Tuesday, December 14, 2021
No, it’s not a coup — It’s a failed ‘self-coup’ that will undermine US leadership and democracy worldwide
Latin America has a history of autogolpes, or “self-coups.” This is the term for efforts by sitting executives to enhance or retain power by overturning electoral outcomes or by unconstitutionally gutting the power of other branches of government. Trump’s measures to overturn the elections since November 3 constitute a “coup,” as they involve illegal usurpation of state power, even when it may not involve the use of force. Yet it is a “self”-coup because it is perpetrated by the head of government rather than military officers or others against that chief executive.
Trump says he would not have attempted coup after defeat
https://www.theday.com/article/20210716/NWS21/210719605
Former President Donald Trump insisted Thursday that he wouldn’t have used the military to illegally seize control of the government after his election loss. But he suggested that if he had tried to carry out a coup, it wouldn’t have been with his top military adviser.
Meanwhile, Republicans who are eyeing White House bids of their own aren't crossing Trump, who remains popular with many GOP voters.
GOP Sen. Tom Cotton of Arkansas, a potential 2024 presidential contender, said "no comment,” when asked if he thought Trump’s statement was appropriate for a former president. A member of the Senate Armed Services Committee and an Army veteran of two combat tours in Iraq, Cotton declined to comment again when asked if he wanted to criticize Trump’s remark.
“I think he has the right to say what he wants to say,” said Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, when asked if he was comfortable with a former president even hypothetically entertaining the idea of a coup.
“You know, Donald Trump speaks for himself and he always has,” said Cruz, another potential White House candidate in 2024.
Update on Trump’s Coup: Do Not Think That This Is Guaranteed to End Well
What we are witnessing is not a “tantrum.” Donald Trump is not in denial, nor is he going through “a process” to make peace with losing the election. He is trying to do what he has clearly intended to do all along, which is to stay in office no matter what. He would have liked to have won the election fair and square, but he never had any intention not to engage in a coup d’état if necessary.
There are, as I have acknowledged all along, reasons not to be entirely pessimistic about the survival of America’s system of government. Indeed, there are no non-brazen ways in which Trump could pull off his coup. But brazenness is a feature of coups, not a bug. We have seen again and again that what momentarily looks like the end of the road for Trump ends up merely being a pit stop, allowing Republicans to refill their tanks with the fuel necessary to follow Trump wherever he leads.
I wouldn't 'do a coup' with Milley, Trump says of top U.S. general
https://www.reuters.com/world/us/i-wouldnt-do-coup-with-milley-trump-says-top-us-general-2021-07-15/
Former President Donald Trump on Thursday slammed the top U.S. general he had appointed after allegations in a new book that senior uniformed military leaders were deeply concerned about the potential for a coup after the November election and had discussed a plan to resign.According to excerpts obtained by CNN from the upcoming book "I Alone Can Fix It," written by two Washington Post journalists, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff General Mark Milley and other senior U.S. military leaders discussed resigning in the event they received orders they considered illegal or dangerous
"I never threatened, or spoke about, to anyone, a coup of our Government ... If I was going to do a coup, one of the last people I would want to do it with is General Mark Milley," Trump said in a statement.\
Here's what 'insurrection,' 'coup' and 'sedition' mean
https://edition.cnn.com/2021/12/13/politics/insurrection-sedition-coup-january-6/index.html
Coup
Coup attempt by Trump is fake news?
Please. There was no coup attempt. Trump never called for a violent overthrow of the government. Read his actual words, not what the liberal media distorted and claimed he said.
However a simple google search however indicates a coup does not have to be violent
wikepedia
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coup_d%27%C3%A9tat
A coup d'état (/ˌkuːdeɪˈtɑː/ (
listen); French for "blow of state"), usually shortened to coup,[1] (also known as an overthrow)
is a seizure and removal of a government and its powers. Typically, it
is an illegal, unconstitutional seizure of power by a political faction,
military, or a dictator.[2] Many scholars consider a coup successful when the usurpers seize and hold power for at least seven days.[2]
Britannica
The chief prerequisite for a coup is control of all or part of the armed forces, the police, and other military elements. Unlike a revolution, which is usually achieved by large numbers of people working for basic social, economic, and political change, a coup is a change in power from the top that merely results in the abrupt replacement of leading government personnel.
