Trump Jr. hits Howard Stern for going 'establishment,' 'acting like Hillary'

https://thehill.com/blogs/blog-briefing-room/news/497802-trump-jr-hits-howard-stern-for-going-establishment-acting-like

During his SiriusXM show on Wednesday, Stern said the president should step down amid the coronavirus pandemic, saying, “I do think it would be extremely patriotic of Donald to say, ‘I’m in over my head, and I don’t want to be president anymore.'”
He also claimed on his show that the president despised his supporters and would be “disgusted by them.”

“The oddity in all of this is the people Trump despises most, love him the most,” Stern, who would often feature Trump on his show prior to his run for office, said. “The people who are voting for Trump, for the most part ... he wouldn’t even let them in a f---ing hotel. He’d be disgusted by them. Go to Mar-a-Lago, see if there’s any people who look like you. I’m talking to you in the audience.”

 

“There couldn’t be anything further from the truth," Trump Jr. added in reference to Stern's comments in the interview. "If you speak with Donald Trump, you talk to him and you sit down with him and talk about sports or whatever it is, you’ll see what I’ve always called him, which is he’s sort of the blue-collar billionaire."

Trump Says a Sitting President Can't Be Investigated. Will the Supreme Court Tell Him He's Wrong? | Opinion

https://www.newsweek.com/trump-says-sitting-president-cant-investigated-will-supreme-court-tell-him-hes-wrong-1504211

 

The rules of federal governance are being dramatically reconceived under the presidency of Donald Trump. The president's traditional relationship with federal agencies, with Congress and with state governments are all being called into question. At no time, however, in the past three and a half years has the radical nature of the "Constitution according to Trump" been more apparent than on Tuesday, when the Supreme Court heard oral arguments in two cases addressing whether the Constitution permits either Congress or a state district attorney to subpoena the president's tax returns from his accountants, Mazars.

What would it mean for the Supreme Court to side with Trump in the case of congressional subpoenas? Congress would effectively lose the ability to investigate the president. They could try to investigate him, but since they could not subpoena him or any of his financial records, even from third parties, such an investigation would be futile. This is the same theory, by the way, that White House lawyers used in the D.C. Circuit to argue that former White House Counsel Don McGahn could not be forced to testify before the House Judiciary Committee in response to its subpoena issued during the impeachment proceedings. Consider how differently those proceedings might have gone had the president not obstructed his testimony.

Shushvin - what is it?

Berachos (61a) And he brought her to the man.21 R. Jeremiah b. Eleazar said: This teaches that [God] acted as shushvin(best man) to Adam. Here the Torah teaches a maxim of behaviour, that a man of eminence should associate himself with a lesser man in acting as best man, and he should not take it amiss.

It is also translated as bridesmaid. but the gemora also describes it as bridal loans

---

[1] רמב"ם הלכות זכיה ומתנה פרק ז הלכה א

מנהג פשוט ברוב המדינות שבזמן שישא אדם אשה משלחין לו ריעיו ומיודעיו מעות כדי שיתחזק בהן על ההוצאה שמוציא באשתו ובאים אותן הריעים והמיודעים ששלחו לו ואוכלין ושותין עם החתן בשבעת ימי המשתה או במקצתן, הכל כמנהג המדינה, ואלו המעות שמשלחין נקראין שושבינות, ואותם ששלחו המעות ואוכלין ושותין עם החתן נקראים שושבינין.

[2] רמב"ם הלכות זכיה ומתנה פרק ז הלכה ב

השושבינות אינה מתנה גמורה, הדברים ידועים שלא שלח זה עשרה דינרין בשביל שיאכל וישתה בזה ולא שלח אלא מפני שבדעתו היה שאם ישא הוא אשה יחזור וישלח לו כמו ששלח לו, לפיכך אם נשא זה אשה ולא החזיר לו השושבינות הרי זה תובעו בדין ומוציא ממנו.

