The Republican revolt against democracy, explained in 13 charts

 https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/22274429/republicans-anti-democracy-13-charts

The Republican Party is the biggest threat to American democracy today. It is a radical, obstructionist faction that has become hostile to the most basic democratic norm: that the other side should get to wield power when it wins elections.

A few years ago, these statements may have sounded like partisan Democratic hyperbole. But in the wake of the January 6 attack on the Capitol and Trump’s acquittal in the Senate on the charge of inciting it, they seem more a plain description of where we’re at as a country.

But how deep does the GOP’s problem with democracy run, really? How did things get so bad? And is it likely to get worse?

Lapid will be the first prime minister to participate in an LGBT event in Israel

 https://www.israelnationalnews.com/news/358540

Israeli Prime Minister Yair Lapid is expected to participate on Saturday evening in an event to mark the 20th anniversary of the establishment of the "Israel Gay Youth" organization, thus becoming the first Prime Minister in office to participate in an official LGBT event.

In the LGBT organizations, Prime Minister Lapid's participation in the LGBT event is considered nothing less than historic. "This is how history is made, in action," said the organization's CEO Ofer Neuman on Ynet

Ivermectin among drugs that failed avoiding hospitalization for COVID-19 patients - study

 https://www.jpost.com/health-and-wellness/coronavirus/article-715162

Ivermectin, the popular controversial COVID-19 drug, was roundly disavowed for treatment of the coronavirus by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) as well as the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). According to the FDA website, Ivermectin is used to treat or prevent parasites in animals and can be used to treat parasitic worms, lice and other skin conditions in humans. The formulations for animals are chemically distinct from those meant for humans.

The Fact And Fiction Of ‘Rigged Election’ Claims - prior to 2016 election

 https://www.wbur.org/onpoint/2016/10/18/election-2016-trump-rigged-election-fraud

Donald Trump warns that if he loses the election, it’s because it’s rigged. Trump claims that dead people will vote, that illegal immigrants are voting. It’s an unprecedented move by a presidential candidate: to claim a stolen election before it even happens. What does that mean for our democracy? And why do Trump’s claims resonate with so many of his supporters?  This hour On Point, Trump, rigged elections, clean elections and democracy. — Jane Clayson

POLITICO: Trump lashes out at Republicans for not buying election rigging line — "Donald Trump on Monday morning lashed out at Republican leaders, including House Speaker Paul Ryan, who have pushed back against the GOP nominee’s message that the election is being rigged against him. 'Of course there is large scale voter fraud happening on and before election day. Why do Republican leaders deny what is going on? So naive!' Trump tweeted."

Trump and the Truth: The “Rigged” Election

 https://www.newyorker.com/news/news-desk/trump-and-the-truth-the-rigged-election

“The election is going to be rigged—I’m going to be honest,” Donald Trump said to a rowdy crowd in August, at a rally in Columbus, Ohio. “People are going to walk in and they’re going to vote ten times, maybe,” Trump told an interviewer later. A few days afterward, in Pennsylvania, where Trump was then lagging by nine points in the polls, he warned supporters that “the only way we can lose . . . is if cheating goes on.” That week, a new page appeared on his campaign Web site, inviting concerned citizens to volunteer to be “Trump Election Observers” so that they could “help me stop Crooked Hillary from rigging this election!”

Trump has longstanding history of calling elections 'rigged' if he doesn’t like the results

 https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/trump-longstanding-history-calling-elections-rigged-doesnt-results/story?id=74126926

On election night in 2012, when President Barack Obama was reelected, Trump said that the election was a "total sham" and a "travesty," while also making the claim that the United States is "not a democracy" after Obama secured his victory.

Trump even wrote on Twitter, "We can't let this happen. We should march on Washington and stop this travesty. Our nation is totally divided!"

Florida GOP Candidate Says He'd Have Sent FBI Home 'In a Body Bag'- party of Law and Order

 https://www.newsweek.com/florida-gop-candidate-says-hed-have-sent-fbi-home-body-bag-1735400

"When they turned up at Mar-a-Lago and raided the home of President Trump, that was an assault on every one of the 75 million people that voted for Donald Trump. It was a assault on democracy," Hyde said.

