There Are No Trump Mysteries

https://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2019/05/08/trump-tax-lowry-226864

The surprise about the big New York Times story on Donald Trump’s tax returns is that there are no real surprises.

Trump’s taxes have been an obsession of the left since he, in violation of a long-standing and worthwhile norm, reneged on his promise to release his returns during the 2016 presidential campaign.Pieces were written urging some brave whistleblower to come forward with them. Rachel Maddow excitedly broadcast leaked (and not particularly shocking) returns from 2005, presumed to be a mere appetizer. Democrats counted as one of the advantages of taking the House that they could use an obscure law to demand the returns. Indeed, the dispute resulting from the administration’s refusal to turn them over is probably headed to the Supreme Court.

All the while, the expectation, or at least the suspicion, is that the returns contained some awful secret, perhaps evidence that he is a tool of the Russians.

And here, the Times has obtained Trump’s tax information spanning a decade from the mid-1980s to mid-1990s, and the revelation is that he wasn’t doing as well as he said in public, lost a boatload of money in a period that nearly destroyed him, and made aggressive use of any tax advantage available to him.

In other words, exactly what anyone paying any attention, and not beholden to perfervid conspiracy theories, would have expected.

Yes, the amount of the reported loss, $1.17 billion is remarkable (although as Josh Barro of New York magazine points out, is surely inflated for tax purposes). Some of the details, especially Trump reporting a bigger loss than nearly any other taxpayer in this period, are memorable.

Surely, Trump doesn’t like having all the particulars extensively on the record and publicly discussed and mocked, but can anyone say that they are surprised?

Even some of Trump’s alleged obstruction, which you’d expect to involve back-channel scheming (and there was certainly that), was out in the open.

He pressured Jeff Sessions in public to unrecuse. He publicly called Michael Cohen a rat. He told Lester Holt on a TV news broadcast that he fired James Comey because of the Russia investigation (specifically that it didn’t have anything to do with him). And he’s made no secret that he yearns for an attorney general who will protect him.

You can add lurid details to this basic picture, and Robert Mueller did, but it’s hard to find a game-changer.

None of this is to defend or excuse Trump’s business practices and accounting, or his conduct in office. It is merely to say that he’s an extravagantly known quantity, and will likely win or lose in 2020 based on what we already know rather than the fruits of further investigation and fact-finding. 

the Balfour Declaration Rabbi Berel Wein

'FIGHT ZIONISM,' SAYS SHEIKH AT CALIF. U'S ANTI-OPPRESSION WEEK

jpost

A sermon to "fight Zionism" preached by Sheikh Osman Umarji concluded the Muslim Student Union's (MSU) Anti-Oppression Week event at the University of California, Irvine (UCI).

The Anti-Oppression Week was an event organized by the Muslim Student Union at UCI, aimed at supporting the Palestinians against the state of Israel.

The Rabbi and the Professor

aish

One of the regular participants was a professor at the Hebrew University, Robert J. (Yisrael) Aumann. Once a promising yeshiva student, he had eventually decided to pursue a career in academia, but made his weekly participation in Rav Gustman's shiur part of his schedule, along with many other more or less illustrious residents of Rechavia and Jerusalem.

The year was 1982. Once again, Israel was at war. Soldiers were mobilized, reserve units activated. Among those called to duty was a Reserves soldier, a university student who made his living as a high school teacher: Shlomo Aumann, Professor Yisrael Aumann's son. On the eve of the 19th of Sivan, in particularly fierce combat, Shlomo fell in battle.

Rav Gustman mobilized his yeshiva: All of his students joined him in performing the mitzvah of burying the dead. At the cemetery, Rav Gustman was agitated: He surveyed the rows of graves of the young men, soldiers who died defending the Land. On the way back from the cemetery, Rav Gustman turned to another passenger in the car and said, "They are all holy." Another passenger questioned the rabbi: "Even the non-religious soldiers?" Rav Gustman replied: "Every single one of them." He then turned to the driver and said, "Take me to Professor Aumann's home."

The family had just returned from the cemetery and would now begin the week of shiva -- mourning for their son, brother, husband and father. (Shlomo was married and had one child. His widow, Shlomit, gave birth to their second daughter shortly after he was killed.)

