Netziv (Bereishis
2:24): And therefore man leaves…and cleaves to his wife . from this point
on there is no advice to be his ezer knegdo as was intended by her creation and
as Adam felt that he was missing except from the aspect that he is leaving his
father and his mother cleaving to his wife and then becoming one flesh as he
loves her as if they were one person as it states in Yevamos (62b).”one who
loves his wife as himself….”And even then she is not entirely subordinate to
him as was the first woman who was literally considered as part of him. Rather
they are considered one flesh. That means that what he thinks is good for him
and desirable and she completely fulfills his wants. She should have the same attitude concerning what
she wants for herself and that he comply with her wishes. Nevertheless since
the reason that the first woman was made
to have the inherent nature to be supportive, even though women are not
exactly the same as the first woman was originally but rather as she became
after eating from the fruit from the Tree of knowledge as we will discuss later
in Bereishis (3:20) while he is amongst those created during the first 6 days
of creation. And only one who merited that achieves the love of his wife with
total abnegation as Eve was before the sin. It was because of this that there
are two types of cleaving of Adam and Eve
in order that for all time there should be two types of helping of a
wife to her husband. Therefore they
were on the sixth day of creation two modes of love of Eve to Adam in order that there should always be two
modes of love of a woman to her husband. And just as we spoke about two modes
that man has to serving G-d. All this was made on the first day that he was
created as we explained before Bereishis (2:4). And thus the nature of love of
a man’s wife and life with her husband This is similar to what R Shimon Ben Eliezer
stated in Kiddushin (82b). “I was created to serve my Maker and they were
created to serve me.”To the degree he serves G-d will be the degree That his
wife serves him or according to mazel as all other aspects of man’s life.
Either things happen as the result of Divine providence based on his deeds or by good or bad mazel
and this is the nature of the world.
Tuesday, May 12, 2020
What Judge Sullivan Should Do
https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2020/05/what-judge-sullivan-should-do/611488/
The Justice
Department has requested that he dismiss the case against Michael Flynn.
Here are 13 questions the judge should ask of government counsel.
U.S. District Judge Emmet G. Sullivan probably has little choice but to accede to the Justice Department’s outrageous motion
that he dismiss the case against Lieutenant General Michael
Flynn—notwithstanding Flynn’s guilty plea to false-statements charges
more than two years ago. Existing law provides him little discretion in
deciding whether to let the case go. That said, he does not have to
dismiss the case without comment.
“Arguably, You Sold Your Country Out”: Could a Judge Override Barr in the Flynn Affair?
https://www.vanityfair.com/news/2020/05/could-a-judge-override-barr-in-the-flynn-affair
What’s telling about the government’s unprecedented motion, which Michael Bromwich, a former inspector general and longtime Department of Justice official, called “a pardon by another name,”
is that it tries really hard to rewrite history, if not ignore it
altogether. To the Justice Department, all revolves around a single
instance, four days into the new administration, when Flynn, a
sophisticated official with decades of government service, including in
the nation’s intelligence apparatus, found himself in the crosshairs of
an overreaching FBI. “The Government is not persuaded that the January
24, 2017 interview was conducted with a legitimate investigative basis
and therefore does not believe Mr. Flynn’s statements were material even
if untrue,” Timothy Shea, the loyalist Barr installed as acting U.S. attorney in Washington earlier this year, wrote.
“Moreover, we [do] not believe that the Government can prove either the
relevant false statements or their materiality beyond a reasonable
doubt.” No other career official who had been on the case signed the
filing—one of them, Brandon Van Grack, a Mueller veteran in the department’s national security division, had abruptly withdrawn from the Flynn case moments earlier on Thursday, in apparent protest of the Justice Department’s reversal.
Flynn: What Will Judge Sullivan Do?
https://www.law.com/newyorklawjournal/2020/05/11/flynn-what-will-judge-sullivan-do/?slreturn=20200412084852#
On May 8, The New York Times headline read “U.S. Drops
Michael Flynn Case … .” I suppose that’s technically true. The article
didn’t say that the Flynn case was dismissed. Indeed, it hasn’t been.
The Justice Department clearly has no authority to dismiss a pending
criminal case—particularly after a guilty plea has been entered by the
defendant. All it can do is “ask” the court to dismiss the case. Given
who the judge is, the Justice Department can’t be too certain of the
outcome or what will happen along the way, and probably won’t be
sleeping easily while awaiting the judge’s decision.