"These people would stop at nothing. I wish they'd turn up at my home 'cause they'd have gone home in a body bag," he said.

US election 2016: Trump says election 'rigged at polling places'

 https://www.bbc.com/news/election-us-2016-37673797

Donald Trump has claimed for months that the election was rigged - but that message is now at the centre of his campaign just as his poll numbers begin to slump. And in doing so he hits at the very heart of American democracy - the idea that elections are free and fair.

How Donald Trump Lost Powerful Media Conservatives

 https://www.newsweek.com/how-donald-trump-lost-powerful-media-conservatives-1735129

Just this week both Fox News host Laura Ingraham and Infowars host Alex Jones signaled they had distanced themselves from Trump, though Jones was more direct in endorsing one of Trump's potential political rivals.

Talmud vs esoteric wisdom

 Zohar (1:27a) The study of the Talmud is bitter compared with that of the esoteric wisdom, of which it is said, “And God showed him a tree” this is a tree of life, and through it “the waters were sweetened”. Similarly of Moses it is written, “And the staff of God was in his hand.” This rod is Metatron, from one side of whom comes life and from the other death. When the rod remains a rod, it is a help from the side of good, and when it is turned into a serpent it is hostile,

This is from Soncino [Note: The Hebrew text of this page does not correspond entirely to the English translation.]

וְאִי עָבַר עַל אוֹרַיְיתָא אִתְשַׁקְיָין מִמְּרִירוּ דְאִילָנָא דְּרַע דְּאִיהוּ יֵצֶר הָרָע. וְכָל אֵבָרִין דְּאִנּוּן מֵד' יְסוֹדִין אִתְּמָר בְּהוֹן (שמות א׳:י״ד) וַיְמָרַרוּ אֶת חַיֵּיהֶם וְגו' וַיְמָרַרוּ בִּמְרִירוּ דְּמָרָה. וּלְגַבֵּי אֵבָרִין קַדִּישִׁין דְּגוּפָא דְּאִנּוּן מִסִּטְרָא דְטוֹב עֲלַיְיהוּ אִתְּמָר (שמות ט״ו:כ״ג) וַיָּבוֹאוּ מָרָתָה וְלֹא יָכְלוּ לִשְׁתּוֹת מַיִם מִמָּרָה וְגו'. כְּגַוְונָא דָא אָמְרוּ מָארֵי מַתְנִיתִין וַיְמָרַרוּ אֶת חַיֵּיהֶם בַּעֲבוֹדָה קָשָׁה בְּקוּשְׁיָא. בְּחוֹמֶר בְּקַל וָחוֹמֶר. וּבִלְבֵנִים בְּלִבּוּן הִלְכְתָא. וּבְכָל עֲבוֹדָה בַּשָּׂדֶה דָּא בָּרַיְיתָא. אֶת כָּל עֲבוֹדָתָם וְגו' דָּא מִשְׁנָה.

Pro-Trump wins in blue states leaves moderates skeptical of red wave

 https://www.foxnews.com/politics/pro-trump-wins-blue-states-leaves-moderates-skeptical-red-wave

Trump’s endorsement has catapulted several Republican candidates to primary wins across the country during the midterm cycle and he remains wildly popular with GOP voters but some Democrats and media outlets have claimed that putting him on the ballot in general elections gives Democrats a better chance of keeping control of Congress.

Self actualiztion - in Israel

Devarim (7:: 14.) You shall be blessed above all people; there shall not be male or female barren among you, or among your cattle.