Cambridge Dictionary
A sudden illegal, often violent, taking of government power, especially by part of an army:
Vaccines, variants leave US ultra-Orthodox women confused and afraid
https://www.timesofisrael.com/vaccines-variants-leave-us-ultra-orthodox-women-confused-and-afraid/
“I’ve definitely heard from doctors that one should not get pregnant immediately after getting the vaccine,” she said. “You don’t say that about a flu shot.” (The Center for Disease Control has said that “women who are trying to become pregnant do not need to avoid pregnancy after receiving an mRNA COVID-19 vaccine.”)
Right slams police minister for condemning ‘settler violence’ to US envoy
Public Security Minister Omer Barlev said he discussed rising violence by West Bank settlers against Palestinians with a senior American diplomat, drawing rebukes from pro-settlement ministers and right-wing opposition lawmakers.
Barlev, a member of the center-left Labor party, met Monday with Victoria Nuland, the US undersecretary for political affairs. He tweeted that the two discussed “settler violence and how to reduce tensions in the area and strengthen the Palestinian Authority.”
His comment came after Nuland told him that the US State Department was keeping track of settler violence, according to the Haaretz daily. Barlev told Nuland his ministry and the Defense Ministry were working together to address the matter and said he was working to deploy more police in the West Bank.
Beitar Illit mayor named as suspect detained, then released, over cold case murder
Beitar Illit Mayor Meir Rubinstein was named Tuesday as one of the suspects arrested and later released as part of a murder investigation tied to sex offender rabbi Eliezer Berland’s Shuvu Bonim sect.
Nobody has been indicted in the 1990 murder of 41-year-old Avi Edri, who was found beaten to death in the Ramot Forest in the north of Jerusalem.
Rubinstein has denied involvement in the killing and tried to prevent the publication of his name on the grounds that he was 17 years old at the time of his alleged involvement, and was therefore a minor.
Temi Kaminetsky is anti-vaxxer
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-kIxzek0bLQ
Rebbetzin Kamenetsky: Did you ever hear of Amalek? Hashem told to get rid of them because they're not good. They tried to destroy b'nei yisroel. And they're still trying. Merck is a German company, and they produce MMR. Worldwide a lot of terrible things have been happening. Autism is all over the world.
I know personally two babies who died, they were three months old. Right after, two and a half weeks after the shots. But the doctors don't believe it. They're taught, they don't know that they're taught by professors who are apikorsim or representatives of the medical, of the pharmaceutical companies.
Vaccination: A Halachic Perspective
https://mishpacha.com/vaccination-a-halachic-perspective/
Other poskim seem to have different views. Rav Shmuel Kamenetsky (in a letter printed in Bigdei Chamudos Yoreh Deiah 42) describes vaccinating as permitted but not required. Rav Moshe Sternbuch (in a responsum dated 18 Kislev 5779), however, addresses a case in which an area was experiencing a measles epidemic. He rules that one must follow the overwhelming majority of medical authorities who mandate vaccinations. He may not choose to follow the minority opinion who advise against taking measles vaccine, since by abstaining he is endangering others. Obviously, all of the above are just general pointers, and for halachic guidance in our present situation concerning the COVID-19 vaccine, we look to our contemporary poskim.
Live TV shows Israeli mob attack motorist they believed to be an Arab
Those in the crowd justified the attack by saying the man was an Arab who had tried to ram the far-right nationalists, but the footage showed a motorist trying to avoid the demonstration.
4 Myths and Facts About the Violence in Jerusalem
https://www.ajc.org/news/4-myths-and-facts-about-the-violence-in-jerusalem
As the final days of Ramadan drew Muslims to the Al Aqsa Mosque to pray and the celebration of Jerusalem’s reunification drew marchers to the streets to celebrate, a wave of violence that had been steadily building for weeks reached a crescendo Monday as Hamas fired more than 150 rockets toward Jerusalem and various towns and cities across southern Israel, forcing millions of Israelis into bomb shelters.
