In December, Paxton’s support for Trump took the form of a widely panned, and ultimately rejected, lawsuit before the U.S. Supreme Court seeking to toss the election results in four battleground states that had handed the White House to Joe Biden. The lawsuit leaned on discredited claims of election fraud in the battleground states.
Thursday, January 14, 2021
Who is Rachel Rodriguez? Woman Arrested For Election Fraud 'Guided' Voters to Favor Democrats
In a public statement, Paxton said that the claims that there is no voter fraud are false and misleading. "Many continue to claim that there's no such thing as election fraud. We've always known that such a claim is false and misleading, and today we have additional hard evidence. This is a victory for election integrity," he said.
Readers’ Election-Fraud Questions—Answered
https://www.wsj.com/articles/readers-election-fraud-questions-answered-11610584849
For months, President Trump and his allies have made numerous claims about election fraud in various competitive states. The drumbeat of unsubstantiated allegations has left some Americans with the false impression that the presidential election was marred by widespread wrongdoing—and others confused about what actually happened.
Mr. Trump repeated some of those claims in his speech at a Jan. 6 rally before a mob stormed the Capitol. His alleged encouragement led to his impeachment Wednesday by the House.
Journal reporters have received many questions from readers about these claims, looking for answers beyond the findings in court rulings and by then-Attorney General William Barr that there was no evidence of widespread fraud that could overturn President-elect Joe Biden’s election victory.
How Ted Cruz wasted his intellect to back Donald Trump's fraud
https://edition.cnn.com/2021/01/13/opinions/ted-cruz-wasted-intellect-donald-trump-moore/index.html
He might have been the best of us. He is the worst of us.
The
manifest tragedy of the life of Texas' junior US Sen. Ted Cruz is what
he might have accomplished had he not wasted a fine intellect to serve
his craven political ambitions instead of the country he professes to
love. Nearly every clever phrase he has turned in public discourse
appears to have been designed to disrupt, not repair, and to turn the
focus to Cruz, instead of the issue at hand.
He has spent much of his time leveraging falsehoods for his political
benefit. More specifically, the senator has used his Ivy League
education to promote election fraud theories that inspired rioting
insurrectionists and QAnon quackery when he could have been at work
creating policies to improve American lives.
The
simplest explanation for the base behavior of Cruz is that he will say
and do anything to achieve his goal of becoming president, and he has
demonstrated that he is willing to put at risk the very democracy of the
country that he dreams of leading. That ought to earn him a lifetime
ban from getting anywhere near the White House.
Pleasure and chasidim
Noam Elimelech (1:10-11): And Adam know Eve his wife and she became pregnant and gave birth to Caine (Bereishis 4:1). It would seem that the meaning of the word "know" isn't clear. The Torah could have simply said that Adam had intercourse?. This can be explained that the matter is similar to the verses regarding Avraham's description of his wife Sarah – "Now I know that you are a beautiful woman." I heard that there is a sefer that says that because Avraham went to Egypt where there they are steeped in sexuality and because of their thoughts and fantasy about sexuality – that Avraham was effected and he started to think about his wife. That is why he said, "Now I know." The path of the true tzadik is not to have any thoughts or fantasies or lusts – even about his wife. And even when he is having intercourse with his wife he should be thinking about the higher spiritual worlds and not be aware at all that he is with his wife. Therefore the meaning of "And Adam knew his wife Eve" is that he paid attention and knew that she was his wife during intercourse. Consequently she became pregnant and gave birth to Caine who is described in the Zohar (1: 54a) as "the nest of evil". The gemora (Sanhedrin 38b) says that two got into bed and seven came out of the bed. This is an allusion to his great level that he started with but that he went down 7 spiritual levels because of his awareness of the physical pleasure of being with his wife. A person who conducts himself with proper holiness will regain the 7 spiritual levels that Adam lost.
Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene vows to file articles of impeachment against Biden
https://www.foxnews.com/politics/georgia-rep-vows-to-file-articles-of-impeachment-against-biden
Her announcement seems to be at odds with many in her own party who say Trump’s second impeachment was unnecessarily divisive at a time when the country needs to start coming together.