Netziv עקר ועקרה. אנשים שאין בהם תועלת לעולם:

Pro-Trump wins in blue states threaten GOP hopes in November

 https://www.timesofisrael.com/pro-trump-wins-in-blue-states-threaten-gop-hopes-in-november/

“It can’t continue,” said former Connecticut US Representative Christopher Shays, a moderate Republican and Trump critic, referring to the GOP choosing pro-Trump candidates. “One of the things that will happen is that a lot of the Trump candidates who won the primary will lose the general election. And there are a lot of unhappy Republicans who hold office now who believe that the Senate now is in jeopardy of staying Democratic.”

Lock Trump Up Video Viewed More Than 1 Million Times

 https://www.newsweek.com/donald-trump-fbi-raid-lock-him-viral-video-meidastouch-1734805

"On political corruption, we are going to restore honor to our government," Trump said. "In my administration, I am going to enforce all laws concerning the protection of classified information. No one will be above the law."

‘Never in a Million Years’: Arizona Republicans Grapple with the Rising Fringe

 https://www.politico.com/news/magazine/2022/08/18/trumps-man-in-arizona-might-get-the-last-laugh-00052519

None have any political experience. But they have the main qualification that matters to the former president: They repeat the lie that the Arizona election was rigged against him. Every winning Republican candidate said they wouldn’t have certified the 2020 election. That means that as Trump gears up for a possible third run for the presidency, Arizona is facing the prospect of a slate of statewide officials who could steal the election for him. (Indeed, another victim of a Trump-backed primary was Rusty Bowers, the soft-spoken leader of the Arizona House who rebuffed Trump’s pressure campaign to overturn the state’s 2020 election results and testified to the January 6 committee.)

McConnell admits Democrats may hold the Senate, and the data backs it up

Wall Street Journal warns Liz Cheney's 'revenge' tour could 'divide' GOP and ruin Trump's 2024 chances

 https://www.foxnews.com/media/wall-street-journal-warns-liz-cheneys-revenge-tour-could-divide-gop-ruin-trumps-2024-chances

The board, however, did not go so far as to praise Cheney. It acknowledged she lost for a fair reason; her willingness to embrace the partisan January 6 Committee. Though it also maintained the lawmaker "is a conservative by any measure and she has the courage of her convictions."

The Wall Street Journal opened the column by summing up its nuanced perspective on Cheney, writing, "Liz Cheney lost her Republican primary in Wyoming Tuesday because she bravely stood up to the stolen-election falsehoods of Donald Trump. Liz Cheney lost the primary because she alienated too many Republicans by making common cause with Democrats like Rep. Adam Schiff."

Joe: I Plead With Republicans, Please Call Out Conspiracy Theories Against IRS

First Republicans attacked the FBI. Look who they're coming for now

 https://edition.cnn.com/2022/08/17/opinions/irs-taxes-funding-increase-inflation-reduction-87000-michel/index.html

Republicans have been making the scurrilous claim that the Biden administration aims to deploy a ramped-up "army" of IRS agents to target middle-income workers and small businesses. Nothing could be further from the truth. In fact, IRS Commissioner Charles Rettig -- who was appointed by former President Donald Trump -- said earlier this month that the agency will only be increasing audits of the wealthiest Americans.

THE GOP IS TRYING TO CONVINCE AMERICANS THE IRS IS COMING TO KILL THEM

 https://www.vanityfair.com/news/2022/08/gop-irs-agents-fear-tactics

Apparently not content to stop at unleashing paranoia-fueled violence on the Capitol and FBI agents doing their jobs, Republicans would now like people to believe that the number-crunchers at the IRS are going to start knocking down the middle class’s doors and murdering them for not paying taxes. As a result of the $80 billion in additional funding the Internal Revenue Service will receive as part of the Inflation Reduction Act. Yes, we wish we were joking. No, incredibly, we are not.

The new IRS employees: An 'army' or harmless programmers?

 https://www.reuters.com/world/us/republicans-call-it-an-army-irs-hires-will-replace-retirees-do-it-says-treasury-2022-08-19/

But the actual net staff increase would be far lower, as the IRS expects over 50,000 employees to retire over the next five years alone, said Natasha Sarin, Treasury counselor for tax policy and administration.