[3] רמב"ם הלכות זכיה ומתנה פרק ז הלכה ג

ואין יכול לתבעו עד שישא כדרך שנשא הוא, כיצד ראובן שנשא בתולה ושלח לו שמעון שושבינות ואח"כ נשא שמעון אלמנה, אינו יכול לתבוע להחזיר לו השושבינות שהרי אומר לו איני מחזיר לך אלא בבתולה כמו שנתת לי, וכן אם שלח לו בנשואי אלמנה אינו יכול לתובעו להחזיר לו בנשואי בתולה.

Former National Security Officials: The “Unmasking” List Could Be Bad News for Mike Flynn

https://www.vanityfair.com/news/2020/05/donald-trump-mike-flynn-unmasking

The “unmasking” controversy is in a sense the official kickoff of the Trump campaign, a sequel to “Obama was born in Kenya” and Hillary’s emails. It was unveiled when Richard Grenell, the acting director of national intelligence who’s long been a highly politicized Trump loyalist, declassified a list of Obama administration officials who requested to “unmask” an American citizen anonymously identified in intelligence reports, who turned out to be Michael Flynn. Against the backdrop of Flynn’s changing legal fortunes, Trumpworld has latched onto the document to rewrite the Russia saga and seemingly absolve the former national security adviser of wrongdoing, which he pleaded guilty to, propping him up as a martyr, targeted in a witch hunt by Trump’s political enemies. It’s a made-for-media story that former national security officials say, is essentially a fiction. “I think it is a desperate and manipulative attempt to turn into a scandal what was appropriate action taken by senior officials,” a former national security official told me.

The declassified list, which Republican senators Ron Johnson and Chuck Grassley released earlier this week, reads as a who’s who of the Obama administration, featuring James Clapper, James Comey, Samantha Power, and even former vice president and Trump’s presumptive challenger in the 2020 election, Joe Biden. But despite the seemingly nefarious undertone of the process known within the intelligence community as “unmasking,” former officials familiar vehemently assert that it is commonplace. “You can’t do your job without it,” Michael Morell, the former acting director of the CIA during the Obama administration and host of the Intelligence Matters podcast, said, noting that he made such requests to the National Security Agency several times a month during his tenure to better understand the underlying intelligence in reports.

 

Watchdog's dismissal puts Pompeo on the hot seat

https://www.politico.com/news/2020/05/16/watchdog-dismissal-mike-pompeo-261871

State’s inspector general, Steve Linick, had been investigating allegations involving Pompeo, New York’s Eliot Engel, the Democratic chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, said following news of Linick’s ouster. A congressional aide added that Pompeo and his wife are accused of improperly directing a political appointee to run personal errands for them.

 

Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) offered a mixed assessment of Linick in a statement on Saturday, noting that he had filled the job after the Obama administration left it vacant for several years. "Although he failed to fully evaluate the State Department’s role in advancing the debunked Russian collusion investigation, those shortcomings do not waive the president’s responsibility to provide details to Congress when removing an IG," Grassley said. "As I’ve said before, Congress requires written reasons justifying an IG’s removal. A general lack of confidence simply is not sufficient detail to satisfy Congress."

Trump: Coronavirus testing may be ‘overrated’ and reason for high U.S. case count

https://www.politico.com/news/2020/05/14/trump-coronavirus-testing-high-case-numbers-259524

“And don’t forget, we have more cases than anybody in the world,” he added. “But why? Because we do more testing. When you test, you have a case. When you test, you find something is wrong with people. If we didn’t do any testing, we would have very few cases.”

 

Trump said the news media had refused to report his “common sense” explanation for the country’s high case numbers. He repeated the misleading claim that the U.S. has tested more people than other countries, sidestepping the reality that testing as a share of the population is lower than in other countries.

The Biden campaign issued a statement Thursday evening criticizing the president‘s comments and his response to the crisis.

“With his statement today, President Trump has once again demonstrated that he is more concerned with his poll numbers and his reelection than he is with safeguarding American lives and delivering real economic recovery — both of which every expert tells us can only happen with adequate testing capacity to track and stop this disease,“ the statement said.