Fact Check: Is Obama the only president to criticize a successor?
https://kslnewsradio.com/1924939/fact-check-is-obama-the-only-president-to-criticize-a-successor/
Among the hundreds of #ObamaGate retweets President Trump sent over
the weekend was a widely circulated meme with a photo of former
President Barack Obama stating, “First Ex-President To Speak Against
Successor.” Mr. Trump retweeted the meme, writing, “He got caught,
OBAMAGATE!”
The meme had been seen on the Internet in past years. Now it’s adding fuel to the current #ObamaGate fire on Twitter.
Is Obama the only president in U.S. history to denounce his successor?
The short answer is no. There are several presidents in recent
history who have spoken out against their successors to different news
and media outlets.
Trump increases attack against Obama with ‘Obamagate’ tweet
https://www.foxnews.com/politics/trump-ups-attack-against-obama-with-obamagate-tweet
Last week, Attorney General William Barr’s
Justice Department dismissed the case against Flynn, Trump's first
national security adviser, who was seen as the key prosecution witness
from Robert Mueller’s investigation into the Trump campaign.
Trump, along with other Republicans, seized on the decision and framed it as an example of a Democrat-manufactured plot to remove him from office.
Trump's 'Obamagate' comments and Barr's Flynn meddling suggest troubling new pivot
In my 25 years as an FBI special agent and (now retired) head of the bureau's counterintelligence,
I learned the value of predictive analysis. Following the 9/11
terrorist attacks, the FBI transitioned from an investigative agency
adept at investigating what happened after the fact to an intelligence agency capable of forecasting and preventing harm from happening in the future.
Trump is clearly still sensitive about the 2016 election, and especially about concerns that he may not have beaten former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton fairly. He therefore has a special interest in undermining accusations of Russian meddling, something he has done since entering the Oval Office. What better way to do this than to flip the script? He didn't have an advantage; in fact, he was the victim
As other commentators have pointed out,
attempting this bait and switch would likely involve efforts to censure,
discipline or even criminally charge current and former government
officials, such as former CIA Director John Brennan, fired FBI Director
James Comey, former national security adviser Susan Rice, former
National Intelligence Director James Clapper and perhaps even Obama and
Biden. During his Monday news conference in the Rose Garden, a reporter
asked Trump what crime he might accuse Obama of committing.
Trump responded: "Obamagate, it's been going on for a long time. It's
been going on from before I got elected, and it's a disgrace that it
happened. You look at, now, all of this information that's being
released, and from what I understand, that's only the beginning."
What is 'Obamagate' and why is Trump so worked up about it?
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2020/may/12/what-is-obamagate-and-why-is-trump-so-worked-up-about-it
The US president spent Mother’s Day diving into the rightwing fever
swamps and unleashing a barrage of tweets and retweets assailing his
predecessor
Senate Republicans break with Trump over ‘Obamagate’
https://www.politico.com/news/2020/05/11/senate-republicans-trump-obamagate-249734
After
the Justice Department’s abrupt decision last week to drop the criminal
case against Flynn, Trump shifted his public focus over the weekend to
mount a three-day tear against his predecessor on Twitter, accusing
Obama of committing the “biggest political crime in American history.”
Trump sought to popularize the hashtag “Obamagate,” which he said makes
the Watergate scandal “look small time.” Trump also said Obama “got
caught” and later retweeted comments by Flynn’s lawyer, Sidney Powell,
who said Obama was part of an effort to frame and entrap her client.
Trump hardens campaign tone after virus batters economy
https://edition.cnn.com/2020/05/12/politics/donald-trump-coronavirus-reelection/index.html
Trump also signaled a new fallback
strategy designed to whip up the fervor of his base by accusing his
predecessor of mounting an attempt to cancel out his win in 2016 in what
his supporters refer to as a "deep state plot."
"Obamagate.
It's been going on for a long time. It's been going on from before I
even got elected, and it's a disgrace that it happened," Trump claimed
without evidence. Asked by a reporter to identify the crime he had accused Obama in a tweet of committing, he responded: "You know what the crime is. The crime is obvious to everybody."
The conservative media machine is pulsating with the reverberations of Attorney General William Barr's decision
last week to drop charges against Trump's former national security
adviser Michael Flynn, who had twice pleaded guilty to lying to the FBI
in a case that arose from the Russia investigation.
Shortly
after Trump spoke, the scope of the Republican election attack became
even more clear as Republican Sen. Chuck Grassley of Iowa pressed the
conspiracy theory on the Senate floor.
"The
rule of law is at risk if the federal government can get away with
violating the Constitution to do what they did to Lt. Gen. Flynn," said
Grassley. "Given all that we know now regarding the fake foundation to
the inquiry, it's time we asked: What did Obama and Biden know and when
did they know it?"