Rav Gustman entered and asked to sit next to Professor Aumann, who said: "Rabbi, I so appreciate your coming to the cemetery, but now is time for you to return to your Yeshiva." Rav Gustman spoke, first in Yiddish and then in Hebrew, so that all those assembled would understand:

"I am sure that you don't know this, but I had a son named Meir. He was a beautiful child. He was taken from my arms and executed. I escaped. I later bartered my child's shoes so that we would have food, but I was never able to eat the food -- I gave it away to others. My Meir is a kadosh -- he is holy -- he and all the six million who perished are holy."

Rav Gustman then added: "I will tell you what is transpiring now in the World of Truth in Gan Eden -- in Heaven. My Meir is welcoming your Shlomo into the minyan and is saying to him ‘I died because I am a Jew -- but I wasn't able to save anyone else. But you -- Shlomo, you died defending the Jewish People and the Land of Israel.' My Meir is a kadosh, he is holy -- but your Shlomo is a Shaliach Zibbur – a Cantor in that holy, heavenly minyan."

Rav Gustman continued: "I never had the opportunity to sit shiva for my Meir; let me sit here with you just a little longer."

Professor Aumann replied, "I thought I could never be comforted, but Rebbi, you have comforted me."

I heard a slightly different version from one of my sons who heard it from his yeshiva rebbe who said he was there when Rav Gustman spoke

he said that Rav Gustman said that his son had come to in a dream the night before urging his father to be menachem avel because he had been reincarnated as th son who had been killed in battle

Ancient Stone Tablet Suggests The Bible Got Something Right

.iflscience

Archaeologists have recently noted an inscribed tablet dating from the 9th century BCE, known as the Mesha Stele, might contain the name of Balak. The stone, which has been heavily chipped and cracked over the centuries, is written in the ancient language of Moabite. Dating back to 840 BCE, the black basalt stone was unearthed around the ruins of the biblical town of Dibon in present-day Jordan in the 1800s. It’s now held in the Louvre art museum in Paris, although Jordan has demanded its return.

Its 34 surviving lines tell the story of how King Mesha of Moab triumphed over the Kingdom of Israel. In fact, it is also one of four known contemporary inscriptions containing the name of Israel. Reporting in Tel Aviv: The Journal of the Institute of Archaeology of Tel Aviv University, archaeologists are now unsure about whether conventional interpretations may have mistranslated the name of a monarch in Line 31. Previously it was assumed to read “House of David,” but the researchers now cautiously argue it could actually read “Balak.”

The confusion is largely due to the crumbling condition of the Mesha Stele. So, the researchers used new high-resolution photographs of the stone that better highlight the original lettering. The new images appear to show that the name on Line 31 has three consonants, the first of which is the Hebrew letter "beth," which sounds like "B." The team can't be too certain this correspondents to Balek, however, this king was mentioned as being a rival of Mesha.

If their hypothesis is on the money, this would be the first reference to Balak outside of the Bible, suggesting he was a real historical figure.

AS MEASLES CASES CLIMB, OUR MISSION IS CLEAR: TAKE DOWN THE THREE-HEADED ANTI-VAX MONSTER | OPINION

https://www.newsweek.com/measles-anti-vaccination-anti-vaxxers-misinformation-monster-1420977

Finally, there is a new and scary element to the anti-vaccine movement in which some of its national leaders or organizations appear to have targeted specific ethnic groups to flood them with misinformation through pamphlets, teleconferences and hotlines.  This development may explain the recent measles outbreak in New York among the Orthodox Jewish community, resulting in many hospitalizations and sending at least six patients to intensive care.

Taking down the triple-headed American antivax monster will be a formidable task. To begin, I’ve written a book, Vaccines Did Not Cause Rachel’s Autism, to counter the misinformation. Unfortunately, even with measles returning, as a nation we’ve not shown much appetite for standing up to the antivaccine movement or its leadership. The media empire is still mostly intact and the PACs are as active as ever.

Trump ‘Quote’ Originated as Satire

https://www.factcheck.org/2019/05/trump-quote-originated-as-satire/

Quick Take

President Donald Trump didn’t call for the “death penalty” for “suicide bombers,” as social media posts say. That’s a made-up quote from a satirical story published in 2017.

Israel's 71st Independence Day: 'We Love Israel'

http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/262915

Judge Andrew Napolitano: Did Attorney General William Barr deceive Congress?

foxnews

William Barr, the attorney general of the United States, now faces a likely contempt citation for failing to comply with a congressional subpoena and for misleading Congress. This is about the Mueller investigation of Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election. Isn't the investigation now complete? How did the attorney general's veracity become an issue and thereby extend the life of the investigation?