Trump: Without Coronavirus Testing ‘We Would Have Very Few Cases,’ Here Is The Reaction

https://www.forbes.com/sites/brucelee/2020/05/15/trump-without-doing-covid-19-coronavirus-testing-we-would-have-very-few-cases-here-is-the-reaction/#38544a1b518c

In a speech on Thursday at Owens and Minor, a medical supply distributor located in Allentown, PA, President Donald Trump wondered whether testing for Covid-19 coronavirus is “overrated.” He then proceeded to say, “And don’t forget, we have more cases than anybody in the world. But why? Because we do more testing.”

Next, he clarified: “When you test, you have a case. When you test, you find something is wrong with people. If we didn’t do any testing, we would have very few cases.”

There someone goes again, bringing up science. The argument is that the virus will keep on infecting, keep on spreading, and keep on killing people, even if you ignore it. It’s not as if the virus is clenching it’s spikes and hoping, “please test that person, please test that person,” so that it can then infect someone. It’s not as if COVID-19 is a debatable condition or something that can’t make you sick or kill you. It’s real and it’s the opposite of spectacular.

Trump Says That Virus Testing May Be 'Overrated' | Morning Joe | MSNBC

McConnell’s Rush to Protect Businesses Endangers Everyone Else

https://www.nytimes.com/2020/05/15/opinion/coronavirus-liability-business-safety.html?action=click&module=Opinion&pgtype=Homepage

As Congress gears up for the next installment of its stimulus package, Mr. McConnell has drawn a line: No more money for anyone until businesses get immunity from liability during the pandemic. The demands being debated include making it harder to claim that a business is at fault for a worker’s or customer’s infection, protecting businesses that are making personal protective equipment like masks for the first time, and protecting employers against privacy lawsuits if they disclose a worker’s infection.

The problem is that immunity doesn’t just shield the worst actors; it also punishes the best, by giving a competitive advantage to the businesses that decide to cut corners at the expense of worker and customer health and safety.

Consider what happened in Utah, which passed a bill immunizing businesses from pandemic-related litigation in most cases and issued only advisory guidelines. The next day, the Utah Press Herald reported that two businesses had told their employees to disregard the guidelines, and even ordered those who had tested positive for the coronavirus to report to work. At one of the businesses, nearly half of all employees tested positive.

Why Hospitals in NYC Have Abandoned Hydroxychloroquine

https://www.ny1.com/nyc/all-boroughs/news/2020/05/07/hospitals-in-nyc-abandon-hydroxychloroquine-treatment-touted-by-trump-

Hospitals began using the drug early on in hopes it could calm the overactive immune response to COVID-19. But now that little proven benefit has been found, many doctors here in New York have moved on.

Just days ago, Mount Sinai changed course.

"As of last week, we stopped using hydroxychloroquine as a routine medication in our hospital based upon the cumulative experience in our hands and in others, and recommendations by the FDA that it should not be used outside of clinical trials,” said Dr. Charles Powell, chief of the Division of Pulmonary, Critical Care and Sleep Medicine at the Mount Sinai Health System and CEO of the Mount Sinai-National Jewish Health Respiratory Institute.

It wasn’t just Trump: Governor Andrew Cuomo also expressed optimism about hydroxychloroquine’s potential. But studies, including one that looked at 600 patients in the New York City area, were inconclusive.

 

Drug Combo with Hydroxychloroquine Promising: NYU Study

https://www.ny1.com/nyc/all-boroughs/news/2020/05/12/nyu-study-looks-at-hydroxychloroquine-zinc-azithromycin-combo-on-decreasing-covid-19-deaths

 Researchers at NYU's Grossman School of Medicine found patients given the antimalarial drug hydroxychloroquine along with zinc sulphate and the antibiotic azithromycin were 44 percent less likely to die from the coronavirus.

"Certainly we have very limited options as far as what we have seen work for this infection so anything that may work is very exciting," said Dr. Joseph Rahimian, Infectious Disease Specialist at NYU Langone Health.

Dr. Rahimian says patients in the more critical stages of infection did not fare as well.