Here are four media myths circulating on social media distorting the
reasons behind the violence that has escalated to the brink of war.
‘He’s got to condemn this …’: Panel releases urgent Jan. 6 texts from Donald Trump Jr., lawmakers and Fox hosts
Among the messages from the Fox stars:
— “Hey Mark, the president needs to tell people in the Capitol to go home … this is hurting all of us … he is destroying his legacy,” Laura Ingraham wrote.
— “Please get him on tv. Destroying everything you have accomplished,” Brian Kilmeade wrote.
Sudden death of 6-year-old a month after coronavirus recovery puzzles doctors
https://www.timesofisrael.com/boy-6-dies-four-of-his-sisters-hospitalized-with-shortness-of-breath/
A six-year-old boy from the southern town of Netivot died Monday morning in his sleep, whiles his four sisters were rushed to Barzilai Medical Center in Ashkelon while suffering from shortness of breath and vomiting.
The circumstances of Yosef Naim’s death and his sisters’
hospitalizations were being probed. Reports indicated all the family’s
kids hadn’t been vaccinated and had recently recovered from COVID-19.
Why I Love Rav Shmuel – And Will Advocate Vaccination Nonetheless
Rav Shmuel might be disappointed by my strong belief in the
scientific case for vaccination, but I doubt if he will hold it against
me. After all, it was his father, Rav Moshe, and others of that
generation who lived and taught a different model.
Vaccinations and Shidduchim | Stuart H. Ditchek, MD,FAAP
It is for this reason that I am suggesting what is obvious at this
point. When looking into shidduchim for your grown children, it is truly
incumbent upon us all to ask whether the prospective family has any
issues with not properly immunizing. While this sounds drastic, it will
save many families from the pain and suffering of a shalom bayis issue
between couples in the near future. I believe that we as a community are
now in almost unanimous agreement that families who choose not to
immunize should not be allowed into our schools and certainly should not
be welcomed into families who choose to correctly protect their
children from terrible preventable diseases. This simple common-sense
approach will certainly be met by further hostility from the
anti-vaccine movement in our communities. Please take this into account
when looking into shidduchim for your children. My experience in
advising families is that if the question is met with suspicion and
hostility, walk away from that shidduch. Families who continue to not
follow conventional medical and halachic advice on vaccinations should
simply find others who agree with that position to marry. As in all
critical matters, one should consult with a Rav when working through
these sensitive issues.
Shidduchim and Vaccination
Now let’s get back to our question: Are shadchanim who tell people not to get the vaccine in violation of the Torah prohibition of lifnei iver? The answer is not all that simple. There is a difference between the first form of lifnei iver, in regard to halachah, and the second form of lifnei iver, in regard to bad advice. The difference is discussed in the footnotes to the Mossad HaRav Kook Ritva on Yevamos 342 (column 1) written by Rabbi Refoel Aharon Yoffen, zt’l.
Anti-vaxxers threaten elderly rabbi and his family
https://www.israelnationalnews.com/news/318614
Rabbi Chaim Kanievsky, a leader of the Lithuanian haredi community, is now being threatened by anti-vaxxers who oppose the COVID-19 vaccine.
In a Tuesday morning report, Yediot Aharonot said that following Rabbi Kanievsky's call to vaccinate children against coronavirus, the senior haredi leader has become a target of attacks, threats, and fake news spready by extremists.
Yanky Kanievsky, a grandson of Rabbi Kanievsky who is said to have his ear, has suffered calls of, "You're murderers," and, "You have the blood of children on your hands," as well as threats such as, "We'll get to you," "We're wishing," and "They're going to rape your children."
A text message sent to other family members, some of whom received it late at night, read, "May your name be erased," "villain," and "Amalek."
Herzog receives report on sexual abuse against minors
https://www.jpost.com/israel-news/herzog-receives-report-on-sexual-abuse-against-minors-688643
Until relatively recently, Israeli society and state did not make a major issue out of sexual abuse of children.