Republican Group Releases Ad Encouraging Americans to Hold Trump Accountable for Abusing His Power
Conservative group Republicans for the Rule of Law (RRL) released two
new advertisements on Monday highlighting how President Donald Trump has
allegedly attempted to avoid all forms of oversight.
The group's latest videos, which ran on Fox News' Fox & Friends, Tucker Carlson Tonight and Hannity,
come ahead of Tuesday's oral arguments in the U.S. Supreme Court which
could determine if Trump could be indicted for crimes while in office.
Trump's legal team argues that the president cannot be investigated for
wrongdoings while he is in office.
Pulse oximeters are selling out because of the pandemic. Most people don’t need them
https://qz.com/1832464/pulse-oximeters-for-coronavirus-unnecessary-but-selling-strong/
Amazon is currently flooded with listings for pulse
oximeters, many of which are not FDA-approved. People who use such
devices are at risk of getting an inaccurate reading. A 2016 study in Anesthesia & Analgesia looked
at a number of inexpensive pulse oximeters not cleared by the FDA, and
found that many of them were prone to large errors.
A
number of wearables offer SpO2 features, including ones offered by
Fitbit and Garmin. Apps that use your smartphone’s camera to deliver
SpO2 measurements can be hit-or-miss. Such technology hasn’t been
cleared by the FDA. One study looked
at three pulse oximeter apps: iOx, OX, and POx. All three apps
delivered inaccurate SpO2 measurements, according to the authors, from
the University of Alabama and the University of Michigan.
White House Orders Staff to Wear Masks as Trump Misrepresents Testing Record
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/05/11/us/politics/white-house-masks-trump-coronavirus.html?action=click&module=Spotlight&pgtype=Homepage
Declaring
once again that “if somebody wants to be tested right now, they’ll be
able to be tested,” Mr. Trump said that his administration was working
with states to allow them to conduct 12.9 million tests in May,
insisting that the testing ability in the United States compares
favorably with other countries.
“We
are testing more people per capita than South Korea, the United
Kingdom, France, Japan, Sweden, Finland and many other countries,” he
said, ignoring countries where testing on a per capita basis is higher,
including Germany, Russia, Spain, Canada, Switzerland and at least 20
others, according to statistics compiled by Our World in Data.
Mr. Trump also mischaracterized the trajectory of new cases in the United States.
“The
numbers are way down from what they were two weeks ago,” the president
said. “The numbers are really coming down very substantially. This
weekend was one of the lowest we’ve had. The numbers are coming down
very rapidly.”
The number of new cases
reported across the country this weekend was 45,227. That is lower than
the 60,872 cases reported from April 25 to April 26. But over the past
two weeks, the numbers of new cases over all have declined only slightly
— not substantially.
The stakes of Trump's tax return case couldn't be higher
https://edition.cnn.com/2020/05/11/opinions/trump-tax-returns-supreme-court-stakes-honig/index.html
After years of political wrangling and multi-front litigation, the Supreme Court will hear
oral arguments Tuesday on the battle over President Donald Trump's tax
returns. The stakes are enormous. The court will decide by the end of
its current term
not only whether Trump's tax returns ever see light of day, but also
whether the President stands so far above the law that he cannot
meaningfully be held accountable to other branches of government and the
American public.
The dispute over Trump's tax
returns has been politically heated but, legally, this should be an easy
call for the court. Trump has fought to the bitter end, though
ultimately the law should give him no refuge: the tax returns must go to
Congress, and even as a sitting president, he cannot be immune from
investigation by prosecutors.
Monday, May 11, 2020
What’s a Pulse Oximeter, and Do I Really Need One at Home?
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/04/24/well/live/coronavirus-pulse-oximeter-oxygen.html
A tiny fingertip
device can give you valuable information about your health during a bout
of Covid-19 or any respiratory illness.
Health officials
are divided on whether home monitoring with a pulse oximeter should be
recommended on a widespread basis during Covid-19. Studies of
reliability show mixed results, and there’s little guidance on how to
choose one. But many doctors are advising patients to get one, making it
the go-to gadget of the pandemic. We’ve answered common questions about
the device, how it works and what to do with the information it gives
you.
Senate panel backs assessment that Russia interfered in the 2016 election
https://www.fox10phoenix.com/news/senate-panel-backs-assessment-that-russia-interfered-in-the-2016-election
A bipartisan Senate report released Tuesday affirms the U.S.
intelligence community’s conclusions that Russia interfered in the 2016
presidential election in a far-ranging influence campaign approved by
Russian President Vladimir Putin and aimed at helping Donald Trump win
the White House.