Greene had defended her decision not to wear a mask when locked in a secure room with other House members during the Capitol riots and pushed back against Democrats who are now blaming her and other maskless GOP members for their recent coronavirus positive tests.
She said she tested negative for COVID-19 on Jan. 4 at the White House and doesn't believe that healthy Americans should be forced to muzzle themselves with a mask.
The GOP's carnival of hypocrisy
https://edition.cnn.com/2021/01/13/opinions/impeachment-republican-hypocrisy-ghitis/index.html
If Republicans want healing and reconciliation, it may have something to do with the threats
they are receiving In what is the closest to a fascist tactic we have
seen in this godforsaken presidency. Republican Rep. Peter Meijer wrote in the Detroit News
of how one of his "profoundly shaken" colleagues had acknowledged after
last week's riot that voting to certify Biden's win was a
constitutional duty -- but instead voted to overturn the election result
for fear of endangering family members.
The
right way to heal those divisions, the right way to unite the country,
is to come together in repudiating the poisonous presidency of Donald
Trump. What better way to do that than by impeaching and convicting him?
Even if he completes the full four years of his term, Americans will
have formally declared his presidency a grave national error, telling
future generations -- and even current ones -- that Trump's values and
tactics are abhorrent to this nation.
That's
the way to achieve unity. The claims we're hearing that impeachment is
bad for healing are lies. They are a way to avoid responsibility, to
protect the President, to sweep the filth under the rug. At a time like
this, when the country should stand together, what America needs from
its leaders is courage, not hypocrisy.
Talking with women - prohibition
Nitai Gavriel (Chapter 50 Yichud page 325): Avos (1:5) A man should not have excessive idle conversation (sicha) with a woman. That is said in regards to one’s wife so even more so it applies to the wife of another.” Therefore when a man has no choice but to speak to a woman he should minimize it as much as possible. That is what the Derech Pekudecha (Mahartza Mudinov - Lo Saaseh 35:8) concluded. He said, “It is surprising that accomplished Torah scholars and G‑d fearing men are not careful of this prohibition which requires them to weigh precisely each word that they speak with a woman in order not to add even one unnecessary word. I personally could not find a legitimate justification for this behavior. However I provided some sort of rationale for it based on the Sefer Chasidim which is cited by the Beis Shmuel (E.H. 62:11). He says that at a wedding meal – if there are men and women together in a single room then the beracha of hasimcha b'miono should not be recited. That is because there is no true rejoicing in a place where the evil inclination operates freely. In fact I have not seen anyone who acts in accord with this ruling. I did find an explanation for this in the Levush who writes, ‘And now we are not careful to observe this ruling because it is normal for women to be frequently found together with men (e.g., business, professions, and stores). As a consequence of this reality, sinful thoughts when seeing women are not so prevalent as when the sexes were kept separate because they are viewed neutrally as one would view geese due to the constant habituation. Therefore since it has become normal to violate this concern – it is ignored .’ One must conclude according to this analysis that when a Jewish community is operating properly and livelihood is readily obtained you will not see a single woman outside the home because they are not involved in commerce. Consequently a man living in that community if he happens to see a woman – it is something extremely rare experience and therefore it will generate erotic thoughts and feelings. In contrast when the weight of exile is heavy and livelihood is difficult to obtain the women are involved in commerce and there is no novelty for a man to see women. Therefore he becomes habituated to the sight of a woman and doesn’t become sexually excited so much when he see one. Therefore if we see that habituation removes the problem of men having erotic thoughts from being with women, it should also apply to our case of excessive talking [and therefore when the norm is that men interact with women there should be no restriction on conversation.] We can answer this assertion by noting that it is clear that a man does not in fact get sexually aroused by excessive chatter because of habituation. Nevertheless despite the existence of habituation in conversation, it is clear that this leniency for habituation cannot be applied in the case of conversation. That is because excessive conversation is prohibited even with his wife with whom he is obviously habituated. That is because speaking and voice are considered sexual because they are mentioned in the Shir HaShirim (2:14), Your voice is sweet and Shir HaShirim (4:3), Your speech is pleasant (This is astounding! Is the ordinary voice of a women considered sexually arousing – isn’t it in fact only the singing voice? N.G.). It is possible that at the time when ordinary conversations with a woman were presumed to be prohibited because of sexual arousal that they made the decree to prohibit excessive talk even with one’s wife.
