Saturday, August 31, 2019
Friday, August 30, 2019
James Comey helped save democracy when he wrote his memos
https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2019/08/29/james-comey-helped-save-democracy-when-he-wrote-his-memos/
Okay, so former FBI director James B. Comey failed to dot his i’s and cross his t’s in creating and retaining memos detailing his private conversations with President Trump during the months between Trump’s inauguration and his sacking of Comey on May 9, 2017.
The report issued on Thursday by Justice Department Inspector General Michael Horowitz found that Comey broke no laws and did not release any classified information.
But Horowitz took Comey to task for retaining the memos rather than leaving them with the FBI when he departed. The inspector general concluded that the memos were “public records,” not personal documents, as Comey had argued.
Horowitz also larded his report with civics lessons on the rule of law and the “dangerous example” in Comey’s failure to strictly follow FBI guidelines concerning the handling of government records. There is a strong sensation of outrage in the Horowitz report, which the New York Times characterized as “blistering.”
New IG report rebukes Comey — and debunks Trump's lies
But the report also discloses that the FBI has declined to prosecute Comey for these violations, and — notably — it says there is “no evidence” that he or his attorneys leaked classified information.
That last point is key, because Trump has accused Comey of exactly that, and repeatedly — at least 10 times over two years, according to a review of Trump’s comments.
“James Comey leaked CLASSIFIED INFORMATION to the media,” Trump tweeted July 10, 2017, shortly after news broke of the leak. “That is so illegal!”
New: Translation of Vayoel Moshe!
https://www.dropbox.com/s/rjm328cgza96vpd/Hakdama%20Vyoel%20Moshe%20In%20English.pdf?dl=0
In connection with the yahrtzeit
of the Satmar Rebbe zy"a this week
we are sending around
this new English translation
of the Hakdama to Vayoel Moshe.
(The translation of the whole sefer
is currently a work in progress.)
Feel free to print and distribute everywhere.
To contribute and take part in the mitzvah
of spreading the Rebbe's works
and the true Torah view on Zionism
NY county’s Republican ad warns of a Hasidic ‘takeover’
https://www.timesofisrael.com/ny-countys-republican-ad-warns-of-a-hasidic-takeover/
Facebook campaign ad from a US Republican branch has been slammed as anti-Semitic and “deeply disturbing.”
Titled “A storm is brewing in Rockland,” the video by an upstate New York county’s Republican Party took aim at the large and growing Hasidic Jewish community in the county, the specter of “overdevelopment” and a proposed yeshiva campus.
The video, which appeared to have been removed on Thursday morning, features menacing music, the slogan “If They Win, We Lose” and a warning that “they” will “change our way of life.”
Trump’s Steel Industry Claims
https://www.factcheck.org/2019/08/trumps-steel-industry-claims/
Summary
To hear President Donald Trump tell the story of the U.S. steel industry, it went from “dead” or “going out of business” to “thriving” all because of the 25% tariffs on imported steel he instituted in March 2018. While the tariffs have benefited U.S. steel producers, the reality of the impact isn’t that stark.
Domestic prices went up, for instance, but are now back down below the level they were when Trump was inaugurated. Production has gone up, too, but has been higher as recently as 2014. While the industry has announced several new investments, it’s simply not true that a new mill hadn’t been built in “30 years,” as the president wrongly claimed. Steel and iron mill jobs have increased, but they’re below the pre-Great Recession level. And technology has been a major factor affecting the long-term jobs decline.
Below, we’ll look at several claims Trump has made about the steel industry in recent months and how they measure up to the facts.
In late March 2018, Trump instituted the 25% tariffs on imported steel, and 10% tariffs on aluminum, with temporary exemptions for some countries, using his authority under Section 232 of the Trade Expansion Act. As required by the act, the Commerce Department had determined that the imports threatened national security. Two months later, he permanently exempted Argentina, Brazil and South Korea from the steel tariffs, with quotas on imports instead. Australia was also exempted, without a quota. In August 2018, Trump increased the tariff on steel from Turkey to 50%.
This year, in May, Trump lifted the tariffs on Canada and Mexico, and lowered the tariff on Turkey back to 25%. U.S. companies also have received exclusions on certain imports.
Thursday, August 29, 2019
Trump Reacts To Justice Department Finding James Comey Violated FBI Policy
https://www.huffpost.com/entry/trump-responds-james-comey-fbi-memos_n_5d67e1f0e4b022fbceb797ac
President Donald Trump on Thursday welcomed parts of a report by the Justice Department’s inspector general that concluded former FBI Director James Comey had violated FBI policies in his handling of certain memos regarding his interactions with the president.