The report rejects Trump's claims that the
intelligence community was biased against him when it concluded that
Russia had interfered on his behalf in the election. It says instead
that intelligence officials had specific information that Russia
preferred Trump in the election, that it sought to denigrate Democratic
opponent Hillary Clinton and that Putin had “approved and directed
aspects" of the Kremlin's influence campaign.
The Senate just proved Donald Trump wrong -- again -- on Russian interference in 2016
https://edition.cnn.com/2020/04/22/politics/senate-intelligence-committee-donald-trump-russia/index.html
The Senate Intelligence Committee, which is chaired by Republican Sen. Richard Burr of North Carolina, released its long-awaited 156-page report detailing its investigation into allegations that Russia sought to interfere in the 2016 election.
Opinion: Was Michael Flynn cleared ‘in the interests of justice’ — or to please Trump?
https://www.latimes.com/opinion/story/2020-05-07/opinion-was-flynn-cleared-in-the-interests-of-justice-or-to-please-trump
The criminal case against Michael Flynn, President Trump’s disastrous first national security advisor, took the latest of many twists Thursday when the Justice Department moved to drop the prosecution against him. Never mind that Flynn pleaded guilty
to lying to the FBI about his conversations with the Russian ambassador
between the 2016 election and Trump’s inauguration. (He later tried to
withdraw the plea and have the charge dismissed.)
Senate report details foreign meddling in 2016 election, urges Trump to take preventative measures for 2020
https://www.foxnews.com/politics/bipartisan-senate-report-foreign-meddling-2016-trump-2020-election
The Senate Intelligence Committee on Tuesday issued a report urging President Trump
to warn the public about efforts by foreign governments to interfere in
U.S. elections and take steps to prevent hostile nations from using
social media to meddle in the 2020 vote.
Gregg Jarrett: Evidence of Russian interference in 2020 election 'completely overstated'
https://www.foxnews.com/media/gregg-jarrett-evidence-russian-interference-2020-overstated
Discussing the claim that Russia is making a specific "play" to boost President Trump's reelection bid on "The Story"
Monday, Jarrett said he spoke privately with a "key official" involved
with the matter who called the media narrative "completely overstated."
WOW!!!!!
FBI Didn’t Clear Michael Flynn
Q: Was former National Security Adviser Michael Flynn recently cleared by the FBI in the Russia probe?
A: No. A website makes that claim based on an outdated news
story that was published prior to Flynn pleading guilty to making false
statements to FBI agents about his conversations with a top Russian
official.
His head wasn't in the world of reality': how the plot to invade Venezuela fell apart
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/may/08/his-head-wasnt-in-the-world-of-reality-how-the-plot-to-invade-venezuela-fell-apart
The plan to overthrow Venezuela’s president, Nicolás Maduro,
and bundle him off to Florida to face drug trafficking charges seemed
foolproof to a former US army staff sergeant, Jordan Goudreau, as he
mapped it out in a luxury Miami apartment in late 2019. The 43-year-old
Canadian-American was certain his years as a green beret in Iraq and
Afghanistan had prepared him for the task.
Bipartisan Senate Report Backs Assessment That Russia Interfered in the 2016 Presidential Election
https://time.com/5825061/senate-report-russia-interference/
- A bipartisan Senate report released Tuesday confirms the U.S. intelligence community’s conclusions that Russia interfered in the 2016 presidential election to sow chaos. Senators warned that it could happen again this presidential election year.
- The heavily redacted report from the Senate Intelligence Committee is part of the panel’s more than three-year investigation into the Russian interference. The intelligence agencies concluded in January 2017 that Russians had engaged in cyber-espionage and distributed messages through Russian-controlled propaganda outlets to undermine public faith in the democratic process, hurt Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton and help Donald Trump.
-
- President Trump has repeatedly questioned the assessment, which was also confirmed by former special counsel Robert Mueller in his report last year. Mueller concluded that Russian interference was “sweeping and systematic,” but he did not find a criminal conspiracy between Russia and the Trump campaign.
Read the declassified report on Russian interference in the U.S. election
https://apps.washingtonpost.com/g/documents/national/read-the-declassified-report-on-russian-interference-in-the-us-election/2433/
The declassified 14-page report, which was
released in January, concluded Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered
the effort to undermine faith in the U.S. presidential election and
helped Trump win the White House.