Barr knows the DOJ is not in the business of exonerating the people it investigates. Yet he proclaimed in his letter that Trump had been exonerated. When the report revealed 127 communications between Russian agents and Trump campaign officials in a 16-month period, and the expectations of those officials of the release of Hillary Clinton's hacked emails, that is hardly an exoneration.

Was Barr's testimony before Congress deceptive? In a word: Yes.

Guest Post -Who Will Daven Here

One of the Shuls in this community put out a letter on the vaccination issue.

The letter said that unvaccinated children may not enter the Shul building. The letter was signed by both the rabbi and president of the Shul.

A friend with a young family confided his concern over this policy. He felt the policy to ban unvaccinated childten was detrimental to his family.

The issue is not whether his kids are vaccinated or not. The man is not concerned per se that anyone's kids can or can't attend services at the Shul.

The concern is this: say a family has unvaccinated kids. Say a friend of the family is getting married. There may be a Kiddush or two in honor of the marriage at the Shul. The wedding may be at the Shul.

Kids in an unvaccinated family would not be able to attend those events.

In summary, every Shul has the right and obligation to set hygienic standards. But in the process of banning unvaccinated kids, the kids are essentially banned not only from the Shul but from the Jewish community.

Now, if the case for vaccinating all kids was a slam dunk, we'd have nothing more to discuss on the subject. But the situation is more nuanced than that. Not every argument the anti-vaxers make is right; but neither are their concerns all unfounded.

I've coined a term for places that ban the unvaccinated. "Unvaxenrein" (oon-VAX-in-ryn) means free, pure, cleansed of the unvaccinated.

I note that not one case of measles has been reported to my knowledge in the Greater Washington DC area.

People with colds and the flu are not banned. People diagnosed with HIV are not banned. People who speak Lashon Hara are not banned. Yet there is more evidence of the ability of these things to infect people than there is from any illness someone unvaccinated is likely to contract at this time and place.

trump and demoxracy

As democracy is perfected, the office of President represents, more and more closely, the inner soul of the people. On some great and glorious day, the plain folks of the land will reach their heart's desire at last and the White House will be adorned by a downright moron.

-H.L. Mencken,1920

Divine Providence and a Big Question: If God Was Behind the Election of Donald Trump, Is He a Cyrus (Deliverer) or Nebuchadnezzar (Agent of Judgment)?

charismanews

Another interesting thing about Trump and unlikely agents who lead wise men to Bethlehem is the mysterious and metaphysical logic some currently share involving God's possible providence in the arrival of Trump as a "savior" figure. Nowhere is this language more pronounced than in the Holy Land itself, where several respected rabbis and kabbalists have insinuated that America's new president is a forerunner of Messiah and the final redemption.

"Donald Trump (424) is the Gematria of 'Messiah for the House of David' (משיח בן דוד)," wrote Adam Eliyahu Berkowitz for Breaking Israel News on May 16, 2016. "That is not to say that Donald Trump is the Messiah, but that his presidency will usher in the Messianic era."

Others, including Rabbi Matityahu Glazerson, who accurately predicted the Trump victory before the election using Bible Codes, have chimed in. He found various connections between Trump and "moshiach" (Messiah) in the codes, which in Hebrew means "anointed" and led Glazerson to conclude his election is connected to the coming of Messiah.

Rabbi Hillel Weiss is a Trump-Messiah-connection believer too, and he also sees in the president the agent of God's favor for building the third temple, another Cyrus linking.

And then there is the Sanhedrin in Israel, the nascent tribunal who has styled itself after the Second Temple-era Jewish court. This body has sent letters to Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin, asking them to join forces to build the third temple for Messiah.

Professor Weiss is a spokesman for the Sanhedrin and notes how Donald Trump made support for Israel and recognition of Jerusalem as their capital part of public discourse during 2016. Combining that with Putin's expressed opinion that the third temple ought to be built caused him to say that both men should do what King Cyrus did 2,500 years ago and build the religious complex for the benefit of all Jews and the world. "We are poised to rebuild the temple," Weiss said, and "the leaders of Russia and America can lead the nations of the world to global peace through building the temple, the source of peace."

Rabbi Yosef Berger, who oversees King David's tomb in Jerusalem, takes it a step farther. He believes Trump actually won the election through "the power of Moshiach [Messiah], which gave him the boost he needed" and is "connected to the Messianic process which is happening right now."