While ignoring parts of the report that refute his own repeated claims, Trump said the IG’s findings leave Comey “thoroughly disgraced and excoriated”:
How Sherlock Holmes’ Creator Saved the ‘Scottish Dreyfus’
https://www.haaretz.com/jewish/news/.premium-how-sherlock-holmes-creator-saved-the-scottish-dreyfus-1.6513947
Oscar Slater had all the characteristics needed to become a “suspect” of a heinous crime. He was Jewish, German, an immigrant and a gambler. His police file included complaints about assault under aggravated circumstances, he changed his name several times and hung around with dubious underworld characters. There were also rumors that he was a pimp.
FOX NEWS' SHEPARD SMITH SHREDS TRUMP OVER FALSE CLAIMS ABOUT BORDER WALL, PUERTO RICO: 'THERE'S NO NEW WALL... NOT TRUE'
Fox News anchor Shepard Smith on Wednesday called out Donald Trump's false claims about the southern U.S.-Mexico border wall and Puerto Rico after the president lashed out at the network.
During a segment on Shepard Smith Reporting on Wednesday afternoon, the Fox News host fact-checked Trump's recent claims about Puerto Rico. "President Trump is calling the island one of the most corrupt places on earth. He added [on Twitter] that 'by the way, I'm the best thing that's ever happened to Puerto Rico.' Those are opinions as opposed to facts," he said.
Smith went on to declare that Trump also "repeated his false claims" about the $92 billion aid that Puerto Rico has received, citing a tweet the president posted yesterday.
"That is decidedly not true," Smith said in response. "We checked with sources including the Federal Emergency Management Agency, or FEMA. The latest numbers show that as of the end of June, the federal government has allocated $42.7 billion for Puerto Rico... About $21 billion is binding. In other words, Congress has to pay it. Of that, Puerto Rico has received less than $14 billion. So $14 billion or less. Not $92 billion."
Wednesday, August 28, 2019
ALH Report #2 (28 Aug.)"Violating the Vineyard?
BS"D "Violating the Vineyard?"
27 Menachem Av, 5779 °° Wednesday, Aug. 28, '19
Parshas Re'aih, "Lo sish'mah ... kee m'naseh HaShem Elokaichem Es'chem laDa'as haYish'chem Ohahavim es HaShem Elokaichem b'Chol levav'chem u'v'chol naf'shechem." (Devarim 13:4)
By Binyomin Feinberg, Jewish Press contributor*
* Opinions and perspectives expressed herein do not necessarily reflect those of the ownership or management of The Jewish Press.
"I will violate (or "desecrate" / "profane" - "A'challail") the Vineyard - and I'll start with your daughter."
Venture to guess who made that statement - to an Orthodox Jewish mother - about her devoutly religious, and precocious 17-year-old daughter. A Cossack band leader? An SS Lieutenant? A member of the Soviet Politburo? No; reportedly, it was Keren L., an officer in the Israeli military Draft Office, in February of this year.
Keren evidently made that statement in response to the refusal of the girl's mother to allow her daughter, Avigail, to submit to the IDF's female draft. Female enlistment into the IDF is forbidden by all leading Torah authorities across the spectrum. Avigail's mother, Mrs. Ester R. H., is herself a baalas teshuva - and former Israeli Air Force captain. Now she finds herself simultaneously fighting two epic battles. For over six years, she's been fighting daily for her own life, against a formidable medical condition. Now, she's also fighting for the life (spiritual, at the very least) of her only daughter, Avigail Leah, to save her from a military persecuting her for simply following the Torah.
We first reported on this shocking story yesterday (see https://daattorah.blogspot.
In the face of the mother's resolute stand, the aforementioned officer retorted:
"Achallel et haKerem" ("I will violate/ desecrate/ profane The Vineyard") "-- and I will start with your daughter."
Thereby, in addition to revealing her intransigence, she exposed her true motivations.
That statement, on its very face reveals three things, for starters:
(1) a shocking sense of entitlement;
(2) a clear social-engineering agenda; and
(3) the unmitigated chutzpa to utter such terrible words.
In reality, many officials within the Israeli government make no secret of the fact that they have an agenda of drafting religious girls, and - quite apparently - especially religious girls. Moreover, as many individual cases of attempted drafting of religious girls reveal, many officials also feel entitled to act on that agenda, drafting religious girls at whim, even in blatant violation of Israeli law and the status quo.
This targeting of religious girls is actually reflected in a declared military policy shift about six years ago, when the Israeli government openly declared increasing the drafting of religious girls to be an official objective. That itself was no less than a declaration of war against the religious community. Concurrently, the funding of key religious institutions and community services has played a vital role in helping keep strategic individuals in positions in which they can partially blunt communal religious reaction to the ongoing crusade against Kedushas Bnos Yisroel.
We could delve into the deeper meanings of the aforementioned statement, but that isn't necessary at the moment. Suffice it to look at the tangible actions of the draft officials against religious girls, in this case, as well as many others, including those cases briefly reported on in the Jewish Press ever since Rinas bas Chedva was tormented for 39 days for fleeing her abusers in the IDF, and for her refusal to return to her abusers, and enablers, in the IDF.