And he cautioned that more research is needed - in particular a randomized controlled trial - to prove how and how well the drug combination works.

Meanwhile, a study in the Journal of the American Medical Association on Monday found that treating patients only with hydroxychloroquine, azithromycin, or both did not reduce hospital deaths. 

The study by the State Health Department and the SUNY Albany School of Public Health involved 1,500 patients.

Supreme Court Heading Towards Big Ruling Against Trump on Tax Returns, Says High Court Veteran

Trump’s Absurd Claim ‘If We Didn’t Do Any Testing, We Would Have Very Few Cases’ | Deadline | MSNBC

Which One of These Is Obamagate? | The Daily Social Distancing Show

President Trump recently coined the term "Obamagate," but which one of Obama's many controversial scandals was he referring to? #DailyShow #Obamagate #TrevorNoah

Trump Can't Quit Us

Cornered by the coronavirus, Trump returns to a familiar strategy: Attack Obama

https://edition.cnn.com/2020/05/16/politics/trump-coronavirus-strategy-attack-obama/index.html

 With the death count from the coronavirus rising and its economic fallout deepening, President Donald Trump is trying to fire up his base and divert the national conversation by promoting a baseless conspiracy that casts his predecessor, Barack Obama, as the architect of a plot to subvert his presidency.

The ginned up scandal, or "Obamagate" as Trump has branded it, turns on alleged requests made by members of the Obama administration to "unmask" an individual, who turned out to be Michael Flynn, mentioned in classified intelligence reports. A common and legal process, it has been employed more often under Trump than during Obama's time in office.

This week the Trump administration and Republican senators made the decision to declassify and release the names of Obama officials who made requests that might have resulted in Flynn's "unmasking." The officials would not have known the name of the individual until after their ask was answered. Flynn would go on to become Trump's national security adviser before being fired -- by the President -- for lying to White House officials about his Russia contacts.

Doctors are contradiction to bitachon?

אמת ליעקב ויקרא פרק כו פסוק יא

(יא) ונתתי משכני בתוככם.

עיין רמב"ן כאן שהאריך בענין מדת הבטחון, ודעתו היא שעל פי האמת אסור לו לאדם לשאול ברופאים אלא ישליך על ד' יהבו, וסיים כי ברצות ה' דרכי איש אין לו עסק ברופאים, ועיי"ש שביאר באריכות. והנה החובת הלבבות [עיין שער הבטחון פרק ד'] סובר שעל האדם להשתדל עד כמה שיכול להרפא בדרך הטבע, ועיי"ש. והנה נדמה בעינינו כי לדעת חובת הלבבות צריך הוא האדם לסייע כביכול להקב"ה - שעל ידי הסיבה הזאת יוכל לפרנסו, וכן מבינים רוב בני העולם ודומים הם כי הרמב"ן הוא המחמיר בנדון זה. אבל המעיין בחובת הלבבות יראה כי הוא הנהו המחמיר בזה, אלא שהוא סובר כי כל ענין ההתעסקות הוא מפני יישוב העולם1 והרי זו מצוה ככל מצות שבתורה, ולפיכך כותב הוא שהאדם לא ישנה את מלאכתו ואף שרואה הוא שאינו מצליח במלאכתו זאת. אבל לדעת הרמב"ן אדרבה - אם האדם אינו בתכלית השלימות נמסר הוא למערכות הטבע ואז צריך הוא לעבוד באמת כדי להתפרנס על ידי זה, כי כן כתב לענין רפואה שאחרי שבא אל הרופא הרי הרופא צריך להזדקק לו כי הוא נמסר להנהגה הטבעית, וכדמצינו בשלהי ברכות [דף ס' ע"א] דהמתפלל אחר מ' יום שיהא זכר ה"ז תפלת שוא, ואעפ"כ האמהות התפללו2 מפני שלפי הנהגתם הנס היה אצלם לטבע ונשתנה דינם, ודו"ק3.