The Only Way to Wean America's Orthodox Jews Off Trumpism
The Capitol siege has, finally, triggered calls for soul-searching within an Orthodox community in lockstep with Trump. It will be hard work
Trump isolated and wallowing in self-pity in the White House, sources say
As President Trump made history tonight as the only US president to be impeached twice, one White House adviser said “everybody’s angry at everyone” inside the White House, with the President being upset because he thinks people aren’t defending him enough.
Wednesday, January 13, 2021
At the 11th hour, Trump hands Biden a whole new set of foreign policy headaches
https://edition.cnn.com/2021/01/13/world/trump-biden-taiwan-cuba-yemen-intl/index.html
His days as president of the United States may be numbered, but Donald Trump is going out of his way to light a string of wildfires for his successor to put out.
While
President-elect Joe Biden's immediate focus will likely be on the
troubled domestic situation, with the Covid-19 pandemic and the
political divide in the US, the Trump administration has also opted, as
part of its final act, to hand him a series of new international
diplomatic dilemmas. In some instances, these are life-or-death
situations.
Final days bring new urgency to Trump's desire to pardon himself and his children
https://edition.cnn.com/2021/01/12/politics/trump-pardons-children-attacks-capitol/index.html
CNN reported Monday
that Trump's White House Counsel Pat Cipollone and former Attorney
General Bill Barr warned him against pardoning himself, but advisors say
Trump may still do it, even though it would almost certainly be met
with lawsuits.
Presidential
pardon power is untested and sources say both Barr and Cipollone
thought it would be a bad idea for Trump to try to pardon himself. Barr
believes a 1974 Justice Department legal memo
finding that the president cannot pardon himself should stand, and
Cipollone has not asked the Justice Department Office of Legal Counsel
for a re-examination of the issue, according to two sources.
The
memo clearly states that under "the fundamental rule that no one may be
a judge in his own case, the President cannot pardon himself."
Trump's turbulent and lawless presidency will end with historic second impeachment
https://edition.cnn.com/2021/01/13/politics/donald-trump-impeachment-history-joe-biden/index.html
The
sole article of impeachment that the House is expected to pass
Wednesday charging Trump with high crimes and misdemeanors is damning.
Its simple clarity explains why this impeachment is no mere futile
partisan ritual in the waning days of the most aberrant presidency in
history.
"Donald
John Trump, by such conduct, has demonstrated that he will remain a
threat to national security, democracy, and the Constitution if allowed
to remain in office, and has acted in a manner grossly incompatible with
self-governance and the rule of law," the article reads
It
is an extraordinary mark of turbulent times and a lawless term that
Trump will become the first president to be impeached twice -- only 13 months after the House first resolved that his abuses of power merited removal from office.
The
idea that the rampage in which five people died was just a political
outburst that got out of control was debunked Tuesday by the serious
tone of a news conference held by the acting district attorney in
Washington.
A wife is acquired What does that mean?