It is also noteworthy that Keren used the term "Kerem," vineyard. In Tanach, the Jewish People are referred to as a grapevine (e.g. in Tehillim 80), as well as a vineyard ("Kerem"), e.g. Yeshayah 5:7. Violation of The Vineyard is an apt description of what drafting girls- especially religious girls - is all about. They take 18 year-old girls - just about ready to marry and start a family, and tear them away from their families, and out of their natural spiritual growth trajectory. Far worse, they place these girls into an environment that overall is secularist-dominated, highly promiscuous, and exploitative*. This is not to mention the escalated physical dangers of women being in a military environment, especially in the female - and even mixed (yes) -combat units. If that's not a "violation of the Vineyard," what is?
Please daven for Avigail Leah bas Ester Rus Leemor, and for her seriously ill mother, Ester Rus Leemo bas Tzippora. Avigail is facing the threat of imminent arrest anytime now, while her mother's condition has recently deteriorated.
The time to speak out against this unmitigated rishus is now. Our federal elected officials need to hear from us, in America and beyond. We are judged by how we stand by those in precisely this type of danger.
###
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* For further research, linked below are a few sample articles: (Warning: Some or all of these articles include text and/or images that are too explicit for unfiltered access for many of our readers.)
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Promiscuity & Abortion in the IDF:
Tuesday, August 27, 2019
Another Religious Girl - and her IDF Vet mother -Targeted by the IDF
17 y/o Chabad Teen Threatened with Arrest if She Doesn't Comply with Draft Orders
This Sunday, Aug. 25th, Avigail Leah H., a demonstrably very religious 17 y/o teenage girl from Rechovos, was threatened with arrest, if she refuses to comply with IDF Draft Office orders to show up this Wednesday at the Draft Office. According to Jewish Law, it's absolutely prohibited for girls to serve in the military. In fact, leading Rabbis have declared it "yai'horaig ve'al ya'avor," a prohibition requiring giving up our lives to prevent. One primary reason for this is the rampant immorality and exploitation pervasive throughout the IDF.
Therefore, according to leading Rabbis, an act that could result in a girl enlisting is likewise prohibited, including submitting to a Rayon Dat. A Rayon Dat is a "religious test" often assuming the character of a belligerent military interrogation. Underage girls are often ordered to appear unrepresented and alone at these intimidating sessions, facing a battery of seasoned military officers. Quite apparently, they're well-trained in how to psychologically break girls down. Many religious girls are tripped up on by carefully selected questions, which many frum girls won't necessarily know how to answer. (See https://docs.google.com/document/d/1bO2Xh07BEzGbWiqI-MbF8dMY8nzbn3gysSmPQXjLXBU/edit?usp=sharing
)
The family's Rabbinic guidance was unequivocally adamant against submitting to a Rayon Dat, despite repeatedly being harassed by the IDF to do so. And, as faithful frum Jews, the family has been steadfast in their adherence to their halachic guidance. And it is precisely for their very fidelity to Torah that Avigail is being denied her religious exemption, under the veneer of being uncooperative with her IDF persecution. (George Orwell: step aside.)
Avigail's parents are baalei teshuva. Their family is demonstrably religious. She even has letters from Chiloni friends testifying to her religious observance, in addition to the Tatzhir Dat, which she submitted properly. Ironically, her brother risked his life in an elite (religious) combat unit under the K'fir division (akin to the Marines), often working with the Shabak (internal security service) in apprehending and neutralizing terrorists.
Moreover, Avigayil's mother, prior to rediscovering her Jewish heritage, actually had been an officer in the Israeli Air Force. Additionally, her mother has been suffering for years from a severe medical condition. The relentless IDF pursuit of her daughter, now extending for about a year, has been taking a real toll on her health. Nevertheless, none of the above deters the government. That uncomplementary picture itself says more than ten thousand words. The Brisker Rov ZTL is quoted as saying that while one who has bad character traits is a flawed person, an ingrate isn't truly a person at all.
דיין בכיר מארה"ב נגד בית הדין בישראל: האשה אינה עגונה
מבוכה בבתי הדין הרבניים: בית הדין האזורי בתל אביב קבע שחרדי, תושב ארה"ב, מעגן את רעייתו מספר שנים. נגד אביו, 'נגיד' בחסידות גדולה, הוצא צו איסור יציאה מהארץ עד שבג"צ התערב וביקש שבני הזוג ינהלו משא ומתן ישיר, אך כעת דיין בכיר מארה"ב - המוכר על ידי הרבנות - קובע: האשה לא עגונה.
הסיפור החל לאחר שבית הדין בתל אביב קבע כי חרדי מארה"ב שנישא לרעייתו לפני 19 שנה, ובמהלך השנים היא לקתה באירוע מוחי בישראל ונאלצה להישאר בארץ בעוד הוא חזר לארה"ב, מעגן את אישתו.
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