והנה לפי דברי רמב"ן אלו יש לפרש מה דמצינו בגמרא במסכת יומא [דף פ"ה ע"ב] שנחלקו כמה תנאים מנא לן שפקוח נפש דוחה את השבת, וכל א' הביא מקור אחר לזה, וכגון מעבודה וממילה וכדומה, ועיי"ש. ולעיל בפרשת כי תשא [ל"א פט"ז] ביארתי מדוע בכלל צריך פסוק מיוחד לזה - הא קי"ל וחי בהם ולא שימות בהם, ועיין מש"כ שם להלכה. אבל בדרך הדרוש י"ל לדעת הרמב"ן דעל פי האמת לא היה האדם צריך להתעסק ברפואות כלל, ולפיכך היה עולה על הדעת שמצות שבת תחייבנו להעמיד את הענין על אמיתו ולא נדחה את השבת, וע"ז באו התנאים האלו ולימדו שאין זה דחיית איסור בלבד אלא מצוה ממש וכמו מילה ועבודה שדוחין את השבת, ודו"ק.

A third of hospital patients develop dangerous blood clots

https://www.bbc.com/news/health-52662065

Up to 30% of patients who are seriously ill with coronavirus are developing dangerous blood clots, according to medical experts.

The professor's blood sciences team in the hospital has been analysing samples from patients showing how coronavirus is changing their blood making it much more sticky. And sticky blood can lead to blood clots.

Steve Linick: Trump fires state department inspector general

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-52688658

Mr Trump said Mr Linick no longer had his full confidence and that he would be removed in 30 days.

Mr Linick had begun investigating Secretary of State Mike Pompeo for suspected abuse of office, reports say.

Democrats say Mr Trump is retaliating against public servants who want to hold his administration to account.

 

President Trump Ousts State Department Watchdog, Marking Another Inspector General Fired During the Pandemic

https://time.com/5837818/trump-fires-steve-linick-state-department-watchdog/

(Washington D.C.) — President Donald Trump has fired the State Department’s inspector general, an Obama administration appointee whose office was critical of alleged political bias in the agency’s management. The ouster is the latest in a series of moves against independent executive branch watchdogs who have found fault with the Trump administration.

Are We Still Pro-Life?

https://mishpacha.com/inscrutable-by-design/

The current crisis provides an example of this danger. We are comrades-in-arms with the pro-life movement, aren’t we? And, when years ago, Republicans railed against the so-called “death panels” that were purportedly a part of Obamacare’s vision for the American healthcare system, we Orthodox Jews felt they were kindred spirits, didn’t we?

Yet, it has been so very unsettling to now see longtime ostensible proponents of the pro-life position suddenly begin to speak a different language, to find people who’ve advocated cherishing life at both its beginning and end suddenly downplaying preservation of life as a supreme value and attaching an economic price tag to the healthcare and longevity of people in their sixties and seventies.

As I noted above, the questions of when and how much and how quickly to begin easing up on the lockdown are complex ones given the human toll on both sides of the equation. If poskim were to be consulted by government in this decision-making process, I have no idea how they would rule on those questions.

But I do know this: Every posek in the world has clearly ruled during this crisis that preservation of life is paramount. They have instructed repeatedly that we must closely heed the directives of the very “majority of scientists, especially health officials, doctors, and epidemiologists” whom Prager sneeringly dismisses, and that not only that Orthodox writer’s missed trips to museums and zoos must yield, but when necessary, the kol Torah and tefillah of Klal Yisrael too.

 

White House ramps up PR campaign to improve Trump's image

https://us.cnn.com/2020/05/16/politics/trump-coronavirus-vaccine-image/index.html

CNN's election poll released this week showed former Vice President Joe Biden leading Trump 51% to 46% nationally among registered voters. But in an encouraging sign for Trump, 52% of those voters in key battleground states favored the President compared to 45% who backed Biden.

 

Sweden Stayed Open. A Deadly Month Shows the Risks.

https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2020/05/15/world/europe/sweden-coronavirus-deaths.html?action=click&module=Top%20Stories&pgtype=Homepage

No two countries are exactly alike, making comparisons inexact. Luck, travel patterns and personal actions play a role, not just government policy. 