Claims that all 87,000 would be auditors, criminal enforcement agents or armed are "deeply dangerous nonsense - and false," Sarin told Reuters.

"The speed and voracity with which (Republicans) are coming at this is really a testament to how important these resources are going to be - because there are many wealthy tax evaders that stand to lose a lot," Sarin said.

If You Like the IRS, You’ll Love the Global Revenue Service

 https://www.wsj.com/articles/if-you-like-the-irs-youll-love-the-global-revenue-service-janet-yellen-treasury-inflation-reduction-act-tax-american-businesses-sovereignty-code-revenue-constitution-11660754243?mod=opinion_lead_pos7

As the Internal Revenue Service prepares to spend its $80 billion gift, Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen is working on global tax rules that would require a global revenue service. The overwhelmingly complex plan, which includes the global minimum tax, amounts to a new global tax code.

Antisemitic threats persist following the FBI’s search of Trump’s Mar-a-Lago

 https://www.timesofisrael.com/antisemitic-threats-persist-following-the-fbis-search-of-trumps-mar-a-lago/

The torrent of antisemitic vitriol against them have raised concerns that Trump’s base, which has already shown potential for violence, could channel that rhetoric into action.

Alex Jones Endorses 'Someone Way Better Than Trump' - rats deserting sinking ship

 https://www.newsweek.com/alex-jones-endorses-someone-way-better-trump-1734661

Infowars conspiracy theorist Alex Jones has stopped supporting former President Donald Trump, announcing he's backing Trump's potential 2024 presidential rival, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis.

Prohibition to return to Egypt was only temporary

 Rabbeinu Bachya (Devarim 17:16) “and the Lord has said to you: “you shall not return again on this way.” This commandment was valid only during the period when it was promulgated. It was intended to ensure that Israelites traveling to Egypt would not learn to copy the abominations practiced in that country as the Torah spells out in detail in Leviticus 18,3. This does not mean that there is a permanent prohibition for Jews to reside in Egypt. Had the Torah intended these words as a permanent prohibition it would be inconceivable that so many Torah scholars, pious individuals, made their home in Egypt after the destruction of the Temple. Even if individual Jews had ignored this prohibition and settled in Egypt, the sages would have spoken out against this and we would have records of their protest. The only people who were forbidden to dwell in Egypt were Jews who left the land of Israel to do so. 

What Cheney won: Liz Cheney, roundly defeated in her Wyoming primary, has done a service to the nation

https://www.nydailynews.com/opinion/ny-edit-what-cheney-won-20220817-djuy77r6ufdsplywoao23tzpgq-story.html 

Liz Cheney didn’t survive the Republican primary judgment of 170,000 Wyomingites, who more than two to one backed an election-results-denying lawyer over the GOP elected official who has led the charge to expose and condemn Donald Trump’s attempts to steal the presidency from Joe Biden. But in doing this necessary work, Cheney has earned the thanks of 330 million Americans, including the 28% of adults who identify as Republicans. The only way forward for the party and the nation is biting the wound and extracting the poison of the snake.

You don’t have to be a spy to violate the Espionage Act – and other crucial facts about the law Trump may have broken

 https://theconversation.com/you-dont-have-to-be-a-spy-to-violate-the-espionage-act-and-other-crucial-facts-about-the-law-trump-may-have-broken-188708

But spy cases are rare. More typically, as in the Trump investigation, the act applies to the unauthorized gathering, possessing or transmitting of certain sensitive government information.

Current claims by Trump supporters of the seemingly innocuous nature of the conduct at issue – simply possessing sensitive government documents – miss the point. The driver of the Department of Justice’s concern under Section 793 is the sensitive content and the connection to national defense information, known as “NDI.”

One theory floated by Trump defenders is that by simply handling the materials as president, Trump could have effectively declassified them. It actually doesn’t work that way – presidential declassification requires an override of Executive Order 13526, must be in writing, and must have occurred while Trump was still president – not after. If they had been declassified, they should have been marked as such.