‘God is telling us something’: Deri says 70% of Israel’s virus cases are Haredim
https://www.timesofisrael.com/deri-calls-for-ultra-orthodox-soul-searching-amid-high-virus-infection-rate/
Interior minister and Shas party chief urges ‘soul-searching’ in ultra-Orthodox community, cites high virus infection rate in its major cities and smaller neighborhoods
Why Michael Flynn Is Walking Free
https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2020/05/michael-flynn-learned-to-play-by-trumps-rules/611332/
Flynn was fired from the White House in February 2017, just days into
his tenure as national security adviser. Before Trump’s inauguration,
Flynn discussed U.S. sanctions against Russia with the Russian foreign
minister. But Flynn lied about those conversations to FBI agents. He
also lied about them to Vice President Mike Pence, which was the reason
given for his dismissal. (Flynn was not forced out when the president
learned of the deception, but only when it was reported in The Washington Post.)
Flynn had a host of other problems too. He had lied repeatedly about
taking money from the Turkish government for lobbying, failing to file
required documents. He appeared to have lied about who paid for a 2015
trip to Russia, where he sat with Vladimir Putin. He was also involved
in an arcane for-profit nuclear-reactor scheme in the Middle East. (One
clear takeaway of the investigation is that, potential criminal acts
aside, Flynn had no business getting anywhere near the sensitive job of
national security adviser.)
The whole process is stunning: Flynn was accused of committing
several crimes, admitted to one to try to get himself off easy, agreed
to cooperate, reneged on the deal, and is now free, having escaped
punishment for both the crime to which he confessed and those on which
he avoided prosecution.
Yet Flynn’s escape is not merely an
isolated outrage. It is also a test case for loyalty to Trump. Since
Flynn flipped on Trump, and then flopped back, his fate offers a lesson
for others who might find themselves in a bind and tempted to turn on
Trump, who continues to engage in the sort of behavior that got him impeached.
Cooperation deals are supposed to show criminals that returning to
the fold and honoring rule of law has its benefits. But the Flynn case
shows that those benefits pale in comparison to honoring loyalty to
Trump.
The Secrets Flynn Was Desperate to Conceal
https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2020/05/secrets-flynn-lied-conceal/611377/
The former national security adviser’s lies protected himself. But they also protected Trump.
Russian intelligence services intervened in the 2016 U.S. election to
help elect Donald Trump. They intervened in ways that were illegal, and
they intervened in ways that were clandestine. In the context of an
election decided by 80,000 votes in three states, they intervened in
ways that probably were decisive. Altogether, the Russian action to
elect Donald Trump in 2016 ranks among the most successful intelligence
operations in world history.
President Trump and his supporters dismiss these facts as “the Russia hoax,” but facts they are—facts beyond rational doubt.
Yet despite three years of investigation, much of the Trump-Russia story remains mysterious. We don’t know why the Russians intervened so aggressively, and we don’t fully know how.
post-modernism - it is true because it feels right
https://www.britannica.com/topic/postmodernism-philosophy
Postmodernism, also spelled post-modernism, in Western philosophy, a late 20th-century movement characterized by broad skepticism, subjectivism, or relativism; a general suspicion of reason; and an acute sensitivity to the role of ideology in asserting and maintaining political and economic power.
Sunday, May 10, 2020
Why aren't editorial boards screaming: Trump has to go?
https://edition.cnn.com/2020/05/10/opinions/why-dont-editorial-boards-call-for-trump-to-resign-lockhart/index.html
By the height of the Watergate scandal in 1974, virtually every major
newspaper in America had called for President Richard Nixon's
resignation. During the investigation and impeachment of Bill Clinton in
1998, more than 100 newspapers called for him to resign.
But President Donald J. Trump? He could stand in the middle of Fifth
Avenue and shoot somebody... and not a single major daily newspaper
would call for his resignation. I admit that -- just like the original Trump quote it references -- that Fifth Avenue statement is a bit hyperbolic, but think about it:
After three years of political and actual carnage under Trump, including Robert Mueller's description of acts that amounted to, he told Congress, obstruction of justice; Trump's "fine people on both sides" reaction to
a white supremacist rally in Charlottesville where a counter-protester
was killed; his rampant conflicts of interest and credible accusations
of his violations of the emoluments clause of the Constitution; his close to 17,000 false statements; a travel ban that primarily targets mostly Muslim-majority countries; impeachment for
alleged extortion of a foreign government (he was acquitted in the
Republican Senate), and the gross mishandling of a deadly pandemic,
you'd think somebody on an editorial board might say it's time for the
President to leave.
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