Netziv (Meishiv Davar 4:35):Question: You asked a second time to discuss what does it mean that a man acquires (kinyan) a wife? Why and for what purpose is she acquired. This is that you wrote in the first letter in which you noted that according to the Torah a man makes no acquisition of the woman except in respect to intercourse – however aside from intercourse there is absolutely no acquisition. As a consequence if she makes a neder (vow) and says that she is prohibiting him from the pleasure of intercourse with her – there is no need to nullify the neder. But she can be pressured to have intercourse - in spite of the neder - because for that purpose she was acquired by her husband. Answer: This matter is very clear. This that it says in the Torah that the wife is kinyan kaspo (acquired with money) and also this that we find that the wife of a man is his slave and maidservant – the intent is clearly that she is like his slave and maidservant – but not literally so. Just as the work of a slave’s hand belongs to his master so is his wife regarding intercourse but not in any other aspect. A clear proof that a wife is not literally a slave to her husband is that our Sages say that according to the Torah, the work of her hands does not belong to her husband. But how do our Sages know this. Is it stated clearly in the Torah? But doesn't the Torah say that she is kinyan kaspo (acquired by money) which is the same description given for a slave and maidservant? So what is the source that her work does not belong to her husband? In fact let’s reverse the question, how do we know that his wife is obligated to him regarding intercourse and therefore cannot prohibit herself sexually to her husband. There is no problem if he was the one making the neder and said that he is prohibiting her from having intercourse with him. Of course the neder would not be valid because we have a clear Torah verse prohibiting him from diminishing her rights to sexual intercourse. And even according to the view that that verse is only talking about his obligation to cloth her, nevertheless the neder is still not valid because he is obligated to satisfy her sexually from a kal v’chomer. As we see in a braissa in the Mechilta (Shoftim). Rav Yonason said “she ‘era kesuba” is referring to clothing which is appropriate for her body. If she is young she should not be given clothing for an old person. Additionally that this verse can mean that she should not be given clothing for the summer in the winter and vice versa…. And how do we know that he needs to feed her?…How do we know intercourse?. There is a kal v’chomer. And those things which she didn’t get married for you cannot prevent her from having, those things for which she did marry to get she surely cannot be prevented from having. (I speak further about this in my sefer HaEmek She’ela (6:1). In contrast regarding the wife - she cannot withhold the pleasure of intercourse from the husband. So what is the source that says she is required to have intercourse with him? Perhaps it is from the fact that she is called “kinyan kaspo” (acquired with money) and that she is owned by the husband also in regard to everything else like his maidservant? But that is clearly not so and it is an elementary from the verse “When a man takes a wife”. Why does it end “And he has sexual relations with her” – and mentions nothing else? From this we learn that only for that particular aspect i.e., sexual intercourse she is acquired by him like a maidservant to serve him – but not for anything else….The kinyan (acquisition) of the man is only concerning the sexuality of wife. This is not a question regarding an unmarried woman according to the view of the Rambam who says it is prohibited to have intercourse with an unmarried woman. But even according to those who disagree with the Rambam – having intercourse with an unmarried women is only optional - but she is not obligated to have intercourse with him. And if he forces an unmarried woman to have intercourse – G-d forbid - then he is required to pay her for shame and degradation. Forcing an unmarried woman is like theft and like beating someone. In contrast his wife who is acquired by him – she is required to have intercourse with him any time he wants and if she does not do it willingly he is able to force her – just as a master who forces his maidservant to do who work. All of this is very clear and it isn’t worthwhile going over it again…. It is important to note that a man’s wife is acquired by him and also sanctified by him. It is important to understand that these two things are separate. Acquisition (kinyan) means that she is required to have intercourse with her husband just as a slave is required to do his work for his master. In contrast, kiddushin (sanctification) is like hekdesh i.e., she is prohibited to others. The significance of having two separate aspects is that from the point of view of the wife being acquired to her husband – it is considered theft if she gave her love to someone else and did nothing else. This would be like a slave who works for someone other than his master at a time when he had work to do for his master – this is pure theft. On the other hand purely from the point of view of acquisition, if her husband gave her permission to have intercourse with someone else it would be permitted – just as a slave who was permitted to work for someone else. Consequently that is why she is also sanctified (mekudeshesh) from which there is no escape except by receiving a Get from her husband or if he dies. However from the pure perspective of sanctification, I would not know that she has any obligation or that she is acquired by her husband. I would only know that she is prohibited to others through the sanctification. Consequently that is why she also has to be acquired. I have already written in the name of the Rambam that if one sanctifies an unborn baby that the kiddushin is valid and the baby is a married woman and is prohibited to others – but the baby is not also acquired by the husband. Consequently if a man sanctifies a woman who is prohibited to him by a negative commandment, she is definitely not acquired by him but she is in fact sanctified to him. Therefore anyone else who has intercourse with her is committing adultery…In summary, there is no doubt that a wife is only acquired (kinyan) by her husband concerning her sexuality and nothing else and there is no reason to repeat this again.
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