Trump Raid Documents Could Reveal Informants on U.S. Payroll

 https://www.newsweek.com/exclusive-trump-raid-documents-could-reveal-intel-sources-us-payroll-1733230

In the aftermath of the search, the Trump camp insists that President Trump had the right to declassify information, and thus none of the records were classified. Kash Patel, a Trump loyalist who served in intelligence and defense positions in the administration (and who also identifies himself as one of Donald Trump's representatives to the National Archives), told the Just The News podcast that Trump was the "ultimate arbiter" of the classification of a document and thus there could be no wrongdoing.

That characterization is incorrect, experts say, because documents that are covered by statute, and not classified under presidential executive order, cannot be classified or declassified by the president. That includes nuclear secrets (under the Atomic Energy Act) and documents that might identify CIA case officers or agents (under the Intelligence Identities Protection Act of 1982). The Washington Post has reported that the documents sought at Mar-a-Lago related to nuclear weapons.

Cheney to launch anti-Trump organization after primary defeat

 https://www.politico.com/news/2022/08/17/cheney-launch-anti-trump-organization-after-defeat-00052344

The new group, which will serve as Cheney’s (R-Wyo.) primary political vehicle as she considers whether to run for president in 2024, does not have an official name yet. An informed guess: The Great Task, which was the name of Cheney’s final ad of the campaign. The phrase is from the last sentence of the Gettysburg Address, and Cheney also referenced it in her concession speech from Jackson, Wyo., on Tuesday night.

Liz Cheney Primary Loss Could Be Her Biggest 2024 Boost Yet: Experts

 https://www.newsweek.com/liz-cheney-primary-loss-could-her-biggest-2024-boost-yet-experts-1734243

But while Cheney was unseated, her primary loss is unlikely to be the deathblow that the former president is hoping it will be. Republican strategist Alex Patton told Newsweek that the loss elevates Cheney to the "bonafide leader of the resistance" while also raising her national profile.

Republican strategist Jay Townsend told Newsweek that Cheney's courage to break away from the pack has helped her stand out "in the ocean of cowards populating the Republican caucus in Congress." He said that regardless of Tuesday's defeat, "history will someday regard her as one of the greatest heroes of our time" and that she'll be remembered for her conviction in refusing to back down to Trump and his congressional loyalists.

L Ron Hubbard | Life & Death | Mental Health & Personality

8

FBI Sought Documents Trump Hoarded for Years, Including about Russiagate

 https://www.newsweek.com/fbi-sought-documents-trump-hoarded-years-including-about-russiagate-1734280

The two U.S. officials with direct knowledge of the situation tell Newsweek that while some of the intelligence documents might have dealt with nuclear weapons, that was not the main focus. "Donald Trump kept documents that interested him," one of those officials says, "sometimes Iranian or North Korean nukes, sometimes Ukraine or Russia, some foreign leaders." It wasn't the subject matter per se that was of interest to Justice as it was fear that Trump might "weaponize" the information, including for personal gain, the official says.

"Trump was particularly interested in matters related to the Russia hoax and the wrong-doings of the deep state," one former Trump official tells Newsweek. "I think he felt, and I agree, that these are facts that the American people need to know." The official says Trump may have been planning to use them as part of a 2024 run for the presidency.

The high-level U.S. government officials explain that it was not necessarily the classification level of the documents nor even their subject matter that investigators were focused on.

Yad Moshe Hebrew

 Just was informed that the reprinting will soon be completed

Cheney told supporters after losing Wyoming GOP primary

Trump is Democrat mole destroying the Republoican party

 Trump has convinced Republican voters to select candidates primarily on the basis of whether they support his election lies . Which should lead to massive defeats in general elections

https://edition.cnn.com/2022/08/16/politics/wyoming-alaska-primary-election-takeaways/index.html

Trump and his allies have spent the spring and summer turning Republican primaries across the political map into bitter fights in which loyalty to the former President was the central factor.