Swedish officials chose not to implement a nationwide lockdown, trusting that people would do their part to stay safe. Schools, restaurants, gyms and bars remained open, with social distancing rules enforced, while gatherings were restricted to 50 people. 

Two months later, it has not been the worst-case scenario many envisioned. Covid-19 deaths have disproportionately hit the elderly and those in nursing homes, as is the case in most countries, but hospitals have not been overwhelmed. As with the rest of the world, it will be months, or even years, before the full picture of mortality emerges.

“It is clear that mortality in Stockholm has been a lot higher than you would expect from a normal year,” said Martin Kolk, a demographer at Stockholm University. “But we will have to wait and see what happens. It’s a very big difference if we continue to see excess mortality for six more months, or if it will be back to normal levels in a few weeks.”

There Are Sensible Ways to Reopen a Country. Then There's America's Approach

https://time.com/5836607/reopening-risks-coronavirus/

Much of the blame for that disarray falls on Trump himself. The President has repeatedly undermined the guidance of his own public-health officials, fomented antiquarantine protests on Twitter and politicized cautious positions taken by some governors. On May 7, the AP reported that the Administration had “buried” more detailed CDC advice to states on how to safely reopen.

Trump’s erratic political response to the public-health crisis reflects his own leadership style, but also the larger challenge of America’s cultural idiosyncrasies. Americans are uniquely attached to our civil liberties. It’s difficult to imagine South Korea’s contact-tracing program—a massive, state-run surveillance system that tracks and records the movements of every citizen—flying on U.S. soil. The same is true of Chinese officials’ reopening of Shanghai Disneyland. While the first day back at the Happiest Place on Earth was successful, attendees willingly scanned QR codes on their phones, allowing the government to monitor their exact where-abouts in case of future outbreaks.

 

US church sues after bible study 'Zoombombed' by child abuse

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-52668124

A California church is suing video chat company Zoom after a hacker allegedly hijacked a virtual Bible study class to post graphic images of child abuse.

The company pointed to its "recently updated security features", adding that Zoom users should not widely share meeting access and passwords "as appeared to be the case" with the church group.

Americans' Trust in Mass Media Edges Down to 41%

https://news.gallup.com/poll/267047/americans-trust-mass-media-edges-down.aspx

 Although trust in the media has edged down this year, it is well above the record low of 32% in 2016 when Republicans' trust dropped precipitously and drove the overall trust reading down during the divisive presidential campaign. Republicans' trust is still at a very low level and a wide gap in views of the media among partisans persists as 69% of Democrats say they have trust and confidence in it, while 15% of Republicans and 36% of independents agree.

Former federal judge who brought down the 'Teflon Don' steps into Flynn case

https://edition.cnn.com/2020/05/14/politics/john-gleeson-profile/index.html

An esteemed former federal judge himself, Gleeson, 66, entered the discourse around the Flynn case on Monday, when he and two other former Justice Department officials wrote in The Washington Post that among the steps US District Judge Emmet Sullivan could take would be to "appoint an independent attorney to act as a 'friend of the court,' ensuring a full, adversarial inquiry."

Saying the case "reeks of improper political influence," they wrote that "if prosecutors attempt to dismiss a well-founded prosecution for impermissible or corrupt reasons, the people would be ill-served if a court blindly approved their dismissal request. The independence of the court protects us all when executive-branch decisions smack of impropriety; it also protects the judiciary itself from becoming a party to corruption."

 

Why Donald Trump's idea that he saved millions of lives is laughable

https://edition.cnn.com/2020/05/11/politics/donald-trump-coronavirus-quarantine/index.html

It's obvious what he is doing. Cherry-picking a jaw-dropping number -- 2.2 million! -- to frame the deaths of more than 100,000 Americans as not all that bad, all things considered. (Worth noting: On April 21, Trump said this: "Now we're going toward 50 -- I'm hearing, or 60,000 people. One is too many. I always say it. One is too many, but we're going toward 50 or 60,000 people. That's at the lower -- as you know the lower (end of the projections) was supposed to be 100,000 people.")