’m sure the founders, were they here today, we would all be weeping and stunned,” he said. “And I’m frankly saddened by this because it means it means a lot to America, and it tarnishes America.” 

TRUMP GUILTY ON ALL 34 FELONY CHARGES

 https://edition.cnn.com

A Manhattan jury found Donald Trump guilty of all 34 charges of falsifying business records Thursday, an unprecedented and historic verdict that makes Trump the first former president in American history to be convicted of a felony.

Not only is Trump the first former president to be found guilty of a felony, he’s also the first major-party presidential nominee to be convicted of a crime in the midst of a campaign for the White House. And if he defeats President Joe Biden in November, he will be the first sitting president in history to be a convicted felon.

The verdict in the hush money trial was announced after jurors deliberated for nearly 12 hours over two days.