Trump-allied lawyers sought to copy voting machine data in key battleground states

Insiders say Trump is panicking as Kushner and Melania pointed to as possible moles in FBI raid

 https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/us-politics/donald-trump-fbi-raid-melania-b2143194.html

“We knew that Donald Trump would try to gaslight the entire country and try to psychologically destabilize the minute this raid happened,” Mr Wilson said on MSNBC. “We knew he would immediately start lying and they would immediately try to tell an alternate narrative of why it’s happening and why it’s really happening. And we wanted to immediately push back. And something we’re good at — which is getting inside his decision cycle and getting inside his head space and pushing back in a way that we’ve been very, very successful in the past.”

Social Media, Politicians Make Unfounded Claims of Politicized Mar-a-Lago Search

 https://www.factcheck.org/2022/08/social-media-politicians-make-unfounded-claims-of-politicized-mar-a-lago-search/

And, although a minor point, Travis is wrong about the claim that Biden has “the lowest approval ratings in our lives.” According to polling data compiled by the Roper Center for Public Opinion Research, the president with the lowest approval rating in the last 20 years was George W. Bush, who had a 19% approval rating at the end of his second term as the country was sinking into a recession. Trump had the next-to-lowest approval rating — 29% — at the end of his only term, as he was trying to overturn the results of the election he had just lost. Biden comes in third, with a recent approval rating of 31%

Chris Hayes - variety of Trump's excuses

'Pretty much BS': Ex-CIA director rebuts Trump's claim about documents

‘A complete fiction’: Bolton on Trump defense

The Lessons of History | Will and Ariel Durant | Book Summary

Trump compares himself to Elvis, memes ensue

Donald Trump compares himself to Elvis Presley, says he doesn't want to sound 'very conceited'

 https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2018/11/26/donald-trump-compares-himself-elvis-presley/2120211002/

Trump told the crowd at an airport rally that he didn't want to sound "very conceited," but people used to tell him he rather resembled Elvis back when he was younger.

"Other than the blond hair, when I was growing up they said I looked like Elvis," Trump said. "Can you believe it? I always considered that a great compliment."

On the Ground With the QAnon Believers Who Flocked to Dallas for the Grand Return of JFK Jr.

 https://www.rollingstone.com/culture/culture-news/qanon-kennedy-jfk-jr-dealey-plaza-dallas-1251929/

The renaissance of JFK Jr. is an increasingly popular cornerstone of the QAnon conspiracy theory, though it has historically been something of a fringe belief in the movement. The theory postulates that JFK Jr. has been in hiding for years and will eventually reveal himself as Trump’s running mate for the 2024 election, a belief that stems from a poster claiming to be JFK Jr. who contributed to an 8chan thread in 2018. Some proponents of the theory also believe that Vincent Fusca, a former sales manager in Pittsburgh, is secretly JFK Jr. in disguise, despite the fact that Fusca is inches shorter (and honestly, considerably less good-looking) than John F. Kennedy Jr. QAnon influencer Juan O. Savin has also been “suspected” to be JFK Jr. in “disguise.” Platforms like Etsy and Amazon have also been called out for selling merch promoting the idea that JFK Jr. is still alive and will return as Trump’s running mate, and many supporters at the Dealey Plaza event were photographed wearing such merch.

Trump drops repeated threat to jail Clinton: 'She went through a lot' - hypocritical Republicans never complained that Trump was politizing the DOJ

 https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2016/nov/22/donald-trump-hillary-clinton-investigation-jail-dropped

But the dramatic climbdown earned the wrath of conservatives who had pushed hard for Clinton’s prosecution. Tom Fitton, president of Judicial Watch, said: “If Mr Trump’s appointees continue the Obama administration’s politicized spiking of a criminal investigation of Hillary Clinton, it would be a betrayal of his promise to the American people to ‘drain the swamp’ of out-of-control corruption in Washington, DC.

A brief history of Trump’s calls for Clinton to be investigated

https://thehill.com/homenews/administration/358772-timeline-trump-calls-for-clinton-to-be-investigated/

President Trump raised eyebrows and concerns this week when he publicly pressured the Department of Justice to investigate his former 2016 presidential rival Hillary Clinton in what critics think looks like an effort to deflect attention from special counsel Robert Mueller’s deepening probe into alleged ties between the Trump campaign and Russia.

Trump’s already critical rhetoric toward his own attorney general and Justice Department has increased since he took office. He has referred to the Justice Department as a “laughing stock” and a “joke.” Much of his criticism seems to stem from his belief the department is not focusing its investigations.

GOP contorts itself in defense of Trump as new FBI search details emerge

https://www.politico.com/news/2022/08/12/gop-contorts-itself-in-defense-of-trump-as-new-fbi-search-details-emerge-00051418

While some GOP lawmakers acknowledged Friday that a scenario in which Trump withheld nuclear-related documents would be problematic, House Republican leaders are still rallying behind him and suggesting without evidence that President Joe Biden sought to weaponize DOJ against a political rival.

Rep. Elise Stefanik of New York, the House GOP Conference chair, accused Biden and his appointees of “complete abuse and overreach of [their] authority” and “targeting their political opponents,” adding that Trump is Biden’s “likeliest” opponent in the 2024 presidential election.

Donald Trump Highlights 'Voting Surge' Among Red Wave After FBI Raid

 https://www.newsweek.com/donald-trump-voting-surge-red-wave-gop-mar-lago-fbi-raid-1733904

Donald Trump has claimed the Republicans could win "many additional seats, both in the House & Senate" as a result of the FBI's raid on his Florida residence.

SHAIMOS GUIDELINES By: Rabbi Moshe Heinemann

https://www.star-k.org/articles/kashrus-kurrents/4476/shaimos-guidelines/

 NEWSPAPERS, MAGAZINES AND TAPES

Newspapers and magazines which contain secular information should not be put into shaimos as they degrade the real shaimos that are buried with them, especially if the advertisements and pictures are not within the spirit of the Torah. The pages that do contain Torah may be removed and placed into shaimos if the other side of that page also contains Torah or is blank. Alternatively, the whole paper may be put into a bag which should then be put into another bag so that the paper is double wrapped, known as kli besoch kli. It can then be placed into the garbage or into recycling. Missionary material that contains pesukim may be burnt or double wrapped and discarded.

Tapes and CD’s containing divrei Torah and shiurim may be disposed of after they have been double wrapped in plastic.

*In the above cases, the shaimos or divrei Torah may be cut away from the paper and buried if so desired.

Espionage Isn’t the Strongest Case Against Trump. It’s Simpler Than That.

 https://www.politico.com/news/magazine/2022/08/14/trump-classified-documents-doj-opinion-00051584

Despite Trump’s insistence that if the government wanted the records back, “all they had to do was ask,” the government repeatedly asked for the records and Trump refused to give them back, giving them only “what he believed they were entitled to.” Although Trump may believe that highly classified defense secrets are his own personal property, or that he could keep Top Secret documents because he informally “declassified” them without following established procedures, it will be difficult to convince jurors that he had a legitimate reason to keep such sensitive national security information at his Florida resort.

Republicans pressure Garland as intrigue deepens over search of Trump home

 https://edition.cnn.com/2022/08/15/politics/republicans-garland-trump-home-search-analysis/index.html

Presidents do have substantial powers to declassify information. But ex-presidents do not. And there is so far no clear evidence of any process undertaken by Trump to officially declassify the documents when he was in office. And even if the material was declassified, possible lax storage arrangements at his residence could still have posed a national security threat. Furthermore, none of the three laws cited in the criminal warrant solely hinge on whether information was deemed to be unclassified, which may make the declassification point somewhat irrelevant anyway.

It is also unclear why an ex-President needed such information.

"What was the motivation for accumulating them, moving them to Mar-a-Lago?" James Clapper, a former director of national intelligence, said on CNN's "Newsroom" on Saturday. "I don't understand what the purpose was. I mean, you know, the imagination can run wild here as to what the potential purpose or motivations might have been."